This car is one of the many variants of the BMC ADO16 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 16) range of cars. These cars were built between 1962 and 1974 selling 2.1 million units across all versions which were badged with almost all of BMC's and later British Leyland's marques.

The ADO16 was designed by Alec Issigonis. Following his success with the Mini, Issigonis set out to design a larger and more sophisticated car which incorporated more advanced features and innovations. Pininfarina, the Italian styling studio that had worked with BMC before on the Austin A40 Farina, was commissioned to style the car. ADO16 had comparable interior space to the larger Ford Cortina.

In common with the Mini, the ADO16 was designed around the BMC A-Series engine, mounted transversely and driving the front wheels, in both 1100cc and 1300cc. As well as single piston swinging caliper disc brakes at the front, which were not common on mass-produced cars in the early 1960s, the ADO16 featured a Hydrolastic interconnected fluid suspension system designed by Alex Moulton. The mechanically interconnected Citroen 2CV suspension was assessed in the mid-1950s by Alec Issigonis and Alex Moulton (according to an interview by Moulton with CAR magazine in the late 1990s), and was an inspiration in the design of the Hydrolastic suspension system for the Mini and Austin 1100, to try to keep the benefits of the 2CV system (ride comfort, body levelling, keeping the tyres in contact with the road), but with added roll stiffness that the 2CV lacked.

BMC engineer Charles Griffin took over development work from Issigonis at the end of the 1950s while Issigonis completed work on the Mini. Griffin ensured the 1100 had high levels of refinement, comfort and presentation. Griffin would later have overall responsibility for the Princess, Metro, Maestro and Montego ranges.

The Vanguards is a model of the Mark 1 car produced between 1962 and 1967, however the 2 door estate versions like this one (Morris Traveller & Austin Countryman) were not released by BMC until 1966.