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25.01.2022 Here at last is my new book, Vehicle Engineering Series: Morris 850. This new book is something quite different and fits somewhere between being a parts book and a workshop manual. 234 pages with over 500 excerpts from the original factory engineering drawings makes this book an essential resource for those engaged in restoration of these historic vehicles. This book will be the first in a series, and although deals with the 850, it provides a basis for future books in the model range including Moke. Available on Ebay or from leylandaustralia.com.au web site. I sincerely hope you like the concept. https://www.ebay.com.au//BMC-Engineering-Ref/254698960704

25.01.2022 Here's a photo of a Kimberley at final assembly stage in CAB1 at Zetland. The operator appears to be fitting something at the back of the engine, no doubt using an approved technique from the work study people.

25.01.2022 Overseas readers may not know much about the P82, which was Model A in the new vehicle program. Model B, being the P76. Model A was supposed to be a small car, and styling submissions were sought from Michelotti and Cassarchis (the Victoria Park - Sydney) local stylist. This was a big moment for Cassarchis because it was the only time in the company's history that a full scale clay model was to be designed by the local studio. Michelotti produced several 1/4 scale models and ...photos of these were sent to Australia and included in barry Anderson's September 1974 report. I am not sure if Barry realised the significance of the pictures in this report. Michelotti's efforts were printed in full colour, and he was mentioned by name throughout, while the "local stylist" didn't get his name mentioned at all, and photos of his model (which were unpainted) were printed in grey scale. The inference is that the local efforts were presented as a counterbalance only to Michelotti's for the sake of the report. I doubt if Cassarchis ever had a chance, but his design predates the Ford Laser/323 by about 10 years. You can imagine this with the V6 3.3 litre engine. In any event, Model A was put on the back burner during the early seventies and we were given the Marina as a stop gap. As a matter of interest, $100,000 was budgeted for the submission from Michelotti. See more

23.01.2022 I appreciate the comments from those who have purchased the Morris 850 book which shows many extracts from the engineering drawings. Although a few dimensions are hard to read, I've tried to quote those of interest in the text which accompanies each drawing. Given that there are almost 2000 drawings for this car, it is not possible to make a commercially viable book wihch includes all of them. I hope what I have selected is of interest. Many of the drawings apply to later mod...els of course and there's plenty of new information waiting to be learned buried in the detail. Here below are a couple of interesting cross-sections from what appears to be a remote shift power unit with air injection. It is interesting to see that the oil level is exactly half way up the final drive crownwheel and other gear centres. The air injection tube points directly on to the back of the valve, as would be expected. See more

23.01.2022 I had intended the last post to be more about the buildings than the car, but i can see people are interested in the car... Here's a studio shot of the Force 7, taken from an unusual angle. I think it makes the front look a little awkward myself.

23.01.2022 The merger between Austin and Morris never really settled down and some in the Zetland Unit Plant (which made the mechanical components) refused to let their allegiance to Austin go. One manager continued to use the Austin letterhead on his correspondence until he retired, and even kept a UK phone book in his desk for those urgent calls back to UK with the original Austin cover. Some famous names to be seen inside. Date is Nov 1965.

23.01.2022 In the late 1950's, UK management often had difficulty in understanding why things were not going so well in Australia compared to UK. They thought cars would be shipped over here, or assembled here, or even manufactured here to UK designs, and the buyers would come flocking. Instead, most of them were off buying Holdens and Fords. The need for an "Experimental" department, let alone a road proving crew, was inexplicable. The photos below show the typical road conditions to b...e covered by road tests. These photos were sent back to UK to give them an idea of what was involved. Invitations were sent for the UK engineers to come over here and see for themselves what the conditions were. So, in 1958, Graves, Bramley and Griffin duly arrived and were treated to four days in the Walgett area on a road test of ADO8, ADO25, DO1115 and a VW. The UK visitors were accompanied by local MD Buckley and chief engineer Abbott. The vip's did not stick it out for the four full days, and the ensuing report doesn't say exactly how many days they suffered. Much to the consternation of all, the humble VW was a stand-out performer and withstood all that could be thrown at it. It was clearly the superior car. Note, the 'interstate" highway shown is two way traffic. Issigonis never came to Australia, but in later years, we were visited by Plane, Webster and Stokes. See more

20.01.2022 I was struck by the similarities in illustrations appearing in the 1961 Morris 850 owner's manual (left) and the 1971 Clubman owner's manual (right) for seat belts. An interesting spot-the-difference exercise.

