BMC Farina Cars In Detail

In the late 1950s, BMC commissioned Italian styling house Pinin Farina to unify the look of its expanding car range. The result was a family of neatly styled saloons that would define British roads for more than a decade. Sold under six different marques – Austin, Morris, MG, Riley, Wolseley and Vanden Plas – the BMC Farina models shared styling cues and many mechanical components, but were carefully differentiated for different markets.

 From the compact Austin A40 Farina to the roomy Vanden Plas Princess, these were cars for every occasion – fleet, family, and formal. Today, they are appreciated both for their understated elegance and their significance in postwar British motoring.

 Surprisingly, despite their popularity and visibility at the time, these cars have never been fully documented in a single volume – until now. In this richly illustrated book, renowned historian Anders Ditlev Clausager tells the full story of the Farina cars, from design and development to production and marketing. Drawing on factory records and period sources, he provides the first comprehensive account of these once-ubiquitous vehicles, including all models, variants and evolutions across the full production run.

 BMC Farina Cars in Detail is the essential reference for owners, restorers, and enthusiasts of these distinctive and once-familiar British classics.

Key features:

– Covers all Farina-styled BMC models from 1958 to 1974

– Includes Austin, Morris, MG, Riley, Wolseley and Vanden Plas variants

– Detailed development history, production changes and specifications

– Over 360 images

– First in-depth book ever published on the full Farina range

– A landmark work by one of Britain’s leading motoring historians

Anders Ditlev Clausager (1949–2025) was born in Denmark and came to England to study at the Royal College of Art, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Automotive Design in 1976. He went on to work as a designer for Volkswagen – where he contributed to the second-generation Polo – and later for Austin-Morris. In 1979, he was appointed archivist to BL Heritage, which became the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. In 2000 he joined the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust as chief archivist, remaining there until his retirement in 2014.

A respected and generous figure in the world of motoring history, Anders was a founder member of the Classic Vehicle Clubs’ Committee (later the FBHVC), Secretary of the SAH in Britain from 2009, and co-organiser of the Pan-European Conference for Automotive History. He was also a trustee of the Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust and a member of the Historic Advisory Council at the National Motor Museum.

This Farina volume, completed during his final months and published posthumously, stands as his last major work.