Morris Major born to command

0 0 October 24, 2022 Edit this post

by David Burrell

Who remembers the 1962 Morris Major Elite? It was launched by BMC Australia 60 years ago, along with the bigger Austin Freeway, in what they hoped was a path back to market leadership. You see, there was a time when BMC’s products were preferred more than those of Holden. In 1951, BMC was the market leader with 30 per cent of the market. Holden was second with 24 per cent. By 1962, however, the tide had turned. Holden’s market share was hovering above 40 per cent and BMCs had dived to 17 per cent. That’s a big fall. VW, on the strength of the locally-built Beetle, had grown from zero in 1951 to 10 per cent in 1962. That’s a big rise. So, the Elite and Freeway were business critical cars for BMC. Reflecting their position as the challenger, BMC priced and equipped the Elite to win sales quickly. The four door Elite’s price undercut the two-door VW Beetle 1200. But that’s not all, as they say. The Elite boasted a padded dashboard full of real instruments, heater, seat belt mountings, dished steering wheel, seating for six, windscreen washers, powerful 1.6-litre engine, four speed gearbox and rack and pinion steering.

For 1962 this was almost luxury level compared to a Holden Special and was way ahead of the spartan VW which offered little in the way of comfort, equipment and performance.

In the days before automatic transmission, the output of the Elite’s 1.6 litre engine allowed the car to cruise effortlessly in top gear up and down hills on the highway. Make no mistake, that capability was a prized attribute back then. What was also impressive was that BMC had managed to build it with 96 per cent Australia content. That was approaching Holden levels of content and is one of the many aspects of the Elite that is so often overlooked.

The Elite had its genesis in the UK as a car that was supposed to replace the Morris Minor. Trouble was, the Minor just kept on selling and delivering profits, so BMC decided to give the new car to its Wolseley and Riley subsidiaries. It was sold in the UK as the Wolseley 1500 and Riley 1.5, using the B series engine. The Wolseley was all wood and leather. The sportier Riley got the twin-carb B engine that went into the MGA. In Australia, BMC was more practical.

They sold the Wolseley version as an up market small car, sort of like a BMW 1 series.

To gain volume sales they returned to the original idea of it being a Minor replacement, putting two economy versions on to the market called the Morris Major and Austin Lancer. They were popular cars, outselling the venerable Minor. BMC realised it was on to something and a restyle was done in 1959 to freshen up the design. The Lancer and Major were given new grilles, a lower roof line, rear fins and a longer wheelbase. The Wolseley 1500 was dropped. Sales increased again, more than double the number of BMC's bigger family-sized “Farina” models. In 1962, BMC combined the Lancer and Major into one car -- the Elite. But BMC only allowed it to remain in showrooms for two years. Someone in the UK had the bright idea that Australians would much prefer a local version of the Morris 1100 rather than the robust all-Australian Elite. And so, in 1964, Morris 1100 replaced the Elite.

The legacy of the Elite is that it proved the old adage that if you insert a powerful engine is a smallish car, buyers will flock to it.

Datsun did it in 1968 with its 1600. In 1969 Holden put a six cylinder in a slightly stretched Torana and watched them fly out of dealership showrooms. Mitsubishi would do a similar thing with Sigma and Magna. BMC went back to the formula in 1971 with the Marina. But by then no one was taking any notice of the company that 20 years earlier had sold more cars in this country than any other car maker.