HELAST AUSSIE AUSTIN By Pete .. A Jone s t's hard to beli eve that in ] 951 , which incidentally was the year that BMC (B ritish Motor Corporation) was fo rmed, ustin and Morris were selling more new cars in Australi a than Ford and Holden com bined. Holden overtook BMC in 1955, but as it was, Ford had to wait until 1959 to outsell BMC. The Austin 1800 Mk /I ute with very large pickup bed, Also during the late 1950s and early it was unique to Australia. 1960s Austin produced two models which and bucket seats, whereas the Tasman had w re unique to ustralia in competition to a single carburettor, single headlights and a the big two. the e models being the Austin bench seat. While for some strange reason, l ancer and the Freeway. most likely due to cost, cross ply tyres were So \ hat happened to Austin and BMC now fitted in place of the 1800's radial tyres, u tralia? By the late 1960s sales of new which were then offered as an option on all u tin had dropped considerably and was models. The Austin 1800 on the left and the more refined ry low compared to Ford and Holden, During 1971 a Mark II version of both Austin Kimberly based on the 1800, with body 111 fa t their total sa.Ies only compared with models was released, with the Kimberley changes made by BMC Australia. 0 10 0 of Holdens sold, mainly due to the fact model losing its second carburettor. This that fuel was cheap here and the Australian was followed by the dropping of the range in AUSTIN TASMAN UTE preference was for a 6 cylinder car. 1972 with only 12 ,194 cars sold in Australia During prototype testing of the Austin During this period Austin's only new car in close to two years. Kimberley/Tasman sedans, BLMC Australia was the 1800 which replaced the Freeway in Why did this good looking car not sell? also tested two Austin Tasman utes. 1965. While the 1800 wa a medium sized By the time the X6 range was released BMC At first it was planned to release the family car with exceptional room inside had been taken over by British Leyland. This Tasman ute at the same time as the sedan and fantastic road holding power due to its resulted in cost cutting, which in turn led to range, but was dropped due to poor sales of su pension and standard radial ply tyres, it poor quality control and cheaper materials the 1800 ute which still had a large stockpile. was still powered by a 4 cylinder engine. being used in the manufacture of these car. The 1800 ute was still available new well It was as early as March/April 1968 This, together with poor reliability, doomed after the 1800 sedan was replaced by the that Lord Stokes in the UK gave the new the car from the start and when the model was Kimberley/Tasman range. all Australian model the go ahead to enter axed in 1972, the Austin marque was dropped The first issue of the factory workshop production and replace the 1800. in Australia. The Austin marque was still manual, and possibly a few handbooks, So the powers that be at BMC Australia used until 1988 in Britain, when it was were printed showing a picture of one of the decided to take the 1800 body shell, rename dropped and replaced by the Rover name. prototype Tasman utes. However it is most it X6, remodel the front and back and add the An ironic turn in automotive history was likely that none of these books reached the new E series 6 cylinder engine. These new that during 1972 British Leyland in Britain general public, but as usual a few possibly cars would have unique Australian names, fitted the standard Austin 1800 body shell with escaped the waste bin and are in collectors these being Kimberley for the top of the range the E series 6 cylinder engine, this vehicle hands. model and Tasman for the base model. was sold until 1975 as the Austin and Morris One of the utes was written off very early At first BMC planned to also sell a ute 2200 and the Wolseley Six. The engine was in it life, being used for crash testing at the version of the Tasman model, but this was also used in the unusual (not sold in Australia) Ford Australia testing grounds in Victoria. dropped because of the slow sales of the 1800 wedge shaped Princess until 1981. The other ute was registered and was used by ve rsion, some of which did not sell until well When wa the last time you saw one of Leyland Australia until the Enfield factory into 1972. these rare Australian Austins, 1 only know closed and was then sold off. Where the ute The Austin Kimberley/Tasman X6 range of a couple in Sydney, a restored Kimberley is now is a mystery, some say that it ended up was released on ovember24, 1970, with both in Toowoomba and my unrestored Tasman. in Melbourne, but who knows? models available fitted with either manual or These cars are a truly Australian piece of The second ute was used as a service automatic transmission. By the end of the automotive history and must be saved and vehicle along side two 1800 utes, an Austin X6 very short year, sales were looking good with restored. edan (type unknown) and a competition bus over 1,000 cars finding new owners. Following the dropping of the brand name (again type unknown) for the 1971 Southern The Kimberley/Tasman range was 8.5 of Austin in Australia, Leyland Australia Cross International Rally. inches (22cm) longer than the 1800 and with produced a couple more truly unique From the 'A' pillar back the Tasman ute its 2227cc OHC engine both models could Australian models which are also worth used the same body panels as the 1800 sedan reach a genuine 100mph (l60km/h). keeping, these being the 6 cylinder Marina except for the Tasman trim and door handles Initially the Kimberley came standard and the P76 range in V8 and 6 cylinder models and used the same single carburettor 2200 E with twin SU carburettors, twin headlights (see more on the P76 next issue). series engine as fitted to the Tasman. ~(g Restored Cars #170, May-llill 2005 Page 45