Real Road Test: 1960 Austin Westminster A99 in New Zealand. Australian?
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- čas přidán 25. 01. 2020
- Variety is key here at HubNut, so after a Porsche 911, Yugo 55 and Chevrolet Corvair, here's a mighty slab of British metal in the form of a 1960 Austin Westminster A99. I think it may have been assembled in Sydney, Australia.
With a 2912cc six-cylinder C-Series engine shared with the Austin-Healey 3000, it makes all the right noises. There is a three-speed manual gearbox, with Porsche synchromesh on all gears, and an unusual Borg Warner overdrive that incorporates a freewheel.
HubNut goodies can be found at hubnut.org - cheers.
#NewZealand #Austin #HubNut - Auta a dopravní prostředky
I remember trying to encourage my grandfather to go faster around the local roundabout to see if I could slide from one side of the rear seat fully to the other. He would laugh, granny was not impressed. I was about six at the time. Holy cow, that's over half a century ago. Cripes!
I'm with you there in memories :) and age :(
We all getting old ha
And back then you heard elders saying that lifes short etc and you think they're mad til the reality of that kicks in too lol 🙂
I can remember sliding around on the back seat of a schoolfriend's father's car when cornering when I was about six - mind, it was a Citroen ID...
In Australia the vinyl seat was not only slippery but also the temperature only slightly cooler than the sun in Summer
Evil Banger oval track champion. No wrap round screen, and it had a wonderfull elastic Ç series engine.
Great review, many thanks!. I was a 15 year old working as a part time cleaner in a local Austin garage when these came out. As a treat, the garage owner took his son and me out for a run in their demonstrator. About 8 miles from home, the only gear that would engage was reverse and we came home, all 8 miles, in reverse! The gearbox had to be replaced and it was the first of many as that 3-speed 'box proved to be unreliable. Hence the later A110s had a 4-speed 'box. Great cars but enjoyed a drink!
Cant beleive youjust drove past my house.just randomly watched.newly subscibed as i miss my old British gems
Plenty of British gems left in New Zealand!
Now you're talking :-) How gorgeous. The big brother to my car. Sadly, this model was not built in Sydney. BMC Aust only built the pre-Farina model between 1958 & 1959. Lovely. Cheers.
The simple joy of rediscovery watching your outstanding videos. Very easy and pleasing to watch.
The long distance Gentlemans conveyance . Sports jacket with leather patches on the elbows,corduroy trousers and brogues are optional. Really have to like that engine.
Im afraid to say it , but as a child i remember cars like this syacked high in scrap yards if only I'd thought then to document them all, the smells of them inside facinated me ,so elegant compared to today !!
A friend of mine had one back in 1974 . It was very strong, very dependable, economical, great gas mileage.
Thanks for an interesting review, and it brought back many memories of my 99 and 110s. The Wolseley & Austin 99s had 3 speed column change, with the 110 versions having 3 speed floor mounted gear levers. This changed to a 4 speed floor mounted lever box on the 110 mark 2, the first gear not being synchro, so always made a whining noise. The overdrive was later automatically engaged at over 30 MPH by a centrifugal switch on the transmission, which then locked the drive solid (with engine braking). Without the overdrive the car was freewheeling, which could sometimes be cause for concern if the engine stalled whilst decelerating, then you realised at the last moment you didn't have power assisted brakes!The kickdown did indeed short circuit the spark plugs for a moment, also dropping the overdrive out for quick acceleration, but would come back in again when you lifted your foot off the pedal. I removed the kickdown system off both my 110s and had a switch mounted on the column to drop out the overdrive instead.The spare wheel was lowered down from under the boot by using the starting handle.The door handles were pushed forward to open, and pulled back to lock.The engines were almost bomb proof, but in the UK it was body rot that saw most of them end up in the scrap yards before they reached 10 years old.
I have many subs on youtube. but your channel is always the one I save for last as the best treat. you're basically pudding. :) :)
Had a 1961 A99 the exact same colour in high school in Edmonton Alberta Canada ! The sound of that engine brings back memories !
Spare wheel is underslung the boot. Thus the tank is between the rear sear and boot space.
Overdrive works as described. Push in to operate. Then it will engage on revs. There is a freewheel. just leave the overdrive engaged. The A1110 also had the same system.
The clock is not original. maybe replaced because of non working original or change of electrical polarity.
All cars had a remote servo. Repair kits in the UK are available.
The biggest difference between Healy and Austin/Wolseley engine is the head.
Fuel consumption is horrendous.
I love cars that show there age.
My brother had a Wolseley 6/110 automatic, later on it went manual with the 4 speed and the overdrive, we found the fuel consumption was very good for a car of that size. Sounded good too with a hacked about Healey exhaust system. It didn't do so bad in a race against a 3 litre Capri on a motorway either....
That horn is fantastic. (The whole CAR is fantastic. :) )
Just watched this and enjoyed the memories of long ago. My father and I bought a used A 105 with overdrive
twin carbs went like a bat out of hell . The ride would put some of these modern cars to shame. The only problem
with it was the dampers they would tend to be too soft you could get seasick if on a undulating road. Unfortunly
in became a wreck after hitting a spare lorry wheel in the nearside lane of the A40 near Witney before the Bypass
was built. The Wheel Landed 200 ft in a corn field found by the police the following day. I was very lucky to get
out of car i one piece at 3 am just shook up as i had been doing about 70 mph just prior to this.
Thanks for bringing back along lost memory.. A W ADAMS now aged 80
My Dad had a 1959 Austin A95 Countryman estate car. It had the 6 cylinder engine and lovely leather interior. He sold it to the groundsman at work, who drove it for years, but I have not seen an A95 since.
Beautiful car! My grandfather had one and it is still a subject of frequent conversation to this day, stories of the four kids, dogs and caravan all heading off in the Westy.. Some great slides of the car in the collection, happy days :)
Lovely motor. Brings back memories of the sixties and as a passenger in cars like this. Dad never had one of these but I remember the Morris Oxford, Singer Hunter, Hillman Minxes, Rover 105S, Victor 101, Sunbeam Talbot etc etc
My mate had a rare Mk1 in white upper and blue lower. Stupid fast. Servo stopped working though, so we had to urgently find an equivalent part fast. Not a direct replacement. Changed the master cylinder whilst we were at it. Easy car to work on. Good times. And not a single AA badge to be seen... even better.
A lovely car. Full of character. A great car for car club outings. Lucky person that owns that. Great review Ian.
This was epic to watch. Hubnut was in Stokes Vegas, NZ for a test drive. When you drive out of stokes valley towards Upper Hutt, I was like...dad, this is the Hutt valley! It was so cool seeing you in our neighbourhood. 👍🏻 Shame you weren’t here in February when there’s a classic British and European car show in Upper Hutt. I’m not big on knowledge of old cars but it’s fun tagging along with my dad at local car shows. Best vid of yours so far for me is the southwards car museum and the horopito motors...what a place! I have to go there next summer because of your vid. Thanks for your vids hubnut. It’s nice sharing some time with my dad watching them. 😁
Hi from Whitemans Valley, Wellington. NZ
My brother and I own a couple of restored A99s in Canada. No older car drives like a modern car, but they are a ton of fun. Disc power brakes and a peppy 6cyl engine allow them to drive around in today's traffic.
I'm having another "Blimey" moment. It's decades since I last saw one of those, not least one in excellent condition.
Blimey!
Love these old Westminsters. My Dad owned a 1962 Vanden Plas Princess Mark 2 which was based on the A110, but it had the three speed box and overdrive featured here. I remember the almighty shove in the back (for those days) it gave when he floored it in overdrive second and the box kicked down for overtaking. Many memorable trips between Birmingham and Devon in that car, in the days when the M5 finished at Gloucester!
Totally expected to hear a rattle from a old 4 cylinder motor when you turned the key...but what a pleasant surprise to hear that smooth inline Six 😯
If there was ever one car I could own again it would be the Austin A40 Farina (MkII Countryman). Must be Horizon blue as well. Many happy days of taking the dog to the woods every weekend in what was a tiny little car, split tailgate, but it just fitted the wee greyhound in the back quite the thing.
Your videos are great! My dad had an A110 and we did 110mph on the motorway once. As a five year old it was very exciting - in fact I'm still excited to this day as I think about it and I'm 53 and 3/4 now! Happy days! :)
Great vlog Ian, Jools Holland has got or had one of these, and I remember him being very pleased that he'd driven his Westminster in Westminster! 😊
Its amazing the variety of cars you're finding out there!
Love these old Austins, a lot of taste and stance in the styling. Lovely video, hope you come across more examples like this on your travels
Truly a gorgeous classic, complete with the evocative aroma of vinyl. It really deserves an outfit in autumn colours, by Dunn & Co, not forgetting the trilby. Sadly, now only available on Ebay.
