776vde wrote:
The badge is a UK produced export badge - probably made by J Fray and available in Austin and Morris versions - also available in 1275GT and Clubman Estate form.
Although BL wanted to sell the Mini as a Mini they were still identified in the production records as Austin or Morris depending on which dealer they went to and BL were registering their own vehicles as Austin or Morris as well.
In Australia BMC decided in about 1961 to ditch the idea of separate Austin and Morris dealers and combining them into BMC dealers. This is why they produced the Mini as the Morris 850 instead of having Austin and Morris versions. At the same time they dropped the Austin Lancer and kept the Morris Major.
All was well within BMC Australia with the big Austins and smaller Morris range but when Leyland came along things had to change. They dropped the "BMC Dealers" name and replaced it with "Austin Morris Dealers" and when the Clubman came along you got your "Mini Clubman" from the "Austin Morris" dealer (not the Leyland dealer because he sold Trucks and Tractors) When the P76 came along the Leyland management changed things again and all the Australian produced cars became Leylands. So the Mini Clubman became the Leyland Mini, The Morris Marina became the Leyland Marina, The Austin Tasman and Austin Kimberly were dropped for the new Leyland P76.
Some people claim that the "Mini Clubman" was a "Leyland Mini Clubman" because of the little Leyland badge on the door pillar but that means that the Jaguars, Rovers and Triumphs were Leyland Jaguar, Leyland Rover and Leyland Triumphs because they also carried the Leyland badge on the pillars, which is all just silly.
