What makes a proper barn find? Lots of spiders and a thick layer of dust? Finding a gleaming car underneath it all? Or some rusty surprises? Kevin Davis came to the rescue of the featured Princess 2200 HLS… Words and pictures: Kevin Davis Long forgotten… and revived! As found after 15 years I SAW THIS [...]

Its designer may have left us now, but the Rover 800′s crisp and honed ’80s lines will remain with us for a long time to come. Is Roy Axe’s original 800 in its finest form? Certainly the owner of this one, Alex Sebbinger, looks like the perfect man to keep this stunning Mk1A looking its [...]

The Rover 200/400 looks crisp and exciting over two decades on from its launch. Early ones are getting rare now, and Mike Humble’s example is one of the best… Words and pictures: Mike Humble The high watermark A lovely car in a lovely(ish) setting… I NEVER get emotionally tied to cars. Yes I enjoy them [...]

Ian Merriman has unearthed this gem from the South of France – a pre-production Rover 75 Club. Are there any out there older we wonder? Words and pictures: Ian Merriman The oldest of the few? A lovely car in a lovely setting… THIS pre-production Rover 75 Club, registration S577 AOX, VIN 001538, was registered 15 [...]

The Alps and the Mini have become synonymous thanks to the Monte Carlo Rally and the film, The Italian Job. So it only seems fitting that Robert Plews celebrated in style by taking his 1960 Morris Mini Mk1 for a spirited run to the hallowed mountain range… Here’s his story… Words and pictures: Robert Plews [...]

Already generally regarded as a forward thinking classic car, the Austin Maestro has aged exceptionally well. James Sergeant’s stunning Vanden Plas, complete with voice synthesizer dashboard, is a corker… And here he tells us all about it. Words and pictures: James Sergeant Encore, Maestro, please… A lovely car in a lovely setting… I WAS out [...]

Celebrating its 40th birthday this year, the Range Rover has emerged as one of the 20th century’s most important and iconic cars. Designed by Spen King and Gordon Bashford with its styling finalised by David Bache’s team, it’s impossible to criticise on a dynamic, aesthetic or functional level. This vehicle looks set to enjoy a [...]

Made famous for creating the Plymouth-Dakar Rally, Julian Nowill has long since been associated with the Eastern European car scene. But he’s turning to the darkside, and has finally come out of the closet regarding his fondness for AROnline’s favourite cars. This particularly tasty Metro is set to serve Julian for years to come, and [...]

It seems like nice Rover 200s are really coming out of the woodwork now, with several having appeared in the space of a few short weeks, reassuring lovers of Hyacynth Bucket’s jumped up saloon car that they’ve made the classic car grade. This example is particularly impressive, not only because it looks more timeless than [...]

Like all Minis, the Lamm Cabrio has something of a cult following. Launched as a Rover product in the early 1991, the Lamm had already been in production for three to meet a demand for open-topped Mini motoring, before it was backed by the factory. Rover was so impressed, it built its own version the [...]

Maestros are perhaps Austin Rover’s favoured Marmite cars. People either love or hate them. Well, we love ‘em at AROnline and to show just how much, the site’s deputy editor has just invested rather heavily in his to keep it in pristine condition. The car lives in Germany, and has been to Poland and back [...]

Rover SD1s. Ah the V8, the Vanden Plas, the Vitesse… but what about the more regular models in the range? We celebrate Gareth Hopkins’ award-winning 2300 Series 2 model by giving it Car of the Month status. However, as you’ll see it’s not only in good condition, but Gareth’s not afraid to use the car [...]

There’s a lot of Wedge-love on AROnline, and we reckon that the most delicious examples of all are the original 18/22 Series models that only ran for a matter of months in 1975. And when it comes to the examples still with us today, top of the list must surely be Alex Sebbinger’s magnificent Wolseley, [...]

This one’s bound to be controversial, but given Vauxhall’s current plight, and the liklihood that what remains at Luton will be put out to pasture, we thought we’d pay our respects by offering up this prized Chevette for Car of The Month. Styled by Geoff Lawson (later of Jaguar) and Wayne Cherry, the curious RWD [...]

With the 50th anniversary of the Mini being big news at the moment, we thought it was time to dip into our vault of potential CoTMs and pull out this one. As you can see, this is a little unusual by today’s standards – an unmodified Austin Rover era Mini City E, the car the [...]

The MG ZS was always considered the ugly duckling of the MG Rover range, but as Adam Sloman has shown with his own example, a few well-chosen modifications and a revised front end certainly sharpen things up. What do you think? Should the MG ZS have received more recognition when new, and is it a [...]

Jaguar has all-but confirmed that the X-TYPE won’t be replaced when it drops out of production in 2010, and a lack sales in the USA is probably the reason for this decision. But just because the Americans didn’t go for it, doesn’t mean it’s a bad car… and Ken Strachan, a man who’s been in [...]

After some time on the dark side owning a Citroën Xantia Activa, and then over eighteen months with a 200 VI, AROnline’s very own technical guru, Brian Gunn, felt the need to move to something slightly more exotic… And in keeping with his very particular tastes, it’s rear wheel drive, and cobbled together from bits [...]

Being the Events Organiser for the Rover SD1 Owners Club, Sally Sheldon usually needs to transport boxes of club stuff, flags, gazebos, banners, scaffolding poles and all the other bits needed to set up a proper club-stand. Good call that the SD1 does not only look good, but offers a very practical, huge load space… [...]

A competitor in the recent Nile Trial endurance rally, David and Margaret Miller’s Rover Streetwise proved remarkably useful in the mixed Northern African scenery… Husband and wife team David and Trish Miller took their rally-prepared Rover Streetwise on the Nile Trial as a last-minute replacement for their usual endurance car, and it proved so successful, [...]