On rare occasions, a new car debuts at the perfect moment – the Citroën DS in 1955, the Mini in 1959 and, on 15 August 1962, the Morris 1100.
Sixty years ago, the first example of the British Motor Corporation’s ADO16 family was unique in its class, for no other manufacturer offered a rival transverse-engined saloon equipped with fluid suspension. It made the Ford Anglia 105E and the Triumph Herald appear relics of the previous decade and introduced countless British motorists to the benefits of front-wheel drive.
And William Davies’s 1963 example is a reminder of a time when the latest in automotive technology, clad in sharp Italian tailoring, could be yours for a mere £695 7s 5d.
To quote this newspaper on the launch date, “the motoring world has waited for an extension of the BMC mini-car technique to larger models in the Corporation’s range. The Morris 1100 is the first step in that direction”. Mechanically at least, the ADO16 was essentially an upscaled version of the groundbreaking Mini.
The styling was by Pininfarina as BMC intended its latest model to appeal to the buyer’s inner sophisticate. As the Corporation’s technical director Alec Issigonis told The Motor, “ADO16 is a refined car, not a cut price one”. Early prototypes used the 948cc engine from the Morris Minor 1000, which proved underpowered, so the engineering department enlarged the A-Series unit to 1,098cc. The Morris 1100 would also be the first BMC car fitted with Alex Moulton’s Hydrolastic suspension.
BMC unveiled the ADO16 at Worcester College in Oxford, boasting that every Morris dealer in the world had an example of the new 1100. Motor Sport believed it would become a “slaughterer of rival small cars, both British and Continental”, and Autocar observed, “The staff of this journal have never before been so unanimously enthusiastic about the overall qualities of a car.”
The range consisted of two- and four-door bodies (the former for export only) and Standard or De Luxe trim levels. The De Luxe provided windscreen washers as standard, although a heater was a £13 15s optional extra. Meanwhile, W. A. McKenzie of The Telegraph assured his readers: “It will not replace the Morris 1000, one of the best selling British cars since the war.” The venerable Minor saloon remained in production until 1970, providing an in-house alternative for those who eschewed front-wheel drive.
Meanwhile, the new Morris seemed perfect for the sort of motorist who sported a David Frost haircut and who read Len Deighton’s cookery strips at the weekend. The Motor accurately predicted that if the ADO16 did not sell in phenomenal numbers, “a lot of people will be eating their hats”, as it was the UK’s best-selling car from 1963 to 1966 and from 1968 to 1971.
However, the Autocar test concluded with the veiled warning of a potential to outsell European rivals only if the factory quality inspection ensured faultless assembly. Unfortunately, this was often not the case, and BMC further endured a vast degree of company infighting. Rival dealership networks meant the Corporation sold the ADO16 under six marques – Morris, MG, Austin, Vanden Plas, Riley and Wolseley – at a cost to its technical development.
The final British ADO16 left the factory on 19 June 1974, some 15 months after the launch of its replacement, the Austin Allegro; a South African-built variant called the Austin Apache remained on sale until 1977.
Worldwide sales amounted to more than 2.3 million, over half of which were in the home market. By its demise, the 1100/1300 was a part of the fabric of UK life, used by several police forces as a Panda Car and starring in several Public Information Films. Should an errant motorist ignore zig-zag markings, break the ‘two-second rule’, mix cross- and radial-ply tyres, or fry chips at the wheel while reversing blindfolded along the M3 during a heavy fog, an ADO16 was guaranteed to play a significant role in the ensuing drama.
An all-too-familiar combination of rust, neglect and old age means this Connaught Green Morris is one of 496 remaining on the road in the UK – a vast compared with many entries in our “UK’s rarest” series but minimal compared with the model’s heyday.
Memories of the parental 1972 ADO16 Countryman estate inspired Davies to buy this example in 2013 and even use it for commuting at one point. He remarks, “one of the most enjoyable aspects of owning ‘an 1100’ is that distinctive gearbox note, the way the Hydrolastic suspension bounces and all of the detailing, such as the flashing indicator stalk and the strip speedometer. Plus, it does seem at times that everyone’s father or mother appears to have once owned an ADO16”.
Perhaps the most appropriate way to summarise the Morris 1100 is that it encapsulated the worst and the best of the British Motoring Corporation and the subsequent British Leyland empire. Management failed to realise its potential; the factory build quality was frequently limited, but nothing could distract from the impact of that original ADO16. It was as much a harbinger of “The Sixties” as Julie Christie’s first appearance in Billy Liar! or Love Me Do entering the Top Twenty – and it deserves to be celebrated as such.
Thanks to: William Davies and The 1100 Club
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