1958 A35 countryman van goes for a drive 

When I grew up in North Wales lots of people had these, especially old bachelors because there was no woman around to impress with side windows, nice seats, go-faster stripes, etc. They were practical in the sense you could get all your stuff in the back, including the odd sheep or pig if you were smallholder - or especially lonely. Also pretty reliable assuming minimal maintenance was conducted (it often wasn't). Most ended their lives rusting away in owners' gardens or fields. Nice to see a good one, great video.

My dad had a couple of A35 van types, but with the back windows and seats fitted. They were supremely reliable, great in the snow, easy to work on and economical. His first one did close on 500k miles.

The winter of 1962 was very snowy and cold, the A35 vans were not selling so Austin parked them in an outside field. Spring 1963 came and Austin had all these vans to 'get rid of'. First they had to bring them back inside and fit new batteries and in some cases new tires. To sell them they offered them to the Austin workers AND their families [a first] for 293 pounds. My uncle was senior management at Morris Commercial, I asked him to buy me one, but they sold very quickly and there were more orders than vans. Austin decided that they would honour the 293 'price and sell a brand new off the line model to those who missed out getting the original ones. The new ones came with an 1098cc engine and a few more refinements, like flashing trafficators. I purchased a rear seat set and that van became our first family car. I washed and waxed the car often and when I sold it in 1966,bought myself a Triumph Spitfire, it was snapped up very quickly. Great video bought back memories, I have a framed colour photo of my Van JOX 690 up on my den wall 59 years later!!.

My dad worked for rover, who had a discount scheme with Austin and, I went with him to pick up a new, battleship grey A35 van, after work on a Friday night. It's predecessor had been a 1949 Moggie convertible, with a series E sidevalve engine!. It was around to Uncle Jack's the next morning ( he worked for Fisher and Ludlow) to have have the conversion to the estate done on his front driveway! Dad had had the optional heater fitted by the factory- a round Smiths unit fitted in front of the gear stick with two 1/2 round doors, used to work great in the winter! and a few weeks later a pullout radio was installed- with an aerial in the front wing. We went all over in this car including a holiday to Scotland and Spain.It was very reliable and Dad took great delight in "burning off" VW Beetles, I never understood why anyone bought those! It was traded in after several years for Triumph Herald-another great English car. Can't help feeling that there would be a market for a car with similar philosophy, but benefitting from modern materials, today.

My Dad owned an A35 saloon as a daily driver in the late 90s and early 2000s - it was his only transport. He regularly travelled on the M5 between Worcestershire and Somerset for holidays and would bowl along at 60 - 65 mph for mile after mile. At those speeds, the engine sounded like it was working hard, but it kept doing it and never let him down!

What a lovely car. The colour really suits it.

My Dad gave me his rusty old A35 van to drive up and down the drive (about 100m) when I was about 14. With nowhere to turn round I spent 45% of the the time getting into 4th, another 45% in reverse, and the rest of the time getting it to start. I remember going on holiday with my parents to Germany and Switzerland sitting on that seat in the back aged about 12. Yes, great view through the windscreen!

Repaired the sills on one of these using angle iron from a bed

As a young lad in the early sixties my Mam and Dad bought an A35 van which was about 10 years old, Me and my 2 brothers complained we could`nt see from the back, so my Dad cut the panels out and fitted rubber seals and perspex windows ( Perspex from work, could`nt afford glass ), Job done. The five of us went all over Scotland with camping gear staying at farms and anywhere which was cheap to camp. A bit tight but like a Rollls Royce in our eyes compared to the old motorbike and side car that we used for the five of us before that. Memories.🙂

The first vehicle in our house was in 1972 , it was a blue A35 van registered in 1966 (D reg). It too had rear seats. Loved this van to death until unfortunately it came off worse in a minor accident with a bus. Great vid bringing back so many great memories. Thanks.

What a wonderful little car. Beautiful restoration as well. Thanks for sharing.

