There was bugger all wrong with the Maxi after changing to rod links for the gears. My P rege never let me down in 5 years ownership.

Great all round vision. Seats that fold into a bed. Nice bouncy suspension. Austin created the ultimate dogging machine.

I owned a rusty '76 Maxi as a student in the 80s. Loved it, never noticed the steering was heavy.

Our neighbours bought a Maxi after launch. They discovered that the gearbox dripped oil from day one. My uncle bought a Mk2. It caught fire on its first day because the dealer had not removed the plastic wrappings on the spark plug leads. Small details matter...

My first car was a Maxi. The 1750 twin carb HL was pretty peppy at 95 odd bhp, a lot better performance and handling than the Capri I replaced it with. As usual a good idea spoilt by its execution.

I was in a metal band in the late 80's, our guitarist had one. Best thing about it was the capacity. We could get the whole backline, drum kit and a small PA system in the back (with the rear seats down natch), then with two of us in the maxi and the other two in the bass players mini, with the guitars on the back seat we went all over the country. Great days.

A friend had one of the last 1750 HL it never let him down went like a train. He had it for years stuffed to the brim , overloaded , it ferried kids and dogs everywhere. Easy to service. If all the little problems had been ironed out in preproduction testing.......

I had a 1750 automatic. Great car. Cheap to run and never gave me any trouble.

My grandad had one in vermilion (orange). It was comfortable and felt huge to us kids. 5 seats 5 doors and..... 5 gears!

It’s still astonishing to me how quickly the UK went from making domestically designed and built automobiles and jetliners to having both industries cease to exist.

Vast and comfortable, and good at towing caravans, so not a total failure. Interesting to see a time-travelling Allegro (1973 onwards) parked beside the strikers hindering early Maxi production!

My 1750 Maxi was a peach. 5 speed, ohc, 5 door, 5 main bearings. Front wheel drive, handled like a big mini. Held the road well. Miles ahead of the competition from Ford, GM etc. Vast interior space. Engineering was very advanced. Superb motor car. Wish I still had it!

I know the cars aren’t entirely related but you can definitely see the family resemblance and evolution between the land crab, maxi, allegro and the Maestro

Just wanted to say, I love your well researched understated style of presentation. It’s suitably nerdy and entertaining. Well done

I have opined before on other channels on KZfaq that the downfall of the British car industry was very largely due to extremely poor senior management decisions. Of course there were other factors such as militant unions and the backdrop of rising inflation and price instability but I firmly believe that, as this video suggests, opportunities were missed and bad decisions taken by those at the top of the tree and this is the most significant factor.

Down under, we had the Morris Nomad, a close cousin to the Maxi. Based on the Morris 1500, itself a facelift of the 1100/1300, with a very similar rear end treatment to the Maxi. Came with the A series engine in automatic, and the E series 1500 with 5 speed.

My dad bought one (£1050 if I remember right) in 1969, H reg. He really wanted another Oxford Traveller to replaced his old one, but their production stopped a year earlier. Turned out be be a pretty good car, pulled our caravan all over the country. I learned to drive and passed my test in it before good old BL rust killed it.

I remember when on holiday in France seeing a bloke in our campsite with his maxi engine all stripped down and spread out on a tarpaulin. My Dad asked him what he was doing and he glumly replied "Trying to get home". My Dad had a Princess 2200 at the time and we also travelled with multiple cans of spare oil, water, belts and various other mechanical spares in the boot. Happy days.

My first car was a maxi 1500 a 1970 model fantastic car would have another one today had no problems with it brilliant when camping love the video 😊

I had one for a while when i was young, definitely NOT a cool car for a youngster but it did have seats that folded down into a double bed and a big vinyl Webasto sun roof which was ideal for comfy nights under the stars with young ladies so I kept hold of it for longer than I otherwise would have done. :D

I've always been mystified why it was deemed financially essential to retain the Land Crab's doors but they had sufficient money to create an entirely new engine. Anyone have any thoughts?

I've owned three Maxis over the years, what a brilliant innovative and under appreciated design. It should be as famous as its little brother the mini, but unfortunately its not. Though the new mini is more the size of the Maxi than it is the mini.

Had one as a student: remember seeing a rear left wheel going down a motorway slip road on its own while we went in a different direction 🤣

I had a Maxi back in the day and loved it! My father hired one once for a holiday to Cornwall. Mum was so impressed that she persuaded Dad to buy one with his retirement golden handshake. Our local Austin/Rover dealer said that they'd never sold a car so quick as Dad walked in, put a cheque for £5 grand on the counter and took the first one they offered.

