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Old Feb 22, 2016, 5:38 am
  #8473  
WHBM
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
Programs: BA
Posts: 8,476
BMC and it various incarnations made cars in Zetland, Sydney, and in other places, until about 1982. Some were the exactly same as UK and others were variations. Want a 6 cylinder (in line) 2 door Marina or a Mini Moke (1275cc & 12" wheels). Even the Mini K (for Kangaroo) was a little different to UK.

In terms of cars I see while walking around Australia these days, I could just as easily be walking around the U.S. what with all the predominantly Asian manufactured vehicles as well as Australian makes like Holden that look like most any US manufactured car (Of course, Holden is a subsidiary of GM).

Now back in the 70s and even into the 80s - particularly in rural areas - I remember seeing all kinds of older British cars such as Vauxhall, Morris, Land Rover, etc.. Tasmania in particular was like a living museum of 1950/60s era British automobiles.
Yes, the UK manufacturers concentrated on the smaller cars, while Australian brands were the larger like Holden and Ford. It also seemed that many trucks, and almost all buses, from older times were British brands, quite a number shipped over secondhand after some years of service in the UK.

The concept of separate overseas assembly plants was widely used worldwide by BMC and others, in the 1960s even Ireland ran to its own assembly plant for Morris. Partly this was due to the cost of transporting full vehicles, partly to overcome additional taxes often levied on imported whole vehicles but not on components for assembly with local labour, but also to overcome the amount of damage that occurred with traditional shipping methods where they were just lifted on/off the decks of ships by crane. I read that the Land-Rover dealer in Zambia in the 1960s, who did import whole vehicles from the UK, never received a vehicle without significant damage that had to be fixed before sale, in a few cases they were beyond economical repair.

I visited Perth, Western Australia in 1999, and at the weekend right outside my hotel the MG Car Club of WA were holding their annual get-together. I couldn't believe how many MG sports cars were on hand, it would be difficult to get that many together in the UK. There was a whole row of 1930s MGs at the front, and numerous examples of what had been my first ever car, a white (originally) MG Midget of 1963. Ah, 966 FM, alas you were in a lot more corrosive atmosphere, and didn't last like these ones.
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