Though almost 60,000 were sold in the US, an Austin America in good cosmetic and driving condition might be as rare as some of the quirky production models we cover at Barn Finds. But here on eBay is this 1968 example, with a buy-it-now price of $5500. The car is located in New Milford, Connecticut, and if you’re accustomed to the foibles of British cars, you can probably drive it home. It’s worth asking, why did so few Austin Americas survive? We found out.
In the 1960s, Volkswagen Beetles were roving US roads by the hundreds of thousands. They might as well have had targets on their roofs, for all the manufacturers that took aim at the Beetle’s success. Britain sent us the Mini, but only 10,000 were sold here through 1967. Next up was the MG 1100, which tripled the sales of the Mini, but still didn’t make a dent in the popularity of the Beetle – nor did it fulfill BMC’s aspirations in the American market. Attempting to cater more precisely to our tastes meant more space, more horsepower, and an automatic transmission. The Austin America – shedding the MG badge to create distance from a poorly received product – was built with a 1275 cc four-cylinder engine and a four-speed automatic transaxle. The arrow missed the mark yet again: the larger engine provided only three or four more hp than the MG’s feeble 1098, and the automatic box shared the engine’s oil, causing catastrophe when neglectful drivers failed to top up. Meanwhile, underneath, the hydrolastic suspension was nearly unserviceable in the US. Many an Austin America was parked or junked when repairs were either too costly or impossible.
The seller notes that this car’s wipers and lights work; the windows move as they should; the tires are new; and the seals and glass are good. Someone has obviously executed a repaint. The interior front to back is in fine nick, and the cargo area is similarly tidy. We can laud the condition of this car, but performance might prove disappointing, with a top speed of barely 80 mph, miserable torque figures, and a zero to sixty time of almost 20 seconds.
The failure of the Austin America was the last straw for the brand in the US. While British Leyland kept a toe in the waters here – selling MGs, Triumphs, and Sterlings (Rover) – these marques too eventually ceded territory, mostly to Japanese competitors. Putting aside all the demerits of the model, this particular car might be the best example in the country; does that make it worth an offer?
I, for one, truly miss the British marques. And I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these.The condition of this car is amazing! Thank Michele for writing this up… and for making me look up “hydrolastic suspension”. What a great find.
I’ve always liked these,but that color doesn’t look right to me.
These look goo in a Light Yellow or original White color.
I’ve seen a few in nicer,original paint/condition,& with 4 speed
transmissions.1275/4 speed is the way to go.
In high school (1969), one of my dear friends family had one of these. It was an automatic and I remember riding in it and it was a dog. I tried to like it thinking it was just a bigger Mini but that never happened. It was a failed experiment for the American market…. The Brits, they tried… oh how hard they tried to fit cars into the American market. Actually that was a difficult thing to do…. The Brits think one way and the American market had different aspirations……..
long history btwn usa/GB their/our cars and buyers. Even foreign manufacturers in each other’s country, and shippin them acc the ocean for finish on the other side. I think this model is one of the last in that 1//2 century relation. (oh, wait, ford ‘owned’ jag after this period, for alill while)…
Having been a shadetree since high school, I ditched my independence for a brief stint at Sports Car Center in Tacoma ,WA and fell right into the Austin America fiasco. Much of our work was poorly paid warranty stuff on the auto transmissions which were basically unrepairable. I washed my hands of the 9-5 stuff and never looked back.
I always thought these cars were
pretty cool and for a time, we even had a small dealership in my hometown (Bloomington Illinois).from ’69-’71. It was on Main Street over in Normal Illinois not far from the McDonald’s on the corner of Hovey and Main Street. Anyway, I
used to ride my bike to school and I’d pass by it everyday going to and from school. They always
had two identical cars parked out
front for you to test drive. Both were a cheery yellow with black
interiors. One car was a stick and the other was an automatic.