My dad had one & I learned to drive in it age 14 😂😂 sneaky drives around the back streets where we lived, good old days

I bought a new van in 1966 because of the no-purchase tax and the lower price of a commercial vehicle. £299 basic, £20 extra for the luxury of a heater. I cladded the interior for insulation and noise-reduction, and put a bench seat in the back. A lovely vehicle - my first after passing driving test. Many long journeys all over UK and Continent. The '40MPH' sign that had to be displayed at the rear was a wonderful excuse for not pushing the 948cc engine too much. First long journey from Nottingham was to Scotland, just north of Edinburgh - cost me £1.5.00 when petrol was 5 shillings (25p) per gallon. Simple mechanically, brakes were good, within the expectations at the time, regular servicing meant that I never had a breakdown during the seven years I had the van. And the STARTING HANDLE was a real bonus. During one harsh winter I often got up deliberately early to give 'jump starts' to neighbours in the their much more sophisticated vehicles - smugly triumphant 'little-van-driver'. I shall never forget MTO 846F.

Love these little cars,vans, my late dad used to take our family of four on holiday all over the UK in these tiny vehicles,and it never let us down.

In his later years, James Hunt drove an Austin A35 van, often carrying the budgies which he bred and showed. They must have got a bit of a shaking, because he treated each drive as a race, on the limit of grip at all times. He loved it

I am now 70 and whilst at art college in 1969 3 of us bought, for £30a 1961 A 35 van. This little car took me all around Britain from Cornwall, London, Liverpool to Newcastle! No ever broke down and once I drove it with 9 passengers (admitidly) only a short distance!

I think you'll find that those embossed panels were used for the van/estate to reduce drumming. Less of an issue with the saloon.

What a cool little van, it’s pure 1950’s Britain and full of character. Great review Matt.👍

This channel needs more views , great content.

This looks exactly like the little van our bread-maker/deliverer from a nearby village used to use. Best bread flavour EVER! My dad renovated very old cars to become like new...a hobby, but we would drive around in them, go on holidays, etc, until he found the next project. So i appreciate fondly these old vehicles. Manual choke, haha. Lovely!

I love this! My Dad had a Ruby, and this takes me back to happy evening drives, and holidays - no school-runs in those days!

I've had many classic cars in my 57 years of driving. The Austin A35 Countryman and the car and van were my favorite vehicles. I bought a van that had been lying in a garden for 4 years, the engine only had 30,000 miles on the clock. It needed new wings and a paint job. I renewed the brakes and wings, then sprayed it. It was fantastic. It never let me down and was great on fuel. I wish they still made them. I would buy one.

Fantastic....I remember these little A35s very well.

My father owned one that he purchased mid 50s. He cut out the side panels and installed windows. His didn't come with a heater so he bought one and again installed it himself. No problems with leg room in the back because my two brothers and I were small!!

Great cars. I had a ride in an A35 Countryman at least once. They were great fun, with heaps of character.

Great to see the A35 in such good condition live and well. Keep it going.

What a privilege, what a treat to watch your car in the comfort of my own home. I love driving and you make me feel I’ve driven all those wonderful cars that you drive. Thank you very much for all that pleasure

i grew up in Mid Wales. Most farmers had the bigger Austin Cambridge van. My Uncle had one. It had acgreat ride and good heater. My Dad had an Austin a40 van . we were all timber fallers. and the vans were reliable and useful. For a while they used a Bedford van for work. My grandfather would buy some weird work vehicles. Once he bought an Austin Princess hearse cheap . At the time, just after ww2, many rich peoples estates were becoming vacant and there were clearance sales. My Nan would buy furniture and oil paintings, even stuffed animals from these Halls...country mansions...that tgey coukd no longer afford to run. Tge downside of a van can be petrol fumes from chainsaws.

Thanks for some memories, my first car was an A30 and my girl friend had an A35. Somebody had added a hand pumped windscreen washer and, sliding windows yes but my fairly early mini also had sliding windows! The best value car I ever had, purchased in 1965 for £80, recon engine and gear box, maintained by me and sold 18 months later for more than I had paid including maintenance costs!

