Archive for July, 2012
News : MoT tests – big changes, and not good for classics?
Will MoT exemption for classic cars be extended? Will your modified classic no longer be legal? There are concerns that Europe-wide legislation could make this a reality. European-wide legislation looks set to shake up the MoT system in the UK in the coming years – and if current thinking within the working group comes to [...]
July 31, 2012
· 
Keith Adams · 
23 Comments
News : A roaring British success!
Donna Green grew up in the shadow of the giant Cowley car plant on the outskirts of Oxford. Her grandfather helped make Morris Minors, her father was an engineer with British Leyland, and evenings out as a child were spent with other workers’ families at the factory’s social club. One of her earliest memories [...]
July 31, 2012
· Keith Adams · 24 Comments
Our Cars : Two inches makes all the difference!
Words and Photographs: Mike Humble While Keith Adams’ 75 Connoisseur seemingly continues to provide a comfy commute to work and back on a daily basis without sounding like a child’s Tommy gun, my own 75 1.8 Club SE has been left on the drive – that’s, though, partly down to my use of the company’s 25 Commerce diesel van. [...]
July 29, 2012
· Mike Humble · 24 Comments
Events : Brown & Gammons dealer opening
Simon Ford, www.simonscarspots.com Brown & Gammons has been synonymous with the Hertfordshire town of Baldock Since 1977. It started from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected names in Classic MG restoration throughout Great Britain – if not the world. I would often walk past its old two car showroom, peer into the [...]
July 29, 2012
· Keith Adams · 4 Comments
Concepts : Montego ‘Lifestyle’ estate
Rover Special Products was one busy department during the early 1990s, and proof positive is this design sketch from Steve Harper. Keith Adams Jacked-up Monty As we know, Rover Special Products was a hot-house within the Rover Group, tasked with devising niche vehicles that could bring additional profit and glamour to the company’s model range [...]
July 27, 2012
· Keith Adams · 26 Comments
Events : LEJoG in a Princess 1300
Here at AROnline we love the ADO16 and long road trips – why not combine both? Alexander Boucke has some plans… As you will probably know the Morris 1100 was launched nearly 50 years ago, and to celebrate this, the 1100 Club will hold a big party at the National Rally, taking place at the [...]
July 27, 2012
· Alexander Boucke · 10 Comments
Unsung Heroes : Leyland-DAF/LDV 400 – vantastic success!
A variation on a theme of our popular Unsung Heroes section. This time we pay respect to what was once ‘The biggest selling and biggest sized van in the UK’. Words: Mike Humble It’s Britain’s biggest van! Funny as it seems, but to feature a commercial vehicle in the ‘Unsung Heroes’ section actually makes perfect [...]
July 26, 2012
· Mike Humble · 23 Comments
News : Jaguar is looking for 1100 new workers
Words: Enda Mullen, Birmingham Post Photography: Matt Howell, Octane magazine More than 1100 new jobs are to be created at Jaguar as the car-maker gears up for its biggest expansion programme yet. The new jobs are to support an ambitious product offensive by Jaguar Land Rover after the firm pledged to produce 40 new models [...]
July 25, 2012
· Keith Adams · 12 Comments
First Drive : Ford Focus 1.0 EcoBoost
Keith Adams spends a week behind the wheel of Ford’s astonishing 1.0-litre Focus EcoBoost – and wonders if this UK designed three-pot really does represent the beginning of the end of the diesel in Blighty… Twenty twelve – is it the beginning of the end of the popular diesel in the UK? It certainly seems [...]
July 25, 2012
· Keith Adams · 77 Comments
Blog : The rather acceptable Dacia Duster
We love value for money purchases at AROnline, and no new car sums-up this philosophy so well as Dacia. John O’Sullivan tries one for size in Ireland, and comes away impressed… …and questioning whether Chinese-owned MG should be attacking our market in the same way. For anyone who has been on holiday in Europe over [...]
