Iconic Flying “A” emblem

Burzi of BMC — the Forgotten Designer

Ricarado “Dick” Burzi worked at Austin/BMC for 40 years as one of its leading car designers, and yet his work has been overlooked for decades.

The shapes he created dominated UK and Commonwealth country roads, especially in the 1950s.

He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and by the late 1920s was working as a car designer for Lancia in Italy.

He moved to Paris after drawing a couple of newspaper cartoons that made fun of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

In 1929 Herbert Austin, who owned the car company that carried his name, offered Burzi a job in the UK.

By 1936 he was head of Austin’s design studios.

In 1947 he created the iconic Flying “A” emblem for Austin.

He crafted it in one day, basing it on a Bentley radiator cap.

It is his post WWII cars that most people are familiar with. 

The 1948 A40, based on a 1941 Chevrolet, was a top seller in the UK and Australia

The Austin Atlantic A 90 convertible, which was also released in 1948, was another Burzi shape.

The four-cylinder Atlantic was supposed to appeal to rich Americans and earn Austin much needed overseas income.

But it was underpowered and overpriced in the land of the V8.

Only 350 were sold in the USA.

Burzi designed the mid-fifties family sized Austins: A40/A50/A55/A90/A95/A105.

Released in 1954 and updated during the next four years they were very similar to an American Packard, albeit smaller.

His influence began to decline after the 1952 merger of rivals Austin and Morris to form BMC.

It is automotive folklore that in 1955 Prince Phillip, while on a visit to BMC, was in the design studios and saw what Burzi was proposing for BMC’s 1959 range of family and large sized cars. 

The prince is reputed to have suggested BMC invest in an alternative idea, and soon Pininfarina was given the design contract.

I’ve yet to find photos of what Burzi was working on and just why anyone at BMC thought the prince had any idea about car design is lost in time.

Anyway, they took the prince’s advice.

The first outcome of the BMC-Farina collaboration was the 1958 Austin A40.

In 1959 the Austin/Morris/Wolseley/Riley/MG/Vanden Plas look alikes debuted.

Burzi’s last real cars of note were the1958 Wolseley 1500 and Riley One-Point-Five.

The basic design was supposed to replace the Morris Minor.

But because the sales of the Minor were so strong, BMC changed tack and  glued Wolseley and Riley badges on them to give those dealers a small car to sell.

In Australia they appeared as the Morris Major, Austin Lancer and, for a short time, Wolseley 1500.

BMC Australia refreshed the styling in 1959, extending the front and rear fenders.

In 1962 it was given an update as the Morris Major Elite.

Confirming Burzi’s sidelining, he had almost no involvement in the shape of the Mini/1100/1800 front wheel drive cars.

He did, however, put a longer front and rear end on the Mini so it could be sold as the “luxury” Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet.

One of his last contributions was a new grille and rear end for the six-cylinder version of the Austin/Morris 1800.

He retired from BMC in 1969.

David Burrell is the editor of retroautos

 

Prince Phillip pays a visit to BMC in 1955

 

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