It's a beautiful little vehicle and it proves how they can outlive todays cars because you have a prime example right there. Super little thing. Great video mate

Trafficators drove my Dad crazy. These were on a 36 Vaux DX so in the right age. I recounted this story to a DX restorer and from memory the problem was that the wire from batt to trafficator was too long and voltage fall off was sufficient to have the solenoid starved and unable to pull the activator down and the indicator arm up.

My father bought one (Reg 1437 HJ). As a child I used to rattle around in the back of the van. No seat belts, no seats in the back, restraints at all.

What a great video. I’m 56 y/o but had my first A30 at the age of 13 and finally amassed some 8 cars, much to my parents horror but now am Austin free, so maybe time to revisit. Loved the sound as you were driving, such memories. Thanks

My dad had a couple of these, but his both had back windows and rear seats. one did nearly half a million miles with no problems at all. They were simple, frugal excellent little cars.

I did exactly the same. I bought a 2nd hand van in the very same colour - Kingfisher. Mine was a 1956 A30. I fitted the folding rear seats. It was years before I discovered that the tax due with side windows didn't exceed the original tax, so I could fit them legally.

Lovely! Had a couple of these (second-hand) about 50 years ago when I was a lad, the performance then seemed perfectly adequate. Ref. no Purchase Tax on vans, if you put windows in a van you then had to tell tax man and you paid Purchase Tax on a sliding scale depending on age of vehicle, after about 7 years I think it was zero. As a van (with no windows) it was also subject to speed limit of 40mph. An interesting RU-vid video - 'British Car Trials on The Autobahn: Tests Such As These | British Pathé'

Lovely wee thing! I remember when there were so many of these on the roads you didn't even notice them.

The first car my dad owned in the 60’s . He had a rear seat fitted for me and my brother. We went on holiday all the way from Lancashire to Devon in that little van . Happy memories and great to see it again. PS I remember that trafficator switch on the dashboard well 😊

I'm Canadian; my folks' first car was c.1960 Zephyr. I'm learning a lot about England's cars from your channel. Great!

Remember being so excited travelling to Hull in my father's A35 van - not because of the van but because we were on our way to pick up my first bike! Great little van though, loved the bus style indicator control.

Wallace and Gromit... I was just about to comment when you said it 🤪

My dad worked at Longbridge and using the Austin employees discount AND the saving on tax he had two vans, a grey one and then a cream one. As soon as he took delivery he had side windows and a rear bench seat added. He could run them for two years and still sell them at a small profit.

Had one of these lovely little cars in 1963 seventeen at the time went everywhere in it girlfriend and I now my wife of 54 years loved this little gem

A little gem! Diddy little run about, lots of charm and takes you right back to a time of good old British life. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

My dad got an A35 van in 1959, probably because of the price advantages described. I was 6 - 8 years and sat in the back, always except when my mum was driving. I could just about stretch out in the back to sleep.

My first vehicle was an A35 Van with rear seat. Took some friends from Bradford to Victoria Station London down the old A1 and went the following week to bring them back! Memories!

Ah that noise of "acceleration" is taking me back to 1976 when I was 10 and my dad in his Austin A30 was taking us, the family, on a holiday to Torquay with my sister and I constantly asking, "Are we there yet?"

This was my first purchase after passing my driving test. Bought second hand around 1960 it was BRG and a non conversion. Never did add windows but there was a rear seat already fitted. Went everywhere in it and self servicing was a breeze. At one stage had a milk round in Cornwall and the vehicle kept going in that really bad winter in the 60s when it snowed for the first time in years and no one went without milk! Had three kids at the time. Traded to the Hillman Minx (not super) which you reviewed then to Morris Mini and finally a Humber Hawk before migrating to Australia. Today it's hard to tell one car or SUV from another....they all look the same. SAD :-( Thanks for the memories..

My eyes went out of focus. What a fresh looking example. Well restored.

Another fun road test! I got used to small cars while growing up; my family had a series of Datsuns, ca. 1959 thru my Grandmom's last car, a 1972 510 Wagon. I do also recall at least one "English Ford" from my Grand-dad's shop (he repaired Diplomats' cars in D.C. in the 1940s-early-60s); it was probably an Anglia or Consul...but I think it was old enough to have "trafficators", which I, at age 4, like to pull out to see them flash, while the car was parked. My Mom's second car was a 1949 Morris Minor, before she bought an MG-TD...Again, great use of the different camera angles!

