Morris 1100 (ADO 16)

A little history

Though success was somewhat long to come for the Mini, its designer Alec Issigonis knew that he was on the right path and decided to follow the same lines for his next project, the compact ADO 16 saloon.

The car appeared in August 1962 as the Morris 1100. Its engine was placed at the front in a transversal position, and drove the front wheels. Coupled with a very short boot, this made for a compact yet extremely spacious car. Its most original technical feature was its Hydrolastic suspension, an advanced interconnected fluid system that reconciled comfort and handling. Disk brakes were fitted at the front, still a rare equipment on a popular car. For the ADO 16’s four-door body, BMC renewed its confidence to Pininfarina.

The Morris 1100 combined many qualities in a single package, and was rightly awarded a Car of Year prize in 1964. In the meantime, the original car had been rebadged to be included in the ranges of two more BMC manufacturers: Austin (again called the 1100), MG (a refined variant) and Vanden Plas (as the luxurious Princess). Choice later expanded even further with the versions proposed by Wolseley and Riley, and the addition of two-door saloons and estates. During spring of 1967, BLMC proposed the larger 1.3-litre engine, a detuned version of the Mini Cooper’s block, for its ADO 16. More surprising, an automatic transmission was a rare proposition. At the 1969 London Motor Show, Austin and Morris enjoyed new 1300 GT versions of their cars, as an answer to new sporty compact cars introduced by rivals Ford and GM in their Escort and Viva ranges, respectively.

After a long and successful career, the ADO 16 was succeeded by the Austin Allegro which, from the beginning, didn’t seem able to renew its predecessor’s achievements. Therefore the ADO 16’s production was continued for some times after the introduction of its successor, to finally end in June 1974.

About the model

Model: Morris 1100 Mark II
Year: 1967
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.86 of its Nos Chères Voitures d'Antan press series
Acquired: brand new, in October 2007, in Souillac, France

A very poor model by Ixo: no more than 8/20.

Austin FX4 “Black Cab”

A little history

The FX3 was already a legend when its replacement, the FX4, was introduced in July 1958. No one would guess back then that the new London taxi would become even more famous than its predecessor, and that its lifespan would be close to four times longer.

Still, there was nothing revolutionary about the FX4. On the contrary, this was an extremely conventional car, which used a chassis almost identical to the FX3’s one. Uncommon back then on European cars, but regarded as desirable on a taxi, the diesel engine and the automatic gearbox had already been pioneered by the FX3. Another trademark of Austin’s cabs that had remained was the very small turning radius – a London taxi “turns on a sixpence”, as the saying goes. Actually this characteristic is made mandatory by the British capital’s public transport authorities. As the legend has it, this is originally due to the narrow path with tight corners leading to the entrance of the Savoy, the most prestigious palace hotel in London.

Though the passenger compartment of the FX4, which body had been designed by Carbodies, can now be looked as typical, it was then common in taxis from most European countries: the driver was separated from its customers by a divider, the absence of a seat near him allowed to carry bulky luggage, while additional passengers could take place on two jump seats.

Designed as a very conventional vehicle as we have said, the FX4 changed little over the years. The only two conspicuous evolutions were the use of rear lights borrowed from the new ADO 16 for the sake of standardization (1968) and the replacement of the original 2.2-litre engine by a larger 2.5-litre (1971). A noteworthy trait of the car was that, due to its very long life expectancy (many FX4s’ milometers were able to approach two millions kilometres), older cars could generally be retrofitted with most small improvements later brought to the original car.

As we mentioned every time we discuss a Seventies British car, the country’s automotive industry was struggling then simply to survive. Austin had much more important things to do than caring for the relatively low-volume FX4. Would the traditional London cab simply vanish, to be replaced by converted family saloons? Fortunately this didn’t happen: in 1982, it sold all its productions dies and intellectual rights to Carbodies. The small manufacturer faced a problem nonetheless: Austin simultaneously stopped the production of its diesel engine, so a new plant had to be found. Carbodies thought an ideal replacement would be the 2.3-litre block from the Land Rover. Unfortunately FX4s so equipped didn’t give satisfaction to their operators.

In 1984, the FX4 saw yet another nameplate affixed onto it: LTI. The new company, which name stands for London Taxis International, had been created by the merger of Carbodies and the major London cabs’ operator, both companies being under the same ownership. Soon LTI addressed the car’s engine problem by replacing the 2.3-litre by a 2.5-litre, also provided by Land Rover but distinctly sturdier. Nonetheless this still wasn’t enough and – a sign of changing times – LTI turned to a Japanese engine from 1989 on, namely a 2.7-litre Nissan diesel. This larger block not only improved reliability, but also gave higher performances, which prompted the need for a new disk brakes system. Under this latest guise, the FX4 carried on for ten more years, addressing as it could the multiplying environmental rules. While prototypes for a replacement had been proposed since the Eighties by various manufacturers, it was finally LTI itself which provided the new London “black cab”, the TX, after the very last FX4 left the factory in October 1997.

