Austin Maxi - The Mini's Big Brother
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
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In another surprising failure for the British Leyland company, the Austin Maxi should have been a superb complimentary model for the small family car range between the likes of the Mini and the Morris Marina, and had all the ingredients on paper to become a market leading car with its 5-door hatchback design and 5-speed gearbox for ideal motorway cruising.
Unfortunately, management interference and the ill-conceived attempts at putting together the much-publicised gearbox led to a public relations disaster upon the car's launch in 1969 as the first new model of the British Leyland company, combined with an aesthetic that looked to be at least a decade out of date on the day it was released.
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References:
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There was bugger all wrong with the Maxi after changing to rod links for the gears. My P rege never let me down in 5 years ownership.
Great all round vision. Seats that fold into a bed. Nice bouncy suspension.
Austin created the ultimate dogging machine.
Suspension had some role in dogging?
😂👌
@@kamrankhan-lj1ng… think about it! What activity do you do when you are dogging? Look it up on Google if you’re not sure then the suspension remark should make a lot more sense LOL
@@kamrankhan-lj1ngAs it had a very similar suspension to the 1300, 1100 and later Mini a road with regular ridges set up a porpoise style movement. Thelwall viaduct in Cheshire had expansion joints at regular intervals. With about 2 miles to "play" on setting the rocking motion going was real fun. It helped if you already knew what a Mini or 1100/1300 could do with hydrolastic. Rolls Royce and Land Rover have used similar technologies.
Now we have a BMW Mini with the size of the Maxi.
My 1750 Maxi was a peach. 5 speed, ohc, 5 door, 5 main bearings. Front wheel drive, handled like a big mini. Held the road well. Miles ahead of the competition from Ford, GM etc.
Vast interior space. Engineering was very advanced. Superb motor car. Wish I still had it!
I agree. It should have been a winner. But styling matters too and so does build quality. Plus UK car buyers were quite conservative at the time and preferred a 3 box sedan with rear wheel drive which Ford were more than happy to sell them.
@@pilskadden Yes a more aerodynamic front and better build quaility were much needed to create greater demand. Oh, and a bigger battery.
I owned a rusty '76 Maxi as a student in the 80s. Loved it, never noticed the steering was heavy.
Our neighbours bought a Maxi after launch. They discovered that the gearbox dripped oil from day one. My uncle bought a Mk2. It caught fire on its first day because the dealer had not removed the plastic wrappings on the spark plug leads. Small details matter...
No wonder their fates were sealed.
The gearbox shares the oil with the engine so not all bad at least it's easy to fill up!
Not to the British car worker they didn't that eas the problem.
@@GrenvilleP710 I totally agree...the build quality was very poor. Too interested in striking about what flavour pies were available in the canteen.
A time when too many stubborn managers and designers all trying to work independently within a supposed team - too interested in getting their own way and backheeliing any criticism or blame for shortcomings and bad design rather than working as a tight knit team that strived to deliver a car that was perfectly adequate for its time in many ways barring a handful of issues that could have been fixed earlier much earlier than they were - however as with BL and many cars and their issues things were just left as issues due to the blame culture ever present within BL - the management and to an extent the unions were the main cause of the many avoidable failings of BL - too many managers that were above being answerable for their errors and a government that constantly bailed BL out each time financially - clearly a plan that didn't work - British car makers just don't exist nowadays !!
A friend had one of the last 1750 HL it never let him down went like a train. He had it for years stuffed to the brim , overloaded , it ferried kids and dogs everywhere. Easy to service. If all the little problems had been ironed out in preproduction testing.......
My first car was a Maxi. The 1750 twin carb HL was pretty peppy at 95 odd bhp, a lot better performance and handling than the Capri I replaced it with. As usual a good idea spoilt by its execution.
I had a 1750 HL Allegro,which I learnt to drive in.The engine was fine for power, but the steering was hard at slow speed,especially on 3 point turning.
@@robertbench4664 I passed my test in the Maxi, and the indicators packed up just at the end, but got away with it!
I had the same model. Best car I ever owned!
@@rapido2963 mine was a rebuilt write-off, so had multiple issues with that. Volvo 940/960 are my favourites from what I have also owned.
@@MattBrownbill got a C70 cabriolet at the moment. Lovely car & good fun in the summer!
Just wanted to say, I love your well researched understated style of presentation. It’s suitably nerdy and entertaining. Well done
I had a 1750 automatic.
Great car. Cheap to run and never gave me any trouble.
You must have got the only good one 😊my fathers Maxi spent more time at the dealership that it did on the road 😢
@billmitchell7904 Hi,
2 years old when I got it. Kept it for 6.
Apart from routine servicing, I had one front wheel bearing and the handbrake cable replaced. The only rust was the size of a 50p at the rear of the offside sill.
I guess I was lucky with it.
Bought a Ford next, definitely not lucky.
I was in a metal band in the late 80's, our guitarist had one. Best thing about it was the capacity. We could get the whole backline, drum kit and a small PA system in the back (with the rear seats down natch), then with two of us in the maxi and the other two in the bass players mini, with the guitars on the back seat we went all over the country. Great days.
It’s still astonishing to me how quickly the UK went from making domestically designed and built automobiles and jetliners to having both industries cease to exist.
E.u
We built everything under the sun at one time , the workshop of the world . Sounds like a poor joke now.
@@Jay-ru3mu if you view some other the other contributions from Mr. MacVeigh concerning the demise of the British motoring industry, you will soon conclude that the E.U. had very little to do with it. It was mismanagement on a colossal scale.
Having a wider, tariff free market, is rarely a cause for failure.
@@Jay-ru3muYes. The EU forced BL to be appallingly mismanaged and they shipped in a load of intransigent union leaders (who were actually French but were taught to speak with a Brummie accent). They even secretly destroyed designs for beautiful cars and replaced them with pictures of the Allegro and Maxi. 🙄
Was it relevant though that foreign competitors quickly improved where UK stagnated?
My grandad had one in vermilion (orange). It was comfortable and felt huge to us kids.
5 seats
5 doors and.....
5 gears!
I know the cars aren’t entirely related but you can definitely see the family resemblance and evolution between the land crab, maxi, allegro and the Maestro
What always amuses me was the inability to design anything better. It's a family resemblance but where inbreeding was introduced at some point early on
@smorris12 Eeh. Only with the Allegro & Maestro could that be said. In the latter's case having been through several designers didn't help 😅 .
The Maestro styling buck was badged ‘Maxi’ at one point. Unfortunately a much more attractive, and (to my eyes) more fashionably 80s design by Harris Mann was passed over for what was essentially an update of the already failed Maxi. Talk about short-sighted! The Mann design could have taken BL in a completely different direction, but unfortunately cost cutting meant that yet again, BL were stuck with the doors and centre section of an already dated looking car to take them into the 1980s.
@simonhodgetts6530 Eeh. I'd say the Maestro was doomed from the point that the design team [to use the term loosely] failed to go the route of "A car in the style and features range of the Metro, but a mid sized Hatchback", a mistake also made with the Montego. Mann had his role in that failure to create a cohesive range, and instead bringing about a trio that had very little in common, made worse with disjointed and gawky styling.
(though the latter was also very much the result of penny pinchers refusing to change certain aspects due to being in late stage development, much like with the Maxi)
I can agree though that the lack of vision goes back to the start of the project.
When I was a kid, I assumed the Maestro was a modernised and improved Maxi. It had the same sort proportions and spacious interior.
I had a Maxi, 1500cc, it was great. Never let me down, very comfortable, one of the best cars I've owned.
I've always been mystified why it was deemed financially essential to retain the Land Crab's doors but they had sufficient money to create an entirely new engine.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Its development was at a time when BMC was realising just how empty the coffers were, so I think the attitude was to save money at any cost, resulting in the doors. The Landcrab just wasn't selling, so it was a way to try to recoup some of that investment. Dumb as heck with hindsight or logical decisions, but when in a panic we all make silly decisions. When they realised the engine wasn't up to the job, at least they had the clarity of thought to realise it just wouldn't sell at all with an engine that could hardly move it under it's own power. With so much already invested they kind of HAD to develop a new engine. The whole thing just stinks of bad planning & lack of a clear, cohesive & decisive planning capability - as was seen throughout BMC/BL.
Penny pinching by the bean counters at BL, the same people that destroyed the SD1 by changing good components with cheap infior ones that resulted in build quality issues. When even Lucas says don't use these parts, then you have a good understanding of the problem. As for the doors on the Maxi something Alec Issigonis was forced to use in his design. Not only did this seriously hamper sales of the Maxi at the hands of the Cortina with it's old but reliable technology, it also got Issigonis the sack. Even though it was not his fault.
Pressed Steel Fisher had a new factory built with government assistance in South Wales to build the 1800 Landcrab doors and because the 1800 was underselling the facility was being underused.. hence it was one of the reasons for "those doors" Which if you look at the Panther De Ville.. Must be the most expensive Maxi doors ever !!
