Leyland Australia Mini History

Australian Mini production began in 1961 as the Morris 850 at the Zetland plant and proved consistently popular throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. When Leyland rebranded in March 1973, the car became the Leyland Mini; the Australian specification used a 1,098 cc engine through 1974 before reverting to 998 cc when the Zetland plant closed. After the Zetland closure in late 1974, Mini production transferred to the Enfield plant (the former Pressed Metal Corporation facility acquired by Leyland in 1968), where it ran alongside Land Rover and Leyland National Bus assembly.

The Australian Mini range was gradually wound down through the late 1970s. In 1978 Leyland Australia marked the end of local production with a limited run of 810 'Mini 1275LS' specials — using the larger 1,275 cc engine — before the nameplate was retired from local assembly. The Australian Mini's 17-year production run made it one of the longest-lived locally assembled BMC/Leyland products in the country.