My father had one of these,we turned into a road in Crawley to change the front near side tyre,as the car jack was being used,it went straight through the bodywork because it was rusted right through,an iron girder had to be welded in to make the car safe.

I had a 75 Maxi, bought second hand, NZ assembled. Good build, did a gazillion k in it. Only breakdown was when it dropped the nut off the end of the lay shaft, an lost all drive. Brilliant design, comfortable family car with a stack of room inside.

The filler on the tailgate of that red one looks like it was done with a knife and fork.

I had a 1975 Maxi, paid (I think, around 2,000 pounds for it), 1750HL (Twin Carb) in Bright Blue - I even remember the registration JWT 471N.. Brilliant car, had it for about 6 years and did well over 80,000 miles in it. Used it as a mobile office (had A1 size drawings taped onto the rear screen when on construction sites), accommodation (the seats folded down to make a double bed) and 'light van' - huge load space and never had any problems apart from headlight failures which were easily replaced (a sealed unit held in with just 3 screws). Did get some corrosion in the wing around the mirrors but easily repaired/replaced. Shame it was never fully developed.

Thanks for another great report. Friend of my father had two in succession - by his own admission, not the most stylish of conveyances but the only boot he could lift his mother's wheelchair into without throwing his back out! Intrigued by EEL 654T - the DVLA shows it registered in 08/78 but not with themselves until 02/19. Rear window sticker looks like a Dutch garage; area code in eastern NL. Loved the "emergency windscreen" on the back parcel shelf - haven't seen one of them since my late aunt had one, way back when. Bonus points for the footage of the multiple babies in 'carry cots' - stacked neatly in the back with zero restraints. How cluelessly innocent we once were!

I love this channel… it covers things I didn’t know I was interested in ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I came across the manufacturer’s workshop manual in my loft last week! Forgot I had one.

My Dad had a 1976 1750 HL twin carb on a p plate, it was Pacific blue. He had it from brand new for 14 years went like a rocket, Plus was super reliable. The video states that it was in 1977 that they dropped the Austin name, but our 1976 definitely didn't have any Austin badges on it , purley stated that it was a Maxi 1750 HL.

Well, I do remember seeing late 70's Maxi here in Russia ( LHD of course). The design was ... very strange to say at least.

I had a Maxi, 1500cc, it was great. Never let me down, very comfortable, one of the best cars I've owned.

I never drove one, but my boss in late 79 at Jag had a Maxi as the company car, and along with an ex Daimler old boy in the same office spoke of the Maxi with surprised enthusiasm. As despite being BL bods they'd accepted its reputation. Yes, many bundled decisions with too many internal barriers and fiefdoms

I have mixed memories of my old Maxi. The gearbox was like stirring a bucket of rusty bolts, and the corroding brake pipes. But I have a lot of fun driving it. Top speed I achieved was 113mph. Not bad really for an old runabout.

bloody shame the brit fwd hatchback was over shadowed 10yrs later by the cava. the public missed this gem

Another great video perfectly narrated and spoken! More car videos please! Dad had a maxi in the bright red(I forget the colour name) as a company car from new and he really liked it although he was a Ford man at heart. No problems and really comfortable.😊

i had one of these it was fantastic for carrying a very big load highway driving was fast and easy steering was ok could go anywhere the gearbox was its achilles heels leaked oil at the main bearing requiring 3 clutch replacements it was boxy but its functional use put paid to that in all i liked it a few modifications a tweaks was all it needed

What a rough diamond the Maxi was. Tons of space and practicality, smooth ride on all surfaces, but oh boy, that gearchange was by far the worst I've ever wrestled with. Even a simple journey into town was an immense struggle, ruined the entire experience. And don't get me started on all those Lucas electrical components... grrrrrr.

Hindsight being wonderful:- Austin should have started with the B series engine and power steering from the Wolseley 18/85. The Princess should have had the Ambassador hatch much earlier. The Maxi should then have had the O series engines of the Princess. The Renault 16 was popular. Austin/Morris should have been cherished as the main source of money, but Stokes was biassed.

My Dad used to drive that car and he really liked it. And he said that they were quite good reliable cars that were built to last bit longer.

My grandfather's chain of pharmacies bought Maxis in bulk. Spacious enough for deliveries of oxygen bottles to people, they had the suspension that could deal with it Deeply unexciting. Slow. Very good at what it did though.