20.01.2022 Staying with the telephone book theme here we have a page from the Zetland phone directory in 1973. Some well known names appear here, including John Martin at the bottom, who was previous MD prior to North. Beech didn't stay long serving under North. Beech probably expected to be appointed MD on the basis of his Herculean efforts with the P76 program, but new boy North was brought in instead. Beech retired back to UK and left the motor industry. He is now deceased, and buried near Longbridge. North died not so long ago in Sydney.

20.01.2022 These undated annotated photos are for a Cooper "special". Note the positioning of the indicator flasher and also the regulator where the horn usually goes (positioned here in its original place near the grille). LHD and RHD shown.

20.01.2022 More pictures from the rotodip with a Morris 1100 (edit 1500) on its way. In the first photo, you can see a large sprocket wheel and chain conveyor. Moke body also visible in the second photo. These pictures with a large x through them are coming from contact prints made by Polkinghorne's company. The X (i think) means these are the ones he printed at full size. They appear to be the best ones in a series. Unfortunately, only the contact prints appeared to have survived.

19.01.2022 ...and a couple of more photos of the Force 7 interior. The photos are only "instamatic" quality, and indeed, photos from within the styling area were highly classified at the time. These photos were from a box kept by Cassarchis in his office who handed them to Roger Foy when the factory closed and Roger thankfully kept them intact for the next 40 years. For those more familiar with the car than I, I think the inside rear trim lines were actually a little different to that shown here. The car I saw at a show had an air extractor hole pattern in the trim on the rear pillar.

19.01.2022 These two pictures show the Tasman utility front bench seat, a feature of which (and was a carry over from the 1800 utility) is the rear parcel "tray" - a sort of a hammock in which you could store your stuff, and allow the seat to be moved back and forward. Actually finding an 1800 ute with a bench seat is rare these days, let alone one fitted with the cargo carrier. The original idea for the utility was to have a bench seat to seat three, and a right hand floor gear shift was incorporated near the front drivers door. This did not make it into production.

19.01.2022 This photo shows the newly completed Administration block (showroom on the lower level) completed in 1967. This building faced South Dowling Street, and marked a change of the company's official address from Zetland (due to the main gate on the Joynton Avenue side) to Waterloo. A new "main gate" was established on South Dowling St next to the new Admin Building which I suspect was mainly used by executives and visitors. Most of the industrial activity passed through gates on ...Joynton Ave. It is a bit confusing to those not familiar with the site. The factory area and nearby lots were collectively the Victoria Park racecourse and many refer to the factory as Victoria Park to distinguish it from other company sites in the Sydney area such as those at Enfield, Moorebank and Liverpool. While it is now a housing estate, the VP site was well placed since busy South Dowling St is one of the main roads to Sydney airport and was a fine advertisement for BMC. See more

18.01.2022 Here's some pictures of a Moke, an Austin 1800 utility, and a Mini starting off on their journey through the rotodop. The rotodip was on the southern edge of CAB. Bodies from SMBD came in via an overhead track, through the rototdip in a westerly direction, then turned east to come back through the paint shop. All the cars (including the P76) passed through the rotodip. At Enfield, initially there was a slipper dip for the first year of Mini production but a full dip (but not rotation) was installed over the Christmas break in 1975.

16.01.2022 You can see from the previous post that the grille on the new Freeway extended out to the edges of the car. BMC had a problem. The blue streak six Freeway (1962) was supposed to compete with the 6 cylinder offerings from Ford and GHM - that is, the Falcon XK and the Holden FB. These were American-designed cars and by the standards of the day, looked low and sleek, especially the Falcon. The Freeway, with its UK styling, looked narrow, stodgy, and upright - probably a product of the narrow lanes of England in contrast to the wide boulevards of USA. So, the BMC Australia stylists put a series of horizontal lines along the front to make it look as wide as possible.

16.01.2022 The Tasman Ute has been mentioned in these pages previously. Pictures of this car are extremely rare and one appears in the Chronicle book. Shown below, for the first time, are the body dimension drawings for the vehicle. When I asked Barry Anderson (who designed the concept) about this car he said that "Sales didn't want it", and the sole survivor hung around the factory until going into private hands and eventually scrapped only a few years ago.

