Austin Ant

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Austin Ant aka ADO19 prototype of aborted Mini Moke replacement registered February 1969 1098cc.JPG

The Austin Ant (also: BMC ADO19 ) was a small four-wheel drive vehicle designed by Sir Alec Issigonis for the British car manufacturer BMC . The Ant is widely viewed as a military vehicle, but some sources suggest that it was also designed for civilian use. The Ant was designed after the Mini Moke, also designed by Issigonis, was rejected by the British Army as a military vehicle.

The Ant project was ended in 1968 before serial production started. This was when BMC and British Leyland merged to form the BLMC . After the merger, the model ranges of the individual manufacturers should not overlap any further and the Ant would have served the same market as the Land Rover .

The Ant had a BMC-A motor installed transversely and tilted slightly backwards so that there was sufficient ground clearance and suspension travel. As with the Mini and the BMC ADO16 , the cooler was on the side and the gearbox with additional reduction was housed in the engine's oil sump. Behind it sat the transfer case for the all-wheel drive. A cardan shaft conducted part of the engine power to the rear axle. The same design principle was used 30 years later with a Rover K engine in the Land Rover Freelander . The wheels were individually suspended and sprung with torsion bars: double wishbones guided the front wheels, there were parallel swing arms at the rear . The steering worked with a pinion and rack .

Web links

Commons : Austin Ant  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ant Hill Mob , Classic and Sports Car, March 2007 issue, Haymarket Publishing Ltd. Great Britain: https://www.classicandsportscar.com/news/csc-features/austin-ant-ant-hill-mob
  2. ^ The Unofficial Austin-Rover Web Resource; Austin Drawing Office (ADO) Numbers ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )