Austin 1100 / 1300 Review

Just bought one from my dad 2 owner 45,000 miles white and a hoot to drive (tax exempt). I love the roadholding, suspension and smiths instruments, only thing I dont like is the gearing (too low) Done 500 miles in winter, no major problems, still points & condensor. Starts first time needs a respray and 13" wheels but ooh what a hoot to drive, in one word Brilliant

I had a new Austin 1300 in 1970. It was reliable, but the tie rods on the front suspension needed to be kept tight otherwise they rattle. The seat was not too comfortable on long runs on the 2 door model. My dad's Morris 1100 4 door had better front seats.

I'm 17 and my '71 Austin 1300 Auto is the best little car ever, it doesn't half stand out in the college car park which is great. I'm now looking to mod it a bit and make it look real nice

I love my little 1100, it goes well and is a absolute pleasure to have, it is my first car and i never want to sell it or send it to a dreaded scrap yard! I would do anything for it, i love it so much. im a the present time rebuilding its engine which i have to get all new bearings for because its old engine had a bad case of piston slap and the bearings were basicaly powder when i striped it down the other day! (could of seized at any moment!!!) But i still love it and will never give it up!

i have owned a 1300gt for a year now
and half of this time it has been
garaged since my loving partner
drove it through a fence and down a
1meter high wall, no jap inport would
have held through that!!! i love it and
am spending the next year restoring
it to its former glory and further to
show standard, go the austang!!!

i have had a lot of 1300s .my wife has one .my son and i drive one, and i also have austin 1300gt 1973.i am a motor mechanic of 35 years and love working on these cars in my spare time.i like to talk about cars eg,1300s and gts.
i have a lot of spare parts for these cars and have wrecked many 1300s

ADITIONAL; ADITIONAL:

EXHAUST: Sticking with the standard cast-iron intake/exhaust manifold, just replace the pipe-work and muffler with big-bore equivilents. This allows you to keep the standard carb setup. Bolt the pipe bracket to the bracket at the base of the gearbox. This will allow the entire exhuast pipe to move fore and aft on the rear suspended pipe mounting. If the pipe is not bolted down like this, then the pivot point when the engine flexes on it's mountings, will be the join between the manifold and the pipe(if the joint is weak), or at the point of the bend as the pipe goes under the floor(if the manifold joint _IS_ strong), and this is where teh breaks will develop.

G.

ADDITIONAL: Forgot to mention a few things I have found over the years of owning these "Little beasts":

* ENGINE MOUNTS - replace all three with new ones, if they are soft, or look "Bubbly". Leaking oil gets onto the mounts, and attacks the rubber, making it soft - some mounts are almost like jelly when you remove them, usually the left-front mount(down the back of the firewall, just behind the radiator hose). If they are soft and jelly-like, they will not restrain the engine/transmission enough, and it will attempt to free itself from the car!!!
;-)
What this really equates to, is severe clutch-judder, frequent exhaust pipe fractures, and rapid inner CV/rubber + joint wear.

* EXHAUST - There must be a bracket at the base of the exhuast pipe where the pipe curves, and heads aft from the engine-bay. There really is no two ways about this. Running without this bracket will fracture your exhust pipe every week or less!!!

COOLING SYSTEM: Check the radiator every couple of weeks for clogs either of the BBQ'ed oil type, or the dead fly/moth type! Clogged radiator will cause overheating, and can cook the engine.

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS:

I have found the following mods result in good power development:

- Plane the head by 10 thou.

- Grind valves, fit new valve seals.

- Fit hardened valve-seats, and run using unleaded fuel with about 200ml of octane booster in the tank before fill-up

- Replace the standard exhaust pipe with a big-bore exhaust, fitted with a Coby(r) muffler. (this makes the 1300 sound very grunty, and helps power, as the engine can exhust easier via a big pipe then a smaller pipe.)

- Install a quarter-race camshaft.

- If the timing chain is single type, replace with a double type and gears.

- Replace ALL THREE engine mountings if any mount is soft.

G.

I've owned six of these little cars, affectionately known as "Land-Crab" here in New Zealand. This is cos they sort of resemble the shape of a crab shell, with some imagination!
Excellent suspension idea, very comfortable - much better then coil-spring type for ride, although, can be prone to sagging on one or both sides due to loss of fluid. I am currently building a convertable Austin 1300.

