After I left the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on the 22nd April 2012, I walked into Victoria Square and saw all of these vintage Austin cars. Most of them were Austin Seven's parked in front of the Council House. I think it was for something at the time called Drive It Day Birmingham. This reminds me of a recent car rally at Kings Heath Village Square in late August 2019.

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Austin Seven's in Victoria Square (April 2012)


Austin Seven's in Victoria Square (April 2012)


After I left the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on the 22nd April 2012, I walked into Victoria Square and saw all of these vintage Austin cars. Most of them were Austin Seven's parked in front of the Council House. I think it was for something at the time called Drive It Day Birmingham. This reminds me of a recent car rally at Kings Heath Village Square in late August 2019.


There has been many events that took place in Victoria Square, Birmingham over the years, so probably too many to put into one post (have more than 500 plus photos in my archive).

On the 22nd April 2012, I had just visited the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery again (taking more photos once I knew that it was OK as long as you don't use flash), and left via the Chamberlain Square entrance and headed into Victoria Square. At the time you could use the Great Charles Street Queensway entrance to the museum, and on Sunday's they used to open at 12:30pm (but that's for another post in the BM & AG project).

I saw all of these vintage Austin motors parked in front of the Council House. Many of them may have been Austin Seven's. Some of these might have been Morris or Riley cars.

dndimg alt="Austin Seven's" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Austin Sevens Victoria Square (April 2012) (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

It was Drive It Day Birmingham in Victoria Square. So many classic Austin's to see, and for once you didn't have to see them in Thinktank or at the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre (although I have seen old cars in the museum and in storage).

Google Lens for the car at the front is coming up as an Austin Ten. (On Wikipedia showing as an Austin Ten Lichfield).

dndimg alt="Austin Seven's" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Austin Sevens Victoria Square (April 2012) (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

One of them was labelled "Donaldson's Fish & Game Salesman Kings Lynn".

dndimg alt="Austin Seven's" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Austin Sevens Victoria Square (April 2012) (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Not all of them were Austin Seven's. According to Google Lens, this is an BSA Ten.

dndimg alt="Austin Seven's" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Austin Sevens Victoria Square (April 2012) (4).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

This is either a Riley car or a type of Austin Seven. The roof was down.

dndimg alt="Austin Seven's" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Austin Sevens Victoria Square (April 2012) (5).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

This is an Austin Cambridge A55 Mark II. There is now a pub at the Longbridge Town Centre called The Cambridge.

dndimg alt="Austin Seven's" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Austin Sevens Victoria Square (April 2012) (6).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

There was some young people in Army uniforms and yellow high vis jackets around at the time.

dndimg alt="Austin Seven's" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Austin Sevens Victoria Square (April 2012) (7).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

For my post on Sir Herbert Austin follow this link: Herbert Austin: making cars at Longbridge and the Austin Village. It features some more Austin cars that I've seen in museums over the years.

Photos taken by Elliott Brown.

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Birmingham We Are People with Passion award winner 2020