Cuss a Blue Streak
Reading the December issue of C&SC brought back memories of our family’s experiences with the Farina BMC cars here in Australia. In the mid-’60s, my mum upgraded her Morris Minor to a secondhand Austin A55 – how chuffed we were with its fins and black-on-yellow paint, matching our football team! It was so roomy after the Minor – although, alas, we could no longer sneak into the drive-in hidden in the boot, re-entering through the Minor’s fold-down rear seat.
Sadly, on a run to visit relatives in South Australia, the Austin suffered major engine failure. Somehow, we exchanged it for a Wolseley ‘six’ – I assume a 24/80 – in dark grey with a timber dash: luxury! It did an admirable job, but the reliability of the ‘Blue Streak’ straight-six wasn’t its best point, and it regularly blew core plugs. The decision to part with it came when a rear plug failed – because the Blue Streak had been shoehorned into a bay designed for a ‘four’, to repair it you had to remove the engine and ’box. So, after a liberal application of some epoxy resin, the car was traded in as a ‘runner’ against a new Valiant.
The family smiled every time we passed the yard, seeing it on the lot and dreading a call about its ‘repair’. Our life with Farinas then took a hiatus until the mid-’70s, when my brother bought an Austin Freeway as his first car: cheap, a wagon (great for the girls and surfing) and a ‘six’. The tailgate was spilt, and you could drive with the rear window raised and boards sticking out – so cool! My brother loved it, taking it to school every day, just so he could sit in it at lunchtimes and smoke, until its engine also failed. Too costly to repair, the Austin suffered the ignominy of being ‘quartered’ with an oxy torch – straight through a water-filled fuel tank – to be carted to the scrapyard.
So ended my BMC experience, never to be revisited. Instead, I got a Honda S600 – but that is a story waiting for the day you compare the two Japanese MGB rivals of the ’60s, the S600/S800 and the Datsun Fairlady. Mighty cars indeed.
Stephen Bitmead
Uleybury, South Australia