1966 Wolseley 1100 Goes for a Drive 

Old cars are remarkably basic but when in such good condition as this one, delightfully simple and charming.

I really enjoyed the A series engine in both my Morris Minor and my Morris 1100 in my student years.It was always so eager to rev well and get up and go.Always very economical and very easy to work on.I miss those early days of my motoring history.

It's gorgeous on the outside and the inside. Definitely a big step up from the ordinary Austin or Morris 1100. With only 21 left, I'm sure it would take a lot of money to persuade a current owner to part with one.

Yes, they came with electric fuel pumps. Tickety-tickety-tickety. It's a solenoid-reciprocating pump, and over time the contacts get dodgy. When that happens, you end up whacking it with a scrwdriver handle to get it into action on starting.

A lovely kind old gent and neighbour bought one of these Wolseley 1100's second hand in the early 80's and managed to fit 10 of us local kids and an accordion into it and bring us to school every day for years.we all thought it was the coolest car. In case you're wondering two kids in the front passenger seat eight in the back and the accordion in the boot. You wouldn't get away with it nowadays with road safety and such but things were a bit more relaxed back then.

My Mother had one, I drove it to college between 1976 to1978. Had great fun driving that. It was OK except for the gearbox, it was replaced twice. It had a character of its own, like many cars of its age. That’s what makes it so special. Thanks for bringing back some great memories!

The fuel pump was electric and positioned in the boot. It was a common anti-theft trick back in the day to interupt the live feed to the pump, then wire in a dashboard ignition switch and hide it under the bottom of the rear bumper. That way you could turn off the fuel pump easily when leaving the car.

Back in the day (1966) my bestest ever friend traded in his Humber Super Snipe for one of these, we all thought he was mad, but it proved a wise choice; this model was probably the best faux (BMC) Wolseley ever produced. The ride difference between this and the basic Austin/Morris 1100s was a chasm - so quiet, so luxurious and so inexpensive to run (it wasn't cheap - cheap is nasty). Billy reckoned that after 4 years of driving the car it owed him nothing because of massive fuel savings and minimal servicing costs etc. Those were such happy days driving into deepest Suffolk from east London for horses to spend the day with, knowing the luxury and the heating and the reliability of our transport home would just extend these already perfect days. We were so fortunate back then - and we knew it - to be on a deserted mid winter snow bound lane or road in that ultra comfortable front wheel drive meant we'd all get home okay.

In Australia, we got the Morris version of the 1100, probably because BMC Australia was selling 6 cylinderised versions of the Farina Austin Cambridge and Wolseley 15/60, these being named the Austin Freeway and Wolseley 24/80. That interior light appears to be the same unit as used as the rear interior light in the Phase III Vanguard estate. Thanks for showing it - it'll help me find a better unit for my Vanguard!

Learned to drive in an Austin 111. In 1973 my father drove us to Brittany for a camping holiday from Glasgow. The tent was there and we just took clothes etc. Imagine 5 up with a roof rack and so few horses under the bonnet. Really amazing to think about now.

My first car was a Morris 1100. I don't remember if it had an electric fuel pump, but the Austin 1800 I bought next definitely had an SU electric fuel pump in the boot. The pump lived under a black-painted, pressed steel cover. Until I realised that you could service it (by cleaning the little contact points) I kept a piece of wood in the boot so that when the Austin spluttered and died from fuel starvation I could open the boot lid and give the pump cover a stout thump. That would, apparently, free the contact points and off we would go again. The better solution was, as I eventually found out, to clean and set the contact points. My memories of my 1100 are mostly positive. White with a red interior and with a bench front seat (possibly because the locally made Fords, Holdens and Chryslers all came with bench front seats, BMC Australia decided to follow suit) which meant that the gear lever would actually contact the front of the seat - I can't remember which gears? Possibly only reverse or possibly reverse and the even gears (2nd and 4th). It has been a long while. I loved the floaty ride and the excellent, safe handling. Less appealing was the cheap-sounding clang when you closed the doors. This unpleasant sound was also provided at no extra cost on the Austin 1800.

