vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I've ended up adopting one of these, specifically a 1972 2 door Austin 1100 version with the manual gearbox. I'm not a stranger to this sort of car, I've owned a Princess (wedge type) for five years now and I've had dabblings with an A40 Farina in the past so I know what came before and what after, technically speaking. Until the car arrives later this month I won't know exactly what it needs but I am aware of a few items it's short on. Happily, the Hydralastic looks in good order so that's one less worry and it's only been off the road for five years (which is nothing compared to some of the stuff I've taken on, it doesn't scare me). The main areas of concern are the driver's side front inner wing, the front panel and the front outer wings as all contain rust to varying degrees as is normal. The outer wings I can find easily and in a fair range of prices and conditions, the front panel and inner arch not so much which leads me to believe they're probably no longer available. What I'm really struggling with is finding an owners club or forum specifically aimed at the ADO16 that doesn't require me to either pay-to-view or sign up to Facebook. All I've really found are a couple of really old AROnline articles, a couple of *very* quiet forums and a Twitter account that doesn't really meet my requirement here. So I turn to the greater knowledge that is RR in the hope that someone can shortcut the search for information. Here's the one I've adopted.
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Great stuff - owned a few of these and repaired hundreds - literally - especially with welding for MOT - cant help with the owners clubs but can help on advice & what to look for - front panel is a weak point and the front subfame fastens to it - front panels are available but are very expensive £500 + so if the old one can be salvaged / repaired then it's worth exploring the option - some repair panels / sections are also available for it - front inner wings tend to go but mainly around the 'trumpet' panel - again complete inner wings are very expensive but repair sections for the trumpet panel are available so if the inner wings can be repaired then all well & good - you really need to remove the front wings to effect any major repairs to the inners - the sills go has does the floor pan abutting up to the sill flange edge - floor pans can be repaired with sheet steel sections and the sills are available - rear subframe mounting points go - these are the forward mountings just adjacent to the bottom of the rear wheel arch - repair sections are available but I have always made my own repair panels for these - rear subframes rot but are available - subfame mountings (metalastic type - bit like a engine mounting) tend to perish too - but great little cars - very comfy ride - can be made to go really well - quite simple mechanically - loads of character too - I just hope that it's not too bad once you get hold of it - my best advice is to put it up in the air and go all the way around it thoroughly inspecting everything - especially the weak / rusty areas and determine from day one what you are in for - that way you can master plan around the weak points / good points and not realise half way through the structure is so bad that it's not worth doing - but it will be a great little save if you can return this one to the road - Good luck - Chris Link to Ex-Pressed steel panels who manufacture panels for the model (along with a whole range of other classics) www.steelpanels.co.uk/category/bmc/EDIT - Just realised its a 2 door !! Very, very rare - vast majority were 4 doors - equally the estate must also be a rare commodity
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Last Edit: Jul 2, 2017 12:49:53 GMT by Deleted
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slater
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,390
Club RR Member Number: 78
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Yeh so basically they rust like curse word :-D If you would rather sell it to me don't hesitate to ask...
I belive theres a club called the 1100 club too.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I know it's had both sills replaced in its lifetime at least once. I also know it's had work to the usual areas on the floor and the front panel has filler around the lights. What repairs have been done don't look to have been hidden and I prefer that, I like to see what I'm dealing with. It's all fairly normal stuff really, nothing particularly scary, just awkward to put right again. Not planning to go nuts with it, just assess the bodyshell when I get it on the workshop ramp and reassure myself that it's repairable, the mechanical side of things can wait as that's way easier to sort out on these than anything else. As far as I understand, they're fairly easy to take apart if you have to with them having subframes so at least access to welding jobs shouldn't be too bad. One thing I don't know on these is how the front seats fold to get in the back. This one has seats from a Wolseley in it, which as far as I know were all four doors, and I can't recall seeing a little lever on the side of the seats of any 2 door ADO16. I'm assuming the whole sit tips forwards rather than folding, I just don't know. I'm also guessing these are toughened screens rather than laminated. I wonder if they ever had pop-out rear side windows? I also wonder if the wooden side trim from an estate would fit. Idle considerations there, we're a VERY long way off that sort of thing. Slater: If I decide to sell it, I know where to find you
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depending on where you're based there's a BMC day in Ferry meadows peterborough on 6th August, with an autojumble, usually quite a few of these show up (the more common ones) so other owners and parts, what more could you ask for? Of course if you're miles from Peterborough this is no help at all to you, sorry about that!