A great story very well told of the Maxi. My dad had one when I was a kid, it was huge inside and extremely practical. I actually learned to drive in it. Unfortunately some industries are always chasing launch dates over quality with product launches before the product is ready. They were great cars though with the rod based gearbox even though they were not exactly a looker. I might be wrong but I think they added a revised engine mounting on later cars.

@ 9:56, that’s Red Robbo. I had a letter printed in a newspaper, saying, ‘why don’t they give Red Robbo a ton of dynamite and let him put BL out of its misery’? I hope he’s proud of himself.

Had two of these as a family car in the 80s, step dad got a ton out of it - warp speed. Many runs up the A9 rammed in the boot.

"The Mini's Big Brother"? Surely that claim belonged to the Morris 1100 (ADO16) introduced in 1962.

Almost a great car. Had 2 from 84-91, was a great mile muncher, comfortable, huge load carrying area and an emergency double bed. Would happily have another but not as a daily driver as fuel consumption was horrific by todays standards.

In the over-priced car market of New zealand in the 70s and 80s, a second-hand Maxi was all that my dad could afford to own. It was a tight fit for our family of five kids in fact we never all ended up traveling in it at once but it was fairly reliable, in that it didn't break down every week like most English cars of the era. He owned that car up until it failed going over the overpass in town one day because the engine was so worn out it was just too tired to do it. His next choice was almost as bad, it was a Lada.

My father got one second hand - he knew nothing about cars. It was so worn out the pistons were half the size of the bores and it blew more smoke than a T-34 tank. The bore/piston mismatch did not help the already under powered 1750cc and were were often overtaken by heavily laden trucks whilst turning engine oil into a smokescreen. It was a comfy old dog of a car.

We had one when I was a kid on a K plate (1971 / 1972) when one would have thought that all the problems would have been sorted. The gearbox had been sorted in fairness, now rod operated (early cars had cable operation). The camshaft failures of the very first cars had also been sorted with better lubrication. First impression for me were the poor aerodynamics of the slab front, like a Mini Clubman, which was a shame considering they went to a lot of trouble including an economical overdrive 5th gear for the car (top speed for the 1500 was attained in 4th gear, usual for an overdrive ratio). Plus points were it had good handling & road holding and the Hydrolastic suspension was good. Use of space was very good too. Fuel economy was good provided you kept to about 60 - 65 mph and made good use of the 5th gear. After the engine had been run in we went to Switzerland in it and it started to jump out of 4th gear while driving through France. This wasn't a big surprise for us having had an early Austin 1100. The 1750 engine had a tendency to overheat going up the St. Gotthard Pass but we were careful with it (the needle getting close to the red on the gauge). I now put this down to high friction pistons / rings together with a rather small radiator. I remember telling my Mum to keep in a lower gear to make the fan go faster but this wasn't good advice in hindsight (I was only a teenager). The cold Winters of the 70s soon showed up the rather small battery and (perhaps) the small starter motor (pre-engaged type). After a few years an engine mounting failed, dropping the engine alarmingly on one side; this clearly wasn't a one off since it also happened to our neighbours, who had an identical car, also on a K registration. The engine mounting was redesigned. Our Dutch friends bought an early Maxi 1500 having had great service from their Austin Cambridge Diesel but came to regret being faithful to BMC. They sold the Maxi after a few years and bought a Renault 16 TS, a much better car I'm sad to say. Notwithstanding by the time the Maxi 2 came out it was probably quite a good car as was unfortunately often the way with BL products.

Lovely concept. Spacious and a hatchback. Five speed box which quickly lost its synchromesh.

a good car the Maxi my Dad had 2 of them, In 1978 he bought a 5 year old Maxi 1750 ( WFM 164 L ) he kept till July 1981 then bought a 1977 R-reg Morris Marina didn't like going back to rear wheel drive and a 4 speed gear box bad in the snow the winter of 1982 January were we lived there's a lot of hills near Wrexham just no good to drive in the snow , not liked the old Maxi drove through the snow with no problem. Later in 1982 Oct/Nov the Marina was written off by a drunk driver, my Dad was on his way home from work just finishing a 2 till 10 afternoon shift on the Wrexham Industrial Estate. The drunk driver did a runner but he was picked up by the police and he was sentenced for a few months. My Dad bought his second Maxi, he was over the moon a red 1750 ,1977 ( WMB 12 R ) he had it in late November 1982 and kept it till January 1990 it was the car of the 1980's for my Dad and it was the first car that I drove I loved it. The Maxi ahead of it's time in my opinion.

