Morris Nomad

File:Morris Nomad (front).jpg

Front view of the Morris Nomad, an Australian derivative of the BMC ADO16 design.

File:Morris Nomad (rear).jpg

Rear view of the Morris Nomad

The Morris Nomad is a car which was produced in Australia by British Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia from 1969 to 1972. It is a hatchback version of the Morris 1500 sedan, itself a locally produced BMC ADO16 design with a larger 1500 cc engine.

The Nomad was a small - medium-sized car, sitting above the Morris Mini in size and price. The hatchback styling resembles that of the Austin Maxi, which was never sold in Australia by Leyland Australia.

It was a front wheel drive car, with an all independent suspension linked by fluid filled chambers, which was called Hydrolastic suspension by the company. The suspension gave a comfortable ride, only suffering a little from "droop" if overloaded in the boot, and sometimes going into oversteer if the body rolled too much with hard cornering.

Power came from an BMC E-Series engine with a SOHC head, which provided improved performance and economy compared with the original Morris 1100 model. Four and five speed manual gearboxes were available. Automatic versions of the 1500 sedan and Nomad were fitted with the 1275cc BMC A-Series engine and Automotive Products 4 speed automatic transmission also used in the MiniMatic models and marketed as a Morris 1300 Automatic.

The body was largely identical, except with new pressings for the front and rear panels to fit with the British Leyland "corporate look", and to finally get rid of the tailfins of the original model.

The Austin Nomad and Austin 1500 names were used in some export markets, where the cars were marketed by Austin.

The Morris 1300/1500/Nomad models were replaced in the Australian market in 1972 by the Morris Marina.

References

• Adams, Keith (2005). ADO16 in Australia. The UNOFFICIAL Austin-Rover Web Resource. Retrieved 17 December 2005.