__NOTOC__ The Austin Ant (development code ADO19) is a small

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

vehicle that was designed by Sir

Alec Issigonis Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Άρνολντ Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης) (18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by ...

for the motor manufacturer

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. Although the Ant is widely regarded as a military vehicle, some sources suggest it was conceived with civilian use in mind as well.Article "Ant Hill Mob" in ''Classic and Sports Car'' magazine, March 2007, published by Haymarket Publishing Ltd., United Kingdom In its military role, it was a potential successor to the military version of an earlier Issigonis design, the

Mini Moke The Mini Moke is a small, front-wheel-drive utility and recreational convertible, conceived and manufactured as a lightweight military vehicle by British Motor Corporation (BMC), and subsequently marketed for civilian use under the Austin Moto ...

. The Ant was cancelled in 1968 before full-scale production began, during the period when BMC became part of the

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

(BL) conglomerate; the merger caused several overlaps in model ranges, and the Ant was regarded as too close a competitor for the

Land Rover Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

range.The unofficial Austin-Rover web resource; Austin Drawing Office numbers
The Ant used an A-Series engine, transverse mounted and tilted slightly backward to allow greater ground clearance and suspension movement. The main gearbox was placed in the engine sump, as on the

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

. A reduction

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

took power from the main gearbox to the rear axle via a

propshaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. The same layout was used 30 years later (with a K-Series engine) on the Rover Group's

Land Rover Freelander The Land Rover Freelander is a series of four-wheel-drive vehicles that was manufactured and marketed by Land Rover from 1997 to 2015. The second generation was sold from 2007 to 2015 in North America and the Middle East as the LR2 and in Euro ...

References

External links

Moke and Ant
at Austin Memories

Military vehicles of the United Kingdom Issigonis vehicles All-wheel-drive vehicles

Ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

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See also

References

External links