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‘Wolseley elegance comes from having the right background’. At first glance, this appears to be a prime example of 1972-vintage automotive snobbery - targeting the sort of motorist who regarded crazy paving as the pinnacle of architectural achievement. Yet, the Six, the latest flagship of BL’s “Landcrab” family, really was a rather splendid machine.

The original Austin 1800 debuted in 1964, but despite it becoming Car of The Year 1965, it always seemed misunderstood by the British motoring public. BMC introduced a Morris version in 1966 and the top-of-the-range Wolseley 18/85 in 1967. A revised Mk. II made its bow in the following year and a Mk. III in March 1972.

The major news about the third-generation Landcrab was the option of a 2.2-litre E-Series engine, which was first used in the 1970 Australian-built Austin Kimberley/Tasman. The Wolseley was available only with the 2,227cc plant, and Six served as the replacement for both the 18/85 and, belatedly, the RWD Austin 3-Litre. It was also the first six-cylinder Wolseley since the demise of the 6/110 Mk.II in 1968.

Two of the major selling points were the cabin room and the standard of decor - for a car shorter than a Renault 12, the spaciousness of the Wolseley was quite remarkable. Specifying the optional automatic transmission with its fascia-mounted selector lever made the front compartment even more capacious. A dashboard finished in walnut veneer further enhanced the showroom appeal of the Six.

That the Six was related to the Mini was made quite apparent by the “bus driver” steering wheel, but the overall effect was sufficiently dignified for the manager’s car park. ‘The Wolseley Six says what you want it to say about your company’, claimed Leyland. Moreover ‘you’d trust the man who drives one as much as you’d trust the car itself’. In other words – rush out and order a Wolseley, to ensure no-one could ever accuse your firm of being a haven of spivs and wide-boys.

Car of April 1972 believed the larger engine enhanced the Landcrab’s ‘basic attributes but extra power can be used to provoke understeer’. Bill Boddy of Motor Sport thought the Six ‘took me as quickly and as comfortably and as safely on a regular long non-stop run as any car of its price I have encountered lately, and it is splendidly individualistic, in a world of increasingly similar saloons’.

And in terms of rivals, the Six looked far more offbeat than the Rover 2000 or the Triumph 2000 Mk II, was far less flamboyant than a Vauxhall VX 4/90 FE and more low-key than a Ford Granada 2500 Mk. I. The Triumph 1500 was another BL FWD saloon but was far more compact than the Wolseley, and so the potential buyer might have looked overseas at the likes of the Renault 16TS or even the Citroën DS Super 5. However, neither offered that idiosyncratic blend of Wolseley pomp and circumstance with Alec Issigonis engineering.

Not entirely surprisingly, the Six proved to be the best-selling of the Mk. III line-up before its replacement by the 18-22 “Wedge” in 1975. It is all too tempting to identify the mistakes of the British Motor Corporation retrospectively, but the Landcrab was a car of such potential. Had it been sold from the outset as a Wolseley with a six-cylinder engine – and power-assisted steering – perhaps more buyers would have appreciated its many and various merits.

As it is, the Wolseley Six stands as a reminder of true automotive individualism of the 1970s. It was a car for the sort of person who watched BBC2 and was not ashamed to admit it.  Not to mention transport for the discerning individual who appreciated ‘the only car in the world with its name up in lights’.

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