Due to the unrest after the Second World War and the Suez Crisis, which resulted in shortage of petroleum in Britain, there was a need for a high mileage car in the market. This is when Leonard Lord, chairman of British Motor Corporation went to engineer Alec Issigonis to design a car that could compete with the high-mileage German import cars.

Issigonis did some unique additions and subtractions while creating the new design. Hedeveloped 10-inch wheels for the model, mounted the engine transversely unlike usual, used 950 cubic centimeters four-cylinder powerplant, let the gearbox share the engine space and transferred power to the front wheels using a constant-velocity joint.

All these tactics allowed Issigonis to contract his engine compartment to just 18 inches. Overall his Morris Mini Minor-Austin had 120 inches of total length with seating space for four people.

The introductory models of the Austin Healey 100 were known as 100-4 or BN1. This was one of the first cars that could broke the barrier of 100 mph. Over 10, 688 number of BN1 were created during its entire production cycle from 1952-1955 and in October 1955, the producers introduced the BN2 model of the car. With almost similar features, the BN2 had larger drum brakes along with 4-speed transmission as an added advantage. As many as 3924 BN2 cars were produced in total.

Later, a limited number of 55 Austin Healey 100S were also produced for the sole purpose of competing in racing and rally events. This racing car had Dunlop disc brakes on all its wheels. This model was followed by the 100M, which was the Le Mans variation of BN2 with an enhanced horse power of 100-110.

After the increasing use of four cylinder engine cars during 1952 to 1956, the phase of six cylinder cars had arrived, which were known as 100 six. These 100 six cars later with some modifications came to known as ’3000′ cars, which were produced during 1959 to 1968.

World War II had broken the back of British car industry. The conflict had left the manufacturers strained to the breaking point. The silver lining came with Nuffield Motors and Austin joining hands to create British Motor Corporation in 1952. However, the sales of the British Motor Corporation were on a decline because of the German imports. This led Leonard Lord to turn to Alec Issigonis.

Alec who had the experience of variety of engineering projects stunned everybody with the Morris Minor. He did a brilliant job on the suspension of the car apart from his work on the 14-inch wheels that was considered very small keeping in view the other cars of that era. Although being small in size, the car could take double its load and provided a comfortable ride. Alec used rubber cones so that the car could accept the load variation parameters. Alec also situated the engine in a unique way which has now become very conventional. The car was just 120 inches long with the size of the engine compartment being just 18 inches.

As the launch of the car was being planned, it was rumored that the Morris dealer would not get a mention. The car was later introduced with both Austin and Morris versions. Though the car was the cheapest one available in the UK, its reputation exceeded its price. The reputation of the car was further enhanced after John Cooper put forward the proposal to fit the Mini with the Formula Junior engine.

Classic Austin 6 takes us back to 1920s. Here is the pic of Classic Austin.