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I'm about 170 miles away from Peterborough so it's not exactly local.
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1900sr
Part of things
I like Mantas me!
Posts: 875
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If I remember (it was a long time ago I had one) the seats just tip forwards, and the 4 doors had tipping seats as well. I think I've got an owners handbook somewhere so I'll check.
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1900sr
Part of things
I like Mantas me!
Posts: 875
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Just looked in the handbook, It's not clear but I think all seats do tip. Some had catches fitted, but it suggests these were only on certain export models.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Tipping seats in a normally four doored car. That sort of madness makes perfect sense for BMC.
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Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
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Had a poo brown 1300gt back in the very early 80's. Managed to break it in half over the speed bumps at Lee Valley whilst "testing" the suspension.... 2 door seats just tip forward like a mini. Nice save. P.
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Front seats are the same in two door and four door. Economies of scale. Why tool up for making two different things if you don't need to?
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Awesome little cars! I've previously owned a Vanden Plas Princess 1300 but I'd really like a nice 2 door MG1300 one day. My Dad owned about 4 or 5 on the trot including a 1300GT, these are very hard to find in good condition now. As slater has already mentioned, there is The 1100 Club which is all ADO16 variants, (and not just the 1.1 litre engined cars). There's a 'For Sale / Wanted' section which is free to advertise in although you'd need to be a member to access other areas of the site. It's a very active club with lots of show attendances, lengthy club runs, etc. These cars were built in huge numbers so there's still lots of parts floating around. There are thousands of parts for these on ebay including body panels. They're simple cars so with time, work and investment it's not inconceivable that you could bring yours up to a very high standard without breaking the bank.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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The more I've been hunting for parts, with tips here and just general browsing, the more I'm surprised they're not taken on more frequently. Parts are, generally, really easy to find. The only thing that seems difficult to get is two door specific stuff, presumably because they made less of them. Really does feel like this is going to be an easier project than I'm used to.
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1100
Kinda New
Posts: 9
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excellent purchase! the ado16 'two door sports coupe' is a great alternative to a mini, and so much cheaper. there's a lot of info on the mk1 forum, with a dedicated sub section mk1-forum.net/viewforum.php?f=28ive got two of them, a tatty every day beater, and ones that's having a full resto ebay is pretty good for sourcing some parts and earl part, whilst pricy for some bits, is a very good source of many parts - ive have a few panels of him and they have all been really good
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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I just learned that Austin Americas got pop-out windows and seem to mostly (if not all) the two door shell. A very rudimentary eBay showed up parts in Australia and America and even a rear pop-out window so that's neat to know.
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1100
Kinda New
Posts: 9
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the base models got the fixed rear windows and the normal painted door tops
anything slightly better got opening rear windows and the stainless door top tops
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,243
Club RR Member Number: 146
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So just a case of keeping an eye out for spares then rather than having to order from the States. I didn't think any of the UK cars got pop-outs.
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79cord
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Could probably glue an outer trim and a strip with tabs to hinge from directly to the glass with windscreen adhesive as newer cars did. Since old style full frames probably tend to rust out anyway, especially with stainless trims on a steel frame.
I'd have guessed you'd be almost as keen for one of the formal MG/Riley/Wolseley grilles even if the rest of the front had to be cobbled up from metal or fiberglass to suit.
My only knowledge of them was Dad's complaints of his early 1100 regularly breaking exhaust pipes since it hadn't incorporated a flexible/moveable manifold/exhaust joint at that stage.
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These and Minis always break exhaust front pipes or have issues with sealing at the front pipe to manifold clamp. Still good cars though. I'm biased of course having serial BMC owning grandparents on both sides and having had three Minis, three ADO16s and an Allegro myself.
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Nathan
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,649
Club RR Member Number: 1
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There is a company in Nottingham that breaks them, I'll dig out the details. I also own a VDP version, I've had a it a number of years now after noticing it on an old Gentleman's drive. Still sitting waiting in line for it's turn to be restored.
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