Archive for August, 2011
News : Land Rover DC100 for Frankfurt
Keith Adams Land Rover’s exciting DC100 Concept will be unveiled to the public at the IAA in Frankfurt and clearly signals the company’s intent to replace the Defender with a brand new car. The new concept is a long way away from being a production-ready vehicle, but shows that Land Rover is ready to shun [...]
August 31, 2011
· 
Keith Adams · 
44 Comments
Blog : Interacting with AR has certainly changed!
Keith Adams As you might have figured, I’ve been spending lots of time importing legacy content from ‘AROnline Classic’ to the new system during the past few weeks, and it’s been a fascinating trip down memory lane. Especially when it came to doing the site blogs, which I’ve date stamped and you can find by [...]
August 31, 2011
· Keith Adams · 11 Comments
Blog : Harris Mann was right
Keith Adams Yeah, I know… but he was. In recent years we’ve seen a move away from boring round steering wheels, primarily in super- and concept-cars. And it’s probably for good reason that Fiat has chosen to install a quartic wheel in its latest Panda model (only the third generation since 1980), but for me [...]
August 30, 2011
· Keith Adams · 8 Comments
Picture gallery : Rover 75/MG ZT
Images of the Richard Woolley styled Rover 75… designed to look contemporary and retro at the same time, the new car was designed with an eye to looking more solid and prestigious than the 600 and 800 it replaced. Launched at the same time as the Jaguar S-Type, the Rover 75 was greeted with almost [...]
August 30, 2011
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Blog : Rat Rod 2011, AROnline’s dropping out
Keith Adams You mention the term RatRod to most people and they’ll probably picture something like the car above. A gorgeous Hot Rod that’s been wonderfully patinated, turning rust into an art form. It’s a craze that’s sweeping the automotive world. and seems to have many different interpretations (see below). Banger Rally guru, Justin Clements, [...]
August 30, 2011
· Keith Adams · 4 Comments
Feature : Retro Rover vs Retro Jaguar
The NEC Motorshow in 1998 was a vitally important event for Rover and Jaguar. Both companies launched brand new cars – and in both cases, they were devised the way they were to re-establish traditional marque values. Both cars were styled to evoke memories of 1950s and ’60s products, but the question remains: which did [...]
August 30, 2011
· Keith Adams · 38 Comments
Blog : AROnline banger rallies through the years
Keith Adams I’ve been adding the legacy content to this new website, and came across the banger rally section. As well as enjoying the personal recollections from what were some amazing events, it served to remind me just how far AROnline’s come in the past 10 years. We’ve been on a few Street Safari banger [...]
August 29, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
The cars : BMC 1100/1300 development history
World beater So the Mini was launched, and the world had showered BMC with the acclaim that it so richly deserved, but in the months following the car’s arrival on the market, things were not all sweetness and light. Quite simply, fuel crisis or not, the Mini was not the car that the dealers wanted; [...]
August 29, 2011
· Keith Adams · 7 Comments
The cars : Triumph 2000/2500 development history
Triumph’s early 1960s future looked far from assured, but thanks to the launch of the Herald in 1959, it looked a whole lot brigher than once-dominant Standard’s. So it’s no surprise that when the company formulated plans to replace the full-sized Vanguard range, it would feature Triumph signature Michelotti styling, and that all important matching [...]
August 29, 2011
· Keith Adams · 29 Comments
In production : Adderley Park Wolseley Works
The Adderley Park plant entered the BMC fold by way of the Nuffield Group. It had been home to the Wolseley motor company from 1901 until the late 1920s when, following William Morris’s purchase of Wolseley, the plant was given over to commercial vehicle production. Location Arden Road/Bordesley Green Road, Adderley Park, Birmingham. A potted [...]
August 29, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
In production : Innocenti
The Innocenti factory was a world class facility, as these pictures clearly show. In many ways, this Mini production line was more advanced than its progenitor back in Longbridge. Pictures kindly supplied by Henk Schuuring and Gaetano Zagra
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · One Comment
In production : Vanden Plas Kingsbury Works
Between the two World Wars, the Vanden Plas factory at Kingsbury saw some very prestigious motor vehicles indeed – particularly Bentley, but also Alvis, Rolls Royce, Lagonda and others. A potted history THE Kingsbury Works originally sat in the grounds of Kingsbury House, a Nineteenth Century house at Kingsbury, near Harrow in north-west London, which [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Retro place : Longbridge
A century of carmaking… STROLL along the perimeter fence that surrounds the Car Assembly Buildings at Longbridge, and it’s hard to believe that the silent buildings once teemed with life and echoed to the sound of car production – the only movement you’ll see now at this unassuming complex is the gentle swaying of the [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · 4 Comments
In production : MG TF LE500
For many, the sun set on Longbridge in May 2005 when MG Rover went into administration – but three years on, and small scale car production has returned with the arrival of the MG TF LE500. CAB B as NAC MG UK now calls it currently houses the TF, but there’s room for so much [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · One Comment
BL Babes : 1980s and beyond
New cars, the product-led recovery, and eventually a long, lingering death. You’d never have believed it looking at these pictures… Mini Rover’s Press department and their play on that poster from the early 1980s, unashamedly used for the Advantage special edition Mini… ‘Prendergast Sweedlepipe recalls: ‘Mini Advantage – ah no, not Marketing as originally stated. [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
BL Babes : 1970s
The company was struggling against the unholy trinity of industrial action, good value imports and consumer apathy – but at least the girls were still pretty… Mini Clubman A view of the delightful Sue Cuff, showing a cheeky amount of thigh, this time celebrating a rather important milestone… For ‘Prendergast Sweedlepipe’, who was involved with [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
BL Babes : 1960s
It was a golden era, and BMC knew how to play to its audience… Mini Gentler times… Austin 1300 Tidy looking and eminently usable – the Austin 1300. Maxi Joanna Lumley adds much needed glamour to the Series one Maxi… Jaguar XJ6 It’s fair to say you get a better class of lady in a [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Also known as : Other cars
Cars from BMC and its successors have been sold abroad under a variety of alternative names. Here are just a few of them, including a couple of near-misses… Austin A40 Futura Home market name: Austin A40 Farina The Futura name was chosen for the Swedish market, not only to suggest a futuristic car, but also [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Also known as : Morris Marina
In this gallery, we take a look at some of the names used to sell various versions of the Morris Marina in overseas markets, plus one that didn’t quite make it… Of course, as those of you who have visited the BMC 1100/1300 page in this gallery will already know, the Marina featured here was [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Also known as : BMC 1800/2200
In this gallery, we take a look at some of the names used to sell various versions of the BMC 1800/2200 in overseas markets… Austin Balanza Home market name: based on Austin 1800 This name (meaning balance) was used on MkI Austin 1800s sold in the Netherlands and Belgium. While it is thought to have [...]
August 28, 2011
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