Seven of us, plus camping gear went to Knebworth in a well-used rusted-out Maxi in the late '70s. After the festival was over, It refused to start, and we abandoned it there. A couple of months later, I got a letter from DVLA to say that someone had attempted to re-register it in their name. I replied to say: 'Good Luck'.

I’m always bemused by my dad when he says his favourite car was his Maxi 1750…. He has had cortina mk1 GT, a cortina mk 2 1600e, then a beautiful 1969 triumph 2500pi mk1, and then, this maxi…. After that he had marina 1800tc then a string of ford ghia’s, escorts/Granada 2.8 etc… he says this maxi was brilliant, he says it was fast, comfortable and it drove beautifully and swoons about it being front wheel drive…. I think he must be remembering it incorrectly but he’s convinced it was mega 🤷‍♂️ I’m just bemused that out of all those cars, some of which were truly beautiful cars and are iconic cars now, he thinks the maxi was the best 🤔

OMG, I had to check. EEL654T is still the same colour and is taxed and insured. Gosh, I’d love to see it.

When you can't get a 4 speed box to work well the obvious thing to do is make a 5 speed.

The more I learn about the development of British Leyland vehicles, the more surprised I am that cars get made at all.

The best car i ever owned but didn't keep, the most practical vehicle ever

ahh my first car. Had just passed my test in the early 90s and didn't have much money. £400 got me a W reg. Brown interior, brown body. When I needed a can of paint to fix a "little" dent I'd put in it, halfruds called it "Rust Brown". Says it all really! I called it "The Tank". At 50 mph you couldn't hold a conversation, at 70 mph you couldn't hear yourself think and it rattled so much your teeth tried to fall out....

Ahh, the land crab. I knew it better as 'the shed' because there was so much room inside - ! 😅

I recall discussing driving in the snow and the gentleman I was talking with insisted the Maxi was the best he ever drove in snowy conditions.

I remember being stunned as a teenager in the 1970s by the strikes and general managerial incompetence at Leyland in the UK as I watched here in Australia. This spilled over into the Leyland P76 which was a wonderful car for what it was- if it had been built with proper build quality. It is called the "P38" by some, as it was only half the car it should have been.

My mate's dad had one. It was very roomy which was ideal since it inevitably died and spent the rest of its life serving as a shed.

This "Maxi" model (ADO14 design code) had a slightly bigger sibling in the ADO17 Austin 1800/Morris 1800/Wolseley 18/85. The 1800 Mk I cars sold to Belgium and the Netherlands were called Balanza. Mk III became visually a bit more attractive and a bigger engine in Austin 2200, Morris 2200 en Wolseley Six. Between original Mini and ADO17, a really interesting variant in this design language was the slightly modified (ADO16) Morris 1300 in Vanden Plas coachwork. In another league of British and money, nothing beats a Rover P5B Couple, though, or AM DB4 GT Zagato.

Ooh very nice nothing says classic like a vintage car awesome video

Good spacious car also excellent caravan tower, spoilt by a diabolical gear change mechanism, friend with one pulled the gear lever right out trying to engage gear at traffic lights.

We had one. It was a great car from a rear passenger's point of view. My friend's dad had an R16 and that was pretty cramped.

I bought a second hand N reg 1750HL Maxi in about 1982 and it was a great car, twin SU's, the gearbox was fine and 30mpg, as well as the seats folding flat, I couldn't ask for much more

The car looked out of kilter because the management at BMC wanted it to use the doors off the 1800, Then despite the Maxi been advanced design it never sold in the numbers it could have.

Outstanding video - as always👍🇬🇧

My father owned a Maxi. It was a superb family car. He had the 1750. Then he was provided with a 1600 Ford Cortina company car. The Cortina was inferior to the Maxi in every way. 4 speed gearbox against the Maxi's five. Smaller engine. Crap boot against a hatchback with fold flat seats. Cart springs against hydragas. The Maxi won hands down yet the Cortina sold more. Fleet buyers were the culprits I believe.

Seems like both BMC and Leyland had very short sighted management. A real pity. We've had companies here in the USA guilty of the same thing. Many brands are gone, as well as many stores.

Rory, your work never fails to impress-- every single doc is superb. If I may ask, how do you get your trademark sound?

I worked at Longbridge in the late 70s, saw most to the various factories, and got to drive many of the BL cars. I remember the Maxi as being boring but quite nice as a very practical family car, with the E series engine certainly better than the B series. It was long stroke which enabled them to squeeze it transversely into the car. Like most front wheel drive BL cars of the time, the gear change was pretty poor, and the styling was very dull. But it did corner pretty flat and handled OK. Of course, it had none of the image of Fords.