We ALMOST bought one for my
sister, who had just got her license to drive and my folks REALLY considered buying one for her as they were small and
manageable and good on gas ⛽
Dad and I went down there and
checked it out and let my sister
try it out. She liked the car and then Dad asked about financing.
The owner told us that because their shop was small, they didn’t
have room to display a large number of cars. So, if you were
one of the pigeons they were about to scam, you had to pay the
full price UP FRONT and then your car was shipped in from Peoria or Chicago and you picked it up at the local dealer. Well, Dad
being a police officer, it smelled
fishy to him so he made a few phone calls and he found out that
there was a scam where con men
would open an Austin America
dealership in a small town or city,
sell a few cars, take more orders,
and then leave town before the cops caught up to them. Long story short, that’s what happened
in our town. The two “dealers”
sold maybe two or three hundred
cars, took a boatload of orders–
all paid in cash and skipped out
of town before anyone knew what
happened. And since they were the only parts source in town, the tolks who actually got their cars
couldn’t get them serviced as there were no local mechanics that could fix them. As a result, a
A lot of these cars were dumped
on used car lots or simply crushed. And based on what happened, the city council voted
to ban sales of foreign cars within the city limits. They finally
relented a bit and required prospective foreign car dealers that did do business in Bloomington to take out $1 million dollar surety bonds to cover customer losses should the
dealer skip town or move away.
And yeah, we bypassed the bullshi*t and put my sister in a ’67 Mustang notch back.
After over 30 years selling and financing cars at some of southern Caklifornia´s largest dealerships, I have never heard of this particular scam. Now, to be sure WE as a dealer got scammed plenty of times, especially during saturdays before the advent of the computer and instant credit reporting! We had a saying: ¨Buyers are liars¨ and it never failed with a certain class which seemed to consist of credit criminals; probably they still do, because it´s like a congenital disease, you know, a Leopard doesn´t change his spoots etc.,etc.As far as the car goes, it handled like a dream, and ran as if it were on rails, but even a cursory inspection showed the built quality was horrendous, sort of a precursor to the Yugo. THIS one appears to be one of a kind, a miracle on wheels.
Didn’t see too many of these back when they were available. Saw a few rusting away in junkyards when I was a bit older. The BMC brand was struggling maybe was Layland then? Kind of miss the simple British cars of old days. Still have my TR6 and the curse of Lucas electrical products!
I bought a new one in ‘69, same color. $2000 bucks out the door with $75 additional for a Panasonic radio AM installed. I only kept it about a year, very unreliable.. Blown head gasket, battery replacement, poor starting in wet weather. Traded it in for a 66 Falcon. I took a bath on that one!
Not only the best one available, might even be the only one available in any kind of decent condition!
These cars self-destructed pretty quickly under American conditions, especially those with automatic transmissions. (The cars were available with 4-speed manual trans as well. Those did a little better.) Aside from the rust built in at the factory these rusted like crazy especially in areas with salted winter roads.
On the plus side it was pretty much the only foreign economy car in the U.S. at the time available with a fully automatic 4-speed transmission. Unfortunately as noted the trans shared oil with the engine which was not good for the longevity of either, so combined with inattention to maintenance it was a recipe for disaster. It’s amazing to see one with the automatic transmission still working at this late date.
The suspension was clever but needed much more frequent servicing than conventional springs and shock absorbers. It was not unusual to see these cars listing to one side and most mechanics could not do anything with it, had to go to a dealer if you were fortunate enough that one was still in business in your area.
Of course these were sloooow, but really in the same ballpark as the wildly successful VW bug. What the VW had going for it though was very high quality and reliability with excellent parts and service available – plus the ability to run flat-out at top speed all day long once it got to those speeds.
Really the only British cars that did well in the U.S. were sports cars whose enthusiastic owners were willing to put up with “British car syndrome”, and luxury cars where snobbish owners just paid someone to take care of all the the problems and kept a Cadillac on the side for when their British pride and joy was in the shop.