@@jasonhill4094 The build quality of the SD1 at Solhull was appalling due to the attitude of the workforce, as well as choice of components. I worked in Finance at Austin-Morris at the time, and many managers had SD1s. They were all badly built.
@@originalkk882 I always thought the problem at Solihull was it was a new factory manned by mainly in experienced staff that added to the low production rate and poor build quality, as well as the management using inferior parts
I have opined before on other channels on CZcams that the downfall of the British car industry was very largely due to extremely poor senior management decisions. Of course there were other factors such as militant unions and the backdrop of rising inflation and price instability but I firmly believe that, as this video suggests, opportunities were missed and bad decisions taken by those at the top of the tree and this is the most significant factor.
If the people don't stand up for themselves you end up with current day England where middle class England need to go to heat banks...
Exactly, everyone had militant unions; the French, the Italians, the Americans, even the Germans. The difference was the management and the staff were always smart enough to focus on the product. BMC/BL were penny pinching misers from the mid 60s onwards.
@@Whatshisname346 And I think this is also borne out by the fact that a number of Japanese car manufacturers decided to open large facilities here and they have been successful, showing that our home-grown workers from shop floor to middle management are some of the best in the world if they are given the right direction and support from senior management.
@@Whatshisname346Eeh. Anyone who's owned a FIAT, an Alfa Sud or pre-Golf VW would question that conclusion re' management 😂 .
The main reason FIAT still exists was the vast bailouts the Italian government put into it, until eventually the company started to turn itself around.
The company was simply too big. Too many factories, too many models and over 200,000 employees. And too little profit on each car they sold
Vast and comfortable, and good at towing caravans, so not a total failure. Interesting to see a time-travelling Allegro (1973 onwards) parked beside the strikers hindering early Maxi production!
Down under, we had the Morris Nomad, a close cousin to the Maxi. Based on the Morris 1500, itself a facelift of the 1100/1300, with a very similar rear end treatment to the Maxi. Came with the A series engine in automatic, and the E series 1500 with 5 speed.
I remember when on holiday in France seeing a bloke in our campsite with his maxi engine all stripped down and spread out on a tarpaulin. My Dad asked him what he was doing and he glumly replied "Trying to get home". My Dad had a Princess 2200 at the time and we also travelled with multiple cans of spare oil, water, belts and various other mechanical spares in the boot. Happy days.
I had a Maxi back in the day and loved it! My father hired one once for a holiday to Cornwall. Mum was so impressed that she persuaded Dad to buy one with his retirement golden handshake. Our local Austin/Rover dealer said that they'd never sold a car so quick as Dad walked in, put a cheque for £5 grand on the counter and took the first one they offered.
My dad bought one (£1050 if I remember right) in 1969, H reg. He really wanted another Oxford Traveller to replaced his old one, but their production stopped a year earlier. Turned out be be a pretty good car, pulled our caravan all over the country. I learned to drive and passed my test in it before good old BL rust killed it.
OMG, I had to check. EEL654T is still the same colour and is taxed and insured. Gosh, I’d love to see it.
I had one for a while when i was young, definitely NOT a cool car for a youngster but it did have seats that folded down into a double bed and a big vinyl Webasto sun roof which was ideal for comfy nights under the stars with young ladies so I kept hold of it for longer than I otherwise would have done. :D
Yep a great sha**ng wagon
Some people with the same outlook as I had! Not as sexy as some cars to look at but beat the Mini Countryman for comfort and space. 😅
I've owned three Maxis over the years, what a brilliant innovative and under appreciated design. It should be as famous as its little brother the mini, but unfortunately its not. Though the new mini is more the size of the Maxi than it is the mini.
Had one as a student: remember seeing a rear left wheel going down a motorway slip road on its own while we went in a different direction 🤣
My father had one of these,we turned into a road in Crawley to change the front near side tyre,as the car jack was being used,it went straight through the bodywork because it was rusted right through,an iron girder had to be welded in to make the car safe.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I nearly laughed my arse off over that scenario!!
My first car was a maxi 1500 a 1970 model fantastic car would have another one today had no problems with it brilliant when camping love the video 😊
The filler on the tailgate of that red one looks like it was done with a knife and fork.
It was!
Looks factory.
I love this channel… it covers things I didn’t know I was interested in ❤️❤️❤️❤️
bloody shame the brit fwd hatchback was over shadowed 10yrs later by the cava. the public missed this gem
The more I learn about the development of British Leyland vehicles, the more surprised I am that cars get made at all.
