As you can tell from one of my pages I like the Austin 1800. Back when I owned one I was trawling through the engineering library at Sydney University and came across the journal Automobile Engineer from the 50’s and 60’s. I have the article from Automobile Engineer on Hydrolastic Springing here. But the great find was a three part analysis of the Austin 1800 (ADO17). It started in December 1964 and was concluded in February 1965. It is a fantastic read for anyone into the Austin 1800, or a taste for fine engineering.
Enjoy.
Hydrolastic Suspension
In 1962 after years of development the world was introduced to Hydrolastic suspension on the BMC 1100. A fascinating sealed hydraulic and rubber suspension system that imparted ride and handling better than standard contemporary systems. Ultimately it was fitted to the following BMC cars: 1100, Mini, 1800, Maxi, 1500 Nomad (Australia only), X6 (Australia only), Maxi and finally on the 3 Litre (with a complex self levelling system). Hydrolastic was developed by Alex Moulton with co-operation from Sir Alec Issigonis. Interestingly it actually reappeared (in miniature form) on Alex Moulton’s NS bicycle in the late 1990’s.
It was superseded by Hydragas which replaced the rubber spring with a nitrogen bladder, a la Citroën. No Hydragas cars were marketed in Australia.
As a former Austin 1800 owner Hydrolastic minimised pitching and roll compared to any Holden or Ford of the day. Coupled with front wheel drive the Austin 1800 handled very well with Hydrolastic. In fact a tuned 1800S would comfortably out perform an MGB thanks to Hydrolastic.
I have attached an Automobile Engineer article on Hydrolastic Suspension from September 1962. I photocopied it in 1995 at Sydney University, so sorry for any poor copier quality. It is a very interesting read. If you are the copyright holder and wish me to remove the article let me know. It is a must read for any fan of Issigonis designed BMC cars.
Enjoy