Back in the day (1966) my bestest ever friend traded in his Humber Super Snipe for one of these, we all thought he was mad, but it proved a wise choice; this model was probably the best faux (BMC) Wolseley ever produced. The ride difference between this and the basic Austin/Morris 1100s was a chasm - so quiet, so luxurious and so inexpensive to run (it wasn't cheap - cheap is nasty). Billy reckoned that after 4 years of driving the car it owed him nothing because of massive fuel savings and minimal servicing costs etc. Those were such happy days driving into deepest Suffolk from east London for horses to spend the day with, knowing the luxury and the heating and the reliability of our transport home would just extend these already perfect days. We were so fortunate back then - and we knew it - to be on a deserted mid winter snow bound lane or road in that ultra comfortable front wheel drive meant we'd all get home okay.
When I was 17 I learned to drive in an 'L' reg Austin 1100 in Hastings - winter of 1974. Thanet School of Motoring, Hastings. Great instructor, 12 enjoyable lessons with Mr. Sharp, chain smoked throughout the lessons :-). The next door neighbour drove the Wolesly version, lovely car that I'd always admired. My dad had a Corsair.. On the day of my test in February 1975 I was collected at home by Mr Sharp to go down to the test centre......in a brand new Austin Allegro! He'd been given the car 15 minutes before, never driven it and neither had I. It was an appalling piece of harsh, tinny junk. Square steering wheel too. Not a patch on the old 1100. "I'm really sorry about this" said Mr Sharp."The only thing that could go wrong now would be if we get 'Failer Fowler' doing your test, miserable as hell." You can guess the next bit. We went out on the test, very little communication from said examiner. 45 minutes later, back to the test centre. A few road sign questions. He then got out of the car, turned to me and said "Stay here, your instructor will join you shortly." "Have I passed or failed?" I asked. He just closed the door, said nothing and walked away. A few minutes later Mr Sharp got into the car, extended his hand to me saying "Congratulations, a first time pass." I told him about Fowler's departure to which he replied "If he cant find a reason to fail you, he feels HE has failed." I gave Mr Sharp 40 John Player Specials as a thankyou. Next day, our neighbour - Mr Waterhouse - let me drive his Wolesly and I loved it. Happy memories.
My first car was a Morris 1100. I don't remember if it had an electric fuel pump, but the Austin 1800 I bought next definitely had an SU electric fuel pump in the boot. The pump lived under a black-painted, pressed steel cover. Until I realised that you could service it (by cleaning the little contact points) I kept a piece of wood in the boot so that when the Austin spluttered and died from fuel starvation I could open the boot lid and give the pump cover a stout thump. That would, apparently, free the contact points and off we would go again. The better solution was, as I eventually found out, to clean and set the contact points. My memories of my 1100 are mostly positive. White with a red interior and with a bench front seat (possibly because the locally made Fords, Holdens and Chryslers all came with bench front seats, BMC Australia decided to follow suit) which meant that the gear lever would actually contact the front of the seat - I can't remember which gears? Possibly only reverse or possibly reverse and the even gears (2nd and 4th). It has been a long while. I loved the floaty ride and the excellent, safe handling. Less appealing was the cheap-sounding clang when you closed the doors. This unpleasant sound was also provided at no extra cost on the Austin 1800.
These cars are clearly the 'grown up' Mini.. I still own one of these and it handles as well as any of my Minis. More legroom than a Jaguar and 'Yes' I've owned those as well so know what I'm saying. A supremely comfortable drive, parts easily available, great owners clubs to get info/help from, easiest engines to tune.. ever! a brilliant choice of car for any new classic car lover.
A lovely kind old gent and neighbour bought one of these Wolseley 1100's second hand in the early 80's and managed to fit 10 of us local kids and an accordion into it and bring us to school every day for years.we all thought it was the coolest car. In case you're wondering two kids in the front passenger seat eight in the back and the accordion in the boot. You wouldn't get away with it nowadays with road safety and such but things were a bit more relaxed back then.
@@rogerhudson9732 The crime was building it in the first place. Survivors should be deleted from history. It's a waste of oxy-acetylene keeping them alive.
Yes, they came with electric fuel pumps. Tickety-tickety-tickety. It's a solenoid-reciprocating pump, and over time the contacts get dodgy. When that happens, you end up whacking it with a scrwdriver handle to get it into action on starting.
I passed my test in a Austin 1300 GT it was a mustard colour with a black vinyl roof. Belonged to my mate who tried to set the twin carbs up the night before . I lurched and juddered around the test route with the examiner seated next to me. He passed me and two days later my mate scrapped the Austin as it had ran out of mot and didn't have the money to have the repairs done . Still have happy memories of that Austin.
I really enjoyed the A series engine in both my Morris Minor and my Morris 1100 in my student years.It was always so eager to rev well and get up and go.Always very economical and very easy to work on.I miss those early days of my motoring history.
The fuel pump was electric and positioned in the boot. It was a common anti-theft trick back in the day to interupt the live feed to the pump, then wire in a dashboard ignition switch and hide it under the bottom of the rear bumper. That way you could turn off the fuel pump easily when leaving the car.
A Wolseley 1100 was my parents’ first car, won in a competition at Rhyl. They had to guess how far it would run on a gallon of petrol. They were one yard short, but a co-winner was one yard long so we had to buy out their 50% share. In effect we won half a Wolseley 1100. I was too young to remember it apart from the illuminated Wolseley sign on the grille which I loved, but hated the picnic sandwiches from the boot which always tasted of petrol.
My Mother had one, I drove it to college between 1976 to1978. Had great fun driving that. It was OK except for the gearbox, it was replaced twice. It had a character of its own, like many cars of its age. That’s what makes it so special. Thanks for bringing back some great memories!
I learnt in a new mk2 Austin 1100 2 door back in 1971. Just loved the 1100. A few years ago I bought a 1968 morris 1100 mk2 in trafalgar blue. Best car I’ve ever had. People would always come over and chat about going in granddads car or mum had one or older folk saying they used to own one.
My dad had a 1966 Austin 1100, and it did have an electric fuel pump. He fitted a hidden cut-off switch as an anti-theft device. It wouldn't actually have stopped it being stolen, but it would only have gone a very short distance. It was always amusing when dad forgot to flick the switch to 'on', then suddenly remembered when it started misfiring...
In Australia, we got the Morris version of the 1100, probably because BMC Australia was selling 6 cylinderised versions of the Farina Austin Cambridge and Wolseley 15/60, these being named the Austin Freeway and Wolseley 24/80. That interior light appears to be the same unit as used as the rear interior light in the Phase III Vanguard estate. Thanks for showing it - it'll help me find a better unit for my Vanguard!
The 1100 and the 1800 were great cars in their time and much under-appreciated here in Oz. The 1100 was a good handling, good riding, point to point fast touring car - far better than the reputed Mini.
Learned to drive in an Austin 111. In 1973 my father drove us to Brittany for a camping holiday from Glasgow. The tent was there and we just took clothes etc. Imagine 5 up with a roof rack and so few horses under the bonnet. Really amazing to think about now.
Eurocamp! I grew up with those holidays too, but with a Mk5 Cortina! Now Im doing the same for my son, I wonder if he'll remember the Seat Leons, BMW 5 Series or this Merc W204 as fondly, or at all?
I bought a 1970 Austin 1300 as an ex company car 3 years old. During the next 10 years, I had it practically rebuilt: reconditioned engine, new gearbox, wheel bearings, brake master cylinder (brakes binding), bodywork repair to door sills, hydrolastic suspension pumped up. Even the side repeater flasher bulb(s) when not working slowed the indicators. I still liked the car design though, giving a smooth ride, and that wide steering wheel like on a bus! During the later 1960's and through the 70's, there were many ADOs on the road. After then, most were gone, due to the above faults of poor build I believe.
It's gorgeous on the outside and the inside. Definitely a big step up from the ordinary Austin or Morris 1100. With only 21 left, I'm sure it would take a lot of money to persuade a current owner to part with one.
I love the use of real wood on the dash (and the blue leather) but the things that , for me, give the car character and charm are the interior lights. The one on the indicator stalk but especially the ones on the dashboard for the headlights. They could have just been little circles of plastic but they were shaped to look like little jewels. Lovely. The illumination radiator badge is good. Why can't manufacturers put these little touches in cars these days?
Remember jap Mitsubishi in the 80's put marker lights on the top of the front guards that were either yellow or green and were functional. Other jap aftermarkets were those bumper stalks for tight parking. My native NZ would buy boat loads of secondhand jap RHD CBU cars in pristine condition. Such great choice and value for money. Great for choice of second hand parts, a win / win for both buyers and breakers.😊❤
About the suspension.. If you purchased (Morris 1100 variant) one in Australia, the back window had 2 transfers; one 'Australian Made', and the other shaped like a big drop stating, 'Floats on fluid', as well as 'car of the year 196.. '.. It was unfortunate that motorists at the time preferred the more conventional rear wheel drive, drum brakes, coil and leaf spring suspension. I never saw this 'Wolseley' variant in Australia...