A proper car, with a dashboard which is indeed a board, a glovebox large enough for gloves, and wing mirrors on the wings (probably more useful for parking than anything else?). Excellent review - thank you. :-)

I passed my test in a Austin 1300 GT it was a mustard colour with a black vinyl roof. Belonged to my mate who tried to set the twin carbs up the night before . I lurched and juddered around the test route with the examiner seated next to me. He passed me and two days later my mate scrapped the Austin as it had ran out of mot and didn't have the money to have the repairs done . Still have happy memories of that Austin.

I had a 6/110 with picnic tables in the back, having been driving around in my mum's Morris as a kid without picnic tables I knew I had arrived. Damn I miss yesterday some day. :)

When I was 17 I learned to drive in an 'L' reg Austin 1100 in Hastings - winter of 1974. Thanet School of Motoring, Hastings. Great instructor, 12 enjoyable lessons with Mr. Sharp, chain smoked throughout the lessons :-). The next door neighbour drove the Wolesly version, lovely car that I'd always admired. My dad had a Corsair.. On the day of my test in February 1975 I was collected at home by Mr Sharp to go down to the test centre......in a brand new Austin Allegro! He'd been given the car 15 minutes before, never driven it and neither had I. It was an appalling piece of harsh, tinny junk. Square steering wheel too. Not a patch on the old 1100. "I'm really sorry about this" said Mr Sharp."The only thing that could go wrong now would be if we get 'Failer Fowler' doing your test, miserable as hell." You can guess the next bit. We went out on the test, very little communication from said examiner. 45 minutes later, back to the test centre. A few road sign questions. He then got out of the car, turned to me and said "Stay here, your instructor will join you shortly." "Have I passed or failed?" I asked. He just closed the door, said nothing and walked away. A few minutes later Mr Sharp got into the car, extended his hand to me saying "Congratulations, a first time pass." I told him about Fowler's departure to which he replied "If he cant find a reason to fail you, he feels HE has failed." I gave Mr Sharp 40 John Player Specials as a thankyou. Next day, our neighbour - Mr Waterhouse - let me drive his Wolesly and I loved it. Happy memories.

My earliest child hood memory of cars was helping to wash my Uncles brand new ADO16 MG version (1300 I think) in two tone light blue and cream. Beautiful car. I must have been no more than 4 or 5 years old. I'm now 59 and have never forgotten the car. Just cannot find one today.

I do love these videos where you test drive cars from the past. So a big thanks to Furiousdriving.

Great nostalgia. I grew up with these things many years ago. Thanks for bringing one out for me to see again. Pete 🇬🇧

My dad had a 1966 Austin 1100, and it did have an electric fuel pump. He fitted a hidden cut-off switch as an anti-theft device. It wouldn't actually have stopped it being stolen, but it would only have gone a very short distance. It was always amusing when dad forgot to flick the switch to 'on', then suddenly remembered when it started misfiring...

A Wolseley 1100 was my parents’ first car, won in a competition at Rhyl. They had to guess how far it would run on a gallon of petrol. They were one yard short, but a co-winner was one yard long so we had to buy out their 50% share. In effect we won half a Wolseley 1100. I was too young to remember it apart from the illuminated Wolseley sign on the grille which I loved, but hated the picnic sandwiches from the boot which always tasted of petrol.

I remember these things being everywhere. It was the dreaded tin worm that finished off the vast majority of them. No body rust proofing in them there days! I played my part in the demise of an MG 1300 by swapping the engine into a Mini. That happened quite often. You ended up with a cheap alternative to a Cooper. If we knew then, what we know now eh?

I learnt in a new mk2 Austin 1100 2 door back in 1971. Just loved the 1100. A few years ago I bought a 1968 morris 1100 mk2 in trafalgar blue. Best car I’ve ever had. People would always come over and chat about going in granddads car or mum had one or older folk saying they used to own one.

I love the use of real wood on the dash (and the blue leather) but the things that , for me, give the car character and charm are the interior lights. The one on the indicator stalk but especially the ones on the dashboard for the headlights. They could have just been little circles of plastic but they were shaped to look like little jewels. Lovely. The illumination radiator badge is good. Why can't manufacturers put these little touches in cars these days?

It's always awesome to me when young people love old cars. Makes me feel a bit better about it!

16:35 The Wolseley 'wedge', as with the Austin & Morris 'wedges', were all rebranded as Princess, not Austin. It was available in base, L, HL & HLS trim levels (L replaced base).

