MG 1100 - 64

The BMC ADO16 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project

number 16) is a family of economical small family cars

built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and, later,

British Leyland. It was launched in 1962 and for most of

the next decade the ADO16 was consistently the UK's

best-selling car.

Although most of the cars were manufactured in England, they were also built in Spain by  Authi, in Italy by Innocenti and at the company's own plant in Belgium. It was the basis for  locally adapted similar cars manufactured in Australia and South Africa. Various versions  including Austin, Morris, MG, Wolseley and Riley were assembled in New Zealand from CKD  kits from 1963 until the final Austin/Morris versions were replaced by the Allegro in 1975.  The vehicle was launched as the Morris 1100 on 15 August 1962. The range was expanded to  include several rebadged versions, including the twin-carburettor MG 1100, the Vanden Plas  Princess (from October 1962), the Austin 1100 (August 1963), and finally the Wolseley 1100  (1965) and Riley Kestrel (1965). The Morris badged 1100/1300 gave up its showroom space to  the Morris Marina in 1971, but Austin and Vanden Plas versions remained in production in the  UK until June 1974.  The estate version followed in 1966, called Countryman in the Austin version and Traveller in  the Morris one, continuing the established naming scheme. The Austin 1100 Countryman  appeared in the legendary "Gourmet Night" episode of Fawlty Towers, in which the short-  tempered owner of Fawlty Towers Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) gave it a "damn good thrashing".  This episode was first shown in October 1975.

Design and development

The ADO16 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 16) was designed by Alec Issigonis.  Following his success with the Mini, Issigonis set out to design a larger and more  sophisticated car which incorporated more advanced features and innovations. In common  with the Mini, the ADO16 was designed around the BMC A-Series engine, mounted  transversely and driving the front wheels. As well as single piston swinging caliper disc brakes  at the front, which were not common on mass-produced cars in the early 1960s, the ADO16  featured a Hydrolastic interconnected fluid suspension system designed by Alex Moulton. The mechanically interconnected Citroen 2CV suspension was assessed in the mid-1950s by Alec  Issigonis and Alex Moulton (according to an interview by Moulton with CAR magazine in the  late 1990s), and was an inspiration in the design of the Hydrolastic suspension system for the  Mini and Austin 1100, to try to keep the benefits of the 2CV system (ride comfort, body  levelling, keeping the roadwheel[clarification needed] under good control and the tyre in  contact with the road), but with added roll stiffness that the 2CV lacked. Pininfarina, the  Italian styling studio which had worked with BMC before on the Austin A40 Farina, was  commissioned to style the car. ADO16 had comparable interior space to the larger Ford  Cortina.  BMC engineer Charles Griffin took over development work from Issigonis at the end of the  1950s while Issignois completed work on the Mini. Griffin ensured the 1100 had high levels of  refinement, comfort and presentation. Griffin would later have overall responsibility for the  Princess, Metro, Maestro and Montego ranges. The ADO16 range sold 2.1 million units between 1962 and 1974. 

Mark I (1962–67)

The original Mark I models were distinctive for their use of a Hydrolastic suspension.  Marketing material highlighted the spacious cabin when compared to competitor models  which in the UK by 1964 included the more conservatively configured Ford Anglia, Vauxhall  Viva HA and BMC's own still popular Morris Minor. The Mark I Austin / Morris 1100 was available, initially, only as a four-door saloon. In March  1966 a three-door station wagon became available, badged as the Morris 1100 Traveller or  the Austin 1100 Countryman. Domestic market customers looking for a two-door saloon would  have to await the arrival in 1967 of the Mark II version, although the two-door 1100 saloon  had by now been introduced to certain oversea markets, including the USA where a 2-door  MG 1100 was offered.  An Automotive Products (AP) four-speed automatic transmission was added as an option in  November 1965. In order to avoid the serious levels of power loss then typical in small-  engined cars with automatic transmission the manufacturers incorporated a new carburettor  and a higher compression ratio in the new 1965 automatic transmission cars: indeed a press  report of the time found very little power loss in the automatic 1100, though the same report  expressed the suspicion that this might in part reflect the unusually high level of power loss  resulting from the way in which the installation of the transversely mounted "normal" manual  gear box had been engineered.

1964

Engine 1098 cc 4 cylinders Power 55 HP Top speed 130 km/h Lenght/width 3,73 m/1,53 m Weight 840 kg The collections MG 1100 was bought from Sweden.