Amalgamated Drawing Office

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The Austin Drawing Office was the design and engineering department of the British Motor Corporation. From the early 1950s, the resulting projects of the office were known by the initials ADO. The numbers were assigned to vehicle and engineering projects, some resulting in production models. The ADO numbering system continued well beyond BMC's absorption into British Leyland, who continued to use the convention (not, however on any former Leyland Motors marques such as Rover or Triumph) until the late 1970s.

Contents

Contrary to popular belief, ADO does not stand for Amalgamated Drawing Office, [1] the "amalgamation" referring back to the merger of Austin and Morris to form BMC in 1952.

XC project codes

The XC codes (eXperimental Car) were applied to projects headed by Alec Issagonis at Longbridge. All except XC9000 became production models.

ADO project numbers

Post ADO project codes

Various conventions were used from the early 1970s within British Leyland and subsequently the Rover Group, even though the Austin-Morris division of BL continued to use the ADO convention until the company's collapse and subsequent Ryder Report restructuring in 1975.

Specialist Division codes

The Specialist Division (SD) encompassed Rover and Triumph. Only four projects were ever pursued during its existence before the division was renamed Jaguar Rover Triumph, and integrated within Leyland Cars in 1976.

Triumph-Morris (TM) codes

LC/LM/AR codes

Following the various reorganisations of BMC, and the creation of the combined Leyland Cars division of British Leyland, the codes changed to LC in the mid 1970s. [19] Following the merger of Rover's Specialist Division SD codes, these resulted in LM (Light Medium) codes.

There was also a short lived "AR" code following the renaming of BL Cars Ltd to Austin Rover in 1982. Most of the AR-designated projects were either abandoned or were renamed using the Rxx convention (see below)

R codes & others used by the Rover Group

After British Leyland (now BL plc) was renamed Rover Group and its subsequent re-privatisation and sale to British Aerospace (and later, BMW), project codes in the 'Rxx format were generally used, although some projects were given alternative designations or sometimes names. Projects in this series were not numbered consecutively, unlike the earlier conventions. Some Rxx codes continued within the new MINI division of BMW after the 2000 break-up of the Rover Group, until MINI later switched to BMW's project numbering convention. The later RD code was used for projects undertaken by MG Rover from 2000 onward, to that company's collapse in 2005.

R and RD codes

Honda/Rover codes

MG Rover codes

Project Phoenix and PR/PX codes

Project code names

From late 1993, Richard Woolley had already been working on three models to replace the 800 and 600. The first, called ‘Flagship’ (and nicknamed ‘Flashpig’) would replace the 800, the second, called ‘Eric’ was a replacement for the 800 Coupe and the third, called ‘Core’, would replace the 600. Basically, these new cars were conceived to evolve the look pioneered in the 600 – but move in a direction more suited to Rover’s traditional styling cues.

Other codes

The Australian division used YD codes from 1962 to identify their projects.

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References

  1. ↑ "Austin Design Product Numbers". Austin Memories. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  2. ↑ Robson, Graham (6 March 1976). "ADO Numbers Explained". Autocar: 6–8.
  3. ↑ Robson, Graham (2011). The A-Series Engine: Its First Sixty Years. J H Haynes & Co Ltd. pp. 19–20. ISBN   978-0857330833.
  4. ↑ "Ford Cortina at 50". The Telegraph. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "MG ADO21 - the mid-engined sporting might-have been". AROnline. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "Proposed replacement - ADO22". ADO16.info. 5 January 2014. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "BMC's Fireball XL5 - the Austin-Healey replacement nixed by the E-type". AROnline. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  8. ↑ "Sports car projects : ADO34, 35 and 36". AR Online. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  9. ↑ "Sports car projects : ADO56". AROnline. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  10. ↑ "When Rolls-Royce and Bentley worked with BMC on new luxury cars". AROnline. 4 December 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  11. ↑ "Sports car projects : ADO68 Project Condor". AR Online. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "Mini-based ADO70 Calypso prototype - front-wheel drive fun, Italian style". AR Online. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  13. ↑ "ADO 74 in the 1970s". Motorfilms. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Leyland ADO74 - the £130 million supermini that never saw the light of day". AR Online. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  15. ↑ "Sports car projects: ADO76 (1968-1969)". AR Online. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "Concepts and prototypes : ADO77 Project". AR Online. 26 July 2011. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  17. ↑ "ADO88 supermini project - the car the 1980 Austin Metro was based on". AR Online. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  18. ↑ "In-house designs : Rover SD5". AROnline. 16 November 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  19. ↑ "ADO and other development codes". AROnline. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  20. ↑ "LM11 arrives, named Montego". Motor Sport. May 1984. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  21. ↑ "Rover 800 (XX) development history". AR Online. 25 September 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  22. ↑ "Austin AR6 - the full story of a new supermini to replace the Austin Metro". AROnline. 28 July 2018.
  23. ↑ "AR7 Maestro facelift". AROnline. 18 May 2014.
  24. ↑ "Austin AR16 - the exciting Montego replacement killed before launch". AROnline. 21 January 2021.
  25. ↑ "Concepts and prototypes : MG X120 (2003-2005)". AR Online. 6 June 2020.
  26. ↑ "Rover 75/MG ZT (R40)". AR Online. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
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