Poor old BMC. While it may have once been the dominant force in British vehicle manufacturing, one thing the British Motor Corporation seemed utterly unable to do was become the dominant manufacturer to the British forces. Despite several efforts, the combined strengths of Austin, Morris, Wolseley et al were unable to topple Land Rover from the 4x4 affections of the military. The little-known Austin Ant was just one more failed stab at the prize.
Prior to the Ant, William Morris’ Nuffield Organisation had come up with the Nuffield Gutty and Wolseley Mudlark during the 1940s, which in turn led to the Austin Champ during the early-1950s. But the latter was found to be too expensive and complicated compared with the Land Rover.
After a few years to lick its wounds, Austin had another go, this time with the Gipsy of 1958. Despite being blatantly influenced in appearance by the Land Rover, albeit with a steel body and all-independent suspension, the military still refused to bed-hop from Rover to Austin. So BMC changed tack. One thing the hefty Land Rover couldn’t do was be dropped by parachute from helicopters; the Royal Navy had taken to using flimsy Citroën 2CV pick-ups built in Slough. To try to capture this market, Alec Issigonis came up with a variation on his Mini theme, in the form of the Moke. The Navy did show interest, but only as something basic to drive around the decks of its aircraft carriers.
What was needed was something as light as a Moke, but with better ground clearance and four-wheel drive. Issigonis and his design team went back to the drawing board in 1964 to work on project ADO19, which would eventually surface as the Austin Ant. One thing that was clear from the outset was that the vehicle had to use large chunks of Mini and BMC 1100 in its make-up if it was to stand any chance. But that resulted in a complicated challenge – how to get 4WD from a transversely-mounted A-series engine. The solution was to tilt the engine back 30 degrees. This allowed a bigger gearbox with a high/low ratio transfer box to be fitted, that also saved on space and gave better ground clearance.
Under normal circumstances, only the front wheels were driven, but if required for tricky conditions, power could be applied to the rear wheels as well. Torsion bars were used for the rugged suspension, with disc brakes on the leading wheels. With an eye on the export market, the steering column was angled so that it connected with the centre of the steering rack. This facilitated easy manufacture of both right-hand and left-hand drive versions. Another distinctive feature was a passenger seat that could be folded completely flat, so a stretcher could be carried.
The bodywork was extremely basic, although it at least offered more protection – from both the weather and bullets – than the preceding Moke. Proper doors and (depending on spec) a roof were fitted, even though those travelling in the back had to make do with canvas sides. A glassfibre hard-top was intended as an option.
Frontal styling was very similar to the Moke, with a very simplistic trapezoid grille stamped out of a flat metal panel, bordered by circular headlamps. And noting how the Moke had taken off as a fun lifestyle vehicle, a more upmarket civilian version was also envisaged. Without the need to be dropped into war zones, the Civvy Street variant could afford a little more luxury, including chrome bumpers, timber trim and a rear bench seat.
Six experimental Ants were built, followed by 24 prototypes dispatched around the world for testing. Everything was looking good for the new baby Austin and tooling up for production got under way at Nuffield Metal Products’ plant in Birmingham. And then came the merger between BMC and Leyland Motors, to create the mighty British Leyland. Suddenly, Land Rover was a part of the organisation that had so wanted to beat it. And guess what? It turned out that Land Rover had also been thinking along similar lines to Austin and had its air-portable half-ton Lightweight model almost ready to go. BL found itself with two very similar developments in the pipeline and a choice had to be made; the new and nifty kid on the block or the tried-and-tested favourite stalwart?
Once again, Land Rover emerged triumphant. The first production Lightweight Landie was completed in November 1968, with manufacture continuing until 1984, used by the armed forces of more than 20 countries. As for the Ant, it was unceremoniously stepped on. A mere 12 survive across the world, with only three left in the UK.