You have a great memory. I remember those stickers. Great cars but I do remember that when it rained hard in Perth the freeway was littered with stalled ones.
@@martinloney6322 Oh yes. Driving rain into the front grille meant a 'shower' over the distributor and spark plug leads located directly in front of the engine. A plastic bag covering it helped, but considered a design flaw...
My earliest child hood memory of cars was helping to wash my Uncles brand new ADO16 MG version (1300 I think) in two tone light blue and cream. Beautiful car. I must have been no more than 4 or 5 years old. I'm now 59 and have never forgotten the car. Just cannot find one today.
This body style was sold as an MG in the US. I remember seeing one on a used car lot in San Francisco in the late '70s. It was much like this only with a black plastic dashboard instead of wood and black vinyl upholstery. The mirrors were on the doors because wing mirrors are not legal in the US. I don't remember the model name now, but it was a word, because marketers convinced them that Americans don't like numbers. I remember that it was a sweet little car, and I really wanted it, but I couldn't afford California car insurance. Good memory, sort of.
@@furiousdriving It was an MG 1100. I remember being intrigued because nearly all MGs imported to the US there were roadsters. Sedans were very unusual. The Austin America was a two door coupe.
I remember these things being everywhere. It was the dreaded tin worm that finished off the vast majority of them. No body rust proofing in them there days! I played my part in the demise of an MG 1300 by swapping the engine into a Mini. That happened quite often. You ended up with a cheap alternative to a Cooper. If we knew then, what we know now eh?
I recall even in the early 80's that the BL cars on our company fleet would rust through within the 3 years we kept them. That is one huge improvement on more modern vehicles.
Gray Fool. My God you and me must have come out of the same mould, the firm I worked for as a mechanic had a 6 MG 1100s for the reps to use, they were brilliant on fuel and went like a bat out of hell. I used to love servicing them they were so simple to work on, I used to test drive them after and enjoyed every minute of it. I took the engine out of one of them to replace the gearbox and clutch after 90,000 miles and checked the main and big end bearings while I had the engine out, there wasn't a mark on either the crank or the bearing but I replaced the bearing anyway, the oil pressure on all the A-Series engine was always brilliant running at around 50/60 PSI which helped the three bearing crank last forever unlike Ford engines like the Anglia-Cortina and Classic with three bearing cranks which were knackered at 40,000 miles, the camshafts had no lobes on them either absolute crap. BMC/ BL engines were always the best among the big mass producers.
@@davidellis279 Yep, the A series was a very tough little thing. Change the oil and filter regularly and they go for years. I rebuilt the one in my 1275GT at about 125,000 miles replacing all the bearings, bushes, rings and gaskets. Most parts were not too bad but it was in bits so why not. It cost less than £100.00 at the time and ran like a new engine. Went like a scolded cat too. I regretted selling that car as soon as it drove away. Yes, I was an idiot, have you seen what even a basket case fetches now? Bugger!
Gray Fool, I know how you feel, I bought a barn find Austin 1800 D Reg MK 1 that wanted the engine reboring which I used to do, it had been parked up for years and years in a barn, once cleaned up the body was immaculate as was the leather interior, I couldn't believe the condition that car was in underneath, there was no rot or rust anywhere even inside the doors. I kept it meaning to overhaul the engine because it was using more oil than petrol but I was busy reconditioning other people's engines. I man walked into my garage one day and saw it and asked if it was for sale, I said no but he really wanted it and offered crazy money for it so reluctantly sold it. I still regret that decision today and have never found another that wasn't rotten, sad times would have been worth a fortune today with it being a MK 1. I still have my Boring Bar which I am overhauling, I don't know how old it is, I bought it in 1970 and it was secondhand then.
@@davidellis279 Yes, I've let too many go in the past. Rover P6 2000, Mercedes 450SE W116, Ami Super estate, VW type 3 fastback to name just a few. I could have been rich. Or yeah, and the DB5. That one was offered to me for £2500.00, yes two and half thousand pounds. That one really hurts. 20-20 hindsight eh?
Strip / tape speedo had one of them on an Austin 1800 I was kindly given by my stepfather, even today, 38 years later i'm still mesmerised whenever I see such a simple but out the box instrument!....what a sad article I am!!!!!
Absolutely loved your ADO16 Wolseley, I had an aunt in the colonies of New Zealand 🇳🇿 whom had one up to her passing in 1988. Brings back so many memories. In NZ, we also got an Australian variant called the Nomad, basically an estate version that may have had a 1500cc engine. It had different tail lights and may have been the forerunner of what the UK 🇬🇧 considered to be the Maxi. Thanks for the test drive and appraisal. A fine example with only 32,000 miles on the clock.😊
My Mum had an MG1100. I learnt to drive on it and shortly afterwards rewarded her by rolling it into a pond.Thankfully it was summer and dry otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this . But a new roof and a lot of panel bashing it was back on the road . That wouldn’t happen today. Shows how strong they were.
We had 3 Morris 1100s from 1962 to 1971 the last was a red 1967 automatic which to this day was my favourite car ever.these were considered very advanced when they came out incredibly roomy and great handling, unfortunately rust not so much the body but the sub frame mountings claimed many of them early.door bins were called "paniers" by the way.
I owned an Austin 1100 way back late 60's and what a car it was. A pleasure to drive and comfortable with plenty legroom even for the passengers in the rear.
You missed the Morris 1100.S from Australia, it had the 1275 long stroke engine, why there was a long stroke and a normal Stoke version I just can't fathom, the upside was that you could bore that engine with staggered cylinders way oversize and get 1410cc immsmc. So they were all bought up by Cooper S owners.
What a beauty! Badged as a Morris, by the 70's in Australia these were available with a 1500cc engine and, wait for it, a 5 speed gear box. Some autos (or perhaps all) were 4 speed!!! So advanced! Honda and Toyota only offered 2 speed autos and in the former, you had to shift it yourself! Look at the boot. NO loading lip! The perfect city car. It's unfortunate many of us have become too greedy and often drive cars that are way too big for us.
@@martinloney6322 You're right, you didn't "need to", unless you wanted to ruin the transmission. Starting off in "Star" was like staring off in 4th gear in a manual as the ratios were virtually the same. Daihatsu had the same transmission in the 1981 Charade called "Daimatic".
Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolesley, MG and Vandan Plas Princess. Wolesley had illuminated grill badge and each marque had it's own individual interior - this particular car's is fantastic.
A proper car, with a dashboard which is indeed a board, a glovebox large enough for gloves, and wing mirrors on the wings (probably more useful for parking than anything else?). Excellent review - thank you. :-)
To Gord A neighbour who was a travelling sales rep once told me, that Wing Mounted mirrors, were actually fantastic on MOTORWAYS. He said you could see for MILES behind you!
Great video. My mum had a 1970 Morris 1300. Much more basic than the Wolsley, but light and pleasant to drive. I took it from the Midlands to Lands End on my first serious roadtrip after passing my test. Ours was well made (not a Monday or Friday or tea-break, or industrial action car), though it started to rust after its first year. Is it still around? Its reg number XEG 800 J. Someone in my city in Israel (Petah Tikva) has the very same car as the one on the video , but with left-hand drive. Wonder where he gets his spares from, as it is probably the only car of this type in the country.
I had a 1974 purple Austin 1100.They were everywhere here in NZ at that time.UK cars were cheaper than Euro cars because of the preferential tariff.Japanese cars displaced them as time went on because of their reputation for reliability.The 1100 was fun to drive even after a Mini,and comfortable too.I had an orange 1300 later on, but it was quite noisy compared to the 1100.Definitely less feel in the steering nowadays with power steering.They were assembled here from knock down kits [CKD's].
Also, the Morris 1500 and 1500 Nomad (the hatchback version) developed and built in Australia from the late '60s until the early '70s. My first car was a Morris 1100. Excellent fun, very stable and safe car and, unlike the UK, sold here with bench seats front and rear only. Bucket seats were not even an option. Like contemporary Minis they had tinny sounding doors, a trait which also carried over to the Austin 1800. A vehicle which sold more per capita here in Australia than anywhere else on the planet. Thank you for the video.
16:35 The Wolseley 'wedge', as with the Austin & Morris 'wedges', were all rebranded as Princess, not Austin. It was available in base, L, HL & HLS trim levels (L replaced base).
