Innholdsfortegnelse for Volume 17 i Vintage Roadscene Archive

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Sound commercial sense, or the merger from hell? Back in 1952 when Austin and Morris were combined into one single conglomerate, the company Public Relations Department line at the time was that the move was necessary because the British Motor Industry needed larger players in order to compete with our overseas competitors. By which we must assume were those primarily based in America - although as the years rolled on, that would also include those in Germany, Italy, France and even Scandinavia as well. But was it the right move? Having studied contemporary magazines and sales literature, Malcolm Bates attempts to get a handle on the thinking behind ‘the merger’ in the context of the commercial vehicle range. Or should that be ‘ranges’? See, things are already starting to get…

That product, as you will have already observed is the BRS Parcels ‘Noddy Van’, as it was widely – and I think we can assume, affectionately – known. Underneath that… what’s the word - utilitarian? – body is a well-proven BMC chassis. Or to be more precise, one of several BMC chassis, as the Noddy put on weight as it grew older. As we can see here, it started off as a ‘3-tonner’ but ending-up with a load capacity of 5 tons. It would be wonderful to find the official minutes of the meetings called by the top brass of BRS to discuss why the recently Nationalised haulier needed it’s own design of integral parcels van. Especially when so many different designs were already on the market from both before…

The FJ tilt cab range really did put BMC centre stage in the commercial vehicle market and the very fact that British Leyland kept the cab in production for so long after it took control must surely testify to it’s sound design. More proof? Leyland even produced a normal control version of the FJ cab for the new Leyland ‘Landmaster’ produced for Export markets. The fact that it didn’t look out-of-date years later must surely confirm how well designed it was? Even if it was a tad understated and lacked the flamboyance of the previous BMC forward control cab used on the FF, it worked. The front cover of this FJ launch brochure manages to cram a lot of information into one rendering - namely, the FJ looks good, has…

1866 - Herbert Austin born in Little Missenden, Bucks. 1877 - William Morris born October in Worcestershire. 1895 - Herbert Austin designs first Wolseley car - a three wheeler. First four-wheeled Wolseley comes in 1900. 1896 - Leonard Lord born in November. He later becomes ‘Baron Lambury KBE’ in reward for his efforts to boost UK exports. He would work for Morris between 1923 and 1927. He effectively ran the Austin organisation at Longbridge from 1938 to 1946 before taking over as Chairman. 1905 - Herbert Austin leaves Wolseley and sets up on his own in Longbridge, Birmingham. 1906 - The Austin factory now covers 2.5acres and employs 270 workers. 1912 - Austin builds first ‘proper’ lorry - a 20hp twin-propshaft chassis designed for a 2-3ton load with the radiator…

The BMC normal control cab was neat, but dated. The forward control Willenhall cab was not a BMC design anyway, although it’s replacement did have a flourish of Trans-Atlantic swagger about it. So what can we say about the FG range? It really was one of THE first lorry cabs to be designed for the job, starting with a clean sheet of paper. ‘Time and Motion’ studies were undertaken to test the ergonomics (and yes, it was the first lorry cab to be associated with the ‘ergo’ word, too although Leyland claimed to have been first). The design resulted in a dramatic reduction in driver fatigue levels during an arduous stop-start pattern of urban deliveries. A lack of further development resulted in it falling behind in terms of cab comfort,…

Quite how transport magazine journalists managed to write a serious Road Test article without a scathing comment concerning ‘badge engineering’ when a Morris was actually an Austin is difficult to gauge half-a-century on. But amazingly the subject was either never mentioned, or if it was, it was quickly glossed-over. There were however some new model high-spots that were worthy of praise - the Mini van and pick-up, and before that, the Morris Minor-based van and pick-up. And at the time of it’s launch, we might include the original J-Type van for it’s clever packaging, if not it’s narrow-gutted stance. But the problem with the J-Type was that it was kept in production for far too long - a practice BMC and subsequently British Leyland would be guilty of in spades…