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1962 Austin A60 Cambridge [ADO38A] 
Class: Cars, Sedan — Model origin: 
— Made for: 
![1962 Austin A60 Cambridge [ADO38A]](i144081.jpg)
![[*]](/res/star.png){kind=small}
Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene
Comments about this vehicle| Author | Message |
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◊ 2007-12-15 02:35 |
It's a 1962+ Austin A60 Cambridge. |
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◊ 2007-12-15 18:14 |
Naming these correctly for the swedish market is a bit tricky since most of the BMC vehicles during the sixties were grouped by their engines and registered as, in this case, BMC 1600 Austin. However the badging of the cars were intact, like Austin A60 Cambridge or Morris Oxford. I get a feeling that they tried to establish BMC as a brand during these years. Not very succesful even if the cars were advertised and registered as such officially, they were always referred to as Austin or Morris anyway. According to this 1963 ad, this is a BMC 1600 Taxi.  What do you think, shall we rename it or keep it as an Austin? |
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◊ 2007-12-15 21:43 |
Since you say that all the cars' badges were kept - as can be seen on this one's grille - and, from what can be understood on the ad, the name Austin was also mentioned, I think it's still an Austin. About calling it a 1600 or an A60 Cambridge, to keep it as an A60 Cambridge - and it was badged like that, anyway - was a way of grouping it with the others. Nevertheless, you say it wasn't known like this in Sweden, so the most adequate designation could be Austin 1600 Taxi(?). |
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◊ 2007-12-16 21:18 |
It´s a mess actually, especially with models that were around prior to the foundation of BMC Sweden AB that was the importer for the larger part of the sixties. I havn´t found an exact year for that, but I think they took over import from Ostermans in 1962, but I´m far from sure. Anyway, models like this Taxi can have the correct Austin designation in the papers, or the BMC designation with the Austin or Morris name used more like a modelname or even trimlevel. But for models introduced during the time of BMC Sweden it´s more consequently treated, like BMC 1100 Austin or BMC 1800 Morris. Or even BMC 1800 MGB. Here are some samples of how the official names and modelcodes look in a book of vehicle statistics from december 1989: ![[Image: bmc12ao4.5950.jpg]](http://pics.imcdb.org/0is229/bmc12ao4.5950.jpg) When the registry was computerized in 1972 the different makes were given a code with two letters + four numbers for the models. So for Austin it´s ANxxxx depending the models and Morris have MOxxxx. These codes were transferred from a previous system of modelcodes given to cars sold in Sweden since 1930, the importer took one car for inspection and approval of the authorities and were given the rights to certify that the rest of the cars of that model were identical to the testvehicle. Instead of taking each and every car to inspection. So the major part of the cars sold here had a modelcode already, but special models like convertibles that sold in small numbers were inspected individually. So Austin and Morris would have been under different codes, but generally they are not. Most of them sort under BMC and the code BCxxxx along with the other brands from BMC. Here you´ll find the Minis both under their Austin or Morris names and these Farina designed Austin and Morris either under the right brand or as BMC. But their predecessors sort under the Austin or Morris code. To me it looks like that all models that were sold by BMC Sweden from approximately 1962 were put under the BCxxxx codes, even those that had been sold earlier by another importer. The Morris Minor was dropped here from MY 1963 if I remember correct and they are all to be found under the MOxxxx codes, so a definite line is diffcult to draw between what´s what. About the Taxi in question I suspect that it didn´t have a separate code in the registry, I guess that BMC supplied a Taxi adapted model of these but the numbers sold wasn´t large so taking it in for certification wouldn´t have been economically reasonable. Instead they were inspected and aproved individually and are not to be found under a specific code, probably they were given the code BC0000 in the computerized system and no code at all in the previous system. So we can´t see the correct official name in statistic document above, either it was like in the ad or just BMC 1600 Austin. Maybe BMC 1600 Austin Taxi. I´ve looked through some contemporary documents from the time, testreports,autocalendars and ads. The naming is not consequent, sometimes the cars are BMC, sometimes their actual brands. So the "brand" BMC was vivid in the sixties here, both among motor journalists and the authorities. Today it´s rarely used in that sense since it´s not on the cars more than a logo on the rear mudguards. Here some samples from the press of the sixties:  ![[Image: bmc22mz2.3962.jpg]](http://pics.imcdb.org/0is221/bmc22mz2.3962.jpg)  I don´t know what would be best actually, changing all the swedish cars to BMC or just keeping them as they are and knowing about the history. From about 1971 modelyear the brands are used without BMC again. -- Last edit: 2007-12-16 21:19:01 |
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◊ 2007-12-16 21:33 |
I think we can assume that the particularity of these swedish market Austin (or Morris) cars (beeing named as BMC) worth to be mentionned ... of course listing them as a separate brand name can be seen as a problem too for the site. Why not a specific mention in the Extra info like this for instance: 1962 Austin A60 Cambridge (BMC 1600 in Sweden) |
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◊ 2017-08-29 10:25 |
License plate F43652. F = Jönköpings län. This number belonged to a 1952 Buick in 1958. |
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