Austin Sheerline


The Austin Sheerline is a large luxury car produced by Austin in the United Kingdom from 1947 to 1954.
The Sheerline was designed by Austin during the Second World War, but volume production did not begin until 1947 because of the commitment to war production. It was a luxurious car in the style of the contemporary Rolls-Royce or Bentley but at a much lower price, around two-thirds that of the equivalent Rolls-Royce but still the price of five or six small Austins. There were about 8,000 built but it is now becoming quite rare.
The first cars, designated A110, had a 3,460 cc straight-six overhead valve engine but this was soon increased to 3,995 cc with and the designation then became A125. Initially only a Saloon version on a 9-foot-11¼-inch wheelbase chassis was made, but this was joined by a Limousine version in late 1949 on a stretched 11 ft chassis also used for a hearse and an ambulance. At 37 hundredweight for the saloon and 2 tons for the limousine this was a heavy car, and to maintain performance a low final drive ratio of 4.55:1 with 16-inch tyres was fitted. Suspension was by coil springs at the front and half-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The saloon version had a top speed of.
Production ceased in 1954 and Austin's luxury offering was limited to the A135 Austin Princess.
The general consensus is that in the Last Of The Summer Wine episode The Loxley Lozenge, the chassis of an Austin Sheerline was used as a prop for the titular fictional vehicle.