I had a 1975 Maxi, paid (I think, around 2,000 pounds for it), 1750HL (Twin Carb) in Bright Blue - I even remember the registration JWT 471N.. Brilliant car, had it for about 6 years and did well over 80,000 miles in it. Used it as a mobile office (had A1 size drawings taped onto the rear screen when on construction sites), accommodation (the seats folded down to make a double bed) and 'light van' - huge load space and never had any problems apart from headlight failures which were easily replaced (a sealed unit held in with just 3 screws). Did get some corrosion in the wing around the mirrors but easily repaired/replaced. Shame it was never fully developed.
JWT 471N
✗ Untaxed Vehicle JWT471N is not Taxed
Tax due: 24 March 1986
Incorrect tax status?
MOT
No results returned
My Dad had a 1976 1750 HL twin carb on a p plate, it was Pacific blue. He had it from brand new for 14 years went like a rocket, Plus was super reliable.
The video states that it was in 1977 that they dropped the Austin name, but our 1976 definitely didn't have any Austin badges on it , purley stated that it was a Maxi 1750 HL.
My dad had a 1750cc , bought in 1972 in Harvest Gold, with dark brown seats, this car also went like a rocket, my brother inherited it on my fathers death…..my brother ‘blew’ the engine whilst topping 100mph on the Lightwater Byspass, in the early1980’s….
I came across the manufacturer’s workshop manual in my loft last week! Forgot I had one.
Another great video perfectly narrated and spoken! More car videos please! Dad had a maxi in the bright red(I forget the colour name) as a company car from new and he really liked it although he was a Ford man at heart. No problems and really comfortable.😊
My Dad used to drive that car and he really liked it. And he said that they were quite good reliable cars that were built to last bit longer.
Well, I do remember seeing late 70's Maxi here in Russia ( LHD of course). The design was ... very strange to say at least.
A great story very well told of the Maxi. My dad had one when I was a kid, it was huge inside and extremely practical. I actually learned to drive in it. Unfortunately some industries are always chasing launch dates over quality with product launches before the product is ready. They were great cars though with the rod based gearbox even though they were not exactly a looker. I might be wrong but I think they added a revised engine mounting on later cars.
My Dad did too. First car I drove and drove it on long journeys while still on my provisional license. My Dad had it 17 years. There was nothing wrong when he got rid of it, he just wanted a new car.
"The Mini's Big Brother"? Surely that claim belonged to the Morris 1100 (ADO16) introduced in 1962.
Same front end design of the mini clubman. But you are technically correct 👍
Surely the BMW Mini? Oh but they are the same size 😅
I have mixed memories of my old Maxi. The gearbox was like stirring a bucket of rusty bolts, and the corroding brake pipes.
But I have a lot of fun driving it. Top speed I achieved was 113mph.
Not bad really for an old runabout.
I never drove one, but my boss in late 79 at Jag had a Maxi as the company car, and along with an ex Daimler old boy in the same office spoke of the Maxi with surprised enthusiasm. As despite being BL bods they'd accepted its reputation. Yes, many bundled decisions with too many internal barriers and fiefdoms
My brother had one and always said what a good car it was for him and his family.
i had one of these it was fantastic for carrying a very big load highway driving was fast and easy steering was ok
could go anywhere the gearbox was its achilles heels leaked oil at the main bearing requiring 3 clutch replacements it was boxy but its functional use put paid to that in all i liked it a few modifications a tweaks was all it needed
What a rough diamond the Maxi was. Tons of space and practicality, smooth ride on all surfaces, but oh boy, that gearchange was by far the worst I've ever wrestled with. Even a simple journey into town was an immense struggle, ruined the entire experience. And don't get me started on all those Lucas electrical components... grrrrrr.
@ 9:56, that’s Red Robbo. I had a letter printed in a newspaper, saying, ‘why don’t they give Red Robbo a ton of dynamite and let him put BL out of its misery’? I hope he’s proud of himself.
Had two of these as a family car in the 80s, step dad got a ton out of it - warp speed.
Many runs up the A9 rammed in the boot.
I recall discussing driving in the snow and the gentleman I was talking with insisted the Maxi was the best he ever drove in snowy conditions.
Hindsight being wonderful:- Austin should have started with the B series engine and power steering from the Wolseley 18/85. The Princess should have had the Ambassador hatch much earlier. The Maxi should then have had the O series engines of the Princess. The Renault 16 was popular. Austin/Morris should have been cherished as the main source of money, but Stokes was biassed.
