When is an Austin 1100 not an Austin 1100? When it’s an Austin Victoria!

When is an Austin 1100 not an Austin 1100?

If you think it looks a lot like a Triumph, then that’s no surprise, as Michelotti himself was responsible for the styling. In fact, the history of this car is a little unusual as it was built by Authi in Spain, but was based on a South African variant of the 1100. The Victoria was launched in 1972, when UK production was starting to run down. The most interesting aspect of the re-design is the addition of a boot to make the 1100 a proper saloon.

The Victoria sadly wasn’t a success, which is a shame as it’s rather an attractive little thing, with all the hoon-ability of the original but a larger dose of practicality. In fact, it was rather more attractive than the South African Apache, which had a rather unhappy snout.

From the rear, the design is even more clearly the work of Michelotti, being almost a scaled down version of the Triumph 2000 Mk2. Triumph can’t have been impressed and perhaps that’s why we weren’t treated to the Victoria in the UK.

Clearly Michelotti's work - very Triumph-like!