In 1957, Wolseley re-entered a sector of the market from which they had been absent since the war. They introduced a ‘luxury compact’, which was to become the biggest selling model ever.
Designed around the Morris Minor chassis/floor pan and therefore benefitting from all the handling characteristics of that model, the 1500 was originally intended as a restyle of the Minor, but strong sales of the latter led to a re-think, and the idea to launch what we might now term a small sports saloon, was born.