Austin – CARS-YDSE.com

1965 (or so) Vanden Plas Princess

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This is really a rare care and I’m sure you will not see one everyday (unless you or your neighbor own one). The car is really a variant of the MG 1100/1300 built from 1962 thru 1973 in Surrey England. About 3 million of these cars and its related cars were produced during this period. This particular car featured here I think was built by the Vanden Plas Coach Builders of Kingsbury London, England. Other variations were also built by Austin, also of England as well as a popular model called the Authi Morris in Spain.

Vanden Plas Princess 1300

In 1962 the Morris 1100 was announced, Fred Connolly the founder of the company that supplied leather to the motor industry commissioned Vanden Plas to make a special version. A prototype was exhibited at the 1963 London Show and aroused a lot of interest so it was put into full scale production by BMC management with deliveries starting in the winter. In 1968 the model received the 1300 cc engine and continued been made until May 1974.

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This car looks in fine shape. I have not seen one like this in many years. In fact, I’m posting these pictures less than 24 hours after they were taken. I have a card I leave on the windshield of the cars I photograph and I left one for the owner. On the card I have a link to this website and my email address. I hope to hear from the owner who can fill us in on the real facts about this specific car.

Click Here for more information from Wikipeadia

~1979 Mini Clubman Estate

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This is a very small car. After looking at the “modern” Minis, its amazing to see one of the original cars, especially an Estate Wagon, it seems tiny. This Mini belongs to a San Francisco resident who purchased the car in the Guernsey Islands just off of the northwest coast of France. Somehow, the UK seems to own the island, but I digress. I spoke to the owner briefly but did not ask her the year of the car. I’m estimating it to be a 1979, based on what I can see from the Web.

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That’s my niece standing next to the car. She loved the car too. The picture on the right shows the rounded cornered rectangular grill. This was a major change for the Clubman variety of Mini. The interior is also supposed to be different but I did not photograph that part of the car (darn it).

To me, one of the things that places this car near 1980 is the Mini Cooper logo at the back. Maybe someone reading this can better determine the actual year of the car.

I found this bit of trivia on the net as well:

The station wagon, without wooden frames, called Traveler hours. For the deluxe version of the British Leyland decided to focus on a substantial restyling inside and outside. It was thus launched, again in 1969, the Mini Clubman. Compared to the classic version Clubman differed only in the frontal (elongated and squared) and indoors (with redesigned dashboard and seats).

Click Here for a site that has more information on this model

’67 Morris Minor Traveller Woody Wagon

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During the early 2000s I worked in an industrial part of San Francisco at a dot.com. I walked the twenty or so blocks to work most days and started to carry my camera. I passed this car on the way to work many times. I never met the owner but loved the car.

Over 1050 ’67 Minors made it to these shores (U.S.A) before BMC was forced to pull the plug again. This time, the 1968 EPA (smog) and DOT (safety) regulations would require all auto manufactures to re-engineer their products to comply and BMC decided to drop the importation of the Minor and put their efforts into the MG 1100/1300 sedan and the Austin America. The Minor continued in various forms overseas until mid-1971. Over 1.5 million were built by the end of production. In total, 65,000 were imported to the US between !949 and 1967.

More Information, click here

Morris Minor Convertible, 1957

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I almost purchased one of these (non-convertible) in 1960. I saw it advertised in the newspaper and I wanted to buy it, just to work on it. This car was an early British import that had very little market success when gas was about 30 cents a gallon. This car belongs to someone in our neighborhood. I see it parked quite often.
© Fred Winograd copyright 2009