Managing director,  Herbert Austin, says  the cars and the Wolseley name came from Austin's exploratory venture for The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited.

          Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers armaments combine in conjunction with Herbert Austin.                                  It initially made a full range topped by large luxury cars and dominated the market in the Edwardian era.

 

Headquarters: Wolseley Motors Limited, Birmingham, England, UK, 1901-1927

 

Headquarters: Morris Motors, Longbridge England, UK, 1927-1952

 

Parent: BMC, Longbridge, United Kingdom, 1952–1968

 

Parent: British Leyland, Cowley, Oxfordshire, United, 1968–1975

six  1964-1975

BMC ADO17 is the model code that was used by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) for a range of large family cars produced from September 1964 to 1975. The car was initially sold under the Austin marque as the Austin 1800, then by Morris as the Morris 1800, by Wolseley as the Wolseley 18/85, and later the Austin 2200, Morris 2200 and Wolseley Six. The 1800 was voted European Car of the Year for 1965. It's shape gave the car the nickname Landcrab.

The car was unconventional in its appearance in 1964, with its large glasshouse and spacious, minimalist interior including leather, wood, and chrome features plus an unusual instrument display with ribbon speedometer and green indicator light on the end of the indicator stalk. Both Alec Issigonis and Pininfarina worked on its exterior. The technology "under the skin" was also unconventional and ahead of its time, including Hydrolastic suspension.

Some 386,000 examples of all variants were produced in just over a decade, with the Austin-badged versions being the most common; some 221,000 units were produced. There were 95,271 Morris 1800 and 35,597 Wolseley 18/85 produced in the UK. Relatively few have survived outside the hands of enthusiasts owing to its original unfashionable image, and more recently, its popularity in the demolition derby and banger racing scenes, owing to the bodyshell's exceptional strength and rigidity.

In early 1975, all three models were replaced by the wedge-shaped ADO71, or 18–22 series, which bore the Austin and Morris (1800 and 2200) names, while the Wolseley variant had no official model name save for being marketed as "the Wolseley saloon". From late 1975, all ADO71 models were marketed under the Princess name and the Wolseley marque was discontinued.

Wolseley Six (youtube.com)

1901-1975