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Nice to meet you, welcome to ado16.info!We were founded in 1999 and have become the world’s largest internet resource for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 range of cars.
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News From France – 1968, Vanden Plas Princess 1300
Bertrand has been in touch with us from France, wanting in his words during these days of confinement to share the pictures he has of the engine overhaul of his 1968, Vanden Plas Princess...
...Bertrand also gave us some history of his car and it’s worth bearing in mind that in 1968 only 482 examples of the Vanden Plas Princess 1300 were produced for export – Bertrand’s car was sold new by the official French importer and distributor, AFIVA (Agence Française d'Importation de Voitures Anglaises) based at 15, Avenue de Madrid in Neuilly-sur-Seine just west of Paris, to French industrialist Pierre Firmin Didot; the car was registered in the name of his printing company but it was used by his mother as he had an Aston Martin DB4 for himself.
In 1978 Didot went bankrupt and sold the Vanden Plas to a friend of Bertrand’s father. The friend’s wife used the car for daily transport for 20-years until 1998 when it went into storage. Then in 2007 Bertrand’s father’s friend came for dinner and told Bertrand and his father that he had to give the garage back to its owner and so was going to scrap the Princess! Bertrand said, “No! I buy it!”
So, at the age of 14 Bertrand had just bought his first car! It hadn’t run for 10-years but Bertrand and his grandfather set about working on the engine, brakes and clutch, and with everything just tickety-boo the Princess again became a daily driver – this time for Bertrand.
Last year Bertrand pictured the Vanden Plas in front of the former AFIVA garage, now a Bentley dealership; also in front of its former home, in front of 56, Rue Jacob where there is still the Imprimerie Firmin Didot sign on the building but then in the summer the engine blew up – so now the Vanden Plas is in the garage for a complete overhaul by a professional!
We are the only truly global ADO16 club with contacts and representatives in over 40-countries, including of course France. Our membership continues to grow and staggeringly our Facebook Group now has over 2,200 members! You can join the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level here: www.ado16.info/membership-join
Standout Year – MG 1300, 1968
The MG 1300 was launched in 1967 with a Mark II version arriving in the autumn of 1968 – although not the best year for export, UK home market demand was high, so 1968 recorded the highest production figure for the MG 1300...
...production figures for the MG 1300 were hugely down on those achieved by the MG 1100; 1968 saw a total of 10,979 of which 8,395 remained in the UK.
Our featured car is one of the 2,584 exported but it’s exceptionally rare; a variant discontinued in April, 1968 this Portuguese registered MG 1300 4-door, finished in Connaught Green with a Green interior, is the only left hand drive example in the world that we know of, most of the MG 1300 cars were 2-door cars.
We are the only truly global ADO16 club with contacts and representatives in over 40-countries, including of course Portugal. Our membership continues to grow and staggeringly our Facebook Group now has over 2,200 members! You can join the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level here: www.ado16.info/membership-join
Standout Year – MG 1100 2-Door, 1963
Ahead of the best year for production of all versions of the MG 1100, 1963 was the standout year for the 2-door version...
...records presented by James Taylor in his acclaimed BMC 1100 and 1300 book suggest that one 2-door MG 1100 was produced for the UK market in 1963 – well that’s a standout figure as it was the first time the variant was produced for the home market, something not to be repeated until another example was made in 1966 but the real 1963 standout figure was 8,063 cars being produced for export.
Herberta purchased her MG 1100 2-door in the USA in 1963, and still has the car – finished in Tartan Red with a Dove Grey interior; it’s a car that has always been very carefully looked after.
We are the only truly global ADO16 club with contacts and representatives in over 40-countries, including a very large membership across the whole of North America. Our membership continues to grow and staggeringly our Facebook Group now has over 2,200 members! You can join the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level here: www.ado16.info/membership-join
Vintage Year – MG 1100, 1964
Turning our attentions onto the MG versions of the ADO16 a little more, 1964 was the vintage year in which 32,703 examples were built...
...the UK only saw the 4-door version of the MG 1100, and 1964 saw 27.757 of those with 15,503 remaining in the UK – that was also the highest number of the MG 1100 produced for the UK in any single year.
Our featured car is though, one of the 12,254 4-door variants exported, it’s actually a South African assembled 1964, MG 1100 restored to a very high standard and finished in a duo tone green unique to South Africa – the red engine is also correct for a South African built car, and so too are the additional marker reflectors (although originally these front reflectors would have been circular with a metal back and stud like the rear ones, and a hole drilled in the front panel in that location).
We are the only truly global ADO16 club with contacts and representatives in over 40-countries, including of course South Africa. Our membership continues to grow and staggeringly our Facebook Group now has over 2,200 members! You can join the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level here: www.ado16.info/membership-join
Greece Independence Day
Today we celebrate Greek Independence Day, more usually known as the celebration of the Greek Revolution of 1821 (Εορτασμός της Ελληνικής Επανάστασης του 1821)...
...Niko’s Mark III, Austin 1100 Super Deluxe is also a celebration; the car was languishing and in need of some ADO16 love – it’s certainly had that and now looks splendid finished in Glacier White with the Navy option interior, perhaps the most common colour for the ADO16 in the 1970’s.
We are the only truly global ADO16 club with contacts and representatives in over 40-countries, including of course Greece. Our membership continues to grow and staggeringly our Facebook Group now has over 2,200 members! You can join the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level here: www.ado16.info/membership-join
