Austin

Herbert Austin bought a disused printing works at Longbridge, south-west of Birmingham, and the Austin Motor Company was incorporated in December 1905. The first car followed in 1906, a 25hp Endcliffe Phaeton at £650, and 120 were built that year. Austin was knighted in 1917 and made Baron Austin of Longbridge in 1936; he died in 1941, five years before the millionth Austin came off the line. In 1952 Austin merged with its old rival Morris to form the British Motor Corporation — merged ownership, but not identity, which is why Austin and Morris versions of the same car kept their own grilles, dashboards and dealer networks. BMC became British Motor Holdings in 1966 and part of British Leyland in 1968. The Montego of 1984 was the last car launched under the Austin name, and the badge was phased out in 1988.

New Zealand is where this gets useful. There was never one BMC assembler here — Austin and Morris were handled by separate, competing organisations until 1970, in different cities. Austins were built at Petone in Wellington by Associated Motor Industries, owned by the Austin Distributors Federation; Morrises were built in Auckland by Dominion Motors, at Newmarket and later Panmure. The first post-war locally assembled Austin rolled off at Petone in August 1946 — Austin 8s and 10s, with about 5 per cent local content. The plant tooled up for the A40 Devon and the A70 Hampshire and Hereford in 1948 and built 8,000 Austins between then and 1954. Local content grew over the years to include glass, wiring, trim, tyres, batteries and radiators, so a New Zealand car will not always match a British parts book. Petone built 135,399 vehicles up to August 1977 and closed in May 1983. The two organisations finally pooled as the New Zealand Motor Corporation in October 1970.