newbie austin 301

There was one of these on Fleabay not long ago with a starting price of $900, no bids.

Hi Carbowe,
Mammoth is right, it is the Austin version of the more common Morris Commercial LC5. 30 CWT carrying capacity. Both versions (the only difference was the badges) had the Austin A70 car engine. They would have been built from about 1953 to 1957. The ute behind it is possibly for a donor engine? It is quite desirable itself. Better drag 'em both home!

The one on ebay was near Bendigo, Victoria and got no bids. It was almost as tidy as the one in your pictures.

Parts are reasonably easy to get, from the usual old parts places. Automotive Surplus in Thornton Crescent, Mitcham, Melbourne, will be able to help with most mechanical bits.

Yours and the one on ebay are the only Austin ones I have heard of in Australia but the old Post Master General's Department in Victoria ran a fleet of the Morris version.

It will fit on a large tandem trailer so getting it home should not be a problem. All the bits are small enough to make it easy to restore, so go for it!

Morris.

Hi, just come across your post, it's definitely the Austin 301, and is very rare compared to the Morris version, partway through the production they re-badged most as the Morris during the BMC amalgamation. of the late 50's, I am in the UK and have one of the double rear wheel heavier version having been given it by my dad who bought it 40+ years ago to restore and never got round to it. I'll be starting it hopefully sometime this year.
Only 7 others are known about in the UK, 4 1500cwt and 3 of the double rear wheel. I also know about one other in Jersey in the Channel Islands. It should be fitted with the 6 cylinder Austin Westminster petrol engine. Apparently a lot of them went to South America.
Did you buy it?

...hopefully not a rude question....badges aside, would the austin 301 have an austin ID plate and chassis number pertaining to that type?

cheers

my father had a morris commercial, which was my 1st thought when i saw the piccy, looks nice and straight

was rather well known for its braking ability (not)

You haven't got enough power in a Morris or Austin lorry, to get up any speed, that might require serious levels of braking, anyway!!

The term commonly used for Morris and Austin truck acceleration, is "modest gain in speed over an extended period of elapsed time" ..
They make Bedfords look fast, I can tell ya that!

I have to admit, that little Austin is a rare one. I've never seen one before. Seen numbers of the Morris Commercial varieties around, but never laid eyes on the Austin variety.

You can fix the lack of braking ability in the older vehicles by installing a PBR VH40 or VH44 power booster. The PBR booster even made the early Holden "go faster" drum brakes (in the FX to EJ), tolerable.

ole morry brakes had the pbr conversion done

they never had enough lining area, so it didnt matter how much extra pressure u put on em, once they heated up , brakes wuz zilch

fella from bruce rock slammed 1 into a train when the tracks used to cross below greenmount, brakes had faded and away he went, train wun...... :'(

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationThere's at least one Austin 301 restored in Pommy land, and one in Brisbane, too .. they look pretty flash with chrome hubcaps ..

www.flickr.com/photos/beerdave1745/6062973060/

www.flickr.com/photos/33256097@N03/51867...et-72157625231243727

www.truck-photos.net/picture/number726.asp

A couple of blokes on eBay U.K. have a couple of nice brochures on the Austin 301 ..





A good, original Austin 301 workshop manual on eBay U.K. ..



A couple of Austin 301 drivers handbooks, on eBay U.K. ..





The Austin 301 appears to initially have been called the LD.5A (spelt exactly like that, with a dot) .. but it appears that this nomenclature was dropped in favour of the "301" nomenclature.
It's also possible the LD.5A nomenclature was only for the U.S. market, as this following drivers handbook is from Evanston, Illinois ..

It should have a separate Austin Chassis plate and ID no.

For all BMC vehicles you should be able to get production history from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (BMIHT) at Gaydon in England. They have a web site.
This includes original color, id no's, extras, where it was sent to etc

Gatt66 - I don't know that that info would be applicable to the above truck, as BMC had its own factories here in Australia .. and that little Austin wasn't "sent" from the U.K. .. it was built right here in Oz.
However, as the Swish would say .. Idostand2Bcorrected .. by someone with vastly increased BMC knowledge, that's a whole lot more than the BMC knowledge, that I possess.

The information I have is that not only did BMC own the 57 acre Zetland assembly plant .. where Austin, Morris, and other BMC cars were built .. but that they also owned the Pressed Metal Corporation (PMC) factory at Enfield, where the 3 ton and smaller BMC trucks were assembled.