Wednesday 11th October 1961

The 102 mph Austin A110 Westminster was launched, costing £1271.The new A110 retained the same basic unit-construction chassis/monocoque as the original A99, but there was a 2-inch longer wheelbase (arranged by moving the back axle rearwards on its springs) which allowed modified wheelarches to be designed and more space to be provided in the back seats. Also at the rear was a newly-installed transverse shock absorber, between the axle casing and the bodyshell, to contain incipient axle sway due to all the rubber in the rear suspension linkage. After the first few months, power-assisted steering became optional. The engine was significantly more powerful, with 120bhp, this being achieved by ‘raiding’ the experience gained with Austin-Healey 3000s and involving cylinder head changes, a different camshaft profile and a twin-bore exhaust system. For this model, too, the gear-change lever was back on the floor – the steering-column change fashion now being well-and-truly gone. The only way to identify the A110 from the A99 was by the new horizontally-slatted grille and the wood-grain finish to the facia. At the same time as the A99was transformed into the A110, the Wolseley 6/99 became the 6/110.