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| The Cars |
| Active links shown in RED - others still under construction |
Many vehicles were produced in Australia by BMC and Leyland which were unique to this market. The most widely known was the Leyland P76, but this was just one (and the final) of a long line of vehicles, some only "toughened up" for Australian conditions, others local developments of those originating out of Britain and those which were totally designed to satisfy local conditions and Australian customer expectations. The uniqueness of the Australian conditions and climate is still well recognised by most major motor vehicle manufacturers. A trip to Alice Springs in the centre of Australia during the period of December to March in any year is like a "who's who" of the industry, as future models are put through their paces for Hot Environmental Testing (HET). BMC by recognising this early on gave them a definite edge over other British and European vehicles (Volkswagen was an exception) because of their local testing, many of these other vehicles having reputations of "falling to bits". BMC's Experimental Department was responsible for the design, development and validation of the Australian products. Their favoured testing area was the Bourke to Charleville area in the north west of NSW and south west Queensland. It was a lot easier to get to from Sydney than Alice Springs and the drive there was a great way to condition the vehicles prior to testing. The following is a brief outline of some of those 'special' Australian vehicles. Click on the icon to go to the vehicle concerned. |
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Morris Major - Series 1
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Austin Lancer - Series 1
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Go to the
INDEX page for the other cars of BMC |
