MY AUSTIN A40 DEVON DECKED OUT TO LOOK LIKE DAVID ALBEE'S CAR.
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This is the fascinating story of Dave Albee’s adventure racing his Austin A40 Devon at the 1950 Pebble Beach Road Races. To the left is a photo of my Austin A40 Devon decked out to look like the Albee car. My car won first in class in this format the Fabulous Fifties Concours d’Provenance in 2007. Note the Four Cylinder Club badge on the grille. For more information on the Pebble Beach Road Races, include reprints of the programs, see Art Evans’ book Pebble Beach Remembered.
i can’tbring up the pictures. perhaps this site could be emailed to my gmail account: jrmart66@gmail.com???
I have never seen an A 40 Devon raced. Rallyed yes.
The Sports Car Club of British Columbia held races on the Abbotsford Airport in the early 50s I recall seeing only one or two A40 Sports models thrashing around the triangular circuit but no Devons. Which is peculiar because there thousands around the Vancouver area.
The government put a stop to racing at Abbotsford in 57 but by 59 the SCC of BC had built their own road circuit and called it Westwood. The only club owned circuit in the world at the time. Boy, were we proud!
I raced a Morris Minor 1000 at Westwood, Deer Park airport, near Spokane, and various hill climbs in BC and Washington State, including the Maryhill Loops, near Goldendale on the Columbia river. Now a vintage event.
We collected enough points for the Morris Minor 1000 to win the Northwest Conference Class I championship for 1959, despite fierce competition from Saabs and DKWs. Other small sedans like the VW and Renault Dauphine were not much competition. And, again I never saw a Devon on a track.
Billy
Hi Billy. Thanks for your comments. I was quite surprised to see a Devon on a road racing course too. The Four Cylinder Club created a race car from a Devon chassis, but I’m still looking for evidence that it was raced. Certainly, the stock Devon with its soft suspension and high center of gravity would not have made a good race car. The Morris, on the other hand, with its more modern chassis and suspension and lighter overall weight was well suited for the track.
Bill Wilkman
FCCA History Webmaster
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