They stood up well to a considerable amount of hard use. What may now be referred to as an old-style central gear lever is retained, to the satisfaction of a great many drivers. On this model of the A.40, however, it is a quite long and light cranked lever which has a certain amount of spring about it, and it did not prove to be an ideal example ot this form of gear change, the passing of which on modem cars is often lamented. It would nonetheless be preferred to a steering column change by most users of this type of car in particular, even though it inevitably makes difficult the carrying even for short distances of a third occupant in the front seat, as would otherwise be possible in view of the fact that the seats form in effect a one-piece bench, yet are divided centrally for individual adjustment. The synchromesh on second, third and top gears is effective for general purposes, although with fairly quick movements of the lever it could be overriden on this particular car, which had been given exceptionally hard work in the clutch and gear box.
Good support is provided by the front seats.
A comprehensive view is obtained in the mirror through a quite large rear window of flexible material. Incidentally, this panel can be entirely removed, being held by zip fasteners, to permit additional ventilation in hot climates with the head raised. In addition there are pivoting glass ventilating panels forward of the main drop windows. There is that modem brightness of interior finish which has an appeal today. A careful touch of detail is the soft padding in an elongated half-circular roll, trimmed to match the main upholstery, along the top rail of the doors in the region where the driver's and front passenger's arms come in contact with the sides of the body.