New Austins - value for money

(a road test from the Australian magazine WHEELS, October, 1959)

Well, the Farina-designed Austins are here at last, but to suit Australian conditions - the BMC has made dozens of changes which make them even better than the original.

When the British Motor Corporation decided to replace the Austin A55 with the Farina A55 they were faced with a number of problems involving the modification of the car to make it acceptable to Australian tastes and conditions. Unlike the A55, the smaller A40 needed few changes to make it meet local requirements, but cars were tested for thousands of miles over the most rugged conditions in Australia.

The modifications made to the A 55 were sufficiently great to get the car renamed the A60. The alterations carried out were well worthwhile, for they have overcome many of the shortcomings apparent in the English version of the car. The A60 differs from its English counterpart in no fewer than 27 different ways, ranging from simple things like fixing centres for the door pulls, to a different cylinder casting.

The important changes, however, centre around the development and adoption of a 1620cc, 55bhp engine instead of one of 1489cc and 50bhp. The extra capacity has been obtained by boring out the cylinders in a modified casting which has no water jackets between numbers two and three.

Bigger wheels (15 inch instead of 14 inch on the A55) have been used to increase ground clearance and improve the ride on rough roads. As well as this, the shockers and front suspension components have been modified to make them more rugged.

Interior trim is not up to English standards and considerable use of plastics has been made for greater durability in conditions of dust and heat. Particular attention has been given to dust sealing problems and the BMC engineers are confident that the problem is pretty well licked.

Mechanical features of the car are conventional enough: independent front suspension by coil springs with semi-elliptics at the rear; pushrod overhead valve engine coupled to a four speed gearbox; solid rear axle; unitary construction body/chassis; four doors; tail fins. However, there is nothing at all wrong with conventional design when it's been done well and, in the case of A60, it has been.

Italian stylists Pinin Farina designed the basic shell for the A60 but it is shared in England with the Riley, MG, Morris Oxford, Wolseley and Austin A55. The shape is a pleasing one. Fairly pure lines avoid heaviness, although I think the bigger wheels make the car sit rather high off the ground in relation to its width. Two-toning of the paintwork is restricted to a contrasting colours for the roof and tail fins.

The radiator intake is a large, mouth-organ affair, flanked on either side by winkers and parking lamps. The bumpers look heavy enough and have small overriders. For additional side protection, the bumpers at the rear wrap around to the trailing edges of the back wheel arches.

Prior to the release date I was able to have a short drive of a brand new A60 but naturally the engine was too stiff to obtain any performance figures. Nevertheless I was impressed by the good pulling power in top gear and the six-cylinder smoothness of the engine. The ratios in the gearbox were well chosen, although the torque characteristics were so good that I found it was hardly necessary ever to use first for starting from rest. The degree of flexibility and smoothness of the engine make the car ideal for lazy-man motoring with the minimum waving of the gear lever.

No horn ring was fitted to the dished, two spoke steering wheel which made it fairly inconvenient to get at the button in a hurry. A trafficator stalk sticks out the right hand side of the column, opposite the gear lever.

The bench front seat, which could accommodate three people, was quite comfortable to sit on, although the acid test would be a 300 mile drive. Instrumentation is surprisingly good. Matching the rather vaguely calibrated speedo, the right hand instrument cluster includes gauges for fuel contents, engine temperature and oil pressure. Beautifully detailed toggle switches operate the other electrical accessories. The starter is worked through the ignition key.

Although the A60 has none of the alleged advantages of a full wraparound windscreen, the large expanse of curved glass in front of the driver offers very good visibility with slight blind spots caused by the pillars.

Accessibility to the rear is good and for once I am able to say that there is sufficient head room and even a surprisingly large amount of leg room.

I suppose I could safely say that the A60 is a six passenger car, although five big people would be better than half a dozen. There is ample luggage space in the tail.

Some of the things which impressed me while I was at the wheel of the A60 was the feeling of controllability and ease of operation. All the controls were light to use and the sturdiness of the handbrake and gear shift added to the feeling of solidity.

Road holding of this big Austin was a good feature and when the point of maximum tyre adhesion was passed, the tail slid out gently but was instantly controllable. Body lean was slight and the tyres did not protest excessively when abused. Parking was a relatively simple matter since the rear guard tail fins were visible from the driver's seat.

Apart from being attractive through its newness, the A60 has a great deal more appeal because It is simply a good car, bringing to Australia for the first time the Farina BMC combination. Unfortunately, the price of the A60 is higher than one may expect at £1160. But looking at the car objectively it is value for money so long as you disregard “that other car”.

The other new BMC product we tried was rather a different kettle of fish which seems to be fated to become a volume seller. Harking back to the esteemed name of Austin A40 for this Farina clad piece of mechanical cleverness, the BMC have come up with a quite brilliant little car.

There's nothing unconventional about its mechanical components (conventional is BMC's last name) but for its mechanical specification, the designers have relied on well tried components such as the Austin A30 front end, A series (34 bhp) engine, coupled to four speed gearbox with a Morris 1000 remote control, semi-elliptic rear suspension and interior space for four people.

The Italian master met the challenge of providing suitable coverings for the mechanicals with a body which is neither car nor station wagon.

However, the basic facts about the car are these. The A40 looks good, has stacks of space for four people and luggage, gives an excellent performance on the road.

“Our” little white and black A40 was brand new, like the A60, and we naturally could not give it a full test run, but the short drive we had was pretty convincing.

Initial impressions sometimes give the wrong feeling about a car. Such was the case with an A40. My immediate thoughts after the wraps were removed was "well, that's a peculiar, dumpy little car". Half an hour later I had become quite entranced by its appearance and also by its immense practicability.

Like the A60, its lines are clean, verging on sharpness and extra chrome has been kept down to a minimum. After all Farina is so good he doesn't have to use chrome to hide mistakes. Big winking/parker lights under the headlamps give a vertical, four light effect something like the new Morris Major. The grille is big (good for blistering hot Australian summer days) and unmistakably Austin.

Now, If you will wander around the back of the car with me I'll show you what I mean about this station wagon business. If you undo the boot handle, the lid will open out, hinged from its lower edge. Now there is nothing between boot compartment and the rear seat squab, although a fabric flap can be clipped into position to separate passengers from cargo. For really big objects, the rear seat can be folded down completely. Very practical, all this.

Access to the rear seat is, of course, through a large, forward hinged door on each side of the body. Front bucket seats must be tilted forward, though. Rear passengers have a quite large bench on which to sit, but the two people in the front have flat, separate seats. I won't say they are the bucket type because actually they are not. There is no curvature to hold the sitter in position and the ,squab is too low for normal size people.