July 24, 2012
· Keith Adams · 41 Comments
News : LDV ‘Maxus’ goes on sale in Oz
They say Sherpa vans don’t quit… and neither do their drivers – well, here’s the proof. Vans from China’s biggest motor manufacturer are locked and loaded for launch in Australia in October after a formal sign-off ceremony in China this week. Words: Ron Hammerton A shipment of 120 LDV V80 vehicles produced by SAIC subsidiary [...]
July 24, 2012
· Keith Adams · 31 Comments
News : Made in Britain showcased in London
The UK’s automotive industry will be showcasing its products and talents at the Science Museum from 24 July as part of the six-week ‘Make it in Great Britain’ exhibition, celebrating the success of British manufacturing across all sectors. The free exhibition aims to raise awareness of the dynamic, advanced and innovative industry that exists in the UK [...]
July 24, 2012
· Keith Adams · 4 Comments
Our Cars : Say goodbye, tappety-tap-tap-tap
The ongoing saga of Keith Adams’ Rover 75′s K-Series engine looks set to be serialised into book form. Publishers are fighting over the rights to what promises to be a 100,000-word drama, with all the twists and turns of Forsyte combined with the epic landscape of War and Peace. When you last left us, the [...]
July 23, 2012
· admin · 21 Comments
News : Ratan Tata interviewed by the Brum Post
Graeme Brown Indian industrialist Ratan Tata has transformed the fortunes of Jaguar Land Rover since taking over the firm in 2008. He speaks to Graeme Brown about the future of the Midlands’ most important company. It has become the UK’s go-to success story – a historic car-maker that has gone from losing hundreds of millions [...]
July 21, 2012
· Keith Adams · 23 Comments
News : MG6 sneaks into the Olympics!
Perhaps the best piece of opportunism MG Motor UK has come up with to date – the company is gatecrashing BMW’s party by supplying some of the Olympic athletes with new ’6s… MG has supplied a fleet of cars to the Jamaican and USA Track and Field Training Camps where some of the world’s top [...]
July 20, 2012
· Keith Adams · 15 Comments
News : Which? confirms hidden costs of running diesels
Which? has confirmed that the running costs of diesel cars can often outweigh their economy benefits, particularly after the cars pass three years old. Despite superior fuel economy and usually lower car tax, a Which? investigation has found that new diesel cars are often more expensive to run than petrol cars. This year is set [...]
July 19, 2012
· admin · 61 Comments
Blog : Thirty years ago this month – Morris Motors RIP
Keith Adams July 1982. It’s a long time ago now. In fact, more than a generation distant from where we are now. Back then, the talk was of recession, the Falklands War, and Bucks Fizz. And although hadn’t quite quite escaped the last vestiges of 1970s bleakness, the more visionary among us could see a [...]
July 18, 2012
· Keith Adams · 36 Comments
News : Man finds stolen Healey after 42 years
A Texas man can finally end his 42-year search for his stolen 1967 Austin Healey sports car thanks to his persistence, a couple detectives and eBay. The City of Brotherly Love was none too friendly to former resident Robert Russell. His car, which held sentimental value to him and his wife, was heisted from his [...]
July 17, 2012
· Keith Adams · 7 Comments
Our Cars : An MG6 joins the fleet
Ant McGowan has put his money where his mouth is and is backing MG Motor UK, by taking delivery of a nearly new ’6 from Scotland’s only MG dealer. We’ll be following his progress through the coming months and seeing how the Sino-British family hatch performs day in, day out… Words and Photographs: Ant McGowan [...]
July 17, 2012
· admin · 54 Comments
Essays : The sweet smell of success
Want to smell like a Rover? Back in the 1990s, Rover Italia devised a product that allowed you to do just that. Words and photography: Christian Lamb The sweet smell of success Between 1994 and 1997 Rover doubled its sales in Italy and became the country’s fastest growing car brand. Unlike the UK, where the [...]
July 16, 2012
· Keith Adams · 13 Comments
