HPI, Equifax, Text Checker and many others will check your potential car purchases at a cost. But what about the most basic of checks such as the MoT? Mike Humble explains… and best of all IT’S FREE! Those who know me will vouch for the fact that I am slightly pessimistic, if there was ever [...]

A brief look at BMC>Rover’s light commercial vehicles being built. A colourful shot of the J4 van on the production line (presumably at Drews Lane, now home to the Sherpa-based LDV Pilot and Convoy). A rare, export-only A40 Farina van and a rather more commonplace Minivan on the production line at Longbridge’s CAB1 plant in [...]

George Turnbull was instrumental in the British Leyland story following its formation in 1968. Keith Adams He who would be king… IF ever a man was born into the motor industry, George Turnbull was: his father was the manager of the Standard Motor Company’s service and spare parts organization, worldwide. Turnbull Senior was also supervisor [...]

Played superbly by Steve Coogan, this larger-than-life portrayal of sports presenter, turned chat show host, turned Radio Norwich presenter is one that is now firmly entrenched in the British comedy mainstream. The character of Partridge is a grotesque parody, and yet we cannot help but find him outrageously funny, even if it is at the [...]

It may have been one of Britain’s best selling cars of the 1960s and ’70s, but John Cleese’s characters of Basil Fawlty and Brian Stimpson in Clockwise were far from fans of the BMC 1100/1300 range. ANDREW ROBERTS looks at Cleese’s 1986 attempted murder of a Morris. FOR a vehicle that has a fair claim [...]

Perhaps one of the only times you’ll see Pierce Brosnan playing the baddie – Major Petrofsky – out to plant a nuclear bomb near an American air base in East Anglia, that could destroy NATO. Secret Service agent John Preston (Michael Caine) is given the responsibility of stopping him. Cue the cars, a few stunts [...]

London-based gangster Jack Carter (played by Michael Caine) travels to Newcastle to try and unravel the circumstances surrounding the recent death of his brother, Frank, in an apparent drink-driving accident. In doing so, he becomes embroiled in the shady goings-on of the Tyneside underworld. Sublime direction, superb acting, excellent script, a finely-crafted score… and more [...]

Mini Coopers? Who needs ‘em? For a real Mini adventure, all you need is a yellow British Leyland 1000 model, a few thousand miles of New Zealand countryside and Amy Archibald’s dog. RICHARD GUNN, a Seventies Mini owner himself, looks at Goodbye Pork Pie, one of the world’s lesser-known road movies. MINI Cooper owners have [...]

Almost 15 years before The Simpsons tapped the rich seam of dysfunctionality for comedic effect, Fawlty Towers was pioneering the concept. Basil Fawlty personfied that peculiarly British brand of lower middle-class repression, trapped by his surroundings, his prejudices and his barely-more-than-perfunctory relationship with his wife Sybil, who always seemed to have the upper hand. Seeing [...]

Made between 1975 and 1978, The Sweeney was the definitive British TV cop show of its era. When officers Regan (John Thaw) and Carter (Dennis Waterman) of the Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad weren’t chasing villains, they could be found subsidsing their local brewery or bedding a variety of dolly birds. Who said a policeman’s lot [...]

In making The New Avengers, co-producer Brian Clemens desperately wanted to showcase the products of British Leyland. Thus, the three protagonists – Steed, Gambit and Purdey – were seen driving various Jaguars, a brace of Range Rovers, Rover SD1s, a couple of TR7s and an MGB. Even when the action moved abroad (firstly to France, [...]

CI5 was the fictional criminal intelligence department set up chiefly to counter the emerging threat of international terrorism in the early 1970s. Described as being “the toughest crime-fighting organisation in the world… like the FBI, CIA and Interpol all rolled into one”, its officers were drawn from the elite of the country’s police forces and [...]

The Who’s iconic homage to 1960s Mod culture offers numerous opportunities to catch a glimpse of some of BMC and Leyland’s fine vehicles. While the film’s period detailing is generally spot-on, the fact that it was shot at the end of the Seventies is betrayed in some of the street scenes, where the odd Austin [...]

The Long Good Friday is generally acknowledged as being one of the all-time classic British gangster films. At its heart lies a central contradiction, as anti-hero Harry Shand (played by Bob Hoskins) mourns the loss of the close-knit communities of his childhood, while at the same time is planning to profit from the redevelopment of [...]

In 1959, Innocenti signed a deal with BMC that would see it become a car manufacturer for the first time. (Photo: Gaetano Zagra) WHEN BMC joined forces with Innocenti in the late 1950s, the first fruit of their union was the Innocenti A40. The car must almost have suggested itself for production in Italy: after [...]

Graham Arnold provides a fascinating account of how a one-man, nail-making workshop in a northern Spanish village grew into a prosperous iron and steel industry. It would one day play a key role in the formation of BMC’s Spanish arm, and would go on to become a public company trading on the Spanish stock exchange [...]

WORK on a new MG sports car was a running theme within Austin Rover and the Rover from 1984 onwards. The success of the MG “M” models had kept the flame of the Octagon alive, but what people wanted – and what market researchers repeatedly told the company was that the public wanted – was [...]

Overseas Operations Below is a list of the operations managed by British Leyland International during the early 1970s. I have included the autonomous distribution companies, CKD operations, and associated manufacturers. If you know of any not included or can provide further information on any of the below, please contact us with any information you might [...]

Final assembly of CKD Austin 1300s began at a plant in Novo Mesto during 1969, with the cars arriving from Longbridge almost complete; indeed, the chassis plates of these models identified them as having come from Longbridge Yugoslav 1100s IN 1967 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, IMV (Industrija Motornih Vozil – Industry of Motor Vehicles) signed [...]

The Netherlands saw CKD production of BMC cars, alongside the usual versions imported from the UK and Belgium… Roderik Tonen tells the story. IN 1949 the Dutch Morris importer, J.J. Molenaar, started local assembly the Morris Minor, Morris Isis and Morris Oxford. The operation proved to be something of a success, and by 1959 assembly [...]