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 [...]

Anything but an average company? I rarely have much reason to be grateful to my 14 year old self, but searching through some old papers at the weekend, I was delighted by my youthful prescience in keeping a Financial Times article from 26 June 1973, the day of the Leyland P76’s launch in Australia. Don’t [...]

Richard Woolley is a successful stylist, with credits that include the Rover 600 and much-lauded Rover 75. His unstinting enthusiasm for the marque comes across in the email correspondence we have shared, and the fact that he is responsible for the shape of Rover’s two best looking cars in recent years, means that whatever he [...]

Lord Stokes: He was up against it from day one when British Leyland was formed in 1968… As is revealed in this interview by Eduard Steiner, which appeared in Auto Motor Und Sport in 1970, it didn’t lessen the man’s optimism for the future, or his pleasure at becoming a Lord. Stokes said he was [...]

Classic Car Weekly magazine features editor, and Allegro and Princess owner Richard Gunn talks to Harris Mann about his life, career, and confesses that not even he liked the Quartic wheel… AS A classic motoring journalist, I guess I lead a pretty privileged life. I get paid money to write about a subject that fascinates [...]

An interview with the man behind many of the company’s greatest cars – and a few that you might not immediately associate with him…. Interviewed by Keith Adams, 13th December 2002 ROVER had enjoyed a very successful time during the 1950s and 1960s – once the company was swallowed by Leyland, Donald Stokes asked King [...]

Sir Alec Issigonis: an insight into the great man, from an interview originally published to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the launch of the Mini. From Autocar magazine, 25 August 1979 The genius today Sir Alec Issigonis still has some interesting ideas on car design. Anne Hope finds he still hates all things big. [...]

A brief chat with the man who was brought into BMC by George Harriman in 1965, with a view to oiling the troubled waters within the company. Interviewed by Keith Adams, 14th November 2002 The BMC Juggernaut was heading for trouble, and it was too late in the day even for a luminary like Raymond [...]

Filling the shoes of the great David Bache was never going to be an easy task. Roy Axe, however, managed to call upon all his Rootes/Chrysler experience to do just this. In fact, not only did Roy Axe succeed in this role, he excelled – although his product plan did not quite see fruition. Correspondence [...]

Autocar, 26 July 1973 Lord Stokes Speaks What I Plan For Triumph In an interview with Graham Robson, Lord Stokes laid bare his plans for sports car motoring at Triumph, and went on to make several provocative remarks about motor sport, new legislation and the future for sports cars in general. Graham Robson – The [...]

Motor magazine, August 1962 WHY IS THE ADO16? Alec Issigonis, technical director of the British Motor Corporation and Charles Griffin, chief engineer, answer questions from our technical editor. Joseph Lowrey, Motor – As soon as they discovered the Mini-Minor’s remarkable qualities, Motorists began asking whether your unique design could also be scaled up into something [...]

Autocar 18 February 1966 Triumph 1300 Harry Webster Talks To Ronald Barker About Its Background And Evolution Ronald Barker – My first question, Mr Webster, is when did you initiate the 1300 project? Harry Webster – About three years ago, I suppose – anyhow, some time after the Leyland takeover. Ronald Barker – So this [...]

Keith Adams Tom WalkinshawThe motor sport community is in mourning following the news that Tom Walkinshaw has died after a battle with cancer. Walkinshaw ran the Benetton, Ligier and Arrows teams in Formula 1 although he is best known for his role in turning Benetton into a World Championship winning equipe, as well as securing the services of [...]

Keith Adams Roy Axe, former Design Director for Rootes Group, Chrysler UK, Chrysler in the USA and Rover has died aged 73. The creator of countless cars, he had been battling with cancer for more than two years and had been living in Florida for the past decade following going into retirement after selling his own [...]

Alex Park: chief executive of British Leyland Alex Park ran British Leyland during a controversial period of the motor manufacturer’s history in 1975-78. Park fought hard to revive the newly nationalised company’s fortunes by stemming the haemorraghing of its funds, restructuring its operations and attempting to raise productivity, but left before being able to fully [...]

THE INDEPENDENT Lord Stokes: Tough industrialist unfairly blamed for the failure of Leyland’s merger with the British Motor Corporation Donald Stokes was chairman of the ill-fated British Leyland Motor Corporation from 1968 to 1975. He was unfairly blamed for the inevitable failure of the government-inspired attempt to bring together all the major British-owned motor companies [...]

DAILY TELEGRAPH Lord Stokes, who died yesterday aged 94, was probably the most outspoken industrialist in Britain in the 1970s when, as chairman of British Leyland, he used colourful language to warn repeatedly of the need for Britain to improve her efficiency to compete effectively in world markets. Sadly, factors including industrial strife and lack [...]

Lord Stokes: former president of British Leyland Keith Adams and Clive Goldthorp ‘I was not and I have never pretended to be a manufacturing expert, ever. I have no pretensions as to that.’ This quote is all the more curious when one considers that it is attributed to Lord Stokes, the man charged by the [...]

THE TIMES As chairman and managing director of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) from its creation in 1968 from the merger with British Motor Holdings and the Leyland Motor Corporation until its demise in a government reorganisation in 1975, Lord Stokes was faced with the intractable task of bringing some shape and order to [...]

THE GUARDIAN British Leyland chief given the unenviable task of turning round the UK car industry in the late 1960s Roger Cowe Lord Stokes, who has died aged 94, had what the Financial Times described as “the toughest job held by any boss in Britain” when, as Sir Donald Stokes, he was given a key [...]