My Granny had a Wolseley exactly like this. I remember it fondly and this video brought back a lot of happy memories.

American car company Nash had a similar turn signal lever on its Rambler models in the 1950's. The end flashed green also.

I owned an Austin 1100 way back late 60's and what a car it was. A pleasure to drive and comfortable with plenty legroom even for the passengers in the rear.

The warning lights are, the amber on the left top for check oil filter, the other amber upper centre for generator, the blue top right for high beam and the lower centre red one for oil pressure. The green indicator lamp is on the end of turn signal stalk. The little black lever just under the dash panel turns the instrument lights on or off.

Absolutely loved your ADO16 Wolseley, I had an aunt in the colonies of New Zealand 🇳🇿 whom had one up to her passing in 1988. Brings back so many memories. In NZ, we also got an Australian variant called the Nomad, basically an estate version that may have had a 1500cc engine. It had different tail lights and may have been the forerunner of what the UK 🇬🇧 considered to be the Maxi. Thanks for the test drive and appraisal. A fine example with only 32,000 miles on the clock.😊

My Mum had an MG1100. I learnt to drive on it and shortly afterwards rewarded her by rolling it into a pond.Thankfully it was summer and dry otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this . But a new roof and a lot of panel bashing it was back on the road . That wouldn’t happen today. Shows how strong they were.

Lovely car and even though they had their issues, this one still lives to tell the tale. Great video mate

We had 3 Morris 1100s from 1962 to 1971 the last was a red 1967 automatic which to this day was my favourite car ever.these were considered very advanced when they came out incredibly roomy and great handling, unfortunately rust not so much the body but the sub frame mountings claimed many of them early.door bins were called "paniers" by the way.

The 1100 and the 1800 were great cars in their time and much under-appreciated here in Oz. The 1100 was a good handling, good riding, point to point fast touring car - far better than the reputed Mini.

This body style was sold as an MG in the US. I remember seeing one on a used car lot in San Francisco in the late '70s. It was much like this only with a black plastic dashboard instead of wood and black vinyl upholstery. The mirrors were on the doors because wing mirrors are not legal in the US. I don't remember the model name now, but it was a word, because marketers convinced them that Americans don't like numbers. I remember that it was a sweet little car, and I really wanted it, but I couldn't afford California car insurance. Good memory, sort of.

Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolesley, MG and Vandan Plas Princess. Wolesley had illuminated grill badge and each marque had it's own individual interior - this particular car's is fantastic.

Actually saw one of these a couple of weeks ago (yes the Wolseley variant) waiting at the lights in Gants Hill, Essex/East London. Caused quite a stir amongst passers by. Definitely worth paying the Wolseley premium for that leather, wood and illuminated badge!

I bought a 1970 Austin 1300 as an ex company car 3 years old. During the next 10 years, I had it practically rebuilt: reconditioned engine, new gearbox, wheel bearings, brake master cylinder (brakes binding), bodywork repair to door sills, hydrolastic suspension pumped up. Even the side repeater flasher bulb(s) when not working slowed the indicators. I still liked the car design though, giving a smooth ride, and that wide steering wheel like on a bus! During the later 1960's and through the 70's, there were many ADOs on the road. After then, most were gone, due to the above faults of poor build I believe.

Strip / tape speedo had one of them on an Austin 1800 I was kindly given by my stepfather, even today, 38 years later i'm still mesmerised whenever I see such a simple but out the box instrument!....what a sad article I am!!!!!

Ah, yet another bona fide British classic, sir! You are clearly doing very well on your channel when you cover Sir Alec Issigonis' finest designs.

Very interesting. It’s been over forty years since I’ve driven one of these Austin/Morris/Riley/wolesely/ Vanden-plas (phonetically pronounced Vahnden Plahs... yes, the S is pronounced) derivatives as a young driver in the late seventies, and as far as I can recall they really handled well as if they were on rails. It’s just a shame they never got the rust proofing they deserved & literally dissolved as you watched them.

Where else would you see one of these reviewed? A trip down memory lane - my old man seemed to have a penchant for BMC vehicles - that never worked or blew up. Shocking. Great to see one of these in depth though. !!!!!

