After Pinin Farina's successful redesign of the A40, Austin's larger cars duly received attention from the Italian carrozzeria, the first of these - the Austin A55 Cambridge MkII - appearing in 1959.

Also badged as a Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley, the newcomer retained the 1½-litre B-Series engine of its predecessor beneath completely new bodywork sporting controversial tail fins.

Further up the range and introduced at the same time was the similarly styled and relatively luxurious Austin A99 Westminster (and other-marque equivalents), which was powered by a 2.9-litre overhead-valve C-Series six producing 103bhp and driving via a new three-speed, all-synchromesh, overdrive gearbox with column-mounted shift.

In the autumn of 1961 the Westminster was updated as the A110, the wheelbase being stretched by 2" and engine power increased to 120bhp.

The final MkII version, introduced in 1964, featured a new four-speed 'box with floor change and optional overdrive while Borg-Warner Type 35...