16.01.2022 I thought I'd post a few more pictures from the Zetland emissions lab. These were taken in the early 1980's, long after the company had sold the site, but a small outpost carried on with emissions and fuel consumption testing until 1985. Vehicles were driven on a chassis dynamometer which had the unusual feature of inertia wheels fitted to the rollers so that the engine had to essential accelerate the mass of the vehicle even though it was stationary. A water brake simulated ...air and rolling resistance. The driver looked out the window to what is called a Driver's Aid. The idea was to accelerate, cruise, brake, etc so as to keep the pointer on the line, the chart itself was a trace of velocity vs time - the so-called city and highway cycles. The driver wore a head set (for noise abatement) but also communicated with the person in the instrument room who was analysing the exhaust gases. Often as not, a radio would be playing in the headset to keep the driver alert. After the test, engine tune would be measured using (at our time) a Blackhawk analyser and a Horiba CO and HC meter. I still have the tune up book which is on the shelf at the right of the CO analyser. I forgot to mention that the needle on the Driver's Aid could be fitted with a pen so that a record could be kept of how closely the driver adhered to the schedule. See more

15.01.2022 A sign of the times. Leyland House in Adelaide.

15.01.2022 Despite its improved appearance, the Tasman/Kimberley was still very much an Austin 1800 underneath. Here is a photo of the new body on the metal finish line in SMBD (Sheet Metal and Body Plant) at Zetland. The second photo shows a zoomed in section near the C pillar, where the old 6 light inner panel is retained and later covered by trim.

15.01.2022 Overseas readers of these posts must surely be weary of Tasman/Kimberley posts by now so let's return to something more universal. Pictured below is something I came across the other day. It is a dust cover for the master cylinders (tin can type) for Mini, dated 1964. The material is rubber with lift up tabs. I have never seen such a cover on a car, nor in any accessory brochure. The part number is AYA5027 which means it is an Australian part. Seems like a good idea - not so much for dust, but an attempt to make the whole thing a sealed system like in a more modern car.

15.01.2022 Today's post shows an official ladder rack as specified for the PMG (the government telephone company of the day) as fitted to a Morris Mini Minor - the Australian-pressed mini body which succeeded the CKD Morris 850. That black item on the rack is a belt and buckle.

14.01.2022 There's some famous names in this photo: George De La Salle, John Hamilton (Australian engineer sent to Longbridge for reconnaissance), CGR Benbow, Eric Bareham, Bill Appleby, Harry Wall, Charles Griffin.

14.01.2022 As I've mentioned previously in these posts, the factory did not have a proving ground to match those of GMH anf Ford although there was a proposal for one to be established at north western Sydney. BNC/Leyland testing personnel were therefore consigned to real life Australian road tests which were usually done near the NSW QLD border from Walgett to Charleville. This photo gives a sense of the atmosphere of the area. For those out of towners, try going to Google maps and having a look at the main street of Walgett. It probably hasn't changed all that much.

14.01.2022 This rare photo was taken inside the top secret styling studio at BMC and shows a mock-up of the Austin Freeway ADO40 front end by John Holt. Behind the vehicle are Rex Scanlon, Bill Serjeantson and, looking towards the camera, Reg Fulford. Also at the rear may be seen the AD09 / Austin A60 utility model and to the left DO1115 quarter size models. There are also various YDO1 renderings on the back wall.

12.01.2022 Here's a nice drawing I came across the other day for a Marina E6. Oddly, Holden had their red six motor for some time so you would have thought Leyland would have chosen another colour. Perhaps they thought "red" was associated with a 6 cylinder engine in the mind of the public and so it was intentional in that respect.

11.01.2022 By the 1980's we were into seat covers.

10.01.2022 In Australia, the OHC E series engine was fitted to what was essentially the Morris 1100 body shell with some minor modifications to become the Morris 1500. UK went further and produced the Maxi. Here's a rare colour photo of the Morris 1500 in country road testing.

