Austin 1800 and 3-litre

An earlier and larger version of the Maxi, known in the trade as 'the land crab!' I worked for a BMC distributor when it was introduced, and the first one we sold drove straight into the forecourt wall when the customer tried to do a U-turn in front of the showroom, a feat he used to accomplish in his old A.60! There were the usual badge-engineered variants from Morris and Wolseley, too. The 3-litre was a stretched version with the A.110 6-cyl engine mounted fore and aft and driving the rear wheels.

Suggest an update

Author of this article:

Dave T

Contributors to this article:

There are no contributors yet

Do You Remember Austin 1800 and 3-litre?

westy72 on 2012-01-02 00:12:26

The 3 litre sold just under 10,000 units.They werent a great suecess apart from on the banger track where they won the Spedeworth World Final twice in the 80s. I myself preferred the older Farina styled Austin A110 Westminster with the fins! I loved them so much I bought one to use as an everyday car in the 80s and nowadays have one to enjoy as a classic car.

Roxxy on 2011-03-31 19:45:53

Yep, wrong photo there, though I well remember the old 'Land Crab'. They were finally discontinued in '74; even when they were still in production, the 3-litre (with double-headlights) was a rare creature, they must only have been built in small numbers. My vile junior-school headmaster used to have a navy-blue Wolsley version- it was way too good for him, he didn't deserve a beautiful machine like that. Even nowadays, old 1800s are quite cheap to buy on the classic car market, and are a good option for anybody looking for an affordable 'classic' that's also a practical day-to-day working car.

Dave T on 2010-10-31 13:57:20

(That's a picture of an 1100 2 door!)