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As the BMC/BLMC ADO16 was the UK’s best-selling car for many years, it is sometimes easy to overlook their presence in world markets. Here are seven of the most intriguing overseas interpretations:  

AUSTIN APACHE – SOUTH AFRICA

Michelotti created the distinctive “long-boot” bodywork for the ADO22, an intended replacement for the 1100/1300.  Instead, it became the 1971 Austin Apache built by Leykor of South Africa. Advertisements promised a ‘low sporting profile’, and 1973 saw the “Mk.2” with a twin-carburettor “TC” version. Production ceased in 1977, making them the last of the ADO16s.

MORRIS MARINA – DENMARK

Yes, you read that correctly. Denmark was one of BMC’s most crucial export territories, and in 1968, as www.aronline.co.uk points out, they were competing ‘for the second place in the market with Ford and GM’. Furthermore, in that year, Morris was one of the nation’s most popular marques. And between 1962 and 1972, the Danish AD016 wore “Marina” badges.

INNOCENTI MORRIS IM3/AUSTIN I4/I5 - ITALY

In 1959 the British Motor Corporation signed an agreement with Innocenti. Four years later, the Milanese firm unveiled its third BMC collaboration after the Austin A40 Farina and the 950 Spider- the Morris IM3. As compared with a British ADO16, there was the MG 1100’s twin carburettor engine, a new grille and headlamps, courtesy of Pininfarina, cloth trim and a brushed aluminium fascia. By 1964 Innocenti also offered the single-carburettor Austin I4, and in 1966, they facelifted the IM3 as the IM3S. The J5, the final incarnation of the line-up, debuted in 1970, and in 1974 it was replaced by the Regent – a not very successful Italian-built Allegro. But that is another story…

MORRIS 1500 NOMAD – AUSTRALIA

BLMC-Australia never built the Austin Maxi at their Zetland plant, and instead, they offered a five-door version of the Morris 1100/1300 powered by the E-Series OHC 1.5 litre engine combined with a five-speed gearbox. As with the Maxi, the reclined front and rear seats formed a double-bed. The ‘Civilised Sports Car’ may have only been manufactured from 1969 to 1972, but it indeed showed the ADO16’s potential.

AUSTIN VICTORIA – SPAIN

56 years ago, BMC formed Authi - Automoviles de Turismo Hispano Ingleses – with Nueva Montaña Quijano S.A.. Building cars at the Pamplona factory allowed the Corporation to circumvent Spain’s stringent import laws, commencing with the Morris 1100 in 1966 and the MG 1100.  In 1972, the Victoria, based on the South African Apache, replaced the standard ADO16s but sales were slow before production ended in 1974.

GRP-BODIED MG 1300 – CHILE

In 1969, an English-language journal noted of BLMC ‘The company’s Chilean associates already have a plant at Arica where 1,000 Austin and Cooper Minis are produced annually; output is to be increased to 3,000 units a year and production of MG 1300s is planned’. Stringent local content regulations resulted in the Chile-built MGs adopting GRP bodywork, with the last examples leaving the works in 1974, shortly after the coup d'état on 11^th September 1973. You can read more of their fascinating story here.

 IMV AUSTIN 1300 – THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

One of the least-known and most fascinating chapters in the ADO16 saga commenced in 1969 when BLMC granted a licence to Industrija Motornih Vozil of Novo Mesto to assemble the Austin 1300. They also despatched CKD kits of the Mini and the Maxi to Slovenia, but assembly ceased in 1972. Apparently, (lack of) quality was an issue, and by the early 1970s, the local economy meant a 20% increase in BL cars’ price.

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