Austin 1800 - Too Big For its Boots

Absolutely marvellous car… much maligned by people who never owned one

The 1800 was supposed to replace the A60 Cambridge and Oxford though, not the Austin A40 as shown.

The Austin 1800 was under-appreciated - it was a great car. I owned two - a 1965 Mk1 and a 1972 Mk2. I had the Mk1 when I was still young (and single) and bored the block out to 1900cc using Ford pistons. I fitted a 1/4 race cam and twin inch & 3/4 SU carbs. That car would fly, it would go off the clock at 100 mph in fourth - Cortinas couldn't catch us! Unfortunately my dear mom borrowed the car and T-boned it so I scrapped it and having married by this time I bought the Mk2. The Mk2 was a great improvement over the Mk1 and was our family car for several years, from late 1970 until late in the 80s. We called it 'The Barge' and it is now living somewhere in the Free State - it still has a place in my heart. The Barge (or Landcrab) was a great car.

I owned a 1974 Wolsley Six auto for several years and loved it. smooth and powerful for it's time and with regular servicing it never gave us a scrap of trouble. One amusing story; The car became our "wedding car" when my wife and I got married, but on leaving our wedding reception in the evening the thing wouldn't start, accompanied by much popping a backfiring! My cousin Tim had got under the bonnet and changed around the plug leads! There was me in my best suit under the bonnet in the dark sorting them out again! the Wolsley is Long gone, but my wife and I have stayed the course and have now been together for forty years.

I had a BMC 1800 Mark 2 automatic. It was a brilliant car. Cheap to run, reliable, roomy and incredibly comfortable. Its road holding was excellent. It was somewhat under powered. I've been driving for 58 years and the1800 is one of my favorite vehicles.

My family had a Morris 1800 for 6 years from 1973. It was always our favourite family car, incredibly smooth and comfortable for that class of car. We went all over europe in it on holiday - I remember a marathon non-stop run from the Alps to Calais. A great car

The upmarket crab of the land.

Dad had a Mk2 it was a brilliant car which he owned long enough for us to rebuild the engine. It was a flyer. I once drove it from a night club in Bristol to Yeovil in Somerset a distance of 44 miles in 40 minutes, I've never since bettered that time in cars of much higher performance. The handling of the car was absolutely tremendous. Good memories of that car. It was a comfortable spacious car that could be driven great distances with stops only for fuel. I remember my father driving it from Blois to Marseilles over the Massif Central in one day, a distance of 488 miles. It was the best car he ever owned.

As the kids grew, my father went from the Austin A40, to the Austin 1100 and then the Austin 1800. Great family car for long holiday trips. Quite roomy, but we often spent Sunday mornings servicing and replacing parts!

That kink in the bootlid of the 1800 really reminds me of the Peugeot 504 saloon.

This channel is normally pretty reliable, however there are errors on this occasion. The BMC Farina pictured was the Austin A40 version. This car was powered by the A series engine and was the car replaced by the 1100. The car which should have been shown as the precursor to the 1800 was the Farina A55 and A60 Cambridge with the B series engine. (Morris, Wolseley, Riley and MG variants of these cars also existed.) Also, no mention was made of the strengthened engineering implemented initially by BMC Australia. It's always odd to Australian ears to hear about how unsuccessful the 1800s were, as they sold well here, where their size was considered perfectly normal, and no-one ever thought them over-engined!

I owned an Austin 1800 and loved it. Under appreciated, it is one of my favourite cars that I have owned and deserves a much better reputation. Great to drive, incredibly spacious, and reliable. Wish I still had it! I always felt driving it that I was in a more expensive, more luxurious car than what a paid for it. So comfortable, great handling.

Best drive-in theatre car ever. Basically a big bed on wheels.

The 1800 was a fantastic car... more room than a Rolls Royce of the day. Ever the bloke who bought it from me had the same opinion.

I had one of those as a ute here in Oz. With no drive shaft the floor it the tray was cavernous and was easy to overload the rear suspension but the new invention of air shocks took care of that. I had that ute for over 10 years without a major problem, just usual service issues, and would have it still today, however a storm and a tree not really anchored that well severed my connection to the ute.

My father bought an 1800 in 1966 and had for several years. Great car. Borrowed it regularly. Good for nooky in the back in my teens.

They sold plenty in Australia. My dad had a Kimberly that we toured the Flinders Ranges in and he later drove it to Tassie. Looked a fair bit better than the 1800 because they squared up the rear end and had dual rectangular headlights.

It's interesting that the fact that the car had so much interior space ( due to its excellent packaging ) made people think it was a much larger car than it actually was, On the Wikipedia page it is described as a large family car. In fact the latest VW Golf is 3.5 inches wider and 3.5 ins longer than the 1800. ( My tiny 2024 supermini Peugeot 208 is 1.5ins wider than the 1800 and only 5.3 inches shorter ).

My dad had two of these. Mark I and Mark II, the first in the flat beige and the second in Harvest Corn. We were a family of 8 and before the silly seatbelt stuff we travelled Ireland together, packed into the massive space of these brutal looking cars. Great memories!

I had a 1969 Austin 1800 Mk2 back in the 70s. It was an absolutely brilliant car for its day, roomy, comfortable, quiet and economical to run as well as being totally reliable. The only down side was the lack of power steering which made the steering heavy when parking, but my cousin bought a Wolseley 18/85 version with the optional power steering and plush interior which was lovely. I started driving in 1967 and now drive a new Audi A6 S Line Avant, but I'd still happily go back to the 1800, even without all the bells and whistles!