Back in the 70s, when I was young, my grandad had a K reg Princess Vanden Plas 1300, in what I believe was racing green, and if you thought that that Wolseley was luxurious inside, you try out a Vanden Plas ADO16, they are on another level of luxury, and as I sat in that back of Grandad's 1300 I do remember those walnut trimmed picnic tables that folded out of the back of the front seats, and I think the back seat, in leather, obviously, had a fold down arm rest in the middle too. The dashboard was walnut all across and it had walnut trim along the tops of the doors, and top spec door cards and rear arm rests that doubled up as handles to pull the doors closed with. It had the massive VP grill on the front and my granny always felt like royalty when she got ferried around in it, wearing her fur coat, of course. After he sold the 1300 in 1981, he got another Vanden Plas, but this time an X plate Alllegro version, which was pretty much the same inside, top spec and leather, walnut etc. The difference between the base model Austin 1100 and the Vanden Plas was staggering - you would not feel like you were in the same car - an ADO16.
The BMC 1100 was very popular in its day. The hydrolastic suspension was superb, giving a much better ride than any small modern car today. Only 21 Wolseleys 1100's left--that's a real shame, but they did rust in front of your eyes.
The warning lights are, the amber on the left top for check oil filter, the other amber upper centre for generator, the blue top right for high beam and the lower centre red one for oil pressure. The green indicator lamp is on the end of turn signal stalk. The little black lever just under the dash panel turns the instrument lights on or off.
I had a 6/110 with picnic tables in the back, having been driving around in my mum's Morris as a kid without picnic tables I knew I had arrived. Damn I miss yesterday some day. :)
Lovleylivxoxo. I was there on the day as a 5 year old in 1961 at the BMC test track, on film, with my grandfather showing the worlds press. Look on TH-cam for, British Path'e, The incredible seven, Reel 3 1961 and you can see my grandfather at 2 minutes in.
Actually saw one of these a couple of weeks ago (yes the Wolseley variant) waiting at the lights in Gants Hill, Essex/East London. Caused quite a stir amongst passers by. Definitely worth paying the Wolseley premium for that leather, wood and illuminated badge!
Anyone else spend time as a child in the 1970s sat in an ADO16 outside a pub on a Saturday afternoon with a bag of crisps, a bottle of Vimto and Adrian Just on the radio as company as their dad enjoyed a pint inside?
Yes but way back in the 50s we would walk through the woods to a village and my dad always bought me a shandy thank god he did I never got a sweet tooth. They say life has improved no it has not. Every one wants too much without effort.
Very interesting. It’s been over forty years since I’ve driven one of these Austin/Morris/Riley/wolesely/ Vanden-plas (phonetically pronounced Vahnden Plahs... yes, the S is pronounced) derivatives as a young driver in the late seventies, and as far as I can recall they really handled well as if they were on rails. It’s just a shame they never got the rust proofing they deserved & literally dissolved as you watched them.
Pressed Steel alerted Sir Alec Issigonis to the rust traps in the design suggesting changes be made before production commenced but Sir Alec apparently discounted the suggestions and directed that production proceed as per the original design. The much maligned Allegro was a great improvement over ADO16 in the area of corrosion proofing.
I'm in Canada, and mine was an Austin America 1300. Unfortunately, it was on its last legs when I bought it. I threw lots of parts at it. Good thing I worked at a BMC dealer. But the thing I loved the best was the handling. That Hydrolastic suspension was amazing.
In the mid sixties one of my older cousins bought a red MG 1100 Sport Sedan when most Americans were driving VW Beetles. His parents had had an Anglia so he loved British cars. That car was a revelation; if I lived in the UK now I'd probably be interested in buying one of the versions.
My first car was the Morris 1100 bought it from a local dealer in 1976 for £75 hole in the boot lid covered with a sticker of a pig with GT through it upholstery painted black seat's the floor was falling out of it my father and I Pop riveted it back in it was a 1963 model needless to say I learned to drive in it I went to cowley and Longbridge when I worked for girling brakes both massive car manufacturers
The only thing that creaked in my 7 year old Austin 1300 was the rear subframe moving around - because rust. It rose up into the car and displaced the back seat. A year later the MOT man took it off me. Such a shame they were so poorly/cheaply made in those days because they were a delight to drive while they lasted.
What a charming, delightful little car! I used to see lots of Austin Americas, esp. when we lived in the Washington, D.C. area (ca. 1957-69); they seemed to be ahead of their time w/ the FWD and the center exhaust pipe, which many fancy, new cars seem to have now...Again, a nice review, and enjoyed the varied camera angles!
I worked on these 1100/1300s as a young mechanic in a South Croydon dealers. Much nicer than Minis, but considered a lady's car. The owners of the Wolseleys were mostly middle aged women from the well-to-do Coulsdon etc areas to the south. That light on the indicator stalk was dazzling at night especially turning left - people removed the bulbs.
I learnt to drive in an austin 1100 (in t he 70s), my brother owned a wolsley 1300. Great cars, people who haven't driven one have no idea just how good these cars were.
Great little cars and very comfortable but very prone to rust. Bought a 1300 for £50, lent it to a mate who ran it for 12 months then when we could see daylight through the sills lifted the engine out as a basis for my 1430 Mini. Happy days!!
I had 1300 one. Purple with red interior. I remember the fuel pump kept stopping. I had to get out and bash it with a hammer to get it started again. Before it I had an Austin 1300 automatic...
At the 2 minute mark, notice how the bonnet (hood) stays open with a brilliantly simple automatic stay mechanism? How many cars today don't have that basic convenience feature? (Of course, the owner of a BMC/Leyland car did have to spend rather a lot of time tinkering with the engine back in the day... ;-)
My Dad's first car was a 1972 Morris 1300. Always warms my heart to see variants of this car still in good shape. And I have a sister who resides in Crawley so I wonder if she's seen this car around.
The VdP 1100/1300 was the most 'luxurious' small car i've ever seen, until the AM Cygnet, a lovely car, best in automatic form . The AP hotshift auto is a marvel of engineering.
@@rogerhudson9732 I believe the Riley Kestrel was perhaps the best compromise having the same power as the 1300 GT & the MG 1300 but with added luxury. Riley was always a sporty marque. The Wolseley although it had twin carbs, was in a milder state of tune due to the camshaft fitted (from memory).
The day after I passed my driving test I was given the keys to my Mum’s 20 yr old Connaught Green Morris 1100 2 Door, a ‘68 on a G plate. I hit a kerb then a tree and wrote the poor old thing off - that was 32 years ago, still feel bad about it now! - Sorry Mum.
I used to own a 1966 2 tone wolseley 1100. Best feature, which you didn't show, is the foot operated high beam. I sold it a few years ago. But i know it's still alive and kicking.
My first car an Austin 1100 back in 1982. Watching this brings back the smell of vinyl and thrashing it to near death at 18 years of age. A lump of a car but good fun and easy to work on mechanical`y.
As an apprentice sheet metal worker working for WMPTE in 1977 I remember welding these cars for days on end as they where cheep enough to buy as a first time car , oh those days 😃
Had an MG 1100 in flame Red. Drove well but began to rot after it's first winter. Flat spot-welded seams and no rust-proofing, you had to pay extra to have it Zeibart-ed. Was originally designed as a hatchback but 'beancounters' prevented it being issued like that. Was remarkably roomy, would easily carry six if the four girls in the back weren't too big!
My first car; it was great and no rust problems (South Africa!) but it survived 3 significant shunts (T Bone, rear-ended and a head-on with a Triumph Spitfire!). The only mechanical problem was its appetite for CV joints. At the second replacement I paid the extra for heavy duty versions and the car was stolen a week later and never seen again!
Great looking example. The basic pininfarina styling is truly charming. We had a mk3 austin 1300 and loved it despite its temperamental nature . I learned to drive in it .
These are such good looking cars, the Austin/Morris were best sellers for a few years in South Africa. Lovely ride, lots of room, they proved to be very reliable. They were rust buckets at the coast, especially on the East Coast where all cars rusted to bits, and still do. Up here on the High Veld, no rust problems at all. Lovely little cars, I miss them.
This was my very first car in 1979. A 1300 version, and I loved the glowing badge on the grill! It got me around but I never really gelled with it. It was reliable, however, rust got the better of it and I bought a triumph dolomite 1850hl instead. Thank you for the memory though;
@@furiousdriving To be fair, if you needed to move a body or bodies around, you could get an estate version and, due to the ease of swapping mechanical parts around in these, it was very easy to drop in the 1275 twin carb engine and closer ratio gearbox from one of the Austin or Morris 1300 GTs. Back in the '90s, when I had a 1964 Austin 1100, one of the local club members had a Morris 1300 Traveller which he had rebuilt to GT spec and that thing could really get a shift on. It would certainly have shown a clean pair of heals to the Austin 1100s that were very popular as police panda cars in that period and probably would have worried quite a few of the larger police cars too... By the way, if anyone knows whether my old Austin, in pale blue, registration ABK 630B is still around, I'd love to know that the old girl is still going...