Thanks for your very thorough review (as always). I've always liked those cars. I drive the much more old fashioned Morris Minor at the moment.

2:45 "Would struggle to get a body in there." So nonchalant haha

Dad must have had two or three of these as company cars (I vaguely remember him having H and K reg Austin 1100s) before moving on to Marinas. Great little cars !

My late grandfather had a red one of those. He worked at BMC Cowley Oxford and helped in promoting the Mini to the world when it was released in 1961.

Love the mystic blend of design, science, construction and detailed explanation- anecdotes= a vey enjoyable production,

What a charming, delightful little car! I used to see lots of Austin Americas, esp. when we lived in the Washington, D.C. area (ca. 1957-69); they seemed to be ahead of their time w/ the FWD and the center exhaust pipe, which many fancy, new cars seem to have now...Again, a nice review, and enjoyed the varied camera angles!

The BMC 1100 was very popular in its day. The hydrolastic suspension was superb, giving a much better ride than any small modern car today. Only 21 Wolseleys 1100's left--that's a real shame, but they did rust in front of your eyes.

Thanks for this, an Austin 1300 was my first car. A very nice trip down memory lane.

My Dad's first car was a 1972 Morris 1300. Always warms my heart to see variants of this car still in good shape. And I have a sister who resides in Crawley so I wonder if she's seen this car around.

Great looking example. The basic pininfarina styling is truly charming. We had a mk3 austin 1300 and loved it despite its temperamental nature . I learned to drive in it .

I had a 1974 purple Austin 1100.They were everywhere here in NZ at that time.UK cars were cheaper than Euro cars because of the preferential tariff.Japanese cars displaced them as time went on because of their reputation for reliability.The 1100 was fun to drive even after a Mini,and comfortable too.I had an orange 1300 later on, but it was quite noisy compared to the 1100.Definitely less feel in the steering nowadays with power steering.They were assembled here from knock down kits [CKD's].

Another great nostalgic review. Another derivative of the ADO 16 was the Austin Victoria built in Spain which had a bigger boot and different nose styled by Michelotti and was later renamed the Apache. In a way, the badge engineering was an alternative to the multitude of trim levels offered nowadays.

Also, the Morris 1500 and 1500 Nomad (the hatchback version) developed and built in Australia from the late '60s until the early '70s. My first car was a Morris 1100. Excellent fun, very stable and safe car and, unlike the UK, sold here with bench seats front and rear only. Bucket seats were not even an option. Like contemporary Minis they had tinny sounding doors, a trait which also carried over to the Austin 1800. A vehicle which sold more per capita here in Australia than anywhere else on the planet. Thank you for the video.

Great video. My mum had a 1970 Morris 1300. Much more basic than the Wolsley, but light and pleasant to drive. I took it from the Midlands to Lands End on my first serious roadtrip after passing my test. Ours was well made (not a Monday or Friday or tea-break, or industrial action car), though it started to rust after its first year. Is it still around? Its reg number XEG 800 J. Someone in my city in Israel (Petah Tikva) has the very same car as the one on the video , but with left-hand drive. Wonder where he gets his spares from, as it is probably the only car of this type in the country.

Electric fuel pump was original, my Austin 1100 had the same. I remember hauling it out occasionally to file the points inside, then plop it back in.

My Grandfather had one of these.....I can still remember the smell of leather and pipe tobacco!. Your video was a lovely trip down memory lane.

I'm in Canada, and mine was an Austin America 1300. Unfortunately, it was on its last legs when I bought it. I threw lots of parts at it. Good thing I worked at a BMC dealer. But the thing I loved the best was the handling. That Hydrolastic suspension was amazing.

Brings back memories of my childhood when my grand parents had one of these in Grey i think 1969. great video.

Anyone else spend time as a child in the 1970s sat in an ADO16 outside a pub on a Saturday afternoon with a bag of crisps, a bottle of Vimto and Adrian Just on the radio as company as their dad enjoyed a pint inside?