My mate's dad had one. It was very roomy which was ideal since it inevitably died and spent the rest of its life serving as a shed.
Lovely concept. Spacious and a hatchback. Five speed box which quickly lost its synchromesh.
My father got one second hand - he knew nothing about cars. It was so worn out the pistons were half the size of the bores and it blew more smoke than a T-34 tank. The bore/piston mismatch did not help the already under powered 1750cc and were were often overtaken by heavily laden trucks whilst turning engine oil into a smokescreen. It was a comfy old dog of a car.
When you can't get a 4 speed box to work well the obvious thing to do is make a 5 speed.
In the over-priced car market of New zealand in the 70s and 80s, a second-hand Maxi was all that my dad could afford to own. It was a tight fit for our family of five kids in fact we never all ended up traveling in it at once but it was fairly reliable, in that it didn't break down every week like most English cars of the era. He owned that car up until it failed going over the overpass in town one day because the engine was so worn out it was just too tired to do it. His next choice was almost as bad, it was a Lada.
I remember being stunned as a teenager in the 1970s by the strikes and general managerial incompetence at Leyland in the UK as I watched here in Australia. This spilled over into the Leyland P76 which was a wonderful car for what it was- if it had been built with proper build quality. It is called the "P38" by some, as it was only half the car it should have been.
The words "build quality" and "British Leyland" never appear in the same sentence unless the word "poor" is in there too 😂😂😂😂😂
@@lordcaptainvonthrust3rd Unfortunately.
Seven of us, plus camping gear went to Knebworth in a well-used rusted-out Maxi in the late '70s. After the festival was over, It refused to start, and we abandoned it there.
A couple of months later, I got a letter from DVLA to say that someone had attempted to re-register it in their name.
I replied to say: 'Good Luck'.
I was apprentice motor mechanic in 1971 working on British Leyland cars and all I can say is there were very poorly made, too heavy and leak oil from new. I could talk all day about the cars coming out of British Leyland and not only them Jaguars especially electrics in the 70s & 80s kept me very busy in work allow me to open my own repair business.
Ooh very nice nothing says classic like a vintage car awesome video
Especially with the dipper lights for Continental Europe.
We had one when I was a kid on a K plate (1971 / 1972) when one would have thought that all the problems would have been sorted.
The gearbox had been sorted in fairness, now rod operated (early cars had cable operation).
The camshaft failures of the very first cars had also been sorted with better lubrication.
First impression for me were the poor aerodynamics of the slab front, like a Mini Clubman, which was a shame considering they went to a lot of trouble including an economical overdrive 5th gear for the car (top speed for the 1500 was attained in 4th gear, usual for an overdrive ratio).
Plus points were it had good handling & road holding and the Hydrolastic suspension was good. Use of space was very good too.
Fuel economy was good provided you kept to about 60 - 65 mph and made good use of the 5th gear.
After the engine had been run in we went to Switzerland in it and it started to jump out of 4th gear while driving through France. This wasn't a big surprise for us having had an early Austin 1100. The 1750 engine had a tendency to overheat going up the St. Gotthard Pass but we were careful with it (the needle getting close to the red on the gauge). I now put this down to high friction pistons / rings together with a rather small radiator. I remember telling my Mum to keep in a lower gear to make the fan go faster but this wasn't good advice in hindsight (I was only a teenager).
The cold Winters of the 70s soon showed up the rather small battery and (perhaps) the small starter motor (pre-engaged type).
After a few years an engine mounting failed, dropping the engine alarmingly on one side; this clearly wasn't a one off since it also happened to our neighbours, who had an identical car, also on a K registration. The engine mounting was redesigned.
Our Dutch friends bought an early Maxi 1500 having had great service from their Austin Cambridge Diesel but came to regret being faithful to BMC.
They sold the Maxi after a few years and bought a Renault 16 TS, a much better car I'm sad to say.
Notwithstanding by the time the Maxi 2 came out it was probably quite a good car as was unfortunately often the way with BL products.