I had a 1972 1300 Wolseley about 16 yrs ago that I paid just £350 for! You couldn’t get one for that now, although mine did need a fair amount of welding doing to pass it’s next MOT(cars of this age in the early 2000’s weren’t MOT exempt). Great cars, very much like a big mini to drive. Great review Matt!
Dad must have had two or three of these as company cars (I vaguely remember him having H and K reg Austin 1100s) before moving on to Marinas. Great little cars !
I used to own the Morris 1300. Nice car for 1968 but atrocious gear change exactly the same as the Mini. My examiner got a serious wack in his knee. He still passed me.
Another great nostalgic review. Another derivative of the ADO 16 was the Austin Victoria built in Spain which had a bigger boot and different nose styled by Michelotti and was later renamed the Apache. In a way, the badge engineering was an alternative to the multitude of trim levels offered nowadays.
I'm amazed, and also horrified that the otherwise genius Michelotti, who designed all those fantastic Triumphs, was responsible for the Austin Victoria!. But I suppose I can see that it led to the Triumph 1500 later on!
Its amazing that even though Wolseley doesn't make cars anymore, but its still technically operates doing other products. You should see the 1100/1300 thats made in Australia, they are marketed as the Austin Kimberley and Tasman ( if the spelling is correct), these were basically an 1100/1300 with a full size trunk. Its awesome you are doing videos on automobiles that many people most likely never seen, I seen the Wolseley in magazines, but I never seen one in a video. Great video
Elizabeth, I had an Austin Kimberley...they ran an overhead camshaft six cylinder engine of 2.2 litres (I believe that engine...cannot remember If was “O” or “E” Series...was developed first in Australia before finding its way back to the UK) and indeed was based on the 1800 ‘Landcrab’ which might have been the ADO21?? So...was much larger than the ADO16 shown here...
Years ago I used to buy these cars at auctions and the first check was to grab each side of the headlights and waggle too and fro to see if it was rotten through.Usually was!
We bought a Wolseley 18/85 a year ago. Been sitting for 2 months now sadly, since you hardly can get any parts here in Austria. Looking forward to getting our part from the UK next week!
18/85 were lovely cars but may be you wish you had the 18/85S with the twin carb MGB engine? They used to make a nice sporty snarl from the exhaust like the old Fiat 124 😄 😄
@@Martindyna I will be honest. I don't really know much about the car since there was hardly any paperwork with it. This is what the engine looks like: www.wolseleyownersclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Wolseley-six-3-1024x768.jpg Would that be the engine you're talking about?
@@herbie53opf Hi no that's the Wolseley Six which is a 6 cylinder development of the `E' Series 1500 cc 4 cylinder Maxi engine. This engine replaced the old `B' series 1800 & 1800S engines in later cars. If that's your car it looks Mint !! Only disadvantage is I believe the Six was a bit more heavy on fuel. Sorry, if you're not from the UK `Mint' in this context means perfect condition.
@@Martindyna thank you very much! Very interesting story that these vehicles have. Sadly, there are next to none of them left. Ours does look very good, since it has been restored by the previous owner, but it's not as tidy as the one in the picture. And you're right, it does use quite a lot of fuel but since it's not a daily driver I can live with that. I'm just glad, that I own the (probably) only Wolseley 18/85 in Austria.
Also the South African Austin Apache/Spanish Austin Victoria, which looked like a cut n shut job fusing Triumph front and rear ends onto this passenger compartment.
@@mauritsvw I didn't say I didn't like it 🙂, quite like the triumph dolomite (my first car). Just think the Apache looks like they grafted triumph front and back ends to an 1100.
Everybody fails to mention that, in Australia, there was a Morris 1500 using the same body complete with a taller front bonnet to accommodate the 1500 OHC (and 5 speed all syncro gearbox). I know this because that was my 2nd car! (After an early model Morris 850).
That gearstick - I remember on the 1100 estate I had for longest (I had five in total), I shortened it, which made shifting gears far more relaxed, without my hand up in the air and reaching so far between the gears. It was a little stiffer but that didn't seem to matter.
Correction, ADO stands for Austin Drawing Office and not amalgamated drawing office, some die hards at Morris thought it meant amalgamated, but all major decisions on design were made at Longbridge under the direction of Chairman Leonard Lord then later George Harriman, so the model list was Austin derived - hence Austin Drawing Office. This continued for all BMC models even after Leyland took over. Eventually new models from the Austin side of the BLMC were designated LC - Leyland Cars, then LM - Light/Medium. Though as you state the 1100/1300 range was designated ADO 16, internally it started out as XC9001 at Longbridge!
I always thought of these as "Auntie" cars, I guess cos some of my aunties had them. They were nice to be driven in. When i was a pre-driving age teenager, as few mates and I clubbed together and bought two scrap 1100s, one of which was a positive earth. We managed to cobble one runner from them and (mostly) drove it round the local recreation field which was down a country lane and not really used by anyone for anything else. We did take it on a road trip one day, and it broke down. Some guy from the gate house of the local (and very famous) naval academy came out to help us. Why he didn't figure out that 5, 12 and 13 year olds in a broken down car was a bit odd might be because he turned out to be a bit odd! Anyhow he gave us some petrol from his lawn mower and we got away as fast as we could in case he'd called the cops. We were bricking it one the way home! It was nice of you not to mention that these cars literally dissolved in rain water. This alone accounted for the high attrition rate, as apart from the odd replacement displacer very little else major ever went wrong with them. Rust was a non optional extra on all of these, with the inner wings, headlight voids, sills providing water traps which would rust then through and similarly to minis, the subframes would rot, often sending otherwise quite nice cars to the scrapper.
I had a Vanden Plas with proper chromed cup-holders. In the rear tea trays. Yes, on BMC's achliles' heel, you put your finger on it! (oops, it's gone through the bodywork...)
Thanks for an objective review of a mostly ignored car from history. I had the 1300GT version for 13 years and loved the thing. Had to teach myself welding mind you to keep it on the road. Rebuilt the engine to a stage 2 tune which made it a hoot to drive The handling was surprisingly good for such a basic car, a bit bouncy at times, but that just added to the fun factor. My wife, and tin worm killed it eventually, sad day. Didn't have as much fun driving again till I got a MKII Golf GTI,
Two points. Back in the day I always understood that the second L was silent. This is English after all! It was only the Morris1100 which emerged in '62 with the Austin arriving a year later.
Back in the day (1966) my bestest ever friend traded in his Humber Super Snipe for one of these, we all thought he was mad, but it proved a wise choice; this model was probably the best faux (BMC) Wolseley ever produced. The ride difference between this and the basic Austin/Morris 1100s was a chasm - so quiet, so luxurious and so inexpensive to run (it wasn't cheap - cheap is nasty). Billy reckoned that after 4 years of driving the car it owed him nothing because of massive fuel savings and minimal servicing costs etc. Those were such happy days driving into deepest Suffolk from east London for horses to spend the day with, knowing the luxury and the heating and the reliability of our transport home would just extend these already perfect days. We were so fortunate back then - and we knew it - to be on a deserted mid winter snow bound lane or road in that ultra comfortable front wheel drive meant we'd all get home okay.
When I was 17 I learned to drive in an 'L' reg Austin 1100 in Hastings - winter of 1974. Thanet School of Motoring, Hastings. Great instructor, 12 enjoyable lessons with Mr. Sharp, chain smoked throughout the lessons :-).
The next door neighbour drove the Wolesly version, lovely car that I'd always admired. My dad had a Corsair..
On the day of my test in February 1975 I was collected at home by Mr Sharp to go down to the test centre......in a brand new Austin Allegro!
He'd been given the car 15 minutes before, never driven it and neither had I. It was an appalling piece of harsh, tinny junk. Square steering wheel too. Not a patch on the old 1100.
"I'm really sorry about this" said Mr Sharp."The only thing that could go wrong now would be if we get 'Failer Fowler' doing your test, miserable as hell."
You can guess the next bit.
We went out on the test, very little communication from said examiner. 45 minutes later, back to the test centre. A few road sign questions. He then got out of the car, turned to me and said "Stay here, your instructor will join you shortly."
"Have I passed or failed?" I asked. He just closed the door, said nothing and walked away.
A few minutes later Mr Sharp got into the car, extended his hand to me saying "Congratulations, a first time pass."
I told him about Fowler's departure to which he replied "If he cant find a reason to fail you, he feels HE has failed."
I gave Mr Sharp 40 John Player Specials as a thankyou.
Next day, our neighbour - Mr Waterhouse - let me drive his Wolesly and I loved it.
Happy memories.
haha, sounds like a 70s sitcom, in every detail!
