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Few Wolseley automobiles ever
made it to America. A neighbor has a 1930s Hornet
that he found locally and restored, but I have
never seen a postwar model in the U. S. My introduction
to Wolseley was in the U. K. in the late 1960s.
I thought to myself, "An Austin with a funny
name." Now, after learning that the original
1896 Wolseley was produced by Herbert Austin prior
to the first Austin in 1906, I see that there
is a connection. As for the name, maybe "Wooly"
would have been more appropriate since the company
Austin owned was the Wolseley Sheep Sheering Machine
Company.
In 1927 Sir William Morris (known as Lord Nuffield)
took over Wolseley and over the years Wolseley,
Morris and MG were combined in design and parts.
Later Riley and Austin were added and it all became
the British Motor Company (BMC) before its' demise.
The last Wolseley was built in 1975.
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After years of acquiring Wolseley literature
my curiosity got the better of me when a literature
collector, who had spent many years in England
in the 1950s through 1960s, sold us his literature
collection. Included were many Austin, Morris
and Wolseley brochures, along with makes, mostly
trucks, that I was unfamiliar with. Sorting through
the "three sisters" provided an opportunity
to closely notice similarities in the designs,
specifications and even in brochure format. First,
we are featuring Wolseley, but there is much more
Austin and Morris to come in the future. You may
have noticed some of the more interesting truck
literature and there is also more of that to inventory.
Our cataloging is as interesting as your collecting.
Wolseley has not been forgotten by collectors
and, although MG, Austin and Morris are more popular
due to their higher production numbers, a lot
of memories remain with the Wolseley.
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