Ahh, the land crab. I knew it better as 'the shed' because there was so much room inside - ! 😅
I’m always bemused by my dad when he says his favourite car was his Maxi 1750…. He has had cortina mk1 GT, a cortina mk 2 1600e, then a beautiful 1969 triumph 2500pi mk1, and then, this maxi…. After that he had marina 1800tc then a string of ford ghia’s, escorts/Granada 2.8 etc… he says this maxi was brilliant, he says it was fast, comfortable and it drove beautifully and swoons about it being front wheel drive…. I think he must be remembering it incorrectly but he’s convinced it was mega 🤷♂️
I’m just bemused that out of all those cars, some of which were truly beautiful cars and are iconic cars now, he thinks the maxi was the best 🤔
I'm the same Nick! If you look at my other message which I've just added my dad loved his as well!!! And he like me loved cars.And as I've said in my other message he was a Ford man!
@@michael5089I think that a lot of employees at BL were taking the pee at the time (my uncle being one) and really didn’t care for QC much. However there must have been some company men working there that did their job correctly … my mum refers to some of the crappy cars she had as ‘Friday afternoon cars’ where people just wanted to go home and didn’t care.
BL certainly had its fair share of ‘Friday afternoon cars’ but seemingly some were put together quite well 🤷♂️
My Dad was a painter and decorator and I do remember the maxi being loaded up with his work gear, he is without doubt a car man too, so there must’ve been something about the maxi 🤷♂️ I don’t think many cars had 5 gears until the 80’s, I definitely remember some cars having an overdrive switch on the gear knob. Also I guess 95ish bhp was quite a lot for a family car in the early 70’s, when you consider things like the lotus cortina had 105ish
Maxi with a 1750 TC engine was quite a nice car to drive (apart from the gearchange). Comfortable with good suspension, cornered flat, enough torque, and very practical. My first car was a mk2 Cortina, and the Maxi would corner better. Fords managed to sell on style, ease of driving, their racing success, and probably better build quality, but they certainly didn't feature advanced engineering.
My grandfather's chain of pharmacies bought Maxis in bulk. Spacious enough for deliveries of oxygen bottles to people, they had the suspension that could deal with it
Deeply unexciting. Slow. Very good at what it did though.
The best car i ever owned but didn't keep, the most practical vehicle ever
Thanks for another great report. Friend of my father had two in succession - by his own admission, not the most stylish of conveyances but the only boot he could lift his mother's wheelchair into without throwing his back out!
Intrigued by EEL 654T - the DVLA shows it registered in 08/78 but not with themselves until 02/19. Rear window sticker looks like a Dutch garage; area code in eastern NL. Loved the "emergency windscreen" on the back parcel shelf - haven't seen one of them since my late aunt had one, way back when.
Bonus points for the footage of the multiple babies in 'carry cots' - stacked neatly in the back with zero restraints. How cluelessly innocent we once were!
Almost a great car.
Had 2 from 84-91, was a great mile muncher, comfortable, huge load carrying area and an emergency double bed.
Would happily have another but not as a daily driver as fuel consumption was horrific by todays standards.
This "Maxi" model (ADO14 design code) had a slightly bigger sibling in the ADO17 Austin 1800/Morris 1800/Wolseley 18/85. The 1800 Mk I cars sold to Belgium and the Netherlands were called Balanza. Mk III became visually a bit more attractive and a bigger engine in Austin 2200, Morris 2200 en Wolseley Six.
Between original Mini and ADO17, a really interesting variant in this design language was the slightly modified (ADO16) Morris 1300 in Vanden Plas coachwork.
In another league of British and money, nothing beats a Rover P5B Couple, though, or AM DB4 GT Zagato.
Excellent video!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👏🏻
Err… “is that the car that Basil Faulty took to with a tree branch when it kept breaking down?” LOL
Kindest regards
Nigel
WMH Team- Australia
I had a 75 Maxi, bought second hand, NZ assembled. Good build, did a gazillion k in it. Only breakdown was when it dropped the nut off the end of the lay shaft, an lost all drive. Brilliant design, comfortable family car with a stack of room inside.
a good car the Maxi my Dad had 2 of them, In 1978 he bought a 5 year old Maxi 1750
( WFM 164 L ) he kept till July 1981 then bought a 1977 R-reg Morris Marina didn't like going back to rear wheel drive and a 4 speed gear box bad in the snow the winter of 1982 January were we lived there's a lot of hills near Wrexham just no good to drive in the snow , not liked the old Maxi drove through the snow with no problem. Later in 1982 Oct/Nov the Marina was written off by a drunk driver, my Dad was on his way home from work just finishing a 2 till 10 afternoon shift on the Wrexham Industrial Estate. The drunk driver did a runner but he was picked up by the police and he was sentenced for a few months. My Dad bought his second Maxi, he was over the moon a red 1750 ,1977 ( WMB 12 R ) he had it in late November 1982 and kept it till January 1990 it was the car of the 1980's for my Dad and it was the first car that I drove I loved it. The Maxi ahead of it's time in my opinion.
