British Motor Corporation (Australia)

The British Motor Corporation (Australia) was an Australian automobile manufacturer, founded in 1954 through the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) with Nuffield (Australia) Pty. Ltd. originated. In 1952 the Austin Motor Company had already merged with the Nuffield Group to form the British Motor Corporation in the United Kingdom . In 1968 the Australian company became Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd., analogous to further changes in the mother country . renamed and stayed with that name until it closed in 1982.

Austin Motor Company (Australia)

In 1949 the British Austin Motor Company bought the Ruskin Body Works in Melbourne and used their factory to manufacture pickup and touring car bodies for the imported Austin A40 chassis.

Nuffield (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

In March 1950, Nuffield Australia opened a new 230,000 m² assembly plant in Zetland, New South Wales, in place of the Victoria Park Race Course . The factory was equipped to build the Morris Minor and the Morris Oxford . These models had been introduced to Australia from the United Kingdom by then.

British Motor Corporation (Australia)

Morris Major Series II (in the foreground) and Series I (in the background)

In 1954, Austin Australia and Nuffield Australia merged to form the British Motor Corporation (Australia), with the Nuffield site in Victoria Park becoming the headquarters of the new company. Austin and Morris automobiles were assembled there and later became the design and manufacturing center of BMC Australia.

In the period of new designs after World War II , the integration of immigrants and innovation, up to 7,000 people from 35 nations were employed. At the time, it was the only plant in Australia that manufactured complete automobiles and introduced the machining of engine blocks on the assembly line, the Rotodip painting process, automatic assembly lines and other decisive advances in just-in-time and flexible production in this country .

In this factory the Austin Lancer and the Morris Major , which were derived from the Wolseley 1500 but adapted to Australian needs, were built. Another example of badge engineering is the Morris Marshal - also manufactured there and derived from the Austin A95 Westminster .

From 1961 the Mini was built as the Morris 850 in Australia. After the Mini was very popular in Australia - as in the United Kingdom - its own Australian Mini was produced in 1965, starting with the Morris Mini Deluxe model (the first Mini with Hydrolastic chassis, crank windows, key operation and improved equipment). Australian minis had crank windows long before their English counterparts. The Morris Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper S were also manufactured and delivered to police forces in Australia and New Zealand as high-speed chase vehicles. The Mini K (for "Kangaroo") was renamed Mini Deluxe Mk. II and in March 1969 it was delivered complete with kangaroo emblems.

Wolseley 24/80

Austin Freeway and its sister model Wolseley 24/80 , both Australian variants of the Austin A60 Cambridge and the Wolseley 15/60 , came out in 1962 and were both powered by six-cylinder in-line engines from the BMC-B series. To create more confusion, the Austin Freeway was sold as the Morris Freeway in New Zealand and the Morris Mini Deluxe was sold as the Austin Se7en . All of these vehicles were made at the Sydney factory.

An Australian version of the BMC ADO16 was added to the range as the Morris 1100 and in the future the smaller BMC front-wheel drive models were called Morris and the larger Austin. This followed the European markets, where the luxury vehicles were Austin Princess Pullman sedans and Morris supplied vehicles for mass motorization. Production of the Mini Moke began in 1966. However, the Australian version was equipped with larger 13 "wheels and longer trailing arms at the rear than the British original, which only had 10" wheels.

An Australian version of the Austin 1800 was also made from 1965 . This was further developed in 1970 to the Austin X6 model range with a longer wheelbase than the British original. The vehicles were then called Austin Tasman (base model) or Austin Kimberley (luxury version).

Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd.

Leyland Mini station wagon (1973–1978)

Leyland P76

In 1969 the parent company of BMC Australia merged with the Leyland Corporation to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation. BMC Australia continued to act as a subsidiary of the new company, but was renamed the Austin Morris Division in 1970 . In 1972 the name changed again when the company became Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd. was renamed, with the Austin Morris Division was taken over into the new company.

In 1973 the Morris Mini became the Leyland Mini and the Morris Mini Moke became the Leyland Moke . The Australian version of the Morris Marina , which joined the model range in 1972, became the Leyland Marina and was only offered in Australia with a six-cylinder engine with a displacement of 2623 cc.

The almost legendary large car model, which was actually intended for the entire 1970s, was the Leyland P76 introduced in 1973 . It was based on an unrealized proposal for a new rover model. It was intended to accommodate an in-line six-cylinder engine or Rover's aluminum V8, the latter later becoming more popular. Unfortunately, too few V8 engines were available, which limited production.

As a result of the global collapse of British Leyland and its subsidiaries, as well as the protectionist customs legislation in Australia for the remaining automobile manufacturers ( Ford , Holden and Chrysler ), the factory in Zetland, which was opened in 1957 by Lord Nuffield, closed in 1975. The assembly of the Mini from CKD sets was continued by the Pressed Metal Corporation (PMC) in Enfield near Sydney until 1978, that of the Moke until 1982. PMC also manufactured Land Rover models and coffins from pressed metal parts!

JRA Ltd.

In March 1983 the Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd. closed and the new JRA Ltd. took her place. The new company had different divisions such as Jaguar Rover Australia, Leyland Trucks Australia and Leyland Buses Australia.

Web links

Commons : Leyland Australia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring . (1986). P. 62
2. ^ George Nick Georgano : Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile . HMSO. London (2000). ISBN 1-57958-293-1
3. ↑ The size of the factory space is taken from Photo No. A12111: 1/1958/30/8, which was taken in 1958 and is kept in the National Archives of Australia as part of the A12111: Immigration Photographic Archive 1946-today collection.
4. ^ ^{A b} The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring . (1986). P. 337
5. ^ BMC Leyland Motor Vehicle Plant . The Institution of Engineers Australia - Sydney Division Engineering Heritage Committee ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Photos of the factory in Zetland. Institution of Engineers Australia ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ Photo of Police Minis in Sydney (around 1967) ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Scanned copy of the Mini-K brochure (English) ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ^ The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring . (1986). P. 272
10. ^ Advertisement for the Morris Cooper S on the back of Racing Car News Magazine (1969)
11. ^ Brochure of the Morris 1300/1500. British Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd., Austin Morris Division. (June 1970)
12. ^ The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring . (1986). P. 273
13. ^ Brochure from the Morris Marina. Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd., Austin Morris Division. (1972)
14. ↑ 1974 Leyland Mini . MiniExperience.com.au ( Memento of the original dated November 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
15. ^ The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring . (1986). Pp. 254-255