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Austin 1100/1300 Range


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Posted

Just wondered how much love there was for the ADO16 on this forum, i have stacks of parts including 14 cars, im not planning on selling my cars as they are all projects but i might be able to help fellow ADO16s nutters out, plus it would be cool to see peoples pics!!!

  • Like 4
Posted

My parents had one new in '72 ...a kinda light brown colour , interior the same but with a turquoise tinge. About £1000 I remember. Was rusting at about 3 years old - px'd at 5 years. We never had any trouble with it really - used daily. Interesting that it was still on sale that late. A Citroen replaced it.

Posted

Had one in the family a very long time ago. Late Mk II Morris 1300 super de luxe automatic 4-door in beige. UDB 595J.  Originally my grandfather's after he finally learned to drive aged 70-ish, automatics only.  We inherited it when he died and it became the second family car.  Not a bad old bus really and a comfortable ride thanks to the Hydrolastic suspension.  

 

Its most startling feature was the hammer blow effect of the 'box engaging drive or changing from first to second.  Also there was no Park position.  You always felt the gearchange was going to shake the car to pieces but it was the dread tinworm that eventually claimed it after about 14 years.  It got steadily more rusty until one day my mother had a puncture, and on her attempt to change the wheel, the jack went straight through the sill with no resistance at all.  She then insisted on it being changed and it got flogged for £80 with a bit of tax and test remaining.  Per DVLA it was never taxed or MOTd again.

 

I think the SDL trim level gave you the ribbon speedo in front of the driver rather than the circular binnacle in the centre of the dash and I'm not sure what else.  Two-tone horn, perhaps, I remember it had that.  It didn't have a heated back window, clock, centre armrest, electric washers, reclining seats.  I think such things were reserved for the Vanden Plas version.  They might still have been doing the MG trim with twin carbs around then I guess.  Will see if I can find a picture but am not optimistic!

Posted

I'm a fan. Would love a Vanden Plas myself, because picnic tables. And sound insulation.

Posted

No personal experience but I've always liked the lines of the 1100/1300 range, a very familiar sight on the roads when I was a youngster. What I could never fathom though was why (as with the Allegro) the attractive estate/countryman versions were three door rather than a more practical five?

 

CrkNJuks_o.jpg

Posted

I'm a fan. Would love a Vanden Plas myself, because picnic tables. And sound insulation.

 

 

Picnic tables FTW. I don't think even the VdP versions of the Daimler had those. They were an extra cost option on a Rolls-Royce.  Possibly still are.

Posted

Oh yeah...... i saw that on retro rides... http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/189279/austin-1300-gt?page=8

Hard to judge it really from the thread photos he's taken. However they're all a bit buggered in some way. If that one looks good in pictures, you can imagine the ones that don't look good in pictures are like!

 

I.e. this one mentioned on another thread I bet is utterly horrible for rot.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F273432269282

Posted

 What I could never fathom though was why (as with the Allegro) the attractive estate/countryman versions were three door rather than a more practical five?

 

CrkNJuks_o.jpg

 

The Aussies had a handle on that.....

 

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Posted

My wife's father had a 1300. She can remember 3 kids and gran in the back seat all the way to Tenby. Probably a six hour drive.

Posted

We often holidayed in Tenby. My dad took our vp for 2 weeks we are a family of five. He just put two suit cases on the roof rack. The car had no oil pressure so he kept turning the engine off going down hills...

 

My wife's father had a 1300. She can remember 3 kids and gran in the back seat all the way to Tenby. Probably a six hour drive.

  • Like 1
Posted

Mine was a Connaught green Morris 1100 from 1966, the best design imo. Love the dash on these.

Posted

No personal experience but I've always liked the lines of the 1100/1300 range, a very familiar sight on the roads when I was a youngster. What I could never fathom though was why (as with the Allegro) the attractive estate/countryman versions were three door rather than a more practical five?

 

CrkNJuks_o.jpg

 

 

True that. Now I think about it, same for the Mk 1 Escort, Viva HB/HC, Morris Traveller.  Wonder if it's to do with rigidity of the shell?

Posted

You're not down Sandwich way, are you by any chance?

 

No, Norfolk/Cambs border now, although some of those photos were in Bristol where I previously lived.

 

What reg is your mk1 austin in blue... I think we own that car now!

 

 

Blue Mk1 is a Morris, reg OPB375D.  Hasn't been MOT'd since I sold it in 2007.

Posted

I'll always have a soft spot for these. Like a lot of people, my first car was an Austin 1100. Like not a lot of people, I bought it in 2007 when I was 16, and I still have it...

 

For 3 years or so it was my only car, run on a shoestring as a student. These days it's under a tarp in the back of the big shed waiting for some attention. 5-6 years ago I did a lot of structural welding under it, but didn't make a very good job of it, so it all needs redone really...

 

I do miss this little car, I need to sort it soon!

 

I did wonder who 'sharley' was with lots of ado16s, figuring I must have heard of you. I know your name through facebook, I'm friends with Ed of Little Garage Classics, who has some rear arch sections cut out of an old shell for me. Need to get them!

 

My dad had a lovely 1968 Riley Kestrel at the time I bought the 1100 too, it was a large part of the reason I went for the 1100 really.

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post-577-0-59969800-1535786217_thumb.jpg

  • Like 2
Posted

And a couple of my estate which I couldn't find last night; owned from 1996 to 2015

 

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unfortunately a Ford Ranger did this to it in 2005.

 

post-17876-0-87594600-1535786537_thumb.jpg

 

I've owned loads more, but unfortunately my photographic technology generally predates my car technology and I no longer have evidence (other than a few 35mm prints probably hiding in the loft)

 

 

Posted

Never owned one, my dads first car was one of the first (connaught green Morris 1100, XJA116) by the mid 80s they had completely vanished from the street furniture anywhere around where this correspondent (aged 5) lived. They are my fave arragonis model, imagine it being launched with a hatch and marketed better, with a better sales and support infrastructure internationally. Even as it stood iirc it was a uk best seller during most of its run. As they had all but vanished from the streets (they were all between 10 and 20 ish years old at the time) Pre internet, my only fix was books or a certain film about a time obsessed head master...

 

(Also good for general chod spotting- tidemarked wedge anyone?)

Wonder what John Cleese had against them? After all it wasn’t his first offence.

  • Like 2
Posted

I don't remember them at all when I was growing up in the 80s/90s (born mid 80s). So much so, the Basil Fawlty sketch looked like him hitting a Mini to me...

 

Even in this old Mike Brewer episode of Wheels on Deals it's mentioned as a car not on the streets much anymore!

[Video]

Posted

No love for them at all here. I came very close to dying in one in 1978 and have had an aversion to them ever since.   :-D

Posted

They are a lovely car but so prone to rust.I believe that when Pressed Steel were presented with the body design they pointed out that it was full of rust traps,but that Mr Issigonis,the acknowledged genius, refused to make any changes.

  • Like 2
Posted

From a business point of view it's genius. Car manufacturers don't make money by having their products last a long time.

  • Like 1

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