Yes L reg was ‘73
My first car was a Morris 1100. I don't remember if it had an electric fuel pump, but the Austin 1800 I bought next definitely had an SU electric fuel pump in the boot. The pump lived under a black-painted, pressed steel cover. Until I realised that you could service it (by cleaning the little contact points) I kept a piece of wood in the boot so that when the Austin spluttered and died from fuel starvation I could open the boot lid and give the pump cover a stout thump. That would, apparently, free the contact points and off we would go again. The better solution was, as I eventually found out, to clean and set the contact points.
My memories of my 1100 are mostly positive. White with a red interior and with a bench front seat (possibly because the locally made Fords, Holdens and Chryslers all came with bench front seats, BMC Australia decided to follow suit) which meant that the gear lever would actually contact the front of the seat - I can't remember which gears? Possibly only reverse or possibly reverse and the even gears (2nd and 4th). It has been a long while. I loved the floaty ride and the excellent, safe handling. Less appealing was the cheap-sounding clang when you closed the doors. This unpleasant sound was also provided at no extra cost on the Austin 1800.
These cars are clearly the 'grown up' Mini.. I still own one of these and it handles as well as any of my Minis. More legroom than a Jaguar and 'Yes' I've owned those as well so know what I'm saying. A supremely comfortable drive, parts easily available, great owners clubs to get info/help from, easiest engines to tune.. ever! a brilliant choice of car for any new classic car lover.
A lovely kind old gent and neighbour bought one of these Wolseley 1100's second hand in the early 80's and managed to fit 10 of us local kids and an accordion into it and bring us to school every day for years.we all thought it was the coolest car. In case you're wondering two kids in the front passenger seat eight in the back and the accordion in the boot. You wouldn't get away with it nowadays with road safety and such but things were a bit more relaxed back then.
Old cars are remarkably basic but when in such good condition as this one, delightfully simple and charming.
To scrap an ADO16 is a crime against motoring.
It's about time modern cars started going back to basics .It's not a car they are making now it's the starship enterprise only with 4 wheels
@@rogerhudson9732 The crime was building it in the first place. Survivors should be deleted from history. It's a waste of oxy-acetylene keeping them alive.
Jetsonic......and has 10 shades of blue...all panels are different LOL
@Arty Effem. You philistine.....
Yes, they came with electric fuel pumps. Tickety-tickety-tickety. It's a solenoid-reciprocating pump, and over time the contacts get dodgy. When that happens, you end up whacking it with a scrwdriver handle to get it into action on starting.
I passed my test in a Austin 1300 GT it was a mustard colour with a black vinyl roof. Belonged to my mate who tried to set the twin carbs up the night before . I lurched and juddered around the test route with the examiner seated next to me. He passed me and two days later my mate scrapped the Austin as it had ran out of mot and didn't have the money to have the repairs done . Still have happy memories of that Austin.
I really enjoyed the A series engine in both my Morris Minor and my Morris 1100 in my student years.It was always so eager to rev well and get up and go.Always very economical and very easy to work on.I miss those early days of my motoring history.
Yep, when you could get at things (well, most of them), and when things were simple and mechanical.
The fuel pump was electric and positioned in the boot. It was a common anti-theft trick back in the day to interupt the live feed to the pump, then wire in a dashboard ignition switch and hide it under the bottom of the rear bumper. That way you could turn off the fuel pump easily when leaving the car.
A Wolseley 1100 was my parents’ first car, won in a competition at Rhyl. They had to guess how far it would run on a gallon of petrol. They were one yard short, but a co-winner was one yard long so we had to buy out their 50% share. In effect we won half a Wolseley 1100. I was too young to remember it apart from the illuminated Wolseley sign on the grille which I loved, but hated the picnic sandwiches from the boot which always tasted of petrol.
My Mother had one, I drove it to college between 1976 to1978. Had great fun driving that. It was OK except for the gearbox, it was replaced twice. It had a character of its own, like many cars of its age. That’s what makes it so special. Thanks for bringing back some great memories!
To Dennis Ahmet, you say yours had to have the gearbox replaced TWICE. So did my 1300 Allegro. THAT was an AUTOMATIC. Was yours an AUTOMATIC, then?
I learnt in a new mk2 Austin 1100 2 door back in 1971. Just loved the 1100. A few years ago I bought a 1968 morris 1100 mk2 in trafalgar blue. Best car I’ve ever had. People would always come over and chat about going in granddads car or mum had one or older folk saying they used to own one.
My dad had a 1966 Austin 1100, and it did have an electric fuel pump. He fitted a hidden cut-off switch as an anti-theft device. It wouldn't actually have stopped it being stolen, but it would only have gone a very short distance. It was always amusing when dad forgot to flick the switch to 'on', then suddenly remembered when it started misfiring...
In Australia, we got the Morris version of the 1100, probably because BMC Australia was selling 6 cylinderised versions of the Farina Austin Cambridge and Wolseley 15/60, these being named the Austin Freeway and Wolseley 24/80. That interior light appears to be the same unit as used as the rear interior light in the Phase III Vanguard estate. Thanks for showing it - it'll help me find a better unit for my Vanguard!
The 1100 and the 1800 were great cars in their time and much under-appreciated here in Oz. The 1100 was a good handling, good riding, point to point fast touring car - far better than the reputed Mini.
I remember almost every teacher at Applecross High School drove an 1100 and the Principal had an 1800.
There was also a 1300 version.
Learned to drive in an Austin 111. In 1973 my father drove us to Brittany for a camping holiday from Glasgow. The tent was there and we just took clothes etc. Imagine 5 up with a roof rack and so few horses under the bonnet. Really amazing to think about now.
Eurocamp! I grew up with those holidays too, but with a Mk5 Cortina! Now Im doing the same for my son, I wonder if he'll remember the Seat Leons, BMW 5 Series or this Merc W204 as fondly, or at all?
I bought a 1970 Austin 1300 as an ex company car 3 years old. During the next 10 years, I had it practically rebuilt: reconditioned engine, new gearbox, wheel bearings, brake master cylinder (brakes binding), bodywork repair to door sills, hydrolastic suspension pumped up.
Even the side repeater flasher bulb(s) when not working slowed the indicators. I still liked the car design though, giving a smooth ride,
and that wide steering wheel like on a bus! During the later 1960's and through the 70's, there were many ADOs on the road.
After then, most were gone, due to the above faults of poor build I believe.
It's gorgeous on the outside and the inside. Definitely a big step up from the ordinary Austin or Morris 1100. With only 21 left, I'm sure it would take a lot of money to persuade a current owner to part with one.
I love the use of real wood on the dash (and the blue leather) but the things that , for me, give the car character and charm are the interior lights. The one on the indicator stalk but especially the ones on the dashboard for the headlights. They could have just been little circles of plastic but they were shaped to look like little jewels. Lovely. The illumination radiator badge is good. Why can't manufacturers put these little touches in cars these days?
I'm not sure whether it's an after market add on but I've seen an Audi with the front 4 circle logo lit up.
Remember jap Mitsubishi in the 80's put marker lights on the top of the front guards that were either yellow or green and were functional.
Other jap aftermarkets were those bumper stalks for tight parking.
My native NZ would buy boat loads of secondhand jap RHD CBU cars in pristine condition.
Such great choice and value for money.
Great for choice of second hand parts, a win / win for both buyers and breakers.😊❤
About the suspension.. If you purchased (Morris 1100 variant) one in Australia, the back window had 2 transfers; one 'Australian Made', and the other shaped like a big drop stating, 'Floats on fluid', as well as 'car of the year 196.. '.. It was unfortunate that motorists at the time preferred the more conventional rear wheel drive, drum brakes, coil and leaf spring suspension. I never saw this 'Wolseley' variant in Australia...
You have a great memory. I remember those stickers. Great cars but I do remember that when it rained hard in Perth the freeway was littered with stalled ones.
@@martinloney6322 Oh yes. Driving rain into the front grille meant a 'shower' over the distributor and spark plug leads located directly in front of the engine. A plastic bag covering it helped, but considered a design flaw...
My earliest child hood memory of cars was helping to wash my Uncles brand new ADO16 MG version (1300 I think) in two tone light blue and cream. Beautiful car. I must have been no more than 4 or 5 years old. I'm now 59 and have never forgotten the car. Just cannot find one today.
This body style was sold as an MG in the US. I remember seeing one on a used car lot in San Francisco in the late '70s. It was much like this only with a black plastic dashboard instead of wood and black vinyl upholstery. The mirrors were on the doors because wing mirrors are not legal in the US. I don't remember the model name now, but it was a word, because marketers convinced them that Americans don't like numbers. I remember that it was a sweet little car, and I really wanted it, but I couldn't afford California car insurance. Good memory, sort of.
I believe they called it the MG 1100 Sport Sedan and it was also sold as the Austin America, either must be a rare thing in the USA now
@@furiousdriving It was an MG 1100. I remember being intrigued because nearly all MGs imported to the US there were roadsters. Sedans were very unusual. The Austin America was a two door coupe.
