Austin Gipsy
1958–1968 · 21,208 built · assembled at Petone from 1961
Austin’s Land Rover rival, on independent rubber suspension by the man who went on to do the Mini’s.
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About the Austin Gipsy
Announced in February 1958, the Gipsy was Austin’s answer to the Land Rover, and its defining feature was Flexitor: independent suspension on all four wheels by trailing arms sprung on hollow rubber cylinders bonded to an inner shaft and an outer tube, so that wheel movement twists the rubber in shear and the rubber itself is the spring. It was Alex Moulton’s design, out of his family firm at Bradford-on-Avon, and the same thinking led on to the Mini’s rubber cones and then to Hydrolastic. It rode far better than a leaf-sprung Land Rover. In New Zealand the Gipsy was assembled from CKD packs at Petone and introduced in April 1961 in both wheelbases, at between £1,478 and £1,574.
Flexitor was also the problem. Ground clearance collapsed under load, because independent suspension drops the differentials just when a laden farm vehicle needs the height; wheel travel was limited against beam-axle rivals; and the rubber hardens with age. Austin relented at the Series IV and offered beam axles on semi-elliptic leaf springs as an alternative — note alternative, not replacement, because Flexitor stayed available to the end, so a Series IV can be either. There was never a Series III; the numbering went straight from II to IV. The other reason survivors are scarce is the body: steel where the Land Rover used aluminium, and rust-prone despite Austin’s Rotodip dipping process. When BMC and Leyland merged in January 1968 the new company owned both the Gipsy and the Land Rover, and the Gipsy was gone before the year was out.
Austin Gipsy — specification & changes within the model
- Built
- 1958–1968. 21,208 built. Longbridge East Works, later Adderley Park.
- Series
- G1M10 Series I, short wheelbase only · G2M10 and G2M15 Series II, which added the long wheelbase and exterior door handles · G4M10 and G4M15 Series IV. There was never a Series III.
- Engines
- Petrol 2,199cc overhead-valve four, derived from the A70 — 62bhp, later uprated. Diesel 2,178cc (82.5 × 101.6mm), 55bhp — the same BMC unit as the FX4 taxi.
- Suspension
- Flexitor: independent all round, trailing arms on bonded rubber torsion units, designed by Alex Moulton. From the Series IV, beam axles on semi-elliptic leaf springs were offered as an alternative — Flexitor never went away, so check which a car has.
- Wheelbase
- Short 90in · long 111in, from the Series II.
- Transmission
- Four-speed, synchromesh on 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Two-speed transfer box, high 1:1 and low 2.02:1, part-time four-wheel drive. Final drive 5.125:1.
- Brakes & electrics
- Hydraulic drums, two leading shoes at the front, 133 square inches of lining. Lucas 12 volt, 57Ah.
- Why so few survive
- Steel bodywork where the Land Rover used aluminium. Austin’s Rotodip process was not enough, and the Gipsy rusted.
- Why it ended
- The January 1968 BMC–Leyland merger put the Gipsy and the Land Rover under one roof. The Gipsy was phased out before the end of that year.
- Built here
- Assembled from CKD packs at Petone, introduced April 1961 in both wheelbases at £1,478 to £1,574. Also assembled in Sydney and in Bogotá.