Of all the cars that appeared at The Telegraph’s display at the Silverstone Festival last year, the Brazil metallic Wolseley 18-22 attracted a great deal of attention. It is also to be a star of this year’s stand, which is sponsored by MotorEasy.
The sight of one of six surviving examples of this Wolseley pottering around this famous circuit will doubtless enthuse the spectators.
Andrew McAdam’s 1975 ‘Wedge’ is not only one of the last cars to wear the Wolseley badge but a testament to its designer, Harris Mann, who died on the 14th of August aged eighty-five. During the 1970s, he was British Leyland’s Chief Designer, working on the Austin Allegro, which suffered from BL’s management compromising his work, and the Triumph TR7.
As for the 18-22 Wedge family, Leyland tasked Mann with creating a successor to the 1800/2200 ‘Landcrab’ range. Project ADO71 debuted in March 1975 as “The biggest news since the Mini.” The cheaper versions wore separate Austin and Morris badges to satisfy the Corporation’s unwieldy dealership network, with the Wolseley name reserved for the 2.2-litre six-cylinder flagship.
Motor Sport described the Wolseley as “a car the British motor industry should be proud of.” Charles Griffin, BL’s director of engineering, told Autocar, “We think, with the shape of the ADO71, that we’ve lifted it out of the arguments about whether or not it’s stylish or going to be passé in five minutes.”
The 18-22 certainly looked different from the trans-Atlantic appearance of the Vauxhall Victor FE and the solidly conventional Ford Consul/Granada. Mann described his philosophy as “to be international in appeal, but to retain our own identity. The car is not a crib of anyone else’s, but I am glad to see we appear to be moving forward on lines other successful makers are travelling.”
Consequently, the Wolseley did make its in-house rivals, the Triumph 2500 and Rover 2200, look faintly dated, for both harked back to 1963. The Telegraph praised the Wedge’s “dramatically good looking shape that any up-and-coming young executive would be proud to have in the driveway.”
Plus, the Wolseley featured a dashboard finished in the finest “Canaletto wood grain,” befitting a car with a £2,838 price tag.
This newspaper additionally referred to the Wolseley as “suitable as a business car, with or without chauffeur,” and “Britain’s answer to the Citroën CX” when it comes to front-wheel-drive managerial transport. Motor Sport also made this comparison, and their test concluded it was “the finest car to come out of British Leyland since the XJ6, with a general performance, finish and specification worthy of a higher price.”
The latest Wolseley was not flawless – a 104 mph top speed was not especially rapid even in 1975 – but its promise was evident. This was almost inevitably a cue for BL to undermine its potential. A Mann Egerton dealership chain spokesman informed the press: “We are being offered Peugeots, Citroëns and BMWs in part exchange for the new car.” Unfortunately, the 18-22’s reliability problems meant such motorists would soon defect to those marques.
September of 1975 saw BL replace the individual badges with the new ‘Princess’ marque, a move that saw the demise of the Wolseley name. By the time the Austin Ambassador replaced the 18-22 in 1982, BL had sold 224,942 examples. Mann’s creation deserved greater success, but it laboured under the Corporation’s lack of quality control and highly publicised issues.
For many years afterwards, the ADO71 suffered from a litany of ‘British Leyland Jokes’ and an association with a certain Terry Scott/June Whitfield situation comedy. However, a new generation of car enthusiasts, with no memories of news footage of strikes at Cowley and Longbridge, appreciate the Wedge on its merits. At last year’s Silverstone Classic, the Wolseley’s profile and ultra-1970s velour upholstery seemed to mesmerise quite a few showgoers.
Kevin Davis, the 18-22 expert, restored KKN 840 P, and McAdam became its custodian last year. In the hands of another manufacturer, the Wolseley might have transformed the image of one of Britain’s oldest marques. But, to quote The Telegraph, it deserves to be remembered as “one of the best things BL has done.” And it is the last car to wear the famous illuminated radiator badge.
There will be a display of the UK’s rarest cars, as featured in this series, at the family-friendly Silverstone Festival from 25-27 August 2023. Find us on the MotorEasy stand.
Read more from The Telegraph’s UK rarest cars series: 1973 Moskvich 434 van, the sole survivor on British roads
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