Minors and assorted other old motors in Sri Lanka

[mbo145]

I did ask prices near Jaffna, there were some more Morris Minors for sale, a solid blue one worked out at about £1000, it had a bit of rust bit not too bad! I will post some more pics soon, I can not believe we took the same photos, I took one of The Austin shop too!
Phil

[klm]

Mark and mbo145, It appears you have come across a wide range of old cars during your visit to Sri Lanka. I have owned this 1960 Convertible for the past 27 years but have not had the opportunity to restore it as I live in Australia. This is an original convertible made in Cowley and imported new to Sri Lanka and still has the original registration. Unlike in India where cars were assembled from CKD kits, in Sri Lanka, Morris Minors were always imported as complete cars directly from the UK until about 1962. Hardly any cars were imported into Sri Lanka between 1962-1976 due to severe import restrictions placed by the then government.

The 1965 model white colour car in good condition at the early part of this thread appears to be a UK used car imported to Sri Lanka around 1978. When the import restrictions were lifted in 1976 ship loads of used cars mainly from the UK were privately imported.

[MarkyB]

Unlike in India where cars were assembled from CKD kits, in Sri Lanka, Morris Minors were always imported as complete cars directly from the UK

I wonder why this was the case.

[klm]

Sri Lanka has always been an independent country and cars were imported from all possible countries including East European Countries and Soviet Russia. I recall a time when there were cars such as Moskvich, Volga, Skoda Octavia, Volvo PV544, Opel Record, Peugeot 203/ 403 and even FC and EK model Holdens on Colombo roads. Large number of Morris Minors and VW Beetles were used as taxis. India always followed a policy to manufacture cars within the country and you may be aware that the 1958 Morris Oxford is still being produced there as the Ambassador as they purchased the original jigs, fixtures and presses from BMC. Morris Minors in India were assembled by Hindustan Motors from CKD kits imported from UK. These were never imported into Sri Lanka.

[MarkyB]

Sure, but why?
I would think that there would be more more benefits for a country in terms of business and employment to get CKD cars.
Did the government reject the idea or Morris not offer it?

[irmscher]

I think Mike Foster would be the one to know

[klm]

Sri Lanka is primarily an agricultural country which depend on 3 main products, tea, rubber and coconut. In the 50's and early 60's there was never an initiative to produce cars within the country, although in late 60's Mazda 1500 was assembled in limited numbers from parts imported from Japan. Even today 95% of the new cars are imported and very few are assembled from CKD kits.

[deva]

hi kim
is your convertible for sale?

[kersh]

Hi my name is kershal fernando , currently living In Sri lanka. By the way nice pics of the skoda octavia. This car interests me a lot because my grandmother used to have one in back colour back in the 70's. I would be highly thankfull if you could send me a e-mail or contact me in any way possible , because i would like to know where and if that skoda is for sale. My e-mail address is kershalf@gmail.com.

[bjbrownie]

The modern gold car is a Hillman Avenger,the giveaway is the American styling and hockey stick rear lights,I was in Sri Lanka back in 2003 and was amazed at how some of the cars still worked-no mots there! Incidentally, a Plymouth Cricket the American version of the Avenger was parked in the garden of a house by where I used to live, often wondered what happened to it.

[margriff]

Lovin these pics...

[Larryb]

The link is to a series of videos about the fabricating of Morris Minor parts in Sri Lanka. Not sure if it has been posted here before. if you can withstand the cnstant hammering noise, it is fascinating.

http://www.morrisminor.dk/srilanka/2008/06/tour_e.html