The link below is a detailed view of the British attempts to sell their cars in the United States from the British point of view:
https://www.aronline.co.uk/history/exporting-british-cars-to-the-usa-part1/
The suspension reminds me of the Citroen green ball shaped shock absorbers, which interestingly proved to be serviceable.
I don’t think this is the “best one available” with all the gaudy stripes and blacked-out chrome, totally wrong color paint, loose door panels, missing wheel covers, etc. Here is a much nicer example (at a higher price point) https://www.ebay.com/itm/178134382979
As with most British cars it is a yellow form of junk. Just my opinion.
The failure of the Austin America was “the next to” the last straw for the brand in the US. Austin offered the Marina in 1973 through 1975, but they never caught on and didn’t last very long.
As a former owner (1969 in British Racing Green. Much better than this Yellow) it was a case of fun (though sedate) while it lasted. I lived in Los Angeles at the time and the Austin was no match for LA freeways. A blown head gasket finally ended the ride on the “hydrolastic suspension!
I had an MG 1100 sedan, 4 speed. A lot can be said about the build quality etc, etc… But it was a fun car to drive and throw around. It’s handling and ride were outstanding despite 12 inch doughnuts at the 4 corners. Cecepually they were amazing, much better ride than a VW bug, much better space utilization than a bug, about the same performance, as an early bug….
Had they figured out build quality and dealer service like VW, they could have been a factor in sales. As it is, the Mini/MG 1100 were a most powerful influence on future Automotive design; front engine, sideways, FWD, independent rear suspension, huge trunk space and large interior space.
I bought one of these , in faded red, as my first car for $450 cad. As FWD was still new to this continent, the owners had the snow tires on the rear! You noticed that the distributor is mounted facing forward, through the grill with the rad at 90 degrees offering zero protection from any form of moisture? Great design and another reason you don’t see many of these! Horrible car!
In 1950, Austin was one of the largest car manufacturers in the world. By the early-mid 80’s they were gone. What the heck happened?
labor wanted parity i believe (as happened to all their car makers @ that time, no)?
Dad bought a 68 for mom in 72. Just in time for me to get my licence. It was a p$SS yellow manual and already had rust holes in the rockers. The steering wheel was slightly offset, it was slow and had the dreaded positive earth electrical that caused problems for a mechanic who we forgot to tell in advance. But, it handled like stink, was surprisingly roomy and comfortable and did great in snow.
Yeah Gerard, that’s what happened. Those two clowns that ran the “dealership” were charming, likable guys until they
swindled two or three hundred drivers and the local banks that
financed all those British Yugos.
The hardest hit was American State Bank, that financed a good
amount of these things. And the
only thing you could do if you bought one was to keep making the payments every month whether the car was running or not. As I said, people dumped them on used car lots until the owner said “enough” and turned
them away. I mean, can you imagine paying $25-$50 for an almost new car?!! Our friend, Carl
Pfeister, who owned Pfeister auto
sales on Main Street bought three
or four of them to sell to teenagers as their first car. He’d
sell you one for $25 just to get it
off his lot! He made me an offer
to sell me a ’39 Ford pickup that I
wanted cheap if I helped him sell
the Austins he bought to the kids
in my highschool. I passed because the word was already out as to just how bad these cars
were. And besides, when it came
to selling cars to other kids, Dad and I had a reputation to protect.
We’d rather sell you a nice well sorted ’56 Chevy 210 that we serviced ourselves rather than those God awful Austin Americas.
In 1968, I was working in Cambridge,MA. I had a co-worker who was 40ish, and never married. She had only learned to drive about 6 months previously and had never driven a standard transmission. She basically needed a new
inexpensive urban scooter and asked me to help her find one. I suggested the “America” and she found the dealership and made her own deal. She initially was very happy as it ticked all the boxes. Then parts started falling or breaking off. I forget whether it was the transmission or engine (or both) that packed up about a year into her ownership. I believe she ended up walking away from the car and her loan. We didn’t chat much after that. I’m still sorry, Juanita.