I remember these things being everywhere. It was the dreaded tin worm that finished off the vast majority of them. No body rust proofing in them there days! I played my part in the demise of an MG 1300 by swapping the engine into a Mini. That happened quite often. You ended up with a cheap alternative to a Cooper. If we knew then, what we know now eh?
I recall even in the early 80's that the BL cars on our company fleet would rust through within the 3 years we kept them. That is one huge improvement on more modern vehicles.
Gray Fool. My God you and me must have come out of the same mould, the firm I worked for as a mechanic had a 6 MG 1100s for the reps to use, they were brilliant on fuel and went like a bat out of hell. I used to love servicing them they were so simple to work on, I used to test drive them after and enjoyed every minute of it. I took the engine out of one of them to replace the gearbox and clutch after 90,000 miles and checked the main and big end bearings while I had the engine out, there wasn't a mark on either the crank or the bearing but I replaced the bearing anyway, the oil pressure on all the A-Series engine was always brilliant running at around 50/60 PSI which helped the three bearing crank last forever unlike Ford engines like the Anglia-Cortina and Classic with three bearing cranks which were knackered at 40,000 miles, the camshafts had no lobes on them either absolute crap. BMC/ BL engines were always the best among the big mass producers.
@@davidellis279 Yep, the A series was a very tough little thing. Change the oil and filter regularly and they go for years. I rebuilt the one in my 1275GT at about 125,000 miles replacing all the bearings, bushes, rings and gaskets. Most parts were not too bad but it was in bits so why not. It cost less than £100.00 at the time and ran like a new engine. Went like a scolded cat too. I regretted selling that car as soon as it drove away. Yes, I was an idiot, have you seen what even a basket case fetches now? Bugger!
Gray Fool, I know how you feel, I bought a barn find Austin 1800 D Reg MK 1 that wanted the engine reboring which I used to do, it had been parked up for years and years in a barn, once cleaned up the body was immaculate as was the leather interior, I couldn't believe the condition that car was in underneath, there was no rot or rust anywhere even inside the doors. I kept it meaning to overhaul the engine because it was using more oil than petrol but I was busy reconditioning other people's engines. I man walked into my garage one day and saw it and asked if it was for sale, I said no but he really wanted it and offered crazy money for it so reluctantly sold it. I still regret that decision today and have never found another that wasn't rotten, sad times would have been worth a fortune today with it being a MK 1. I still have my Boring Bar which I am overhauling, I don't know how old it is, I bought it in 1970 and it was secondhand then.
@@davidellis279 Yes, I've let too many go in the past. Rover P6 2000, Mercedes 450SE W116, Ami Super estate, VW type 3 fastback to name just a few. I could have been rich. Or yeah, and the DB5. That one was offered to me for £2500.00, yes two and half thousand pounds. That one really hurts. 20-20 hindsight eh?
Strip / tape speedo had one of them on an Austin 1800 I was kindly given by my stepfather, even today, 38 years later i'm still mesmerised whenever I see such a simple but out the box instrument!....what a sad article I am!!!!!
Absolutely loved your ADO16 Wolseley, I had an aunt in the colonies of New Zealand 🇳🇿 whom had one up to her passing in 1988.
Brings back so many memories.
In NZ, we also got an Australian variant called the Nomad, basically an estate version that may have had a 1500cc engine.
It had different tail lights and may have been the forerunner of what the UK 🇬🇧 considered to be the Maxi.
Thanks for the test drive and appraisal.
A fine example with only 32,000 miles on the clock.😊
My Mum had an MG1100. I learnt to drive on it and shortly afterwards rewarded her by rolling it into a pond.Thankfully it was summer and dry otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this . But a new roof and a lot of panel bashing it was back on the road . That wouldn’t happen today. Shows how strong they were.
We had 3 Morris 1100s from 1962 to 1971 the last was a red 1967 automatic which to this day was my favourite car ever.these were considered very advanced when they came out incredibly roomy and great handling, unfortunately rust not so much the body but the sub frame mountings claimed many of them early.door bins were called "paniers" by the way.
I owned an Austin 1100 way back late 60's and what a car it was. A pleasure to drive and comfortable with plenty legroom even for the passengers in the rear.
It's always awesome to me when young people love old cars. Makes me feel a bit better about it!
Yeah, I’m turning 30 and I love cars like this, although the more basic ones like the Austin 1100, and ditto the Austin A30, Morris Minor, etc.
You missed the Morris 1100.S from Australia, it had the 1275 long stroke engine, why there was a long stroke and a normal Stoke version I just can't fathom, the upside was that you could bore that engine with staggered cylinders way oversize and get 1410cc immsmc. So they were all bought up by Cooper S owners.
What a beauty! Badged as a Morris, by the 70's in Australia these were available with a 1500cc engine and, wait for it, a 5 speed gear box. Some autos (or perhaps all) were 4 speed!!! So advanced! Honda and Toyota only offered 2 speed autos and in the former, you had to shift it yourself! Look at the boot. NO loading lip! The perfect city car. It's unfortunate many of us have become too greedy and often drive cars that are way too big for us.
You didn’t need to shift the gears in the Honda.
@@martinloney6322 You're right, you didn't "need to", unless you wanted to ruin the transmission. Starting off in "Star" was like staring off in 4th gear in a manual as the ratios were virtually the same. Daihatsu had the same transmission in the 1981 Charade called "Daimatic".
@@club1fan552 I always started in star. Never had any trouble at all.
@@martinloney6322What model and year did you have and for how long?
@@club1fan552 1975 4 door. My family and then a friend had it until 1990.
Ah, yet another bona fide British classic, sir! You are clearly doing very well on your channel when you cover Sir Alec Issigonis' finest designs.
Maybe that is because the exterior is designed by Pininfarina.
@@JeeGee114, that's probably why!
Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolesley, MG and Vandan Plas Princess. Wolesley had illuminated grill badge and each marque had it's own individual interior - this particular car's is fantastic.
A proper car, with a dashboard which is indeed a board, a glovebox large enough for gloves, and wing mirrors on the wings (probably more useful for parking than anything else?). Excellent review - thank you. :-)
To Gord A neighbour who was a travelling sales rep once told me, that Wing Mounted mirrors, were actually fantastic on MOTORWAYS. He said you could see for MILES behind you!
Lovely car and even though they had their issues, this one still lives to tell the tale. Great video mate
American car company Nash had a similar turn signal lever on its Rambler models in the 1950's. The end flashed green also.
That might have been the same part, Austin and Nash had a tie up for a short time
Great video.
My mum had a 1970 Morris 1300.
Much more basic than the Wolsley, but light and pleasant to drive. I took it from the Midlands to Lands End on my first serious roadtrip after passing my test. Ours was well made (not a Monday or Friday or tea-break, or industrial action car), though it started to rust after its first year. Is it still around? Its reg number XEG 800 J.
Someone in my city in Israel (Petah Tikva) has the very same car as the one on the video , but with left-hand drive. Wonder where he gets his spares from, as it is probably the only car of this type in the country.
I had a 1974 purple Austin 1100.They were everywhere here in NZ at that time.UK cars were cheaper than Euro cars because of the preferential tariff.Japanese cars displaced them as time went on because of their reputation for reliability.The 1100 was fun to drive even after a Mini,and comfortable too.I had an orange 1300 later on, but it was quite noisy compared to the 1100.Definitely less feel in the steering nowadays with power steering.They were assembled here from knock down kits [CKD's].
Also, the Morris 1500 and 1500 Nomad (the hatchback version) developed and built in Australia from the late '60s until the early '70s. My first car was a Morris 1100. Excellent fun, very stable and safe car and, unlike the UK, sold here with bench seats front and rear only. Bucket seats were not even an option. Like contemporary Minis they had tinny sounding doors, a trait which also carried over to the Austin 1800. A vehicle which sold more per capita here in Australia than anywhere else on the planet. Thank you for the video.
To David Hynd. I certainly would have had a Morris Nomad, if I'd lived in Australia!
16:35
The Wolseley 'wedge', as with the Austin & Morris 'wedges', were all rebranded as Princess, not Austin.
It was available in base, L, HL & HLS trim levels (L replaced base).
Back in the 70s, when I was young, my grandad had a K reg Princess Vanden Plas 1300, in what I believe was racing green, and if you thought that that Wolseley was luxurious inside, you try out a Vanden Plas ADO16, they are on another level of luxury, and as I sat in that back of Grandad's 1300 I do remember those walnut trimmed picnic tables that folded out of the back of the front seats, and I think the back seat, in leather, obviously, had a fold down arm rest in the middle too. The dashboard was walnut all across and it had walnut trim along the tops of the doors, and top spec door cards and rear arm rests that doubled up as handles to pull the doors closed with. It had the massive VP grill on the front and my granny always felt like royalty when she got ferried around in it, wearing her fur coat, of course.