Really enjoyed your show today Hub Nut. My dad had a 110 Westminster and also a Princess vanden plas of the same set up. My dad loved his Westminster as I can well remember. Thanking you for a great big dollop of nostalgia. Pete 🇬🇧
My father had the A95, A99, and finally the A110 as his company car. Then promotion saw him get a Princess and finally a Princess R. The last 2 had Smiths rear shelf mounted air-conditioning, that used to ice up after about 90 minutes, so was never used on long distance road trips. Thanks for the memories.
Thank you so much Ian. When I was just a nipper my dad had an A110, black with red leather upholstery. I loved that car so much and your vid has brought back some dear memories.
The A99 was never assembled in Oz and at that stage BMC Oz was always two years behind BMC UK with the A95 still in production as the Morris Marshall. The Pininfarina styling arrived with the locally made Austin Freeway and upmarket Wolseley 24/80 in 1962. The two year delay was typical at the time to Australianise UK cars for Oz conditions (stiffen the suspension, give time for local suppliers to tool up, etc).
To early for the Nelson plant, but these were assembled at the Austin Distributors Federation plant in Petone, Wellington along with the A40F, Austin Mini, Austin A60 saloon and Estate, Austin 1100 & 1300, Maxi, and all the NZ P76 models. All the Austin trucks were also built there. They did a limited build of Austin Freeways including the import licence oddity the Freeway 1800.
In 1964. My eldest brother started his mechanics apprenticeship at Magnus Motors, in those days, a big Austin dealer in Lower Hutt. Not far from the Petone Austin factory. Since the question arose in this video about where this car was built. I asked him. Do you recall if the big Austin sixes were ever assembled in NZ? He said they were. He recalled picking up a number of them directly from the Petone factory. Interestingly he also said, a few of them were Govt order cars. By 1964 - 65. The cars he picked up were the later A110 models. But you have confirmed these big Austins were built in NZ. As has my bro. So Hubnut, perhaps on balance, we just might have settled where this car was possibly built. Hence the slightly different specs to the UK models. Cheers. And thanks for the videos!
Most people would not associate the Farina Westminster with motorsport, however due to their rugged construction and powerful engine, they were a favourite and much sought after in the late 70s, early 80s banger racing scene. As Neil Young once said, "It's better to burn out, than it is to rust!".
Of course, this means that there's probably very few examples left. I'm seriously considering importing one of these into the U.S.
What a great old girl Ian. Lovely to see one in original condition pretty much..Love the Kiwi peg on the choke. Love the sound of that six. Extra fan blades. Same thing on old BlackBerry. Thanks for a great drive.
The styling on these old Austin cars is lovely. It's got a bit of Americana styling and British styling.
What a lovely, honest, old Farina. Had a Wolseley 16/60 for a while, loved the whole range. Wonderful cars.Many thanks for sharing.
What a lovely car and the colour is adorable. Great video Ian!
Thank you Ian, lovely review
At Around 1977, 1978, (I Think) I owned a 1965 A110 Westminster with the 4 speed Manual/Overdrive Gearbox. It was back then, and remember I was young, a reasonably quick car, and was capable of over 100 MPH, (160 Kph). I owned and enjoyed it for, from memory, around 12 months, and eventually swapped it for a Mk # Zephyr 6.
Wow...what a rarity, always liked these, especially the vanden plas version...👍
Brilliant. Some lovely old engine and gear box sounds there!
My first car was the Austin Freeway... And this Westminster reminds me of it.. For all it's drawbacks, I loved it
Enjoyed that post. Thanks
We need an Austin/Morris/Triumph revival car company to make brand new battery powered versions of all of these gems from the past - probably just my nostalgia at work again. :)
What a nice jalopy. Gorgeous colour. Great review - iMuchisimas gracias!
What a wonderful old car, useable too, easily able to keep up with modern traffic. I'd never noticed the A40 lights before until I saw this one.
Very nice! She hums along pretty well , seems very quiet. Will miss you on our shores!
Excellent drive! The C Series really does sound lovely and that overdrive in/out system was very clever. The later A110 Deluxe with the wood facia is a lovely old tank.
I noticed she has a tow-bar; so the old girl has probably been a work horse during some period of her life. That said, I agree that her blemishes add to the character; along with the newer add-ons she has collected through the various decades. Just a very honest, adorable car. Love it!
Nearly all older NZ cars have towbars
I have never seen a 1960 Westminster before but it looks very similar to a Rolls Royce Vanden Plas, both of which share many features of my 1960 Austin Cambridge.
