Greg Nagy writes:
> As for the Agricultural background . . .
> I don't remember if it was the A90 or the BMC C-type engine, but one of
>the 2 engines were designed for use in London Buses. The A90 could also be
>found in Austin Taxis.
Actually, the engine for the A90, a 2.6L 4 cylinder motor, traces its
design origins to a British Jeep built during WW II. When Donald Healey
came along, Austin had a considerable excess of the units. Mr. Healey
incorporated the engine unchanged into the Healey 100. When BMC was formed
about this time, it found itself with many overlaping models and components.
The 2.6L 6 cylinder C-type engine was designed to replace various engines
from different marques with one common motor. As a result, the A-H 100
became the A-H 100/6.
As a side note, the Healey Motor Car company had been using a 2.4L DOHC,
4 cylinder engine from Riley. They went with the Austin engine because
they were afraid the engine might be phased out of production. After
Riley became part of BMC, they continued to produce the engine, even beyond
the introduction of the C-type engine(I think). It's fun to wonder what
the Healey 100 would have been like with the Riley engine.
--
_____________ _____________ Robb Pryor,
\____________\_____________/____________/ Pyramid Technology,
\__________ __________/ Mountain View, CA 94039
\________ AUSTIN-HEALEY ________/ VOICE:(415) 965-7200
\___________________________/ USENET:robbp@pyramid.com
|