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We had one. It was a great car from a rear passenger's point of view. My friend's dad had an R16 and that was pretty cramped.
My parents had a R16 and I remember it being spacious, certainly bigger than a Rekord or Cortina.
The car looked out of kilter because the management at BMC wanted it to use the doors off the 1800, Then despite the Maxi been advanced design it never sold in the numbers it could have.
I bought a second hand N reg 1750HL Maxi in about 1982 and it was a great car, twin SU's, the gearbox was fine and 30mpg, as well as the seats folding flat, I couldn't ask for much more
One of the better cars I owned, well suited for NZ's hilly terrain. The main weakness, to me at least, appeared to be the under-engineered drive flanges where the splines tended to chew out the grooves, but that was a relatively simple fix. I disagree that the '75 Maxi was a sluggish performer as most drivers are more interested in reliability than race track performance. The worst car I ever owned and one that drained my patience as well as my wallet? A 1977 Toyota Crown, an absolute pig; comfortable but a monstrously thirsty, under-powered dray and a martyr to over-heating. It was a huge mistake thinking that the name Toyota meant bullet proof reliability. The Maxi was greatly superior.
My father owned a Maxi. It was a superb family car. He had the 1750.
Then he was provided with a 1600 Ford Cortina company car.
The Cortina was inferior to the Maxi in every way.
4 speed gearbox against the Maxi's five.
Smaller engine.
Crap boot against a hatchback with fold flat seats.
Cart springs against hydragas.
The Maxi won hands down yet the Cortina sold more.
Fleet buyers were the culprits I believe.
I agree with you, Maxi 2L 1748 c.c. with the Vehicle Registration Mark ( V.R.M. ) of FFG 212X in Russet Brown & D.V.L.A. registered in October 1981, was my 1st car in September 1985 . . .
. . . Brilliant Starter NEVER let me down, parked on the street, it got buried & covered in snow during bad winter weather, door locks NEVER froze up & I would get inside & pull out an inch of Choke & twist to hold it there, turn the Ignition Key & the engine would burst reassuringly into life at the 1st attempt 😀👍!
Seems like both BMC and Leyland had very short sighted management. A real pity. We've had companies here in the USA guilty of the same thing. Many brands are gone, as well as many stores.
Good spacious car also excellent caravan tower, spoilt by a diabolical gear change mechanism, friend with one pulled the gear lever right out trying to engage gear at traffic lights.
ahh my first car. Had just passed my test in the early 90s and didn't have much money. £400 got me a W reg. Brown interior, brown body. When I needed a can of paint to fix a "little" dent I'd put in it, halfruds called it "Rust Brown". Says it all really! I called it "The Tank". At 50 mph you couldn't hold a conversation, at 70 mph you couldn't hear yourself think and it rattled so much your teeth tried to fall out....
I passed my driving test in mid-1985 & my 1st car from September 1985, was a Maxi 2L ( Revised Final Version ) 1748 c.c. single carburettor in Rus(se)t Brown, with Vehicle Registration Mark ( V.R.M. ) of FFG 212X . . . For F*****G 212 being the score & X because it was just "Grrr-eat !" for the usual nocturnal (Se)X Rated Activities ♂️⬆️♀️ that young males wanted to do !
I remember they were a good car in the 70s especially the 1750. My uncle had one and it wasn't slow!
Rory, your work never fails to impress-- every single doc is superb. If I may ask, how do you get your trademark sound?
AI
Ah, the doors. Reusing a reused part. Something I deeply and passionately hate. As an engineer I can NOT live with that one minute. I will walk away immediately.
I'm sorry, Ruaridh, but that is absolute rubbish! The maxis were pretty much the fastest car on the road in the 1980s - we were forever being overtaken by maxis, usually blue! I have nothing to say to management's attitude to them, but my father drove a series of them in the 1970s and 1980s and absolutely loved them. He was gutted when they were discontinued, and I suspect he was not the only one. They were fast, reliable and spacious, and much-loved by their owners.
Being overtaken means nothing what were they over taking
@@gingernutpreacher Ford Fiesta. And almost every other car on the road, as well!
