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Probably then the Marshall's little brother, the Morris Major (presumably a reference to being bigger than the Morris Minor). This was the Australian built version of the Mk.III Morris Oxford. It was also made in India until recently as the Hindustan Ambassador. There are still lots in use in Mumbai and Kolkata as taxis and we were in a few of them last year. The sole development over the 50+ years since they were last made in the UK is the fitting of an Izuzu diesel engine, also used to power the drums on cement trucks plus a very primitive air conditioner (on or off). 

Wilson

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In February, a wealthy Mumbai native sent his luxury car and driver to pick us up at the airport.  When I saw our friend the next day I thanked him for sending his 1972 Ambassador.

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Yes, it’s a Morris Major, more specifically a Morris Major II

The Major, and its twin sister, the Austin Lancer (virtually the only difference between them were the grille and the dashboard) were produced only at BMC Australia’s plant in Zetland, in Sydney’s inner eastern suburbs.  They were basically the UK Wolseley 1500 but with a lower level of trim.

Here are pictures of the whole car - once again taken at the All British Day at King’s School, Parramatta:

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An interesting foray into Indian motor history too, although I hope Wilson doesn’t mind me picking up the one error in his description of the car - the Ambassador was based on a Morris, as he said, but it was the Morris Oxford Series III, a slightly larger car which, nevertheless, had the same engine as the Wolseley 1500/Morris Major/Austin Lancer.

Over to you, Wilson…..

Edited by Jim J
correcting typo
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Here is your next one. This was taken with a Digilux 2. I think we tend to forget just how bad the chrominance noise was in low light with this camera and the huge improvement in low light capabilities of modern digital cameras. Roll on the M10R/M11, for which I have an order in but I guess the announcement may have been delayed by the 2 month shut down at Wetzlar. 

Wilson

 

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This was a concept car when I took this photo but it did go into production almost unaltered. No longer in production, which was for a fairly short period and I believe that less than 1,000 were made. 

Wilson

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AFAIK 500 numbered cars made in total in 2 years if I’m thinking of the right model.

I still have no access to my library so will just spectate....

Edited by NigelG
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5 minutes ago, NigelG said:

AFAIK 500 numbered cars made in total in 2 years if I’m thinking of the right model.

I still have no access to my library so will just spectate....

Getting extremely warm. The numbers have been disputed. Some say less than 500, some more. There were also around 40 competition ones made. Around 2 years as a production car after 7 years in design - that must have been a profitable bit of business. Still the VW group have only just started to make a profit at Bugatti after 12 years, another vanity project. 

Wilson

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Andreas, 

It is the concept/prototype for the LF-A. The engine was supposedly developed by Yamaha from their notoriously fragile 3.5L F1 engine and I think they actually made the engines for Lexus. I drove one some years ago, not expecting to like it much but I was very pleasantly surprised. It actually felt very analogue to drive with lovely tactile steering and wonderful throttle response. Close to the same performance as the 997 Turbo S  (with GT2 spec engine) that I was running at the time. It was a lot better than that other V10 GT car the Porsche Carrera GT, which I don't like at all. It makes a Lamborghini Countach seem easy to drive in traffic. 

Your turn

Wilson

 

 

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Thank you, Wilson! One of the rare cases where the production car looks better than the concept.

Here is your next one - I hope not too easy.

 

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I was afraid that with all the experts here the crop might be too generous.

Good job though.

You turn, Jim.

 

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