The Strange Case of Austin Douglas

People have always built ‘specials’. Sometimes in a bid to create superbikes, like the Tritons and Norvins of the 1960s, or for sheer quirkiness, like the friend who removed the front downtubes of a featherbed frame and replaced them with a 600 Panther engine, complete with home-made megaphone! In earlier times, it was often a case of ‘needs must’ – rebuilding an engine could be more expensive than finding something else that could be made to fit and would do the job.

For lovers of mechanical ingenuity, however, the appeal of specials often trumps elegance, practicality – and usually, cost! If you want to join the ranks of special owners, with much of the hard work already done, this Austin Seven-engined Douglas S6, currently for sale on the ‘Car and Classic’ website, could be the answer. The future owner can be sure of two things – no-one will have one like it, and the words “What is it?” will follow them everywhere!