After he sold the 1300 in 1981, he got another Vanden Plas, but this time an X plate Alllegro version, which was pretty much the same inside, top spec and leather, walnut etc. The difference between the base model Austin 1100 and the Vanden Plas was staggering - you would not feel like you were in the same car - an ADO16.
The BMC 1100 was very popular in its day. The hydrolastic suspension was superb, giving a much better ride than any small modern car today. Only 21 Wolseleys 1100's left--that's a real shame, but they did rust in front of your eyes.
The warning lights are, the amber on the left top for check oil filter, the other amber upper centre for generator, the blue top right for high beam and the lower centre red one for oil pressure. The green indicator lamp is on the end of turn signal stalk. The little black lever just under the dash panel turns the instrument lights on or off.
I had a 6/110 with picnic tables in the back, having been driving around in my mum's Morris as a kid without picnic tables I knew I had arrived. Damn I miss yesterday some day. :)
My late grandfather had a red one of those.
He worked at BMC Cowley Oxford and helped in promoting the Mini to the world when it was released in 1961.
That must have been properly exciting to be part of
Lovleylivxoxo.
I was there on the day as a 5 year old in 1961 at the BMC test track, on film, with my grandfather showing the worlds press. Look on TH-cam for, British Path'e, The incredible seven, Reel 3 1961 and you can see my grandfather at 2 minutes in.
As far as I was aware the mini was released in 1959 though this may have been produced at long bridge
Actually saw one of these a couple of weeks ago (yes the Wolseley variant) waiting at the lights in Gants Hill, Essex/East London. Caused quite a stir amongst passers by.
Definitely worth paying the Wolseley premium for that leather, wood and illuminated badge!
Anyone else spend time as a child in the 1970s sat in an ADO16 outside a pub on a Saturday afternoon with a bag of crisps, a bottle of Vimto and Adrian Just on the radio as company as their dad enjoyed a pint inside?
Yes but way back in the 50s we would walk through the woods to a village and my dad always bought me a shandy thank god he did I never got a sweet tooth. They say life has improved no it has not. Every one wants too much without effort.
Very interesting.
It’s been over forty years since I’ve driven one of these Austin/Morris/Riley/wolesely/ Vanden-plas (phonetically pronounced Vahnden Plahs... yes, the S is pronounced) derivatives as a young driver in the late seventies, and as far as I can recall they really handled well as if they were on rails.
It’s just a shame they never got the rust proofing they deserved & literally dissolved as you watched them.
Pressed Steel alerted Sir Alec Issigonis to the rust traps in the design suggesting changes be made before production commenced but Sir Alec apparently discounted the suggestions and directed that production proceed as per the original design.
The much maligned Allegro was a great improvement over ADO16 in the area of corrosion proofing.
I'm in Canada, and mine was an Austin America 1300. Unfortunately, it was on its last legs when I bought it. I threw lots of parts at it. Good thing I worked at a BMC dealer. But the thing I loved the best was the handling. That Hydrolastic suspension was amazing.
Electric fuel pump was original, my Austin 1100 had the same. I remember hauling it out occasionally to file the points inside, then plop it back in.
All the way back to the Morris Minor...same simple noisy Smiths pump/
Always loved that glowing badge on the grille 😊
My mate's dad had a Wolseley Princess early 80's, same little glowing badge if I remember rightly 🤔
My Grandfather had one of these.....I can still remember the smell of leather and pipe tobacco!. Your video was a lovely trip down memory lane.
In the mid sixties one of my older cousins bought a red MG 1100 Sport Sedan when most Americans were driving VW Beetles. His parents had had an Anglia so he loved British cars. That car was a revelation; if I lived in the UK now I'd probably be interested in buying one of the versions.
My first car was the Morris 1100 bought it from a local dealer in 1976 for £75 hole in the boot lid covered with a sticker of a pig with GT through it upholstery painted black seat's the floor was falling out of it my father and I Pop riveted it back in it was a 1963 model needless to say I learned to drive in it I went to cowley and Longbridge when I worked for girling brakes both massive car manufacturers
The only thing that creaked in my 7 year old Austin 1300 was the rear subframe moving around - because rust. It rose up into the car and displaced the back seat. A year later the MOT man took it off me. Such a shame they were so poorly/cheaply made in those days because they were a delight to drive while they lasted.
I believe Pressed Steel pointed out the rust traps to Sir Alec Issigonis but he said build it as per the original drawings.
What a charming, delightful little car! I used to see lots of Austin Americas, esp. when we lived in the Washington, D.C. area (ca. 1957-69); they seemed to be ahead of their time w/ the FWD and the center exhaust pipe, which many fancy, new cars seem to have now...Again, a nice review, and enjoyed the varied camera angles!
I worked on these 1100/1300s as a young mechanic in a South Croydon dealers. Much nicer than Minis, but considered a lady's car. The owners of the Wolseleys were mostly middle aged women from the well-to-do Coulsdon etc areas to the south. That light on the indicator stalk was dazzling at night especially turning left - people removed the bulbs.
My Granny had a Wolseley exactly like this. I remember it fondly and this video brought back a lot of happy memories.
I learnt to drive in an austin 1100 (in t he 70s), my brother owned a wolsley 1300. Great cars, people who haven't driven one have no idea just how good these cars were.
Great little cars and very comfortable but very prone to rust. Bought a 1300 for £50, lent it to a mate who ran it for 12 months then when we could see daylight through the sills lifted the engine out as a basis for my 1430 Mini. Happy days!!
I had 1300 one. Purple with red interior. I remember the fuel pump kept stopping. I had to get out and bash it with a hammer to get it started again. Before it I had an Austin 1300 automatic...
At the 2 minute mark, notice how the bonnet (hood) stays open with a brilliantly simple automatic stay mechanism? How many cars today don't have that basic convenience feature? (Of course, the owner of a BMC/Leyland car did have to spend rather a lot of time tinkering with the engine back in the day... ;-)
My Dad's first car was a 1972 Morris 1300. Always warms my heart to see variants of this car still in good shape. And I have a sister who resides in Crawley so I wonder if she's seen this car around.
Partially learned to drive in one of these - wonderful car
I think there was a VDP version too
Austin, Morris, MG, Wolseley, Riley and VDP
The VdP 1100/1300 was the most 'luxurious' small car i've ever seen, until the AM Cygnet, a lovely car, best in automatic form . The AP hotshift auto is a marvel of engineering.
@@rogerhudson9732 I believe the Riley Kestrel was perhaps the best compromise having the same power as the 1300 GT & the MG 1300 but with added luxury.
Riley was always a sporty marque. The Wolseley although it had twin carbs, was in a milder state of tune due to the camshaft fitted (from memory).
One of the best British post war mass-market cars. The leather is in lovely condition. Charming.
The day after I passed my driving test I was given the keys to my Mum’s 20 yr old Connaught Green Morris 1100 2 Door, a ‘68 on a G plate. I hit a kerb then a tree and wrote the poor old thing off - that was 32 years ago, still feel bad about it now! - Sorry Mum.
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I used to own a 1966 2 tone wolseley 1100. Best feature, which you didn't show, is the foot operated high beam. I sold it a few years ago. But i know it's still alive and kicking.
My first car an Austin 1100 back in 1982. Watching this brings back the smell of vinyl and thrashing it to near death at 18 years of age. A lump of a car but good fun and easy to work on mechanical`y.
As an apprentice sheet metal worker working for WMPTE in 1977 I remember welding these cars for days on end as they where cheep enough to buy as a first time car , oh those days 😃
Had an MG 1100 in flame Red. Drove well but began to rot after it's first winter. Flat spot-welded seams and no rust-proofing, you had to pay extra to have it Zeibart-ed. Was originally designed as a hatchback but 'beancounters' prevented it being issued like that. Was remarkably roomy, would easily carry six if the four girls in the back weren't too big!
It's amazing how the Mini and the 1100 were relatively well sorted & the All Agro & the Marina just dumped it all in the pan.
My first car; it was great and no rust problems (South Africa!) but it survived 3 significant shunts (T Bone, rear-ended and a head-on with a Triumph Spitfire!). The only mechanical problem was its appetite for CV joints. At the second replacement I paid the extra for heavy duty versions and the car was stolen a week later and never seen again!
Tbe ADO-16 is for me the most beautiful car ever made.
Great nostalgia. I grew up with these things many years ago. Thanks for bringing one out for me to see again. Pete 🇬🇧
I do love these videos where you test drive cars from the past. So a big thanks to Furiousdriving.
Great looking example. The basic pininfarina styling is truly charming. We had a mk3 austin 1300 and loved it despite its temperamental nature . I learned to drive in it .
These are such good looking cars, the Austin/Morris were best sellers for a few years in South Africa. Lovely ride, lots of room, they proved to be very reliable. They were rust buckets at the coast, especially on the East Coast where all cars rusted to bits, and still do.
