Presented as a saloon at the London Motor Show in October 1958, the A40 Farina was intended to replace the Austin A35, from which it inherited much of its running gear. It was a capacious thoroughly modern small car, with a brand new distinctive "two box" shape and headroom in the back seat. It's lower rear panel dropped like a then conventional bootlid, and the rear window remaining fixed.
left|thumb|1960 Austin A40 Farina
The Countryman hatchback appeared exactly a year later in October 1959, It was a very small estate car with a horizontally split tailgate having a top-hinged upper door and bottom-hinged lower door. October 1959 also saw the standardisation on both cars of self-cancelling indicators and the provision of a centre interior light and, in early summer 1960, a flat lid was added over the spare wheel in the rear luggage compartment.
Mark II
An A40 Farina Mark II was introduced in 1961. It had a longer wheelbase to increase the space for passengers in the back seats, and the front grille and dashboard were redesigned. The Mark II had more power (37 hp/28 kW)
In the popular television series Heartbeat, the character Dr Tricia Summerbee (played by Clare Calbraith) drove a blue 1963 mark II saloon in series 10–12, with the registration BNK228A.
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File:Austin A40 Farina Mark II.jpg|Austin A40 Farina Mark II
File:Austin_A40_MkII_Countryman_tail.jpg|Austin A40 Farina Mark II Countryman
File:Austin_A40_MkII_Countryman_rear.jpg|Austin A40 Farina Mark II Countryman
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Engines
- 1958–1961: 948 cc A-Series I4, 34 hp (25 kW) at 4750 rpm and 50 ft·lbf (68 Nm) at 2000 rpm
- 1961–1962: 948 cc A-Series I4, 37 hp (28 kW) at 5000 rpm and 50 ft·lbf (68 Nm) at 2500 rpm
- 1962–1967: 1098 cc A-Series I4, 48 hp (36 kW) at 5100 rpm and 60 ft·lbf (81 Nm) at 2500 rpm
Innocenti
thumb|right|Innocenti A40 saloon
Innocenti also produced A40s under licence from BMC. They began producing knock-down kit versions of the A40 in 1960 but soon progressed to produce the entire car in Italy. Innocenti's A40 Berlina and Combinata corresponded to the saloon and Countryman versions of the Austin A40 Farina. These Australian assembled vehicles had a very high degree of local content.
The A40 was assembled from English CKD kits by NZ importer, the Austin Distributors Federation, at their Petone factory Associated Motor Industries. Local content included items like glass, wiring loom, trim, tyres, battery and radiator.
Competition history
The car was a popular choice, in modified form, for competition work. Several examples are still to be seen taking part in historic saloon racing.
In the January 1959 Monte Carlo Rally driven by Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom the A40 won the Coupe des Dames, Houbigant Cup, RAC Challenge Trophy and Souvenir Award, "L'Officiel de la Couture" and was 2nd in class for standard series production touring cars up to 1000 cc. The little car was 10th in General Classification.
In the closing stages of June's Alpine Rally (Coupe des Alpes), Moss and Wisdom lost the use of first gear on their A40 and were obliged to retire having completed the second stage of the rally still "clean".
In August 1959, in practice at Brands Hatch, Doc Shepherd broke the saloon car record in an Austin A40 and he won the 1960 British Saloon Car Championship, also driving an Austin A40 Farina.