page_title: Economy car
section_title: 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: Economy car / History / 1960s
caption_attribution_description: English: 1960 Plymouth Valiant automobile Français&#160;: Automobile Plymouth Valiant 1960
context_page_description: Economy car is a term mostly used in the United States for cars designed for low-cost purchase and operation. Typical economy cars are small, lightweight, and inexpensive to buy. Economy car designers are forced by stringent design constraints to be inventive. Many innovations in automobile design were originally developed for economy cars, such as the Ford Model T and the Austin Mini. The alternative approach, other than innovating to build a low-cost car, is to build a stripped-down, no-frills version of a conventional car.
  Gordon Murray, the Formula 1 and McLaren F1 designer, said when designing his new Murray T.25 city car: "I would say that building a car to sell for six thousand pounds and designing that for a high-volume production, where you have all the quality issues under control, is a hundred times more difficult than designing a McLaren F1, or even a racing car. It is certainly the biggest challenge I've ever had from a design point of view."
context_section_description: The world's first hatchback, the 1958 FR layout Austin A40 Farina Countryman model that was a co-development of BMC and the Italian design house Pininfarina at a time when this was unusual. It had a lift up rear window and drop down boot lid. It was also sold as a two-door saloon. It was built in Italy by Innocenti as well as in the UK. For 1965 Innocenti designed a new single-piece rear door for their Combinata version of the Countryman. This top-hinged door used struts to hold it up over a wide cargo opening and was a true hatchback – a model never developed in the home (United Kingdom) market. The Countryman name has 'estate' type associations, and BMC successor company Rover used the name on estate cars / Station Wagons so it is largely forgotten.
  The next major advance in small car design was the 1959 848 cc FF layout Austin Mini from the British Motor Corporation, designed by Alec Issigonis as a response to the first oil crisis, the 1956 Suez Crisis, and the boom in bubble cars and Microcars that followed. It was the first front-wheel-drive car with a water-cooled in-line four-cylinder engine mounted transversely - the BMC A-Series engine. This allowed eighty percent of the floor plan for the use of passengers and luggage. The majority of modern cars use this configuration. Its progressive rate rubber sprung independent suspension (Hydrolastic 1964–1971), low centre of gravity, and wheel at each corner with radial tyres, increased the car's grip and handling over all but the most expensive automobiles on the market. The Mini was voted the second most important car of the 20th century after the Ford Model T. Badge engineered luxury versions with modified bodywork and wood and leather interiors were made under the names of Riley Elf and Wolesely Hornet. Customised versions were made by coach-builders like Harold Radford, and were very popular with the rich and famous of 1960s London. From 1964 a Jeep like version (that had been rejected by British Armed Forces), of the Mini, the Mini Moke was popular with the King's Road / Carnaby Street, Swinging London set. An Estate car / station-wagon (with a non-structural wood frame 'Countryman' version), a Van and Pick-up versions were also successful. In 1962, a slightly larger 1098cc (and later 1256cc) version of the Mini engineering design was launched, as the Austin/Morris 1100. It had front disc brakes as standard. It had Italian styling by Pininfarina and used front-to-rear interconnected independent Hydrolastic suspension. It was available in sporting MG versions, and luxury wood and leather interior Riley, Wolesely and Vanden Plas versions. It was for most of the 1960s, the top selling car in Britain, and was sold until the mid-1970s. It was sold as the Austin America in the U.S., Canada, and Switzerland between 1968 and 1972. It was also sold in South Africa - Austin Apache and Spain - Austin Victoria, with Triumph type Michelotti re-styling, built in local factories.
  BMC had hedged their bets after the launch of the front wheel drive Mini and 1100 and to meet the demands of more conservative customers, by keeping their rear wheel drive Austin A40 Farina in production until 1967 and Morris Minor until 1971, while front wheel drive was being accepted by the UK and European markets. Demand from older customers in particular kept the Minor in production, despite it being very outdated.
  Ford in the UK in 1959 launched the Anglia 105E. It had a new overhead valve engine and a four speed gearbox, which was a great improvement over the previous model Anglia 100E that had a side-valve engine and only three speeds. It was rear wheel drive using a rear beam axle and leaf springs, with front Macpherson struts used like its predecessor. It used lots of miniaturised late 1950s American-influenced styling that was very fashionable, including a sweeping nose line, and on deluxe versions, a full-width slanted chrome grille in between prominent "eye" headlamps. The car also sported a backward-slanted rear window and tailfins. This dated the car over its nine-year production life. The 
caption: 1960 Plymouth Valiant Sedan
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