History
The Morris 850 was the first model of Mini to be built and sold in Australia. Although it was strongly based on the UK home market vehicles, the model was unique to the Australian market.
Design & development
The story of the Mini in Australia begins in 1960, following the August 1959 launch in the UK.
Three or four cars were imported from the UK for testing and evaluation. The findings of the evaluation saw a number of changes and improvements made for Australian assembly.
As Craig Watson summarises in The Mini Experience Reloaded, the changes allowed for better adaption for Australian conditions while also reducing production costs. A notable change was the introduction of a sixteen-blade metal radiator fan to assist with cooling.
Australian prototypes were completed by June 1960 (Davis 1990, p. 7).
Production & specification
Production began in January 1961, with cars assembled from UK-sourced Complete Knock Down (CKD) packs at BMC Australia’s Victoria Park plant in Sydney (Watson 2006). The CKD packs consisted of parts for 12 vehicles, and at initial production one pack was assembled per day (Cripps et al. 2021, p. 21).
Interior trim was locally sourced, including seats, headlining vinyl, and floor mats. Other locally sourced items included the glass, tyres and battery (Cripps et al. 2021, p. 21).
Although the ‘Morris 850’ name was not exclusive to Australia, being used in overseas markets including the USA, the car itself was unique. In terms of specification, the car lies between the UK basic and De Luxe models.
The 850 came standard with the more premium hinged rear side windows, door kick plates, inside door handles (opposed to pull cords), windscreen washers, and various extra bright work. It however lacked items such as carpet, a factory-fitted heater/demister, and lights in the rear side bins.
There were many production changes made as the years progressed, with cars from 1965 featuring many variations to those made in early 1961.
Launch
The release of the Australian Morris 850 was officially announced on March 23, 1961, with full page ‘birth’ notices placed in major newspapers around the country. The car was launched and available for sale from the following day, Friday 24 March 1961.
Three main events contributed to the launch of the Morris 850: a large road test, a press preview, and finally the official launch day.
The launch was overseen by Ian Milbank, Advertising and Sales Promotion Manager at BMC Australia (Cripps et al. 2021, p. 39).
Penny-a-Mile Run
Five weeks before the official launch a single Morris 850 left Sydney for a cross Australia trip. The car, taken off the production line in February, was specially tuned for economy for a high efficiency trip across the country.
Four men and their luggage travelled in the car across Australia and back again within thirteen days, returning in time for the main press preview event (in fact finishing the trip at the event itself).
The total trip was said to have been 6,492 miles at a cost of 6,489 pence, thus costing less than a penny a mile.
Press Preview
The Australian press preview was hosted at Warwick Farm Raceway in New South Wales, west of Sydney. The event was held on Thursday 2 March, three weeks before the official public launch day.
The preview saw about 80 journalists freely test the car at the racetrack.
BMC also demonstrated the passenger and luggage space with a publicity stunt packing five adults, a baby, two dogs and considerable luggage into the car. There are no known photos of the loaded car, but it would have been very crowded!
The penny-a-mile run finished at the preview, allowing the journalists to assess the car firsthand after travelling more than 6,000 miles across the country.
Praise for the car from the media was significant, with many glowing reviews and road tests published.
- Modern Motor labelled the 850 ‘car of the year’ and stated, “if the 850 doesn’t shatter Australian motorists’ prejudice against small cars, nothing ever will!”.
- Ian Fraser in Wheels wrote “this looks like (the) most exciting car for 1961”.
Launch Day
The launch of the Morris 850 was officially announced on Friday 24 March 1961 through a large series of advertisements in main newspapers across Australia. The announcements were also preceded by a series of “surprise advertisements” the day prior announcing the ‘birth’ of the 850 on Thursday 23 March.
The birth notices were published as full-page advertisements with a small text block in the centre of the page:
BIRTHS
MORRIS (nee Mini-Minor):
Early this morning at the
British Motor Corporation’s
Sydney Plant, after ten
years’ development a sturdy
youngster.
(Name: Morris 850.)
- All wonderful.
Visitors welcome from tomorrow.
It's sheer magic
In preparation for the launch day dealerships were provided with a spiral bound release book. The book, emblazoned with “It’s sheer magic”, urged dealers to take their part in advertising the exciting Morris 850 and detailed the various tools available to market the 850 (or ‘box of tricks’ to keep with the magic theme). The encouragement evidently worked with more than a dozen dealerships advertising in the The Age in Melbourne on launch day alone.
Sales
Sales were quick from the start (unlike in the UK), with a wide array of supporting advertising. The waiting list was soon up to three months and necessitated an increase in production (Watson 2006).
By the end of 1961 there were 5,426 examples sold and registered on the road (BMC-Leyland Heritage Group 2012, p. 135), while 7,087 had been made (Dealers Guide Pty. Ltd., circa 1965).
Sales continued to increase with more than 20,000 sold by the end of 1962, more than 40,000 by the end of 1963, and approaching 60,000 by the end of 1964 (MCCNSW 1999).
Sale numbers dropped dramatically following the introduction of the new Mini De Luxe in March 1965, with 850 production ceasing later that year and the Morris Mini Minor taking its place. A total of 60,188 cars were made, with the last being delivered in 1966.
References
See References for details of resources used to compile this page.
Last updated 21 March 2026