Partially learned to drive in one of these - wonderful car I think there was a VDP version too

Back in the 70s, when I was young, my grandad had a K reg Princess Vanden Plas 1300, in what I believe was racing green, and if you thought that that Wolseley was luxurious inside, you try out a Vanden Plas ADO16, they are on another level of luxury, and as I sat in that back of Grandad's 1300 I do remember those walnut trimmed picnic tables that folded out of the back of the front seats, and I think the back seat, in leather, obviously, had a fold down arm rest in the middle too. The dashboard was walnut all across and it had walnut trim along the tops of the doors, and top spec door cards and rear arm rests that doubled up as handles to pull the doors closed with. It had the massive VP grill on the front and my granny always felt like royalty when she got ferried around in it, wearing her fur coat, of course. After he sold the 1300 in 1981, he got another Vanden Plas, but this time an X plate Alllegro version, which was pretty much the same inside, top spec and leather, walnut etc. The difference between the base model Austin 1100 and the Vanden Plas was staggering - you would not feel like you were in the same car - an ADO16.

My first car an Austin 1100 back in 1982. Watching this brings back the smell of vinyl and thrashing it to near death at 18 years of age. A lump of a car but good fun and easy to work on mechanical`y.

Nice old bus that - I even remember in the late 80s when I was just starting to drive my mate was obsessed with these..... When I was a nipper, about 3 or 4, we had an MG (on red, lack vinyl roof and some chequered design here and there) that we think had been fettled... Ended up in a ditch somewhere in Devon and was pulled out without a dent by a farmer and his tractor... Happy days indeed!

These cars are clearly the 'grown up' Mini.. I still own one of these and it handles as well as any of my Minis. More legroom than a Jaguar and 'Yes' I've owned those as well so know what I'm saying. A supremely comfortable drive, parts easily available, great owners clubs to get info/help from, easiest engines to tune.. ever! a brilliant choice of car for any new classic car lover.

It's amazing how the Mini and the 1100 were relatively well sorted & the All Agro & the Marina just dumped it all in the pan.

Thanks you for your great videos. I love the grill of the Wolseley and it sits beautifully on this body, making it really elegant and with so much charm. love it. Great video of the various angles of the Grill and body, all angles. Thanks again,John ( Australia)

What a beauty! Badged as a Morris, by the 70's in Australia these were available with a 1500cc engine and, wait for it, a 5 speed gear box. Some autos (or perhaps all) were 4 speed!!! So advanced! Honda and Toyota only offered 2 speed autos and in the former, you had to shift it yourself! Look at the boot. NO loading lip! The perfect city car. It's unfortunate many of us have become too greedy and often drive cars that are way too big for us.

At the 2 minute mark, notice how the bonnet (hood) stays open with a brilliantly simple automatic stay mechanism? How many cars today don't have that basic convenience feature? (Of course, the owner of a BMC/Leyland car did have to spend rather a lot of time tinkering with the engine back in the day... ;-)

I had 1300 one. Purple with red interior. I remember the fuel pump kept stopping. I had to get out and bash it with a hammer to get it started again. Before it I had an Austin 1300 automatic...

I learnt to drive in an austin 1100 (in t he 70s), my brother owned a wolsley 1300. Great cars, people who haven't driven one have no idea just how good these cars were.

That is a genuine thing of beauty and so rare. Thanks for sharing this excellent video with us.

One of the best British post war mass-market cars. The leather is in lovely condition. Charming.

Nice review on this Wolseley 1100,the little badge on the grille lit up as soon as the you put the lights on awesome that was,looks a tidy motor as it is,

Wonderful little car. My friend had two 1300 'look-a-likes' and went all over the country in them. Tin-worm claimed them both though unfortunately. Thanks for the review Matt.

I remember Austin versions as a little kid back in late 70ies. My father had a friend who used to wash this car under a big tree in the shade. Still remember the naked lady sticker on the back. 😀

Also the South African Austin Apache/Spanish Austin Victoria, which looked like a cut n shut job fusing Triumph front and rear ends onto this passenger compartment.

In the mid sixties one of my older cousins bought a red MG 1100 Sport Sedan when most Americans were driving VW Beetles. His parents had had an Anglia so he loved British cars. That car was a revelation; if I lived in the UK now I'd probably be interested in buying one of the versions.

Lovely car, the first car I remember my dad having was a red Austin 1100, many happy memories! 👍😎

As an apprentice sheet metal worker working for WMPTE in 1977 I remember welding these cars for days on end as they where cheep enough to buy as a first time car , oh those days 😃

I used to own a 1966 2 tone wolseley 1100. Best feature, which you didn't show, is the foot operated high beam. I sold it a few years ago. But i know it's still alive and kicking.

