Austin 1800 Utility

"Utes" (that is, utilities or pick-up trucks) have long been popular in Australia and in the Fifties and Sixties, a variety of British saloons were redesigned locally to serve this market.

The Austin 1800 Utility was introduced in July of 1968 (just a few months before the introduction of the Mark II sedan) to replace the locally produced A55 Utility. The tooling costs were within the original guideline figure set at £25,000. The 1800 Utility remained in production until late 1970, by which time 2,331 had been sold. This vehicle was unique to Australia.

It had a tray larger and deeper than its competitors, a payload of over half a ton, a low loading height of 22" and fully independent Hydrolastic Fluid Suspension with torsion bars at the rear. The East West Engine gave the passenger area extra room too. To keep down cost of tooling and production, most of the panels not shared with the sedan, apart from the exterior tray panels, were of ribbed or flat design. Unlike the sedan, the door cards were plain, and there were no storage pockets. A bench seat was fitted but, as the manual utilities (an automatic Borg-Warner 35TA box was available as an option) had a floor change, they were occasional three seaters at best.

The Mark II version was released in mid 1969, and 1,554 of the 1800 utilities built were of this type. The Mark II had a higher compression ratio and an improved head with bigger valves and a number of other differences, including a different second gear ratio and negative earth.

A few of them were sold with a canopy and four went to the Navy for use as ambulances with ambulance bodies fitted to the back.

The Austin 1800 sedan was replaced by the Austin Tasman and Kimberley. There were two Austin Tasman utilities built, but the model did not go into production.