"It was the best of times - it was the worst of times". Charles Dickens

The decade of the 60s saw BMC / Austin rise to the height of its power and fame - and then crash into the black abyss that was British Leyland.

But nothing could have foretold this as the sixties dawned. With the Mini gaining increasing acceptance, and Leonard Lord still firmly in control, Austin looked forward to a decade of unparalleled expansion.

The Mini was followed in 1962 by the 1100, which quickly became Britain's best selling car. The genius of Alec Issigonis, coupled with the trenchant realism of Leonard Lord and the engineering pragmatism of George Hariman created a force without equal in the automotive world.

The expansion in models was matched by an expansion in production capacity - worldwide. If the Sun was beginning to set on the British Empire it was, so far as BMC were concerned, barely rising on the Flying A.

In response to protectionist legislation in colonies and former colonies, plants were built in Australia, South Africa and Rhodesia. All over the world, Austin's reputation for quality was enhanced by a new acknowledgment of its technical superiority.

And rally success fed this sales boom. The all conquering Mini completed a hat trick on the Monte Carlo, and the ink flowed freely reporting BMC's other rally successes.

Production rose from 431,297 in 1959 to 727,592 to 1965, whilst profits doubled from £8.7 million in 1959 to £16.3 million in 1965.

Yet, even at its height, the cracks were beginning to show. 1965 was not a good year for BMC. The new Issigonis designed 1800 saloon, designed to do for the family car market what the Mini had done for the small car market, was not well accepted. Undaunted, BMC kept producing the Cambridge alongside the 1800 and started a frantic design program to produce a new mid sized front drive car that would need a completely new engine (The width of the B Series having to a large degree having dictated the width of the 1800). This car (having suffered a Leyland "Redesign", was launched in 1969 as the Maxi).

A far more serious financial blow, however, occurred in November of that year. On November 11th., 1965, Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia, declared his country independent. The UK government immediately imposed punitive sanctions on its former colony, including a complete trade ban and freezing of all Rhodesian assets. BMC had effectively lost (without compensation) its Central African assembly plant, and with it the growing Central and East African markets.

In 1966 Leonard Lord (now honored as Lord Lambury) finally retired from active participation in BMC, dying the following year. Never has a man been more deeply or genuinely mourned by his workforce.

He was succeeded by George Harriman, upon whose shoulders has been heaped much of the blame for the downfall of BMC. If he was to blame, it was because he was too much of a gentleman. He was forced from office after the Leyland takeover in 1968, dying in 1973 of what some commentators have said was a broken heart at what had become of his beloved company.

Yet it was Sir George Hariman who, in 1967, was persuaded to take over the ailing Jaguar company. At the time the government promised financial help should BMC need it.

A year later they did - and the government's response was to engineer the takeover, cynically and thinly disguised as a merger, the following year.

The British Motor Corporation was officially wound up on 31st. may, 1968.

When Leyland quickly ran into trouble, they were quick to lay the blame on the former BMC, starting a campaign of misinformation that persists to this day.

Lie No 1. That BMC was losing money at the time of the takeover. In fact, BMC recorded their best ever profit in 1968 - £20.3 million

Lie No 2. That the BMC had no new models in the pipeline at the time of the takeover. In fact, an ambitious model program was in place, including a Mini replacement (X9), an 1100/1300 replacement styled by Pininfarina (which design he later sold to Citroen, where it became the highly successful GS), a new small offroader (The Austin Ant) and an A60 replacement (The Maxi).

Lie No. 3. That "Badge Engineering" killed BMC In fact, Badge Engineering was a great success, enabling BMC to sell what was effectively the same basic car into several diverse markets. In fact, GM in America have just rediscovered it - only now its called "Branding!"