Sadly in Britain a lot of these big Austins ended up in banger/ stock car and grass track racing competitions 😦
Excellent piece and what a car. My dad had the A110 MK2 Super Deluxe with automatic transmission on a C plate. It was royal blue, walnut fascia and matching picnic tables. I wish I had her now. The car shown started perfectly, I recall dad's taking ages to kick on choke.
My dad had several of these when he was a oil salesman to Austin in the 60s. He was very fond of them. Pete 🇬🇧
Your car reviews are brilliant. You don’t just drive them, you bring out the character and personality of them. I love that Westminster 👍
Always sensible warming up in Ian reviews akin to his near peer Harry's Garage and respects the various owners' stipulations. This review was clearly encouraged to use the available performance and rewarded us with some mechanical music. Very tactile reviews of Lucasoid switchgear and extracting all applicable clanging of BMC doors etc. Would be nice to hear the engine going with the lid up.
Wonderful nostalgia thanks we had a A 40
One gets the sense that she really didn't want you to take her out for a sound thrashing! Lovely example that has been cherished to survive so long in such originality. Lovely.
Thanks Ian.They were pretty good cars for the early 1960's. As a child, I once travelled in a new one of those, sitting on the floor, under the dashboard. There were eleven people in the car, including five children. Nobody thought anything of it being so full, since no laws were being broken. Innocent times.
Love that straight 6 twin carb engine! Beautiful low rubble sound!!
These things are built like tanks, had a couple of the Wolseley versions, wish I kept them. Saw one once in a demolition derby. Not only did it win easily but it still looked like a car at the end, which can’t be said for the 80s and 90s Japanese cars which were the rest of the field.
Great video of a truly great car. Loved it. Pete 🇬🇧
That brings back memories. A friend of my father's had a grey A99. I remember trips in it. Five of us kids (me, my sister and his three) all in the back seat. Great car.
Thank you, Ian - it's a real 'looker'; very nice indeed.
Love the colour. My aunty Viv had a Mini that colour back in the late '60's. She woke up.at around 3am one morning, looked out of her bedroom window just in time to see 4 blokes loading it onto a trailer. They were gone before she could get down the stairs. She never recovered it.
A real HubNut car. Nice to see something that is very rare nowadays
Thanks Hubnut - the freewheel / overdrive took me back to my childhood days and my parents Rover P4 which had a fixed / free wheel similar system which I think was on the P3 and early P4’s (75 like my parents column change cyclops headlamp and early 80’s & 90’s) - thanks for the memories
P3 video to come. ;-) (though not for a while!)
HubNut take your time - the videos are brilliant and worthwhile waiting for - thanks
Nice you drove past my house at the start..it's fun seeing NZ in your clips.
Great to see you in NZ. They have quite a few British cars that are still street-legal. Ever road-tested an Austin/Morris 1100/1300? They have a wonderful ride on the hydro suspension, and there were lots and lots assembled in NZ from kits. Many still exist in NZ, cos NZ don't salt the roads. ;)
Whereabouts on the north island was it?
Ohhh Ian, I laughed so much ... !!! Reminds me of when I had a 1964 Cortina MkI ... The lovely character of old cars ...
The lock situation is a combination of the pins in the lock getting out of position when the door is slammed ... A lock pickers version of shocking a lock when trying to get it open ... The key in the lock re-aligns the pins and allows you to re-open the door .... Ahhhh Joy of all joys .... ;-)
What a spiffing happy yet purposeful exhaust note ...
What a beautiful car. Seems to go quite well too!
Lovely review. It brought back memories of my fathers 1961 A99 in robins egg blue with the 3 speed borg ward automatic gearbox. Sadly my family had to abandon the car due to lack of spares (by the mid 80’s in Western Canada, nobody stocked BMC parts). I remember it as a very solid feeling car with a distinct whine from the automatic gearbox.
Incidentally, the spare tire on the A99 is hidden completely in a tray underneath the trunk. To access the tire, one uses the crank from the supplied toolset to turn a worm gear that lowers the spare tire. The same crank is also used to turn the engine over. There is a spring loaded chromed chromed cover in the middle of the front bumper, which when lifted reveals a slot where the hand crank is inserted. The crank is not intended for starting the engine, but for turning the engine over to set the valves and ignition points.
From the side the back is as big as the front just like an old aunt LOL nice to see one been driven and not in a museum
A truly gorgeous six clynder sound plenty of grunt ..amazing ..
Yes, that's a very nice car, much to my surprise. A few minor glitches that could probably do with a bit of tlc, but basically very sound with a good solid and powerful engine and must have been a pleasure to drive.
