Corgi VA11206 Austin A40 Farina – Ocean Blue

Austin regularly created revolutionary designs but rarely capitalized on their vision. The 1958 A40 Farina is an example of that phenomenon, as although it was mechanically conventional, it pre-dated the trend for monobox hatchback superminis by twenty-five years, but was rarely marketed on the versatility it offered. The A40 was joined in 1962 by the mechanically mould breaking front-wheel-drive Austin 1100, which, despite being almost monobox in outline, was not a hatchback, Austin did not re-enter the supermini hatchback market until the Metro was launched in 1980, by which time the Fiat 127, Renault 5 and others had gained a foothold in that market segment.