Thanks for an objective review of a mostly ignored car from history. I had the 1300GT version for 13 years and loved the thing. Had to teach myself welding mind you to keep it on the road. Rebuilt the engine to a stage 2 tune which made it a hoot to drive The handling was surprisingly good for such a basic car, a bit bouncy at times, but that just added to the fun factor. My wife, and tin worm killed it eventually, sad day. Didn't have as much fun driving again till I got a MKII Golf GTI,

Years ago I used to buy these cars at auctions and the first check was to grab each side of the headlights and waggle too and fro to see if it was rotten through.Usually was!

Great video. Lovely engine too! My grandma has an Austin 1100 in dark blue in Bolton 👌🏼😎

I think BMC at their best this series of cars made all over the world the different marques and models still had their own personality the later Farina series worth having a drive in keep up the good work!

We had one of these but the 1300 when I was a kid. Lovely comfortable car and quite nippy to.

These are such good looking cars, the Austin/Morris were best sellers for a few years in South Africa. Lovely ride, lots of room, they proved to be very reliable. They were rust buckets at the coast, especially on the East Coast where all cars rusted to bits, and still do. Up here on the High Veld, no rust problems at all. Lovely little cars, I miss them.

I had a 1972 1300 Wolseley about 16 yrs ago that I paid just £350 for! You couldn’t get one for that now, although mine did need a fair amount of welding doing to pass it’s next MOT(cars of this age in the early 2000’s weren’t MOT exempt). Great cars, very much like a big mini to drive. Great review Matt!

In its day that was a great little car, it cornered well and felt fast because it was low to the ground. I loved all version of the 1100.

Love your enthusiasm for car. Nice video, thanks.

Your channel is a real highlight! Greetings from Chicago, IL. :)

I always thought of these as "Auntie" cars, I guess cos some of my aunties had them. They were nice to be driven in. When i was a pre-driving age teenager, as few mates and I clubbed together and bought two scrap 1100s, one of which was a positive earth. We managed to cobble one runner from them and (mostly) drove it round the local recreation field which was down a country lane and not really used by anyone for anything else. We did take it on a road trip one day, and it broke down. Some guy from the gate house of the local (and very famous) naval academy came out to help us. Why he didn't figure out that 5, 12 and 13 year olds in a broken down car was a bit odd might be because he turned out to be a bit odd! Anyhow he gave us some petrol from his lawn mower and we got away as fast as we could in case he'd called the cops. We were bricking it one the way home! It was nice of you not to mention that these cars literally dissolved in rain water. This alone accounted for the high attrition rate, as apart from the odd replacement displacer very little else major ever went wrong with them. Rust was a non optional extra on all of these, with the inner wings, headlight voids, sills providing water traps which would rust then through and similarly to minis, the subframes would rot, often sending otherwise quite nice cars to the scrapper.

Had one of these in the early 80s, also 2 Austin 1100s, good cars in the day, sold it for a Mini Clubman estate.

The day after I passed my driving test I was given the keys to my Mum’s 20 yr old Connaught Green Morris 1100 2 Door, a ‘68 on a G plate. I hit a kerb then a tree and wrote the poor old thing off - that was 32 years ago, still feel bad about it now! - Sorry Mum.

Great little cars and very comfortable but very prone to rust. Bought a 1300 for £50, lent it to a mate who ran it for 12 months then when we could see daylight through the sills lifted the engine out as a basis for my 1430 Mini. Happy days!!

Wolseley started in 1896, first car built by Herbert Austin, manager of the Wolseley Sheep Shearing co. Nice video, thanks.

Nice! I had an Austin 1800 the same colour light blue, same strip speedo, same bus like driving position. I miss it....

Cute little car. I have seen a couple of M.G. badged versions here in the U.S. many years ((decades)) ago. 📻🙂

This was my very first car in 1979. A 1300 version, and I loved the glowing badge on the grill! It got me around but I never really gelled with it. It was reliable, however, rust got the better of it and I bought a triumph dolomite 1850hl instead. Thank you for the memory though;