Up here on the High Veld, no rust problems at all. Lovely little cars, I miss them.
This was my very first car in 1979. A 1300 version, and I loved the glowing badge on the grill! It got me around but I never really gelled with it. It was reliable, however, rust got the better of it and I bought a triumph dolomite 1850hl instead. Thank you for the memory though;
i heard the reason they all rotted out so badly is because richard as planned used to store wet fish in them! dolomites were no better
@@robshearing2131 Probably! But I liked the dolomite a lot more.
2:45 "Would struggle to get a body in there." So nonchalant haha
In a complete consumer review its important to cover all possible users needs
@@furiousdriving To be fair, if you needed to move a body or bodies around, you could get an estate version and, due to the ease of swapping mechanical parts around in these, it was very easy to drop in the 1275 twin carb engine and closer ratio gearbox from one of the Austin or Morris 1300 GTs. Back in the '90s, when I had a 1964 Austin 1100, one of the local club members had a Morris 1300 Traveller which he had rebuilt to GT spec and that thing could really get a shift on. It would certainly have shown a clean pair of heals to the Austin 1100s that were very popular as police panda cars in that period and probably would have worried quite a few of the larger police cars too...
By the way, if anyone knows whether my old Austin, in pale blue, registration ABK 630B is still around, I'd love to know that the old girl is still going...
but so messy
@integraledmy Somebody has been watching too much Dexter...
I’m his niece and I can guarantee you that he says stuff like this all the time🤦🏼♀️
This was my first car in 1971.
I had a 1972 1300 Wolseley about 16 yrs ago that I paid just £350 for!
You couldn’t get one for that now, although mine did need a fair amount of welding doing to pass it’s next MOT(cars of this age in the early 2000’s weren’t MOT exempt).
Great cars, very much like a big mini to drive.
Great review Matt!
Dad must have had two or three of these as company cars (I vaguely remember him having H and K reg Austin 1100s) before moving on to Marinas. Great little cars !
I used to own the Morris 1300. Nice car for 1968 but atrocious gear change exactly the same as the Mini. My examiner got a serious wack in his knee. He still passed me.
Love the mystic blend of design, science, construction and detailed explanation- anecdotes= a vey enjoyable production,
Another great nostalgic review. Another derivative of the ADO 16 was the Austin Victoria built in Spain which had a bigger boot and different nose styled by Michelotti and was later renamed the Apache. In a way, the badge engineering was an alternative to the multitude of trim levels offered nowadays.
I'm amazed, and also horrified that the otherwise genius Michelotti, who designed all those fantastic Triumphs, was responsible for the Austin Victoria!. But I suppose I can see that it led to the Triumph 1500 later on!
Its amazing that even though Wolseley doesn't make cars anymore, but its still technically operates doing other products. You should see the 1100/1300 thats made in Australia, they are marketed as the Austin Kimberley and Tasman ( if the spelling is correct), these were basically an 1100/1300 with a full size trunk. Its awesome you are doing videos on automobiles that many people most likely never seen, I seen the Wolseley in magazines, but I never seen one in a video. Great video
Elizabeth Cherry Kimberley and Tasman were expanded versions of the 1800, with transverse 6 cylinder engines. Much bigger than the 1100.
Elizabeth, I had an Austin Kimberley...they ran an overhead camshaft six cylinder engine of 2.2 litres (I believe that engine...cannot remember If was “O” or “E” Series...was developed first in Australia before finding its way back to the UK) and indeed was based on the 1800 ‘Landcrab’ which might have been the ADO21?? So...was much larger than the ADO16 shown here...
Years ago I used to buy these cars at auctions and the first check was to grab each side of the headlights and waggle too and fro to see if it was rotten through.Usually was!
We bought a Wolseley 18/85 a year ago. Been sitting for 2 months now sadly, since you hardly can get any parts here in Austria.
Looking forward to getting our part from the UK next week!
Hope it arrives soon and you can drive it
18/85 were lovely cars but may be you wish you had the 18/85S with the twin carb MGB engine? They used to make a nice sporty snarl from the exhaust like the old Fiat 124 😄 😄
@@Martindyna I will be honest. I don't really know much about the car since there was hardly any paperwork with it.
This is what the engine looks like:
www.wolseleyownersclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Wolseley-six-3-1024x768.jpg
Would that be the engine you're talking about?
@@herbie53opf Hi no that's the Wolseley Six which is a 6 cylinder development of the `E' Series 1500 cc 4 cylinder Maxi engine. This engine replaced the old `B' series 1800 & 1800S engines in later cars.
If that's your car it looks Mint !! Only disadvantage is I believe the Six was a bit more heavy on fuel.
Sorry, if you're not from the UK `Mint' in this context means perfect condition.
@@Martindyna thank you very much! Very interesting story that these vehicles have. Sadly, there are next to none of them left.
Ours does look very good, since it has been restored by the previous owner, but it's not as tidy as the one in the picture.
And you're right, it does use quite a lot of fuel but since it's not a daily driver I can live with that. I'm just glad, that I own the (probably) only Wolseley 18/85 in Austria.
Good design but as most cars of that period, rust was the main problem.
Also the South African Austin Apache/Spanish Austin Victoria, which looked like a cut n shut job fusing Triumph front and rear ends onto this passenger compartment.
The Apache was quite a successful and attractive design, in my opinion.
@@mauritsvw I didn't say I didn't like it 🙂, quite like the triumph dolomite (my first car). Just think the Apache looks like they grafted triumph front and back ends to an 1100.
Wolseley started in 1896, first car built by Herbert Austin, manager of the Wolseley Sheep Shearing co. Nice video, thanks.
Everybody fails to mention that, in Australia, there was a Morris 1500 using the same body complete with a taller front bonnet to accommodate the 1500 OHC (and 5 speed all syncro gearbox).
I know this because that was my 2nd car! (After an early model Morris 850).
That gearstick - I remember on the 1100 estate I had for longest (I had five in total), I shortened it, which made shifting gears far more relaxed, without my hand up in the air and reaching so far between the gears. It was a little stiffer but that didn't seem to matter.
Correction, ADO stands for Austin Drawing Office and not amalgamated drawing office, some die hards at Morris thought it meant amalgamated, but all major decisions on design were made at Longbridge under the direction of Chairman Leonard Lord then later George Harriman, so the model list was Austin derived - hence Austin Drawing Office. This continued for all BMC models even after Leyland took over. Eventually new models from the Austin side of the BLMC were designated LC - Leyland Cars, then LM - Light/Medium. Though as you state the 1100/1300 range was designated ADO 16, internally it started out as XC9001 at Longbridge!
I always thought of these as "Auntie" cars, I guess cos some of my aunties had them. They were nice to be driven in. When i was a pre-driving age teenager, as few mates and I clubbed together and bought two scrap 1100s, one of which was a positive earth. We managed to cobble one runner from them and (mostly) drove it round the local recreation field which was down a country lane and not really used by anyone for anything else. We did take it on a road trip one day, and it broke down. Some guy from the gate house of the local (and very famous) naval academy came out to help us. Why he didn't figure out that 5, 12 and 13 year olds in a broken down car was a bit odd might be because he turned out to be a bit odd! Anyhow he gave us some petrol from his lawn mower and we got away as fast as we could in case he'd called the cops. We were bricking it one the way home!
It was nice of you not to mention that these cars literally dissolved in rain water. This alone accounted for the high attrition rate, as apart from the odd replacement displacer very little else major ever went wrong with them. Rust was a non optional extra on all of these, with the inner wings, headlight voids, sills providing water traps which would rust then through and similarly to minis, the subframes would rot, often sending otherwise quite nice cars to the scrapper.
I had a Vanden Plas with proper chromed cup-holders. In the rear tea trays.
Yes, on BMC's achliles' heel, you put your finger on it! (oops, it's gone through the bodywork...)
We had one of these but the 1300 when I was a kid. Lovely comfortable car and quite nippy to.
Thanks for an objective review of a mostly ignored car from history. I had the 1300GT version for 13 years and loved the thing. Had to teach myself welding mind you to keep it on the road. Rebuilt the engine to a stage 2 tune which made it a hoot to drive The handling was surprisingly good for such a basic car, a bit bouncy at times, but that just added to the fun factor. My wife, and tin worm killed it eventually, sad day. Didn't have as much fun driving again till I got a MKII Golf GTI,
Two points. Back in the day I always understood that the second L was silent. This is English after all! It was only the Morris1100 which emerged in '62 with the Austin arriving a year later.
You are correct sir. Brit born 1946 now living in California since 1981.
@@johnknott6539 So it’s correctly pronounced Wolsey?
In its day that was a great little car, it cornered well and felt fast because it was low to the ground. I loved all version of the 1100.