Basically a Midget with a roof. The Estate is reallly cute and the 1300GT is nippy. These cars should have more respect 'cos they were designed by Pininfarina.

My name is Marie..I'm besotted by these
wonderful little cars..They were
Austins new flagship in 1962 and in
opposition to Ford's Mk1 Cortina ..When
comparing them now ,the Austin drives
so like a modern car "positive,light
steering and excellent roadholding" all
from 12 inch wheels too!!..The Cortina
does not with its comparatively heavy
steering and skittish Cart sprung rear
suspension , it feels like it came from
the ark!!. My first encounter of these
wonderful 1100 cars started back in
1984 ,when I "regrettably now" did
junior bangers with them ...They were
the most common picked cars due to
being so plentiful and cheap..Now I
have gone full circle ...as I own a
Austin 1100 Mk2 which is my ultimate
pride & joy'...His name is "OLLIE" and
he was bought for me in 1997 as a X/mas
present from my partner.. MOT'D & Tax
Exempt..Since then he's been ultimately
reliable with one exception, last year
when his gearbox bearings
collapsed .Since then he's been under
heavy restoration and he's looking more
like the charming car he was designed
to be...The front valance has been
replaced ,as has the O/S/F wing and one
rear arch + masses of other structural
area's and floors, to name but a
few...Now he boasts a 1.3 engine with
an Unleaded head..Paintwork is to
follow shortly, complete with new
carpets and chromework ...Then I can
show people what marvellous cars these
really were......Please feel free to
contact me.....

I absolutly love and adore my little Austin 1100, mainly I think because it is slightly bigger than a mini and in my view it holds the road better than the Mini with its Hydrolastic suspension keeping us all feeling you know Sea sick! Anyway seeing as though this is a review I think I had better tell you that NEVER EVER slow the ignition down too much on a car. The reason I say this is because well we had just done some work on the engine and we were having trouble. We got in frotn of a modern Hyundi car and they were pointing laughing and joking at us. We were stalling at every stop we had to make and they were quite aware of that. But they got so fed up they decided to play dirty and push us , right up our bottom for the next mile until the car stalled again at Traffic lights. We couldn't start the car again so we managed to get around the corner free wheeling. The owner came out of his car treatennig to beat us up because we were doing 30mph in a 30mph zone and they couldn't accept that we didn't have hazard flashers. So please if you are a person that likes to break speed limits just remember that if you want to see classic cars at shows etc then be aware that there are problems!

I got my Austin 1100 free from a friend, they would have paid me to take it away!

I have 2 of these - a 1970 austin 1100 bought new by my grandparents and passed on to me, and a 1975 austin 1300 here in New Zealand, for which I paid $360 (£120). It goes, it has dents, the fan doesn't work, but I love it. I never want to own a different type of car. Long live the 1100/1300!!

I have owned a few of these cars and liked the comfort ,ease of access to the engine area ,loads of room in the back seat but a tiny boot.
During time spent in South Africa in the Seventies` there was a version made there called the Apache and I would very much like to get hold of one of these, if anybody can track one down please let me know.At the moment I have a 1965 Morris 1000 and a 1969 Triumph Spitfire Mk3

Launched in 1963, the Austin featured spacious interior, and up to the minute technology, with front wheel drive, front disc brakes and Hydrolastic suspension. Also available in 1300 and 1300GT formats, and in two or four door formats.
Spent a number of years as Britains best selling car.

I'm 17 and my '71 Austin 1300 Auto is the best little car ever, it doesn't half stand out in the college car park which is great. I'm now looking to mod it a bit and make it look real nice

It is such a shame that you don't see more of these fine cars on the road. My personal favorite is the Vanden Plas models.

I have a Riley 1300, and it is a superb car, and has been very reliable after a few jobs it needed from being 'stood up' for a while. Although some body panels and trim are hard to come by (luckily mine is a solid car!), service parts are easily obtainable. The performance on this model is terrific. The handling is superb, the car rides wonderfully on it's Hydrolastic suspension. I prefer it to the Mini I had, and considering I loved that car, this must say something :)

it broke down the first morning i had it 78000k on the clock 1974 white

I'm 17 and my 1971 1100 is my first car. It is just so great, it hasn't broken down since I Had it and never want to sell it. I paid £400 for it and it's worth every penny and many more.
I'm now looking at modifying it and making it even more fun!!!