Austin Austin 1100 / 1300 History

Known internally as ADO16, the Austin 1100 arrived in 1963 as a larger sibling to the Mini: a front-engine, front-wheel-drive family car engineered by Alec Issigonis, styled by Pininfarina and riding on Alex Moulton's fluid-filled Hydrolastic interconnected suspension. The 1300 added a bigger 1.3-litre engine from 1967.

It was a runaway success, Britain's best-selling car from 1963–1966 and again 1968–1971, taking around 15% of the new-car market at its peak before the Ford Cortina edged ahead in 1972. Badge-engineered across BMC as the Morris 1100/1300, MG, Wolseley, Riley and Vanden Plas, the ADO16 family sold about 2.3 million cars in all.