10.01.2022 In September 1968, Haynes sends the final sketches to Beech in Sydney and comments "In re-designing the front end we have made strenuous efforts to lower the whole visual effect of the hoodtop by sharply chamfering down. This has the effect of increasing the width height ratio favourably. Also at the same time to improve this visual characteristic we have designed a full width under pan slot and relieved the side silhouette of the front fender by dipping down in the middle just past the centre line of the side lamps." YDO19 was a very attractive car and the final product is shown below. Beech desperately wanted Haynes for the P76 design, but was over-ruled by Webster and he had to go with Michelotti. Local advertising attempted to make a quality connection with the XJ6 Jaguar.

09.01.2022 OK all you Leyland experts. Why would the Experimental Department have a drawing of what is called a Spencer Sport Car, dated 1970? I've never heard of it, but here is the drawing outline. Hopefully someone will recognise it.

09.01.2022 I've had a little break from FB in the last week or two and I can recommend you do the same from time to time. I was moved to write tonight after reading a FB post from our friend RP over on his Australian Leyland Cars page in which he commented on a nice post by Peter Jones on the Austin 1800 V8. Peter's article was quite accurate and drawn from the July 1970 factory report. In fact there are two reports on this car, one dated July 1970 and an earlier one dated March written... by Ross Webber who would have undertaken much of the work on this car. Peter is correct to comment that his copy of the Report came from the BMC Leyland Australia Heritage Group, but I think RP is a little harsh in implying that historical documents are being hidden away in private collections until he scoops them up for "the archive". The Heritage Group (of which I am no longer a member) went to a great deal of trouble to gather together factory reports and documents and deposited them in to the City of Sydney Archives from which they are available for anyone to access. Far from being "hidden away", they are all there for interested people to peruse. Rather than expect people to trawl through this material, I have over the years attempted to condense and make readable an account of factory events in my books. Except for a few personal observations at the end, I have recounted what I have read from these factory documents, which are, to my mind, much more informative and valuable that second hand reports from journalists of the press of the period. The Heritage Group, despite its problems, has an enthusiastic and somewhat aged inner circle (and a rapidly declining circle at that) of ex-factory people who have spent hours with me in telling me of their experiences. As a result, I have three more books in preparation, first hand, from those who were there. Let's recognise that there are quite a number of enthusiasts who have taken the trouble to collect historical material at their personal expense and who share in their own way on a daily basis. See more

08.01.2022 Keeping on with the road test theme off this week, here's a photo of the first expedition out west for the BMC test engineers in 1958. 2 Morris Major Series 1 (DO1101) and Austin A55 Utility at a car ferry river crossing.

08.01.2022 It seems we are staying with the P76 this week. I was recently sent this photo which shows one of the P76 sedans (saloon?) in London. Two were evaluated in London by Rover who thought it might have a future in the luxury car market. In Australia, the P76 was a family car, and so the level of finish and appointments was probably not up to what Rover required for a different market segment. This photo shows "Joe", the other car having registration "Moe". I am not sure who took ...the photo, but it was probably Roger Foy, who accompanied the cars, and fitted air conditioning (error: actually power steering) to one of them at short notice much to the surprise of the UK engineers who marvelled at how quickly he did this. The stuffed kangaroo (or perhaps a wallaby) appeared several times in the photo shoots. Who knows what happened to it afterwards, there are no reports of it staying with the car. See more

07.01.2022 The 10th October 1974 was a momentus day in the life of the factory, that being the date of the official announcement that the factory would be essentially closing ("a reduced manufacturing role" were the words used). By this time, work on the P82 was well advanced and styling models by Cassarchis (full size clay) and Michelotti (1/4 scale) were presented in the previous month's summary report without any indication of which would proceed. However, these drawings dated 10th October (same day as the closure announcement) clearly indicate that it was Michelotti's work that had been selected and was in the process of being drawn up in the local drawing office. It is said that Cassarchis was never told the outcome.

07.01.2022 As astute readers have found, the new Morris 850 book covers more than the 850 due to the large number of common components with later models. A feature of this book is the engineering drawings, and in this post, I show two drawings which may be of interest. They are of the sump guard for the Mini range, and also, the Morris 1100. You would think these parts would be the same, but as you can see they are not. The mini ones have straight tabs on the side, the other has angled tabs. The sump guard which was recently advertised on Ebay, I think, may have been incorrectly described.