Excellent video! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👏🏻 Err… “is that the car that Basil Faulty took to with a tree branch when it kept breaking down?” LOL Kindest regards Nigel WMH Team- Australia

I remember they were a good car in the 70s especially the 1750. My uncle had one and it wasn't slow!

I was apprentice motor mechanic in 1971 working on British Leyland cars and all I can say is there were very poorly made, too heavy and leak oil from new. I could talk all day about the cars coming out of British Leyland and not only them Jaguars especially electrics in the 70s & 80s kept me very busy in work allow me to open my own repair business.

Loved my maxi ,apart from the strange looks its a great car.. I grew to like the looks and love the double bed

Now we have a BMW Mini with the size of the Maxi.

A tragic story so typical of British industry at the time. A shame as I always liked the Maxi and in the mid 70s it was amazingly popular with top class racing drivers, such as the late,great Tony Brise of F1 fame, as their choice of road car.

Nothing wrong with the Maxi ,worked on them from day one,easy to work on and repair 👍

I remember seeing them as cheap 2nd hand cars when I was a kid….yes they looked so old - much older than they actually were. I didn’t know it struggled on til 1981 😮…..sold alongside things like the mk2 cavalier and mk1 Astra, mk3 Escort, and original VW Golf 😮😮😮

We had an Austin 1800. I could never really tell the difference as a young kid

I always wondered if Leyland should have just gone it alone and let BMC deal with the mess they made. We may still have had Triumph and Rover cars in some form.

Way back in the 70's (probably 1974ish) my Dad bought one of these (I think it might have been an H reg)- he part exchanged his Rover 2000 for it! Poor chap - The Austin Maxi was utter crap. My Mum was not happy. The Maxi was with us max 6 weeks - utter unreliable crap. Purchased from Lightowlers Gargge in Bradford - We never went back there. Then he saw sense and bought a Hillman Hunter GT. Ex Police car - quite nippy, the one after was a yellow Hillman Hunter GLS - very fast for it's day.

The Maxi was launched in 1969 with the 1500 engine, had the bad cable gearchange and AUSTIN letters on the bonnet, these early cars new in 1969/70 are very rare today only 21 left in Britain. There. In late 1970 there was a facelift with rod gearchange and the better 1750 engine option. In 1979 the 1500 engine dropped and in 1980 another facelift now the Maxi 2, more plastic and a choice of brighter colours. I have never seen a Maxi police car.

Who can forget the Fawlty Towers sketch featuring Basil trashing the unreliable red Maxi with a branch when it broke down on an errand.

One of the better cars I owned, well suited for NZ's hilly terrain. The main weakness, to me at least, appeared to be the under-engineered drive flanges where the splines tended to chew out the grooves, but that was a relatively simple fix. I disagree that the '75 Maxi was a sluggish performer as most drivers are more interested in reliability than race track performance. The worst car I ever owned and one that drained my patience as well as my wallet? A 1977 Toyota Crown, an absolute pig; comfortable but a monstrously thirsty, under-powered dray and a martyr to over-heating. It was a huge mistake thinking that the name Toyota meant bullet proof reliability. The Maxi was greatly superior.

Great film thank you(:

I had an Austin 1100 when I was eighteen and held a pipe dream of shoehorning a Maxi engine into it. Never happened of course, but could have been a speedy beast - ! 😂

Management's obsession with saving money by using the doors from the 1800 'Land-crab' showed that they hadn't a clue about engineering & design, which lumbered the Maxi with excessive weight along with its corresponding sluggish performance!

It was a hatchback before they were commonplace. It had 5 gears before that too was commonplace. But affected by the malaise of the 70s

Mazda launched the 323 to compete with the Maxi. Lots of optional extras as standard, more reliable lean-burn engine, and offering better fuel consumption on 2 Star petrol.

You make such cool videos!

I had a 1974 1750 its didn't leak oil although the fuel tank had to be relaced as that leaked... but it was a reliable cheap car that flew through 3 MOTs for me, it just looked rough.

Thank you Rory dear. Aunt Barbara adoes you! 😘

There was always the ‘s’ reg specials coming down the line!.

And can we just agree that the Farina Models were actually the best looking cars BL ever built. Sure, underneath it was the usual garbage, but they did look good. The Austin A40 was seriously cute.

Surprisingly watchable content despite a script with all the panache of a borough council auditor's report. No nonsense here :)