Archive for August, 2004
News : August 2004
MGR/Pininfarina link…? 27 August 2004 Now that development of the RD/X60 is back on track (see story below), it is up to MG Rover to get the car into production as quickly as possible. After all, sales of the 45 do not appear to have improved since the launch of the facelifted model, and following [...]
August 28, 2004
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Keith Adams · 
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Archive : MG in new cars link with Chinese maker
Financial Times By John Griffiths, Motoring Editor MG Rover and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, China’s largest carmaker, intend to form a joint venture company to collaborate on developing and manufacturing cars. Under the plans, set out in an unpublished memorandum of understanding signed several months ago, SAIC will inject cash into the company for its [...]
August 25, 2004
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Archive : MG Rover dismisses any talk of being shanghaied
The Guardian Mark Milner and Jonathan Watts in Beijing MG Rover yesterday played down reports that China’s most powerful home grown carmaker, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, was planning to take over the British group. Chairman John Towers said such interest would be “flattering” but that ongoing talks had included no discussion of SAIC buying either [...]
August 24, 2004
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Archive : MG Rover “to be sold to Chinese carmaker”
Reuters Shanghai Automotive Industry, China’s largest carmaker, plans to buy privately held British automaker MG Rover in a bold push to grab a Western beachhead, the Automotive News Europe weekly has reported. Quoting sources in England and China, the paper said on Monday that SAIC would boost its ambitions to become the world’s sixth-largest automaker [...]
August 23, 2004
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Archive : SAIC to buy MG Rover?
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, China’s largest passenger carmaker, plans to buy MG Rover, say sources in England and China. SAIC will boost its ambitions to become the world’s sixth-largest automaker by taking an initial equity stake in MG Rover. The size of that stake is still under discussion, but an MG Rover source says the [...]
August 23, 2004
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Why we love the… Jaguar XJ40
James Copp-Taylor on the Jaguar XJ40… So, you’ve been driving the very best British 80’s executive motoring has to offer, you know all there is to know about un-reliable electrics, rust on earlier examples etc, you’d think I’d learnt my lesson, and would be moving on to something sensible, and boring. An Audi V8 for [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Morris Minor Traveller
Dave Taylor tells all about his love affair with Rose… “Rose” is a 1966 Morris Minor Traveller. She is called Rose because of her colour: Rose Taupe (a fanciful description for a sort of mauve-tinted brown). It’s not the most exciting colour in the car manufacturer’s catalogue, but it is practical in hiding some of [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Rover Sterling
James-Copp Taylor loves the Sterling for its speed, style and value for money… People are often asking me that very question, why oh why do you choose to drive that!! In relation to my Mk1 Rover Sterling. A car that has achieved a slightly dubious reputation for electrical, and mechanical reliability. It all started back [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Dolomite Sprint
Michael Wynn-Williams on the Dolomite Sprint… In seventeenth century Paris there was a certain courtesan whose beguiling power was the ruination of many a young man. Her favourite pastime was to seduce youthful aristocrats, suck them dry of their fortunes and then discard them like broken toys. I sympathise with those young men, for I [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… the Spridget
For David Jacobs, his love of the “Spridget” runs deep – and can be traced back to a childhood encounter… My first brush with MGs came when I was about 4; A couple who lodged with my Nana had a black open topped one with a red interior. I remember being plonked in it behind [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Rover SD1
Dylan Jones explains why the SD1 is the car for him. Since before I was born, my parents have always had BLMC cars and still do, running a Rover 416GTi for the past 9 years. The running list goes something like this: an Austin 1100 which my mother donated to a local mechanic in North [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Princess
John Capon spells out exactly what it is that makes the “Wedge” floats his boat. Imagine a young lad of ten. The year is 1975. The place Exeter (Summerland Street to be precise) and the time…an ordinary Saturday afternoon out shopping with parents. Yes, that was me of course. Across the road, there it was. [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Rover P6
Michael Thomas on what it was that made the Rover P6 a great car… Why have I fallen for the Rover P6? It’s something that began twenty-five years ago. In 1978, as a seven year old, my mother was unwell and unable to pick me and my brother up from school. The job fell to [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Mini
Ian Nicholls tells it like it is… So the Mini has reached the grand old age of 45, but how and why have so many of us had an ongoing love affair with this 10 feet long car? Well it can’t be the cars reliability. In the 2001 BBC Top Gear/JD Power survey the Rover [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Maxi 1750
What better car to transport a Moulton bicycle than one that’s Moulton-suspended? Richard Plaxton explains… “What an earth possessed me to buy this car?” is a thought that crosses my mind, soon after taking possession of any vehicle. Well firstly, with regards to my latest acquisition, a Leyland Maxi, it must be the Hydragas suspension. [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Austin Maestro
Richard Gelder explains why the Maestro is just his cup of tea… My first experience of Austin – Rover cars was when I was about four years old. My dad had just bought a Brown 1987 Rover 213. There’s not much I remember about this car, but it marked the beginning of my interest in [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Triumph Herald
“Heraldry, what it means to me”, by Dale Turley What does the Triumph Herald mean to me? When I was a small child, my parents always changed their car more often than I changed my underwear. My earliest motoring memories were my mothers company provided and signwritten ‘Singer Sewing Machines’ Morris Mini van, and my [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… Austin Allegro
Michael Wynn-Williams on his dad’s Allegro Super, and why he owes his life to it… I Dedicate My Life to… …The Austin Allegro This is an industry that arouses such passions in people that we cannot help but obsess about the superlatives: the biggest, the best, the most expensive, the first, the last. Each of [...]
August 17, 2004
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Why we love the… BMC 1100
Declan Berridge tells how he fell under the 1100′s spell… To anyone who spent their formative years in the 1970s, the BMC 1100 was an unavoidable part of the landscape; such was its popularity that if your parents didn’t own one, then a schoolfriend’s parents – or maybe a neighbour – surely would. In my [...]
August 17, 2004
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Events : BMC/BL Rally 2004
For the third year running, austin-rover.co.uk had a stand at the BMC/BL Annual Rally and Spares Day, held each year at Nene Park in Peterborough. ANOTHER scorching day in Cambridgeshire set the scene for this year’s 11th national BMC/BL day. A fair amount of behind-the-scenes planning resulted in austin-rover.co.uk fielding its biggest presence at the [...]
August 2, 2004
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