06.01.2022 These photos show the newly developed V6 engine undergoing durability testing on an engine dynamometer in 1974. This engine was supposed to replace the E6 engine in the 6 cylinder P76 and also to be used in the P82. As mentioned previously, one of these engines went to UK in the prototype P82, but recent information reveals that another engine block is held in someone's private garage in Sydney.

06.01.2022 The flasher unit for a Morris 850 was originally positioned near the regulator box in the engine compartment in UK cars. This was not done in Australia, but the flasher moved inside to below the steering column so that the driver could hear a clicking sound when operating. Often, these units have been taken off and put back on, and it is not entirely clear where it is supposed to go. The picture below shows the correct location for an Australian Morris 850.

05.01.2022 It is widely believed that "all" documentation relating to the Zetland factory was destroyed, but this is not so. A great deal of material was saved but it is patchy. Production records are almost non-existent, technical drawings for vehicles were preserved, technical drawings for plant (buildings and maintenance etc) were not saved. An unusual set of machinery drawings and photos for the Longbridge-designed transfer machines was kept by ex-Austin apprentice John Priddon. Pictured below are some of Priddon's photos and original Austin drawings for the machine. These were the days before modern day electronics of course and so the whole thing was basically electro-mechanical in operation. Multi spindle drilling, boring and milling was done without operator intervention. I wonder what became of it all?

05.01.2022 As I've often mention in books and these posts, Romand Rodbergh was an unsung hero of the program and was never given much credit (if any) for his work. All the attention was on Michelotti. Here are Rodbergh's development ideas of the two door, code name S2, but later named Force 7. The first is the earliest known sketch, dated October 1969. It was Christmas 1969 that he included his renderings for the poster board display to the upper management, and there were no names given along side the pictures shown. They all picked Rodbergh's work! So as a sort of a compromise, and because Webster wanted Michelotti, Rodbergh was sent to Turin to "help" Michelotti turn out the final designs.

05.01.2022 Here's another mystery item from the Experimental Department. no date, no author. However, after some more digging, I found this note: "This is not a styling proposal. This drawing merely illustrates that the program is feasible". Going on what documents are stored with this, it looks to me like this is p82 development which indicates that something resembling a motor car coupe model can be made from the engineering hardpoints which are dictated by the mechanical design.

04.01.2022 Looks like we are staying with Tasman Kimberley trim this week, and the pictures below show various seat sketches. The one with the front buckets and plain rear seat is labelled as "YDO19 automatic". The seat construction, as with all BMC cars, was very good quality and the multiple layers of material can be seen in a couple of the pictures.

03.01.2022 What we have here is another offering from the Experimental Department but this time, it went into production - well, about a dozen or so. This is the Wombat - a sort of long wheelbase Moke. A Morris 1100 front end assembly was mounted on a chassis complete with power unit and semi-elliptic rear springs. The petrol tank was an M.G. Midget unit, mounted within the chassis frame. Reportedly one ended up in Darwin. Perhaps someone has a photo of one?

03.01.2022 The idea of a factory test track never got very far, but in 1973, with the new Engineering Services building completed at Moorebank, a small test track was proposed which could be used for oil surge and wet brake recovery could be tested. This would be positioned on the northern side of the site in between the E-S building and the Parts and Accessories warehouse. I don't think it got further than a proposal, but perhaps someone remembers it.

03.01.2022 This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Austin Tasman/Kimberley range (YDO19) which was the 6 cylinder development of the Austin 1800. The challenge for the stylists was to transform the 1800 body into a modern attractive vehicle which would provide an air of up market luxury and quality. Roy Haynes led the styling team at Cowley for this and the result was very successful. Pictured below are two designs, one from Harris Mann - with a vestigous chamfered down bonnet line (which ended up being the dominant styling feature), and the other from our very own David Bentley who was working at the Cowley studio at the time.

02.01.2022 In 1968, with the new V8 engine to be made in-house, the possibility then existed for the factory to produce other engines for a wide range of vehicles. The table below shows the proposed capability which was intended to cover the entire vehicle range for the next 10 years (up until the end of 1978). The slant 6 got to the stage of being drawn, but I've never heard mention of one being made. Note, at this point, the idea of a V6 was not yet on the table.

02.01.2022 Some nice comparisons with local competitors of the day.

01.01.2022 Here's a good period shot of Force 7 instruments and dash.