It was called badge engineering.
It's still called that and still happens today.
There are a good handful of specialist classic car insurance firms that know what they are doing. These shouldn't be confused by a Minor commercial having an Austin ID.
However for younger drivers, the MMOC club insurance scheme is EXTREMELY competitively priced (thanks to hard work by the club).
For the Minor commercial - Austin dealerships wanted to sell them due to lack of anything else nearly as good, but their dealer rules said they weren't allowed to sell vehicles with non-Austin ID's.
This hasn't really changed all around the world up to the present day. Very few new-car dealers are allowed to sell multi-marque. European law has allowed some changes since ~2009 but the impact on new car dealerships has been minimal so far. There's been more impact on breaking the tie-in for main dealer servicing and vehicle warranty - now it has to be an 'approved-dealer' service not just main dealer.
Ray. MMOC#47368. Forum moderator. Coventry & Warwickshire Branch chairman.
Jan 06: The Minor SII Africa adventure:
http://www.minor-detour.com
Oct 06: back from Dresden with my Trabant 601 Kombi
Jan 07: back from a month thruNorth Africa (via Timbuktu) in a Series 3 Landy
June 07 - back from the Zwickau Trabi Treffen
Aug 07 & Aug 08 - back from the Lands End to Orkney run in my 71 pickup
where to break down next?
Morris Minor Owners Club
