Thoughts on Armstrong Siddeley for production in Canada? AIUI, Hawker Siddeley, the manufacturer of Toronto's subways in Thunder Bay ON was part of the same company in the 1950s and 60s.
Not that ANY of its Daimler (UK) like cars (or even worse, this ugly thing below) would be wanted in the North American market. So, something new would be needed.
Was Bristol cars part of the same firm at this time?
If only they were able to give this Jaguar-esque styling and other advances to be competitive, also there would have to be sufficient demand for Armstrong-Siddeley cars in North America for a factory to be considered, with Armstrong-Siddeley needing to be about as popular and less conservative if not more so then OTL Jaguar.
Not sure what PODs would be needed for Armstrong-Siddeley to remain an independent luxury car marque beyond 1960 since government interference and desire to rationalize the aircraft industry was partly what caused Armstrong-Siddeley to disappear in OTL (though Armstrong-Siddeley did have various projects in the works). It may even be impossible hence requiring an earlier ATL Bristol wank as mentioned in a previous thread where Armstrong-Siddeley roughly becomes to Bristol what Rolls-Royce is to Bentley.
All of the British autos of the 50s and 60s that were of an adequate size for US use were waaay underpowered. I had a neighbor with a Minor in 65/66 and I actually got myself, 3 other people (all HS seniors) 2 guitars, a banjo and a standup bass in it. Only the fact that one person was a small guy and one was a girl made it even theoretically possible. Oh, and was the first time I drove a manual shift on the post not the floor. YThe poor beast struggled even driving around the city to the bar we were playing at.
It would partly require a POD where the British RAC Tax Horsepower is scrapped a lot earlier compared to OTL (likely prior to WW2) for British cars to no longer be as underpowered as OTL due to being influenced by the RAC Tax Horsepower system even after it was withdrawn post-war.
The Morris Minor itself could have received more powerful engines were it not for William Morris's attempt at sabotaging the Minor only because he instead wanted a updated version of the pre-war Morris Eight to be produced.
The pre-war 918cc Morris Sidevalve also spawned a 918cc OHV Wolseley Eight unit, with both being copies of the Ford Sidevalve engine that was itself capable of being enlarged to a 1500cc OHV unit via the Ford Taunus P1. There was also the pre-war XP engines that would have allowed Morris to reduce costs by using the same engine as on the MG T-Series in North America, with the ATL Minor even potentially receiving a detuned 1466cc version of the MG TF engine (though some believe the XP unit was capable of a bit more enlargement up to 1600cc).
Even so both were pre-war designs and would have needed replacing by the mid/late-50s with both the A-Series (up to 1300cc) and B-Series (up to 1600cc even 1800-2000cc) engines, nevertheless both the enlarged 920-1500cc Wolseley OHV and 1140-1500cc (possibly even 1600cc) Morris XP engines would have given the Minor the necessary power to make a bigger impact in North America as well as properly challenge the Beetle.