The history of BMC>Rover is certainly not limited to the UK, and at the height of the post-war years of the ‘Empire’, there were production facilities all over the world. Ian Walker comprehensively charts the history of one such operation: the New Zealand market. Rover down under… Up to 1930: Early days Austin The Austin [...]

The Ambassador is a much-loved part of daily life in India to this day – back in 1957, who would have thought that the Morris Oxford Series III would become an immortal cult car? Words: Asopèe Simeli The everlasting Amby… The Hindustan Ambassador, or “Amby” as it is affectionately known in India, has carved an [...]

Hindustan has a long history of building British-designed cars in India, starting with the Morris Oxford in 1942. Its bloodline would survive for a very long time… A potted history of Hindustan Hindustan Motors was set up during the Second World War in order to produce motor vehicles for the burgeoning Indian middle-classes. Because of [...]

A little-known incursion by BMC under the marque Austin into the South American continent was the assembly of Austin commercial vehicles and Gipsy off road cars in a factory near Bogotá, in Colombia, in the early 1960s. This is the story, as told by Graham Arnold. The Austin Motor Company in Colombia A very short-lived [...]

Chile’s BMC operation remained a specialist small-scale facility throughout its lifetime. However, what marked out Chilean Minis and ADO16s from their counterparts from across the globe was that they were produced in fibreglass… Story told by Rodrigo Toledo. BMC in Chile: A potted history The World Cup football competition was held in Chile in 1962. [...]

The first Honda to wear a Rover badge wasn’t the 213… but the Quintet, an intriguing Far Eastern offering. PAUL GUINNESS tells us what he knows in an article that first appeared in Classic Car Mart. The first Ronda… JAMES Wittridge, a regular reader of Classic Car Mart who has kindly supplied us with some [...]

After the formation of BMC, Australia became an increasingly important market for the company, with models imported from the UK giving way firstly to local assembly of CKD (completely knocked down) kits, and later full assembly of models either adapted or specifically developed for the local market. Minis and 1100s lined up outside BMC’s 63-acre [...]

Briefly popular in Argentina and an iconic addition to the scenery at Buenos Aires, the Siam di Tella story is another of those BMC defeats-from-failure that littters the 1950s and 1960s Words: Federico Raffo, Auto Test Magazine, Motorpress Argentina S.A. Photography: Miguel Tillous Translation: Alejandro Cáceres. Siam di Tella 1500: Nunca Taxi The Di Tella [...]

THE Triumph Fury was a little more than a motorshow crowd pleaser – it was a hint at what Triumph could really achieve with its sports car range during the Sixties. ROBERT LEITCH put together this story for the website, explaining how the Fury came about… Fury: an E-type for the masses AN article by [...]

The SD1 was sold to the Indian sub-continent’s Standard car company for production as the company’s new entry into the executive car market. Sales were dismal due to the high price of the car, and it lasted only three seasons. The story behind the Rover’s SD1′s short-lived rebirth in India was down to a relaxation [...]

The Gazel was designed in India and engineered to use a mixture of entirely indigenous parts. This Mark II Gazel demonstrates the array of styling differences (by Nasir Hussein) that distinguish it from the earlier Herald. There were many engineering differences too, not least the use of the Toledo live rear axle. Top photo courtesy [...]

The Herald appeared on the Indian market in 1961 to replace the Standard Pennant. It went on to enjoy a long life and went through a couple of changes during it’s life. This Mark I Herald shows the use of Standard Ensign badges and Pennant hubcaps (Photograph by Mike Long) This Mark II Herald shows [...]

Following India’s independence in 1947, a raft of carmakers tried to gain a foothold in the market. The UK’s Standard Company was one such operation, and following successful negotiation with the Indian government, Standard Motor Products of India Limited was duly formed shortly after. A potted history STANDARD entered the Indian car marker during 1948, [...]

Like Sipani in India, Autocars Co Ltd was set up with the help of Reliant, built a range of fibreglass-bodied cars of dubious quality, and would later become involved with the BMC>Rover empire. However, that involvement would produce some rather more interesting machinery than a CKD Montego… A potted history Founded in the mid-1950s with [...]

Sterling was created by Austin-Rover in the mid 1980s in order to ease Rover’s return to the USA. There might have been a sound reasoning behind the decision to create such a “British” marque, but poor marketing decisions and a lack of product quality killed Sterling dead before it ever had a chance to establish [...]

Riley was one of Britiain’s pioneering car companies in the late 19th Century, and experienced its greatest success during the 1920s and ’30s. Financial difficulties saw it become part of the vast Nuffield Group in 1938, and following years of decline within BMC, it was all over by the end of the 1960s…   A [...]

EARLY last century, among the green meadows to the South of the dreaming spires of Oxford City, there was a village called Temple Cowley. In one corner of this village there was a large, dilapidated building that had once been a military college but was left empty for 20 years, until… 1912 to 1919 William [...]

Morris vied with Austin to become one of Britain’s largest carmakers. It produced a number of iconic cars such as the ‘Bull Nose’ and the Issigonis created Minor before becoming a major part of the British Motor Corporation in 1952… IN the early part of the 20th century, among the green and pleasant meadows to [...]

Unashamedly created as Cowley’s Cortina, the Marina was to lead Morris – and more importantly, British Leyland – into a new decade of Ford bashing… However, it missed the bus in terms of size and engine range, and because there was no budget to replace it, the Marina remained in production for far too long… [...]