@@AnnabelSmyth yeah a lot of if and maybe's the fiesta typically came with a 1.1 but the ones with the larger Kent were faster same with the mark 4 the 1.3 hcs was hurendus but as soon as you went to a 1.4 CVH they were as fast . I just remember the late 80.s early 90's they were constantly getting beat by for escort mark 4's
Rubbish, you are saying they were quicker than the golf gti, xr4i, capri. Do you know how cars work? Go find the 0-60 times.
@@jssonstevens59 Nevertheless, that is what we always seemed to be overtaken by, back in the day. We would be going at 70,they would be - faster! My point is, they were not nearly as dire as Ruaridh said! My father would certainly not have bought a second one if they had been, and he must have had 4 or 5 in all.
Who can forget the Fawlty Towers sketch featuring Basil trashing the unreliable red Maxi with a branch when it broke down on an errand.
No you are incorrect . . . Basil Fawlty thrashed ( & trashed ) an Austin / Morris 1100/1300 NOT an Austin Maxi !
Nothing wrong with the Maxi ,worked on them from day one,easy to work on and repair 👍
Loved my maxi ,apart from the strange looks its a great car..
I grew to like the looks and love the double bed
We had an Austin 1800. I could never really tell the difference as a young kid
A tragic story so typical of British industry at the time. A shame as I always liked the Maxi and in the mid 70s it was amazingly popular with top class racing drivers, such as the late,great Tony Brise of F1 fame, as their choice of road car.
My dad brought a k reg one at auction in 1973 .VWL566K was the registration. He needed it for work and as a family car . Every week something went wrong with it . Gearbox cable every few weeks . I went with him to pick it up from the garage. It starts raining and the wipers wouldn't work then the lights would fail . He part ex it in 1977 for an S plate special Mini Van in British racing green . That van was ok . He undersealed in when it was new and when he part ex it in 1980 he saw it parked in an orchard full of rust . His new 1980 marina van lasted 3 years and it to was a pile of rust , so much so that the rear doors fell off . Never again he would buy another Leyland car . Brought a ford escort in 1984 and that was dead by rust in 4 years .
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I had a 1500 maxi. I still think it was the most comfortable car I have ever had.
I always wondered if Leyland should have just gone it alone and let BMC deal with the mess they made.
We may still have had Triumph and Rover cars in some form.
Amen. The main reason BLMC was a flop was that it had too many plants, too many different marques - each with their own tribalist staff - and too many shop stewards (not even all from the same union). It was too much for one firm to ever make work.
BMH should have remained separate, and either been rationalised by bankruptcy administration, or sold off entirely.
You missed "too much government interference"@@jimtaylor294
Outstanding video - as always👍🇬🇧
I had an Austin 1100 when I was eighteen and held a pipe dream of shoehorning a Maxi engine into it. Never happened of course, but could have been a speedy beast - ! 😂
If it can fit in a mini it can definitely can fit in an Austin 1100 😉
I remember seeing them as cheap 2nd hand cars when I was a kid….yes they looked so old - much older than they actually were.
I didn’t know it struggled on til 1981 😮…..sold alongside things like the mk2 cavalier and mk1 Astra, mk3 Escort, and original VW Golf 😮😮😮
Panel gaps so bad that when, as a kid, the rear hatch was slammed shut with my hand still in the boot, I didn't feel a thing
There was always the ‘s’ reg specials coming down the line!.
It was a hatchback before they were commonplace.
It had 5 gears before that too was commonplace.
But affected by the malaise of the 70s
I worked at Longbridge in the late 70s, saw most to the various factories, and got to drive many of the BL cars. I remember the Maxi as being boring but quite nice as a very practical family car, with the E series engine certainly better than the B series. It was long stroke which enabled them to squeeze it transversely into the car. Like most front wheel drive BL cars of the time, the gear change was pretty poor, and the styling was very dull. But it did corner pretty flat and handled OK. Of course, it had none of the image of Fords.
Dad had one of the early ones. It had to have two new gearboxes in the first six months.
Thank you Rory dear.
Aunt Barbara adoes you! 😘
And can we just agree that the Farina Models were actually the best looking cars BL ever built. Sure, underneath it was the usual garbage, but they did look good. The Austin A40 was seriously cute.
Management's obsession with saving money by using the doors from the 1800 'Land-crab' showed that they hadn't a clue about engineering & design, which lumbered the Maxi with excessive weight along with its corresponding sluggish performance!
and ironically that obsession with penny pinching only cost them more down the road. Each. And. Every. Time.
@@nakoma5 Exactly!
They made a similar mistake many years later when the Rover 800 was facelifted - insisted that the doors remained the same only to find out that the press tools were knackered shortly afterwards.