The Austin Freeway is an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

which was developed by

BMC Australia British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia). This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and ...

, based on the British

Austin A60 Cambridge :''See Austin 10 for the Cambridge models of 1937 to 1947.'' :''See Austin A40 for other A40 models.'' The Austin Cambridge (sold as A40, A50, A55, and A60) is a medium-sized motor car range produced by the Austin Motor Company, in several ge ...

. Introduced in 1962, it was marketed under the

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

name in both four-door sedan and five-door

station wagon A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

body styles. Using the locally built 2433 cc six-cylinder "Blue Streak" engine, it represented the first attempt by BMC to challenge the dominant

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...

and

Ford Falcon Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide. * Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970. * Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991. * Fo ...

models in the lucrative six-cylinder family car class with a locally developed vehicle. The engine was a direct development of the company's 1622cc B-series unit, cylinder dimensions in the six-cylinder unit being identical to those of its four-cylinder counterpart. An upmarket variant, the

Wolseley 24/80 The Wolseley 24/80 is an automobile produced by British Motor Corporation (Australia) from May 1962 to October 1965,MG Magnette The MG Magnette is an automobile that was produced by MG between 1953 and 1968. The Magnette was manufactured in two build series, the ZA and ZB of 1953 through to 1958 and the Mark III and Mark IV of 1959 through to 1968, both using a modified ...

and

Riley 4 The Riley 4 / Sixty Eight and Riley 4 / Seventy Two are cars produced by BMC from 1959 to 1969, under the Riley marque. They are closely related to the Pinin Farina-designed MG Magnette Mark III and Wolseley 15/60 and the simpler Austin A55 C ...

models.Joe Kenwright, BMC's last stand: Aussie Originals, www.tradeuniquecars.com.au
Retrieved 29 January 2017 The station wagon utilised the

rear-end styling. 3,090 units were sold in its first year but volumes fell well short of those of its

and

rivals and of the much more powerful six-cylinder

Chrysler Valiant Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...

, introduced in Australia earlier the same year. The original Freeway (designated ADO40) was replaced by the Freeway Mk II (YDO3) Building Cars In Australia, BMC-Leyland Australia Heritage Group, 2012, pages 214-215 in October 1964. The revised model featured a more powerful engine, power brakes, improved rear suspension and improved seating. Declining sales saw the Freeway discontinued in 1965 with production ceasing in September of that year after approximately 27,000 cars had been built. The Freeway was replaced by the

Austin 1800 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 18), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 12 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 16), ...

with Australian production commencing in 1966. File:Austin Freeway (15920253092).jpg, Austin Freeway Sedan File:1964 Austin Freeway sedan (6106068152).jpg, Austin Freeway Mk II Sedan File:Austin Freeway Wagon (15906711417).jpg, Austin Freeway Station Wagon File:Austin Freeway Wagon (15284367353).jpg, Austin Freeway Station Wagon

New Zealand market

The Freeway was marketed in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

as both the Austin Freeway and the Morris Freeway, allowing the separate Austin and Morris dealerships in that country to sell the model. The Freeway name was subsequently used on the New Zealand market for the

BMC ADO17 BMC ADO17 is the model code used by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) for a range of large family cars manufactured from September 1964 to 1975. The car was initially sold under the Austin marque as the Austin 1800, then by Morris as the Morr ...

,Also known as : BMC 1800/2200, www.aronline.co.uk
Retrieved on 10 November 2012 (with the BMC brand instead of Austin or Morris this time around).

References

External links

Retrieved on 8 May 2009 {{British Motor Corporation cars, 1952-1966

Freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Cars of Australia 1960s cars Cars introduced in 1962