The ADO16 was BMC’s best selling car during the 1960s, and as a result, it lived a long and varied life. This timeline, compiled by Michael Schaefer, has put the car’s illustrious career into factual order. Year Date (where known) Details 1962 March Production of the MG 1100 (and presumably the Morris as well) began [...]

Harriman’s Concorde? austin-rover.co.uk gets its second ADO16 for test; and after taking it for a quick spin, Keith Adams feels the need to espouse the car’s vitues. Yet again… Written in 2004 THE best of British: it is an oft-used cliché, but does anyone really use it in conjunction with anything remotely good these days? [...]

While the 1100 was an Issigonis concept from the outset, it took Italy’s Pininfarina to give the car its undeniable style. This page was contributed by Declan Berridge

Floating to revolution The ADO16 was a car a generation ahead of its time. Keith Adams drives an early Morris 1100 as owned by Declan Berridge, and is astounded by the experience. Along for the ride was a distinguished guest… Written in 2003 by Keith Adams, photography by Declan Berridge and Keith Adams BEING something [...]

Vanden Plas prototypes The coachbuilding firm of Vanden Plas had been purchsed by Austin in 1946, and thus became part of the BMC empire that was created by the merger of Austin and Morris in 1952. Until the end of the 1950s, the factory at Kingsbury in north-west London was chiefly used for the production [...]

When the ADO17 was launched as the Austin 1800 in 1964, few people can have imagined that one of its defining features – its doors – would later appear on a series of cars ranging from a 1.5-litre family hatchback to a 3-litre executive saloon. But the story doesn’t end there. As well as being [...]

Keith Adams WITH THE number of BMC/Leyland/Rover cars on our roads diminishing rapidly, we take stock of the successive companies’ ten most popular cars during the post-war years. Some of these numbers are going to shock you, simply because the cars are so rare on the road now. In fact, even the latest car on [...]

The BMC 1100 was known as the Austin Glider in Holland… Pictures kindly supplied by Henk Schuuring

BMC and BL badge engineering ran amok on the much-loved 1100/1300 range of the Sixties and Seventies. RICHARD GUNN unravels the various marques and tells you what to look out for when buying. Availability Years produced: 1962-1974 Body style: 2- and 4-door saloon, 3-door estate Engine options: 1098cc A-Series inline-four 1275cc A-Series inline-four Transmission options: [...]

The 1100 range may have been badge-engineered to what some people may think of as an excessive extent, but what comes across in this selection of pictures collected from contemporary brochures is just how “right” the Pininfarina design was from the very start. The question that remains unanswered in a definitive way is – WHY [...]

Keith Adams I’m sitting here feeling a little sorry for myself, suffering from a pair of cracked ribs and a dented ego (yeah, I don’t practice what I preach when working on my cars) and, between bouts of writing for Octane, I’ve found myself going on a few car-related tangents. This one’s actually about the forgotten [...]

A standard looking Austin 1300 MkII is nothing special you think? An original and completly unrestored one is surely a rare thing these days, finding one that had a Downton treatment and all the matching documents is close to a miracle… Tim Saunders has had previous experience with an ADO16, an early MG 1100, but [...]

The ADO16 was Britain’s best selling car for the best part of a decade, but surprisingly few remain today. However, Chris Jones’ Wolseley 1300 is a shining example, proving that you can have modern comforts in a classic car… This Wolseley 1300 was registered in 1968 and is in fine fettle today… Words and Pictures: [...]

ALTHOUGH there have been several Cars of the Month featuring the Vanden Plas script, or the Princess crown badge in the past, we have yet to feature a car with a true link to the Kingsbury factory… This particular car, owned by Karin Lukaszewicz from Aachen in Germany, features an additional novelty BMC had to [...]

The UK’s best selling car for almost a decade was also its most advanced family car… The widely-respected ADO16 proved once and for all that if given what they want, the British do not always favour boring and conventional cars. It also proves that you can take perfection (the Mini) and improve upon it. Right [...]

April sees a superb example of my personal favourite ADO16: the 1300GT. Resplendent in bright red, this example owned by Graham Turner shows off the neat little car to perfection… Graham’s son, Michael, recounts the car’s history… MXC 222H: A potted history This car was supplied by Solihull motors on the 7th of April, 1970 [...]

This month we feature the estate version of the ground-breaking ADO16. These are getting thin-on-the-ground nowadays, particularly in the short-lived MkI form. IN the Spring of 1966, some three-and-a-half years after the launch of the Morris 1100, BMC introduced a pair of three-door estate models known as the Austin 1100 Countryman and Morris 1100 Traveller, [...]

March’s car of the month returns us to an old favourite of mine: the BMC 1100. This particular example is a credit to the breed, and is owned by Michael Turner, who turns 18 this month. What is there left unsaid about the BMC 1100? It was the best-selling car for BMC during the 1960s [...]

Few casual observers realise that the MG 1100 was the next ADO16 variant to be launched after the original Morris version, with just a few weeks separating the two launches in the autumn of 1962. And this is one of the earliest – and nicest – MG 1100s you’re ever likely to see. Built in [...]

This MG Has A Big Heart By Patrick Mennem A compact car with big car comfort and performance. That’s the MG 1100, the latest model – announced today – from the British Motor Corporation. The new MG, a blood brother of the Morris 1100, is designed to give up to the minute sports saloon motoring [...]