This unusual three-wheeled vehicle was built by Herbert Austin and his partner H H Mulliner whilst Austin was Manager of the Wolseley Sheep-Shearing Machine Company's Birmingham branch. One of Austin's first designs, it is also one of the earliest British cars, although its exact year of manufacture is unknown.

The frame was made from bicycle-type tubing and the wheels fitted with solid rubber tyres. Design features of the two cylinder horizontally opposed engine mean it is relatively inefficient and lead to its rather lacklustre performance.

It was successful and Austin concentrated on his other tri-car design completed in 1896. Both cars were kept in the private museum of the Wolseley Company and from there eventually passed into the Museum collection.