Never seen one of these before

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg) 11/08/2015 at 13:32 • Filed to: None

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It’s a 1969 Austin America. Owners walked up as I was taking the pictures, and we chatted a bit. Apparently they just got the car back on the road, and as such it’s a work in progress. Neat.

fhrblig > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/08/2015 at 13:43

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A girl I went to high school with drove one of these, it was powder blue. I always thought it was cool.

The Real Dacia Sandero > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/08/2015 at 13:54

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Got to drive one a while back at a Cars and Coffee. Such a cool car.

Fun fact. The hydraulic suspension used to be filled with alcohol, but the people building the cars were drinking it instead of filling the suspension, so they had to switch to another fluid.

Cé hé sin > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/08/2015 at 15:24

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Ooooh, an 1100/1300! Intended as a bigger version of the Mini and very popular at one time. You could have got Austin, Morris, MG and probably some other versions too.

Never seen or heard of an American spec one before.

Berang > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/08/2015 at 15:43

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One of those cars that could have been really popular in the U.S. if its maker just would have put barely more than no effort into adapting it for American buyers.

sdwarf36 > Berang 11/08/2015 at 15:53

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Or make sure it would start-not leak-have heat + be faster than a lawn mower in the 1/4 mile. They actually were pretty shitty cars.Even in frame with the other class of ‘69-your beetles-Toyotas+ Datsuns.

Still neat to see one survive-can’t be too many.

ranwhenparked > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/08/2015 at 17:38

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It was basically just a rebadged Austin 1300, lightly modified in an effort to appeal more to American tastes. Unfortunately too lightly modified, since this was the period when small, fuel efficient, imports from Japan really started taking off in a big way in the US. If BL had been more together, they might have been able to claim some of that market for themselves. The ADO16 was, in many ways, a more sophisticated design than what Toyota and Datsun were offering at the time.

twochevrons > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/08/2015 at 21:54

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Manual or automatic? The FWD layout those cars used had the engine and gearbox as a single unit, sharing lubrication – essentially, the gearbox was in the oil pan. Even the optional automatic (which was a four-speed, pretty advanced for the time) used plain old engine oil as its working fluid.

The automatic ones are rare as hen’s teeth in the UK/Commonwealth market, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were more popular for the US models.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > twochevrons 11/08/2015 at 21:57

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I didn’t notice or remember to ask.

Amoore100 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/09/2015 at 19:40

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AMERICA! Lol, I always knew about these things but thought it was really counter-intuitive to market a tiny, British hatch with the name “America” because it wasn’t really tailored to the American market...