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Underdeveloped and poorly marketed, the Austin 3.0-litre was supposedly a prestige flagship that shared its 3.0-litre, straight-six engine with the MGC and its central body tub with the BMC 1800 but featured a stretched nose and tail and rear-wheel drive. Overweight and underpowered, even the manual overdrive version could barely struggle to 100 mph, and buyers didn't perceive it as significantly more prestigious than the cheaper and equally spacious front-drive 'landcrab' 1800. So, in a sense, the estate version - of which only 11 were built - was the only 3.0-litre with any credibility.
Here at least was a useful load-hauler that was certainly one of the biggest in its class. The self-levelling suspension was of some theoretical value too, although it was rather unreliable: you had to remember to load the car with the engine running if you wanted to avoid a sagging rear end. Crayford's conversion, which used a rear door pilfered from BMC's Austin/Morris 1100 Countryman, doubled the price of the car, but was factory-approved. Most of the cars built have now been banger-raced to destruction, but three are said to survive, if you fancy one.
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