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Channel Islands Liberation Day
The Channel Islands celebrate Liberation Day today – they are an archipelago in the English Channel, they’re not part of the UK but they are two Crown dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands.
Our post features a splendid period advert from Guernsey of the Vanden Plas Princess 1100 available from Ruette Braye & Le Lacheurs Motors Limited, whilst from Jersey we have a stunning period image from the fishing village of Gorey below its medieval castle.
We are the only global umbrella club for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries with a Facebook Group of over 2,600 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
South Africa, 1971 – The 11/55 HC Automatics
There are certainly some very rare ADO16 variants but it wouldn’t surprise us if there are no surviving examples of the South African 11/55 HC Automatic...
...launched in September, 1971 the Austin 11/55 HC Automatic and the Wolseley 11/55 HC Automatic were discontinued in November, 1971 after just 2-months in production and what’s more there don’t even appear to be any period images of the models!
The HC stood for High Compression; Leyland Motor Corporation of South Africa Limited (Leykor) skimmed the cylinder head (not by 30mm though) to raise the compression ratio from 8.5:1 to 8.9:1 and advanced the ignition timing resulting in a torque increase of around 10 per cent. CAR magazine struggled with accuracy in their article; the car they pictured was their standard Austin 11/55 test car in April, 1968 – it’s the same picture!
With special thanks to Martin Williamson & www.austinapache.co.uk
We are the only global umbrella club for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries with a Facebook Group of over 2,600 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
South Africa, 1969 – The Automatics
Automotive Products (AP) announced 4-speed automatic transmission for the A-series engine in 1965 at the Earls Court Motor Show but it took until September, 1969 before it was offered in South Africa by Leyland Motor Corporation South Africa, more usually known as Leykor...
...those of you who have been keeping up to speed with our South African series will know that there were now Mark II versions of the Austin 11/55, Wolseley 11/55 and MG 1100-S but it was only in the Austin and the Wolseley that automatic transmission became an option and indeed by December, 1969 the MG 1100-S would be discontinued.
With special thanks to Dean Gray and Martin Williamson & www.austinapache.co.uk
We are the only global umbrella club for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries with a Facebook Group of over 2,600 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
A great series. Do you have any pictures of the MG version in mark 2 ? I never saw one when I lived there. The South Africans loved these cars
South Africa had local content regulations based on weight. That kind of explains the way they marketed things differently to Australia where the local content was based on cost.
Pretty sure I was at that '65 Earls Court Show. That may have been the year BMC painted all their special exhib cars that the apprentices up at Longbridge prepared in salmon pink!
Russia – 1974, Morris 1300 Samara – A Special Message & Scuttle Repair
Denis has been looking over your comments regarding the restoration of his 1974, Morris 1300 GT in Arkhangelsk, in the far north of Russia and he’s asked us to share with you a personal message...
...”Hello everyone! This is the very Denis from Russia who is trying to give a second life to the magnificent British car Morris 1300 GT. I have read all your comments and I want to say that my heart is just breaking! Many thanks and a deep bow for your kind words and support! If it were not for the support of people, then I would have given up a long time ago and abandoned this business. But nevertheless, for the fifth year now I have been persistently pursuing my goal – to build a dream car. When I started, I could not even think that I would be noticed not only in Russia, but also in Great Britain. I do not consider my work to be standard; I do a lot wrong and then redo it because I have no technical education, so I ask you not to judge my work strictly. But despite this, I try to make the car as efficiently as I can. The limit of my dreams it is to finish building a car and take it home to England, show it to the same enthusiasts as me. But this is rather a pipe dream, since such a trip costs a lot of money. Well, a series of posts with my car will catch up with real time very soon; I wish you a pleasant viewing. I would like to finish with the words that it was not me who found this car, but he me. He changed my life and changed me. He is part of my life.”
Well indeed we are catching up with real time and today bring you to the end of April, 2019 when Denis had made progress with the scuttle – although it was not an aspect he had particularly enjoyed doing! Really, the scuttle needed replacing with a new item but Denis didn’t have such an item, or made a-fresh from scratch but Denis had neither the knowledge nor the equipment to do so.
In the end Denis decided to restore the upper and lower pieces but to make the bulkhead part from scratch. As you go through the images we’ve posted you’ll see the amount of welding and fettling undertaken – Denis felt it drank his very life force!
Eventually things began to take shape and Denis painted the internals that would be out of sight – so no need to worry about colour shades! Trial fitting showed there had been distortion following all the repair work – something to be expected but the clamps Denis had made in the past allowed a satisfying final job to be achieved – although Denis stated he was not absolutely proud of this work and really didn’t know how to do it otherwise we’re left scratching our heads – has any ADO16 ever had this depth of repair work; for our part we don’t see how Denis could have made a better job of it!
We are the only global umbrella club for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries with a Facebook Group of over 2,600 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
Just goes to prove that anything is repairable if you’ve got the perseverance, enthusiasm and don’t count the pennies! Love it😁
You have achieved the impossible, excellent workmanship, wish I had your perseverance
Excellent workmanship there especially with no formal training! Great effort! Keep up the good work 👌
Michael
South Africa, 1969 – MG 1100-S Mark II
4-months after the 11/55 models in South Africa became Mark II versions the same treatment was given o the MG 1100-S...
...MG sales were not great in South Africa, less than 2,000 of the MG 1100 were sold and then less 150 of the Mark I, MG 1100-S but if you think that makes it a rare model then how about the total figure for the MG 1100-S Mark II, with just 73 cars!
Our featured car is one of those few MG 1100-S Mark II models, now imported into the UK.
We are the only global umbrella club for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries with a Facebook Group of over 2,600 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