About the models

Model: Austin FX4
Year: 1965
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.4 of its Taxis du Monde press series
Acquired: second hand with neither stand nor box, in October 2007, through mail from a fellow collector from Rouziers de Touraine, France

A die-cast I really wanted but had to wait for long before I put my hands onto one. No regrets when I opened the package: this is a nice model Ixo made. Nothing fancy (door handles and rear lights are moulded with the body then painted, for example), but correct all around. It's just a pity silver paint materializing the chromed rim around the windows has been applied to only five out of the car's eight windows - why? My rating is 12/20.







Model: LTI FX4
Year: 2000 (see below)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.60 of its Taxis du Monde press series
Acquired: brand new, in July 2004, in Souillac, France

Today the FX4 remains the most iconic London taxi, and many second-hand vehicles have been exported, some for collectors, other for publicity purposes. This is the case of this LTI, that can be approximately dated from the Nineties, and which Altaya chose to reproduce as a Singapore taxi - though probably authentic, not necessarily typical from the South-Asian metropolis. Anyway the model is original and... colourful! My main reproach is that though the model is recent (note the black grille, bumpers and door handles), unwilling to modify its mould Ixo kept the little round rear lights of the pre-1968 cars. This detail is nevertheless discreet so I'll still give 11/20 to it.

Austin 1800 and 2200 (ADO 17)

A little history

Shortly before the merger that would create the unfortunate British Leyland conglomerate, BMC was still a very successful carmaker. The company had released the Mini, then the 1100, two very strong sellers on the home market and, at least for the former, in foreign lands. BMC’s staff supposed that the basic recipes which had make these cars the hits they were could be applied throughout the range. This is how the ADO 17 was born.

The larger family saloons offered by BMC had been rather conventional up to then. When introduced, the ADO 17 proposed an incredibly roomy passenger compartment - thanks to the fact that it had all four wheels pushed to its corners -, front-wheel-drive and Hydrolastic suspension. Even with the help of Pininfarina, Alec Issigonic seems to have struggled to make the car presentable: it appeared as a ridiculously outgrown Mini, not exactly the kind of things BMC’s conservative customers wanted to be seen riding in.

The ADO 17 was unveiled in September 1964 as the 4-cylinder Austin 1800 and 6-cylinder Austin 2200. Despite its many qualities (comfort, handling, extreme structural rigidity), the car’s look played against it. While the Austin 1800 received the coveted European Car of the Year award in 1965, its sales were disappointing and it soon gained the ungraceful nickname “landcrab”.

Morris stuck for a time to the conventional Oxford model, but an ADO 17-based replacement was scheduled for it too. It appeared in 1966 as the Morris 1800 and 2200. During the following year, the Wolseley 18/85 and Six were launched, featuring higher quality standards and the traditional Wolseley front grille, but few other differences whatsoever. An automobile’s development spanning years, BMC was the victim of its programs’ inertia and the same mistakes were repeated again in the 3-Litre, its new top-of-the-line saloon presented at the London motor show in October 1967. Despite the fact that it retained a traditional rear-wheel-drive transmission, the 3-Litre inherited the central section of the ADO 17 and its Hydrolastic suspension arrangement – it ended in complete disaster and was soon removed from the market.

Another failure was to adapt the car to the Australasian market. After producing a virtually unchanged ADO 17 in Australia, two heavily modified Austin Tasman and Morris Kimberley were introduced in 1970. Unsurprisingly, the technologically refined cars couldn’t do much in a country which liked antiquated, American-style gas-guzzlers. These models disappeared in 1974, shortly before the British company’s Australian operations were definitely closed down.

If the luxury 3-Litre had been scuttled early on, BMC didn’t have such an easy way out with its more mainstream ADO 17. The company did what it could to improve the car, facelifting it in 1968 (Mark II version), adding further modifications in 1972 (Mark III), and trying to address the quality problems that were beginning to plague the British motor industry. All its efforts were to no avail. The whole ADO 17 range was retired in March 1975, when the wedge-shaped Princess on which rested most of BLMC’s hopes was introduced.

About the models

Model: Austin 1800 Mark II
Year: 1968
Maker: Corgi
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Vanguards
Acquired: brand new, in February 2008, in Manila, Philippines.

A very acceptable model of the Austin 1800. Rear lights are simply painted, but it’s so nicely done that no one will probably mind. The front end’s rendition is excellent. A Vanguards’ touch is the photo-etched wipers, a rarity in this price range. My rating is 13/20.





Model: Austin 1800 Mark II
Year: 1968
Maker: Corgi
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Vanguards
Acquired: brand new, in August 2007, through a friend from Shanghai, China.

Same model as the above, with a different decoration: 13/20 again.