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ADO16 Accessories – Coolaire
Not all climates need a rear screen demister, for some heat is the issue...
...for many years Coolaire of Miami had been making air conditioning kits for US-dealers to install into imported luxury European cars and in 1965 designed the Factory AC system for the Jaguar E-type, and then in 1967, for the Austin Healey, the MG MGB, and the MG Sports Sedan.
Coolaire moved from Miami to Hollywood Florida around 1970 and then a particularly high offer was made for their premises in the mid-1970’s so they sold up!
Today’s featured brochure illustrates the Coolaire Air Conditioning System for the MG Sports Sedan complete with specific dashboard controls that do look very smart.
With special thanks to James Dean.
We’re the global umbrella for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries and with a Facebook Group of over 3,000 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
Looks great
ADO16 Accessories – Smiths Heated Rear Screen
If you couldn’t afford the factory fitted item shown yesterday, or your second hand ADO16 wasn’t fitted with one, then you could always install a Smiths Heated Rear Screen...
1914 saw the formation of a public company S. Smith and Sons (Motor Accessories) Ltd to acquire from S. Smith and Sons (which had begun in 1851 with clocks and watches) that part of the business concerned with manufacture of speedometers, carburettors, and other motor accessories.
Interestingly, 1930 saw Smiths agree a trading deal with Joseph Lucas Ltd whereby the two would not compete in certain areas and Lucas took on part of Smiths non-instrumentation assets. Smiths became the dominant supplier of instruments to British motorcar and motorcycle firms.
1966 saw the name of the principal company of the Smiths group change from S. Smith and Sons (England) Ltd to Smiths Industries and it’s a Smiths Industries Rear Window Heater that we feature.
Smiths continues to exist but during the 1980’s and into the 1990’s the company restructured itself, disposing of its automotive division.
With special thanks to Grace’s Guide.
We’re the global umbrella for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries and with a Facebook Group of over 3,000 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
I made the tooling to produce this back in the day.
I had quite a few of these, mainly from charity shops 😁
My family owned PAY 519G - a Morris, in Snowberry White. Traded it in to a garage, only to find that someone round the corner then bought it! Shame to watch the rust spread... 🙁
Looks fantastic well done 👍
I remember fitting one of these into my mum's Aqua coloured Austin 1100 EGP837J some time in the early 1980s.
I want that reg
Lovely to see reflective plates on this.
Saw many of these half hanging off in my childhood!
Really interesting read as ever!
ADO16 Components – Triplex Safety Glass
We’ve not posted for our ADO16 components series for a while but here’s a company pretty much all of you will have heard of and probably not just for the ADO16...
...Triplex Safety Glass Company was incorporated in 1912 in response to the British need for specialist production of safety glass using certain French patents for laminated glass – the manufacturing process involved fixing Xylonite or some other transparent material between 2-sheets of glass, hence the name Triplex.
By 1917 Triplex were advertising all manner of products and 10-years later the all important association with Pilkington began – Pilkington had developed a process for making thin plate glass suitable for Triplex, thereby becoming an important supplier, indeed 1929 saw the two companies form a joint company, Triplex Imperial, to produce laminated glass.
1930 saw Triplex glass fitted as standard on Austin cars whilst soon after a process for large-scale toughening of glass was developed by St. Gobain in France for which Pilkington obtained an exclusive licence for Britain. This licence led to Pilkington and Triplex entering into agreements for Triplex to manufacture toughened glass for sale only to the motor and aircraft industries. This new glass was called TriplexX and the various Triplex companies paid a royalty of 10% on sales until April 1936 whilst Pilkington reserved the right to exploit toughened glass for other uses. By the end of the 1930’s the Triplex companies were producing five times as much toughened glass as laminated glass.
The 1950’s saw curved glass introduced as a result of inventions by St. Gobain and Libbey Owens Ford but it would be 1962 and the launch of the Morris 1100 before any British car would be fitted with curved side windows. The 1950’s also saw Triplex developed zoned windscreens, giving a zone of relatively clear vision in case of breakage, following similar developments on the continent – in the case of the ADO16 you may still have a green zebra zone sticker fitted to your front screen. This era also saw Triplex develop heated rear windows for cars.
1955 saw Pilkington begin purchasing Triplex shares and by 1965 they owned more than 50% of the company, thus making Triplex a Pilkington subsidiary. Complete takeover was finalised in 1972 but of course that wasn’t the end of Triplex – although largely unrelated to the ADO16 we thought we’d include the flyer for the Triplex-Ogle 10-20 Glassback, based on the Austin Morris Princess – all ADO16 names!
With special thanks to Grace’s Guide.
We’re the global umbrella for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries and with a Facebook Group of over 3,000 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
I remember thinking it cool that you could date the glass by the dot above the word TOUGHENED T = 61 etc
What happened to Triplex / Pilkington more recently? You don’t see their glass on cars now. We’re they taken over ?
I believe 10-20 was laminated with one sheet toughened.
Pilkington Classics ...thought you might be interested to see this...
1963 – Scottish Rally
Our historic rally series has been bringing you images that we’ve recently come across but today’s post, albeit with just one image, is of an event we’ve not featured before...
... The Royal Scottish Automobile Club (RSAC) Scottish Rally is the highlight of the Scottish Rally Championship and the longest-standing rally event in Scotland, having been first contested in 1932. The event has taken place in May or June of every year and the organisers claim that the warm weather and unique forest stages draw competitors from around the world.
1963 saw the event held at the beginning of June but very little information seems to have been documented – not even a complete start list appears to survive! Andrew Cowan and David Thompson in a Sunbeam Rapier are reported to have won the 5-day event whilst L. Morrison and D. Brown crashed a Morris Mini Cooper. Additionally, our featured image shows there was at least one MG 1100 taking part.
With special thanks to George Philips Photos
We’re the global umbrella for the ADO16, the BMC/British Leyland 1100/1300 – in well over 60 countries and with a Facebook Group of over 3,000 members! You can join us too; the only ADO16 club with a FREE membership level: www.ado16.info/membership-join
Would’ve been five days of motorsport fun, great pic’ 👍🍻
Wonder how many Mini/Coopers it beat.
This week’s cover image – few could have imagined when the Morris 1100 was launched 60-years ago that a luxurious Vanden Plas Princess model would in time follow but perhaps even more incredible was that the variant continued to the very end of ADO16 production.
Looks fantastic
I think that’s French - yellow headlamp bulbs, and the wipers suggest LHD.
