Archive for June, 2011
Hillman Avenger : Projects and prototypes
A brave new style The New B Car would prove to be a departure from the last all-Rootes model to precede it, the Hunter. The main difference was the emergence of a Detroit style and a more youthful direction. Much time and effort went into ensuring that the car was exactly what the company’s customers [...]
June 29, 2011
· 
Matthew Hayward · 
3 Comments
The cars : Hillman Avenger
Detroit meets Ryton According to former Rootes Group styling Director, Roy Axe, the first formal thoughts on the makeup of the Avenger were recorded for appraisal in January 1963. The idea had been to produce a replacement for the Hillman Minx, which at the time, was Rootes’ best selling car. However, the Arrow project was [...]
June 29, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 3 Comments
Press Comment : just-auto’s take on Premier Wen’s visit to MG Birmingham
The UK’s leading consumer motoring titles do not seem to have given much, if any, coverage to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to MG Birmingham last Sunday. Indeed, Dave Leggett, Managing Editor of authoritative Automotive Industry website just-auto.com, seems to be the only commentator to have fully understood the visit’s real significance… Three things seemed [...]
June 29, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 5 Comments
The cars : Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1
The General’s turn-around Vauxhall was in trouble in the early 1970s, and sales were taking a nosedive. The Viva might have been selling reasonably well in HC form, but in the fleet car market where the Ford Cortina Mk3 was king, the FE-Series ‘Transcontinental’ Victor singularly failed to measure up to this – or the [...]
June 29, 2011
· Keith Adams · 66 Comments
Concepts and prototypes : Matra-SIMCA Bagheera U8
Chrysler may have been content for the Bagheera to use the 1294 and 1442cc SIMCA power units, but there were people within Matra that disagreed… The Bagheera had always been designed to fulfill the role of inexpensive and practical sports coupe, and thanks to its all-round efficiency, it managed to achieve a great deal despite [...]
June 29, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 2 Comments
The cars : Matra Murena
Smoothly does it The Bagheera was a good example of that old cliché, ‘racing improves the breed’, and following Jackie Stewart’s world championship at the wheel of a Matra-Tyrrell and back-to-back Le Mans victories in 1973/74, Matra’s credentials were impeccable. Clearly the Bagheera had been a commercial and critical success for Matra and Chrysler, and [...]
June 29, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 2 Comments
The cars : Matra-SIMCA Bagheera
It takes three The Matra company were responsible for two extremely interesting mid-engined sports cars during the 1960s; its own version of René Bonnet’s Djet, and then, in 1967, the first car to be designed entirely by Matra: the M530. Both cars were built around the same ideals of mid-engined layout, low weight, superior aerodynamics [...]
June 28, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · One Comment
The cars : Vauxhall Cavalier Mk2
Vauxhall’s new pragmatism… FEW WOULD have predicted Vauxhall’s stunning turn-around in fortunes during the mid-1980s. A mere dozen years before the launch of the Cavalier Mk2 in August 1981, the UK’s iconic GM division had a shocking reputation in its home market for producing rusting cars that just didn’t stack up against the opposition from [...]
June 28, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 26 Comments
Vauxhall Cavalier Mk2 : Videos
It’s got pulling power… Vauxhall was onto a winner with its Cavalier Mk2, but the switch to FWD was a radical step for the conservative company, and it wasn’t sure that its clientèle would understand the advantages. And this advert was designed to explain at least one of them…
June 28, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 2 Comments
Press Report : Wen Jiabao hails MG as symbol of China’s friendship with UK
Christina Savvas, Birmingham Post, 27 June 2011 Birmingham’s car manufacturing industry received a huge boost when China’s Premier Wen Jiabao visited the MG plant in Longbridge on Sunday. Mr. Wen launched the new MG6 Magnette model at the factory owned by the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation – one of his country’s most high-profile British investments. [...]
June 28, 2011
· Clive Goldthorp · 6 Comments
In memoriam : Dacia Denem
Keith Adams A look at some of the less likely extinct cars in the UK, according to data supplied by the brilliant How Many Left? website based on DVLA data. 2: Dacia Denem – died out in 2005 Regular viewers of Top Gear will no doubt be aware of Dacia through James May’s repeated references [...]
June 26, 2011
· Keith Adams · 53 Comments
The cars : Ford Capri
The car you always promised yourself… THE car industry had been going through some liberating times during the 1960s. Fuel was plentiful and cheap, and the Americans were making the most of the situation – offering buyers plenty of V8s to choose from. Even the entry-level ‘college’ cars were packing big (by European standards) six-cylinder [...]
June 25, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 20 Comments
Concepts : Omni Supermini
The small hatchback Rover commissioned OMNI design to produce a proposal for the company’s upcoming supermini – these were the results. These sketches show two interesting interpretations on the Rover theme – traditional (think, smaller 75) and contemporary. It would appear the contemporary design made the transition from paper to clay – and thanks to [...]
June 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 5 Comments
Concepts : Rover R6X
Metro’s missed opportunity Cost constraints killed the interesting AR6 Metro-replacement project, just as it was on the cusp of production. The lower cost alternative was to build a car based on the then current Metro, yet housing the PSA gearbox and K-Series engine. The underlying excellence of the K-Series engine, in particular, meant that there [...]
June 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 10 Comments
Prototypes : LC8 Metro
Metro style emerges LC8 was not an entirely new supermini by any stretch of the imagination, using ADO88 as a starting point. The project was basically a restyle job – with Harold Musgrove cracking the whip over the Austin-Morris development team, ensuring that it was in production by the proposed launch date: the Birmingham Motor [...]
June 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Ford Capri : Concept and prototypes
Words and pictures: Andrew Elphick Styling sketches Final sketches to scale models Honing the Capri Nearing production
June 25, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · No Comments
Supermini projects : ADO88/LC8 drawings
Metro uncovered A fascinating find uncovered recently on the AR forums – engineering drawings of the ADO88 and LC8 projects… The differences between the original car and the pre-launch facelift are clear to see – and the fact that these drawings of the ADO88 were produced at all clearly shows just how close to production [...]
June 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Ford Capri : Videos
Here’s a lovely advertising video for you – it’s 1981, and you know you want a Capri Injection! Feel the power
June 25, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 5 Comments
Supermini projects : ADO88
The Metro route Shortly after the demise of ADO74, the “Mini replacement idea” was yet again brought down from the shelf for further investigation. Unlike ADO74, which was new from the wheels up, ADO88 would use the Mini’s A-series engine plus transmission-in-sump layout. The reason for this was cost – ADO74 would have cost an [...]
June 25, 2011
· Keith Adams · 2 Comments
The cars : Talbot Wind
The Rancho might be the best known 1100 variant for fashionistas, but the Talbot Wind was an equally faddish flavour – for rather less money. The beach was probably the best place for this unfortunately named plaything. What a pick-up line he coachbuilders Heuliez were no strangers to the idea of converting the SIMCA 1100 [...]
June 25, 2011
· Matthew Hayward · 18 Comments