This is the Farina type of Westminster - I'd forgotten all about them. The wiper action wasn't as perfect as we'd like, although (thankfully) no triangle of doom or driver's side corner of disappointment! Yeah, back in those pre-EU days, the UK were proud of their Automobile industry, great cars! 👍🏿👍🏾👍🏼
Not just pre-EEC days (fore-runner of modern-day EU), but also pre-strike days when British workers were proud of the cars they built, the management weren't acting like dicks and the bean-counters weren't in control of R&D. Add to that Britain was finally over the austerity of post-WWII and it was the golden age of cars in Blighty.
Cool. great to see something different reviewed. nice one.
You've done well, figured out the overdrive quicker than I did when I owned one. Method, push the overdrive knob in and you get freewheel below 30 MPH and overdrive when you lift off the throttle above 30.
Kick down with full throttle and you're out of overdrive. Pull the knob out to lock out overdrive and freewheel.
That's a really lovely old car and you don't see many vehicles around with "A" rego plates, I will have to keep an eye out for it. I tell ya it is still bizzare watching you drive around in Stokes Valley which is probably as obscure and far away from your part of the world as you can get, certainly in the years I have been tuning in never imagined it heh. Looking forward to the XR6 T video, shame you are not around now its back to being its pretty chirpy self..
What a lovely car!
Loved the big Farina Family. My late father had the 3 litre Austin Princess, Vanden Plas, in the mid 60s and many years later I owned the 4 litre R version. Beautiful cars in their day.
What a lovely car . Originality only happens once , the patina is part of the mojo 👌
That peg on the choke took me back.
Gorgeous old car Sir 👍 Tam.
Passing my test in 1970 theses cars were the norm...and car clocks and radios were sheer luxury
What a lovely sounding car.
Gorgeous engine note and condition, surprising how similar the dash looks to more pedestrian Oxfords and Cambridges. Ran a '59 Cambridge for a while, fins n all, lots of fun and barrelled along quite well for its age and girth.
Lovely sound.
I was starting to complain that we saw more UK cars reviews in NZ than more local cars... But then I enjoyed the video as always lol
I love the Westminster. My dad had one of the A99 and one of the A110. it’s just so lovely compared to the Farina Morris Oxford he was driving before that which was slower than molasses Great review Ian Pete 🇬🇧
That was lovely. I do like seeing these cars but I'm also reminded how far we've thankfully come since these cars were being churned out. I'm exactly your age, Ian, and I did not like growing up with these vehicles in 80s Britain. Whenever my dad bought an old British car I knew I was in for cold morning drives to school on cold hard vinyl seats in a draughty car that let the rain in. They made the French cars my dad had seem like technology from the future.
The overdrive/freewheel was fun, best combo was the engine from a later automatic coupled to the 4 speed floor change manual with o/d. I believe the cylinder head on the automatic brought power to about 130hp. They went well for the time...
Watched this again and the wolseley 22/40 on same day brummies will be proud your doing reviews on Birmingham's finest of yesteryear bustin 🤓😁👍👍
Wow just what I’ve been waiting for hopefully marina 6 soon
Just popped indoors from the shed for a brew.Lovely old Westy hearse on the telly.They couldn't make all these period Sunday night TV dramas if enthusiasts keep these old beauties going.
This is one of quite a few cars that you have introduced to me that has prompted me to search eBay to see if one available here in the US. However, the lack of garage space prevents me from clicking the “buy it now” button, if I do find one. However, do appreciate the education I’m receiving on the topic of classic English cars.
Care worn loveliness! I'm thinking aus built, colour combo and interior materials strike me as local market rather than longbridge produce. Top work mr hubnut!
They didn't build these cars in Australia. As the Aussies had been building a 6 cyl car they called the Morris Marshall. Based on the previous Austin A90 cars. And they were also working on a smaller 6 cyl car derived from the Austin A60/Morris Oxford Farina models. It was called the Austin Freeway. There was also a Wolseley version. If this car was not British built. Then it is most likely a New Zealand assembled car.
My Dad had an A110 and my faveorite car ...still remember the exhaust note to this day , so I had to have one , and I did . it was a beauty and I raced a Rover 110 down the Hagley road in Birmingham , we hit 90 mph together and the police got us both !
My Dad had an Austin Loadstar ? truck with a very simalar engine in South Australia. It was like an oven in the cab in summer and I well remember the fan noise. It would always vapourise when hay carting too.