Spotted- Landcrab

[coppice]

Weird- driving through Thirsk in the snow what should be coming the other way but an Austin/Morris (OK BMC ) 1800- but in pickup spec. A first for me...

[N Dentressangle]

Maybe a re-import from Australia - BMC produced them exclusively for that market, AFAIK. Nice little pick up, I'd say:



With better marketing, should have been a competitor to the once ubiquitous Peugeot 504 pick up.

[spoodler]

About eighteen months (?) back there were a couple brought over from Oz. They each sold for £4 - 5 thousand if I remember right.
Both were really tidy and I was interested in buying one of them but was too slow off the mark.
One was blue and the other was white with Minilites and had been owned by an MG dealer whilst down under.

Whilst they were generally similar to a UK landcrab there were a lot of detail differences to make them suitable for the harsher conditions.

[mikey77]

The Mk III Morris 1800 I had back in the '70s was my second-best-ever for driving in snow. I think it had 14in wheels instead of the earlier 13in ones.
Best motor in snow I ever had was a Wartburg Knight with a freewheel transmission.

[quiraing]

N Dentressangle said:

Maybe a re-import from Australia - BMC produced them exclusively for that market, AFAIK. Nice little pick up, I'd say:



With better marketing, should have been a competitor to the once ubiquitous Peugeot 504 pick up.

Interesting car. Looks like it maybe has a longer wheelbase. An estate version would have competed with the Volvos.

[LongQ]

Not sure about the Pickup spec but my old man bought an Auto 1800 in late 1970 and despite being a rather strange thing to drive it had a lot going for it IF you could get away from the expectations of the day.

My old man passed away before he ever saw the need for changing it and my Mother kept it for year going about 2k miles per annum - in a busy year.

Between cars in around the early 1980s I borrowed it for a few weeks and it proved to be very competent on ice and snow.

Not a great sporting sort of bolide but as a spacious shifter of families it has a lot to offer.

I can imagine that the Ute version would have gone down well with sheep.

Edited by LongQ on Monday 28th January 12:21

[Dr Jekyll]

As far as I recall, the pick up was actually built in Australia.

[dmulally]

spoodler said:

About eighteen months (?) back there were a couple brought over from Oz. They each sold for £4 - 5 thousand if I remember right.

[HurdyGurdy]

There's a saloon parked in Oldham, looks like it's used every day

[Pothole]

Dr Jekyll said:

As far as I recall, the pick up was actually built in Australia.

it was.