05-06-2019, 09:15 AM
The Beaulieu Datsun is not an Austin Seven, nor were any other Datsuns. The Beaulieu car is a Model 13 with a 747cc engine, but that's about all it shares with the Seven. Details of early Datsun cars can be found here:
http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsun13.html
The specification was largely dictated by the Japanese 'Kei' regulations; Austin exported rolling chassis to Japan in the 1930s, but they had to be to short-chassis specification in order to comply with the regulations. Most Japanese Austins had bodies fitted locally by the same company that built the Datsun bodies, and this seems to have been where the story originated that Datsun built Austin copies.
This is the 1929 Dat 91 prototype, which had a 500cc 4-cylinder engine:
1929 Dat-son prototype.jpg (Size: 44.31 KB / Downloads: 387)
http://www.earlydatsun.com/datsun13.html
The specification was largely dictated by the Japanese 'Kei' regulations; Austin exported rolling chassis to Japan in the 1930s, but they had to be to short-chassis specification in order to comply with the regulations. Most Japanese Austins had bodies fitted locally by the same company that built the Datsun bodies, and this seems to have been where the story originated that Datsun built Austin copies.
This is the 1929 Dat 91 prototype, which had a 500cc 4-cylinder engine:
1929 Dat-son prototype.jpg (Size: 44.31 KB / Downloads: 387)