I learnt to drive in an A35 saloon on a farm in 1973 at the age of 13 . . . still love them today

Two things I love about that 948cc engine. That awesome gearbox whine as you set off in 1st and the advertising Morris used when the engine was put in the Minor! "ZIP goes the Minor 1000! With whiplike acceleration." Excellent .

We had a 1957 2 door A35 saloon in the mid-60s. It had winking indicators (which were introduced to new models from 1954), no heater and the handbrake was between the driver's seat and the door. We had it fitted with seat belts and an electric heater to de-mist the windscreen. I decarbonised the engine, fitting new valves, on the kitchen table. It went on a 250 mile trip to Norway. The A30, A35 and the Mark I A40 didn't have fully hydraulic brakes. The back brakes had a single hydraulic slave cylinder mounted on the body, with rods from it actuating the rear brakes.

Dad had one of these. When Sis and I were kids, along with Mom and Dad, we went all over the place in it! Oh, Such wonderful times. Dad would come home on a Friday from work and that was it off we would go at the drop of a hat. No plans were made always on the lookout for spur of the moment.

Had a A35 van back in the day from new must have been one of the first to have underseal, reversing lights, and authentic rear seats fitted, if I remember correct it cost me new in 1967 just over £500 my how the world has changed.

Nice looking little Austin! Thanks for sharing.

My Dad had a couple of the A35 Van's, but with the back windows in, and rear seats. They were bullet proof and his first one did 475k miles. Fantastic little cars.

The A30, A35 were very narrow. One of my scariest moments was being passed simultaneously by TWO other cars on a TWO-lane section of the M2.

It was converted to a passion waggon. I remember affectionately using a paraffin stove for warmth

This brings back a lot of happy memories for me. My first car was an A35 van which was converted into an estate. It was a darker blue colour, but I don't think that it had all the embossing work on the doors and the rear side panels. I owned the car between 1970 and 1975, and it was very easy to drive, was reliable and economical (I achieved 40 mpg with it). I had the centre direction indicator controller but this operated lights instead of the semaphore. Unfortunately, rust killed the car and I had to get rid of it.

I had one, but earlier than this. It was a 1956 A30. Same colour, Kingfisher blue (turquoise) Fitted windows and a fold-down rear seat. Very versatile vehicle.

Excellent, that little thing is immaculate.

Apart from bus rides, a trip from Coventry to Macclesfield in a van like this was my first vehicular experience. Cunning great uncle Albert. I think that there were seats in the back.

I made the interior for this Countryman, Great vid, Lovely to see

I used to drive FX4 taxis that had those same sliding windows, I had an A30 in the 1970s, great little cars.

My dad's first car was a green A35 estate. He managed to get mum, the young couple next door, their daughter and my brother me in there, for days out to the seaside. There was a green vinyl seat, which we toddlers sat on, and that stayed with the family as a picnic seat, which my mum was still using in the late 70s.

The A series engines are sweet engine, love there distinctive sound. Nice car, van

A year newer than ours which dad has now owned for 60 years, it was 3 years old when he bought it, it was 5 years to miss the tax

spent my childhood sitting in the back of one of these on my way to Market Harborough to visit gran

Even when the A35 van was new, you were obliged to pay Purchase Tax at the car rate retrospectively if you converted it to a car. If you left it as a van you were limited to 30mph on the open road until well into the 1960's. Oh, and VAT didn't arrive until 1973!

I was out driving yesterday and saw an A40 ute of the model which preceded this A35. I'd not seen one for decades although there are a few Morris Minor utes and vans around.

A very nice restored example. The engine looks the same as the Mini's, which was released the year after this A35. In terms of styling between the A35 and the Mini, they are a generation apart.

My dad worked at Longbridge, got the staff discount on an A35 van and had it converted on site. Twice. The first was grey the next old english white.

