British Motor Corporation (B.M.C.)
The Nuffield Organisation merged with Austin to form the British Motor Corporation in 1952, although Leonard Lord of Austin saw to it that The Nuffield family members such as Morris, MG, Wolseley and Riley played second fiddle to Austin. Morris engines were quickly supplanted by Austin's A-Series, B-Series and C-Series units even though initially Austin and Nuffield developed different model lines in the same market segments. The first fruits of the merger were seen in 1959 when badges from both the Austin and the Nuffield parts of the company appeared on the Austin Cambridge/Morris Oxford lines, and later on the Austin and Morris Mini, Austin/Morris ADO16 family and the Austin/Morris ADO17 family. BMC was famous for its 'badge engineering' that is producing the same car with different grilles, trims and badges as though they were different. In the late 1960s the walls came crashing down on BMC in a series of mergers beginning with BMC taking over its body supplier Pressed Steel in 1965, then buying the Jaguar-Daimler business in 1966 to form British Motor Holdings. The final grouping happened in 1968 when government pressure got Leyland Trucks and its Rover-Triumph car division to join with BMH to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) later 'British Leyland'. A BMC company still exists in Turkey which started in 1964 building Austin and Morris vehicles under licence, before concentrating on trucks from 1966, and producing its own designs from 1989.
Morris FG 1960 dropside
Morris FG 1960 dropside - BMC Diesel badge. FG trucks were badged as Austin or Morris until 1968, then 'BMC' and finally from 1970 as 'Leyland' until 1980.
Austin Motors
Austin Motors
BMC F-type trucks
BMC F-type trucks
MG Cars
MG Cars
Morris Cars
Morris Cars
Riley Cars
Riley Cars
Vanden Plas
Vanden Plas
Wolseley Cars
Wolseley Cars