Riley 1300 Kestrel

About the Riley 1300 Kestrel

The BMC ADO16 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 16) is a family of economical small family cars built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and, later, British Leyland. It was launched in 1962 and for most of the next decade the ADO16 was consistently the UK's best-selling car.

Models included:

Austin 1100 and 1300
Austin America, Glider and Victoria
Innocenti IM3
MG 1100 and 1300
Morris 1100 and 1300
Riley Kestrel and Riley 1300
Vanden Plas Princess 1100 / 1275 / 1300
Wolseley 1100, 1275, 1300, 11/55 & Wesp
Although most of the cars were manufactured in England, they were also built in Spain by Authi, in Italy by Innocenti and at the company's own plant in Belgium. It was the basis for locally adapted similar cars manufactured in Australia and South Africa. Various versions including Austin, Morris, MG, Wolseley and Riley were assembled in New Zealand and Malta from CKD kits from 1963 until the final Austin/Morris versions were replaced by the Allegro in 1975.

The vehicle was launched as the Morris 1100 on 15 August 1962. The range was expanded to include several rebadged versions, including the twin-carburettor MG 1100, the Vanden Plas Princess (from October 1962), the Austin 1100 (August 1963), and finally the Wolseley 1100 (1965) and Riley Kestrel (1965). The Morris badged 1100/1300 gave up its showroom space to the Morris Marina in 1971, but Austin and Vanden Plas versions remained in production in the UK until June 1974.