My Uncle did exactly this. A self-employed upholsterer, he bought the van and then had the seats and windows installed. It was his first vehicle, replacing a motor scooter as his sole means of transport.

Back in 1965 on a family day out, thirty miles each way, we fitted four adults and five children, four of them between seven and twelve and one a baby, into one of these vans. The four children squeezed into the space behind the rear seat. Them were the days!

I had a grey A35 van way back in the day; had rear seats, but no side windows; regularly got 8 people/mates in in and on a couple of occasions 11 people. (car ownership was much rarer back then) Still alive. Would love another one.

Highly entertaining video thanks. The late James Hunt owned an A35 and loved driving it because he could drive it at the limit on public roads without breaking the speed limit (a very HubNut philosophy).

The beauty of an under powered vehicle is that one develops a sense of patience. It reaches the desired speed on its own terms and the driver is rewarded with an unhurried motoring experience.

In the late 60s we were given one free as it wouldn't start. We took the engine out, rebuilt and tuned it up. We then put mini wheels and spaces on the front, with rubber blocks to limit the suspension travel, and 14" Morris 1000 wheels on the back with spacers. It went well and handled well! Think it was the first modified wagon on the Isle of Wight!!!

My grandad used to have a company one grey colour was his pride and joy that was many years ago

My dad had a green A35 van. I remember him loading it with a considerable amount of bricks in the back. The brakes had a work out and we couldn’t and probably shouldn’t get to top gear speed. I remember the smell of the thing and the weird squeak the rear door made. The shock absorbers kept going wrong on it as they were very basic friction ones. One year dad borrowed a big tent and put it in the A35 and all the rest of us went in the A40 for a holiday.

My Dad owned an A35 saloon in the 60's. He did get an indicated 70mph out of it on a number of occasions on the way to the East coast (Scarborough, Bridlington) with Mum, me, 2 Sisters and brother aboard. Yes, I know, overloaded by today's standards. But that little car gave it's heart and soul to get us there in one piece. Great days.

I had a secondhand A35 van as my first car followed later by an A35 car. They never missed a beat. These cars were also turned to be ferocious little competitors in saloon car racing in the 1960s. Racing driver James Hunt was once asked what was his favourite car? He replied - his A35 van. That's good enough for me.

my dad had 3 he was a builder, holiday camping with mum and 3 boys

The Austin A35 948cc Series "A" engine was very willing and economical. In 1963 I paid GBP 120 for my van had endless enjoyment! I drove Aldershot to Perth return every weekend!

Its a beauty i would love to own it and put back the two glass panels with a uprated heater Thank you loved the video.

I would love to have one of these , my main car ATM is a Austin Allegro and I love that too

Lovely little vehicle 🚗

Such a nice colour.

Love the sound of that engine.

Bought a used A35 van (which WAS a van) in 1966 for £50. Interestingly, it did have rear seats. The metal-eating worm devoured vital bits of it a few years later.

I'm the same age as you Matt and now find this design strangely appealing! My daily is a new Peugeot Expert Van quite different, everybody needs a van in their life!

Love the color blue

Beautiful time travel, I enjoy it!

As a small child I remember 7 of us (4 adults and 3 kids) going on holiday from Birmingham to Devon in one of these (pre motorway days). We set out at 3am and when we got to the Cotswolds area the headlamp wiring burned out. We sat for several hours on a grass verge waiting for sunrise before we traveled for another 8 hours to get to Sandy Bay - now that’s what I call a holiday

Love these little Austins. My Dad had an A30 and my brother had an A35. It`s all these modern "safety features" that make modern "drivers" behave like idiots, they think they are fireproof.

Lovely looking van. I saw one like this whilst we were visiting England.

Had a A35 van way back in 1973 and I think it too was a 1958 model but no synchro on first gear.

Good enough for JAMES HUNT to say it was the best car he'd ever driven..! (He owned one when a bit younger)

My mum had an A35 - in Palm Green. I don't remember synchromesh on 1st gear. I learned to 'double declutch' on it and I still do that out of habit! when I shift from 2nd to 1st.