Bantam & Bait

Sir Herbert ("Bantam") Austin, maker of sturdy seven-horsepower midget cars, crowed like a full-sized rooster last week over the British Institution of Automobile Engineers of which this year he is President.

Flaying "our excessive British tax on horsepower," which caused him to build and popularize the famed Austin Seven throughout the world. Sir Herbert cried:

"How much this outdated method of calculating horsepower for taxation purposes has cost the British nation in lost export trade it would be impossible even to estimate! Designers are still obliged to keep the bore-stroke ratio disproportionate for economic results. The American manufacturer has benefited enormously by our persistent folly and is able to produce his vehicles considerably cheaper by the adoption of a shorter stroke and larger bore."

Agreeing vehemently with Sir Herbert Austin, Henry Ford said in London last week:

"The British public is using cars which are less efficient and less comfortable than those used by the public of any other country! Britain seems to have no automobile export trade except for high-priced or midget cars and presumably never will as long as the system of taxation compels British manufacturers to design inefficient machines."

Faced by the same tax which produced the Austin Seven, Mr. Ford is selling a 15.9-h. p. car in Britain for -L-185. But if the buyer will take this British Ford with a 24-h. p. engine, he can have the higher powered vehicle for -L-5 less. By such tempting bait Ford Motor Co., Ltd. hope to lure Britons into buying full-sized cars, paying the "excessive" yearly tax, agitating for its repeal.

Car British Tax

Austin 7 -L-7

Ford 15.9 -L-15.18

Ford 24 -L-24

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