In Part one of this fascinating series, which originally appeared in Vehicle Engineer, austin-rover.co.uk contributor IAN ELLIOTT applies his insider knowledge to spelling out the exact sequence of mergers that led to the formation of British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), and reviews the product engineering story… MANY people have published incorrect versions of this admittedly [...]

In Part two of this fascinating series, which originally appeared in Vehicle Engineer, austin-rover.co.uk contributor IAN ELLIOTT applies his insider knowledge to the chain of events that started with the launch of the Mini and culminated in downfall of BMC in 1968… ASIDE from its basic A-Series engine, Issigonis’ ADO15 Mini, revealed to an astonished [...]

In Part three of this fascinating series, which originally appeared in Vehicle Engineer, austin-rover.co.uk contributor IAN ELLIOTT applies brings us the insider’s perspective of the formation of British Leyland and the subsequent introduction of the Maxi and Marina… FROM today’s perspective, where every last pundit happily excoriates British Leyland and all its works, it is [...]

In Part four of this fascinating series, which originally appeared in Vehicle Engineer, austin-rover.co.uk contributor IAN ELLIOTT applies brings us the insider’s perspective of the formation of British Leyland and the subsequent introduction of the Maxi and Marina… What next? AN even longer-stroke version of the E-Series, the 1750cc unit, was created for greater power, [...]

In Part five of this fascinating series, which originally appeared in Vehicle Engineer, austin-rover.co.uk contributor IAN ELLIOTT looks at the one of the turning points of the 1970s; the Austin Allegro… To the silly Seventies… WE left the story at the point that the Morris Marina had been launched, in 1971. It was another two [...]

Cost-cutting is rife throughout the industry, but it seemed to affect MG Rover more than any other marque in recent history. Here’s a brief run-down of what changes were made – and why they happened. Hopefully, you’ll also be able to ascertain from this list, which is the best model for you… When pennies count [...]

Many of you will know that the Rover name was owned by BMW and licensed to MG Rover – but following the disollution of the Longbridge-based company in 2005 and the subsequent purchase of the remaining assets to Nanjing (forming NAC-MG), it was retained by Ford as part of the original licence agreement with BMW [...]

The production figures reproduced below show clearly the relative success of the individual BMC>Rover models between 1959 and 2005. Stories that can be extrapolated from the tables include the way that the Mini dwindled away following the launch of the Metro in 1980; how the Allegro never came close to emulating the success of its [...]

Year Events New models 1952 British Motor Corporation is created as a result of talks between Leonard Lord and Lord Nuffield. The actuality is an effective takeover of Morris by Austin – Lord and his second in command, George Harriman, take control of the new conglomerate. Surprisingly, they do not crush Morris because Lord insisted [...]

During the mid-1970s, we heard lots about the Ryder Report – a government sponsored raft of recommendations to ensure BL’s survival and growth into the following decade. Ultimately, they failed… Here is a run-down of what the report actually meant Governing BL’s future? FOLLOWING a disastrous couple of years in the marketplace, by the end [...]

Product planning documents are a unique snapshot of the forward plans for any company with its eye on the future. Back in the 1970s, the political and economic climate within BL changed almost on a weekly basis, depending on the current government’s attitude to funding the giant car company. KEITH ADAMS reveals some of the [...]

THE British Motor Industry may have only gained momentum ten years after that of our continental rivals, but by the time of the great depression in 1929, there were literally hundreds of car producers, big and small dotted across the country. It could be described as a cottage motor industry in many cases, but there [...]

IN 1952, old rivalries and suspicions were allegedly slaked when The Nuffield Group and Austin joined forces to become the British Motor Corporation. The idea behind the formation of BMC was a good one; to form an enormous British car company in order to fight the very real threat posed from overseas manufacturers – and [...]

THE creation of the British Leyland Motor Corporation, in 1968 may have been a long time coming, maybe it is also easy to describe it as an answer to a question that no one had yet posed, but there is a kind of convoluted logic as to why it happened. As we have seen, BMC [...]

SIR Don Ryder had been plunged in at the deep end by the government. He was given little time to make sense of a mess that had been building up since, arguably, before the merger of Austin and Morris in 1952. In a nutshell, he was faced with the following problems: Appalling record across the [...]

IN August 1977 the inevitable happened and Ryder resigned as Chairman of the NEB. Ryder did not leave on bad terms; in fact when he left he remained upbeat about the company’s chances of success in the future. Ryder, however, always considered that debate about British Leyland was discouraged at the NEB and now that [...]

SIR Michael Edwardes had left BL a much better position in 1982 than it had been in 1977 – this is an unarguable fact and despite the opinion of some of his detractors, he had produced tangible results. Whereas at the time of his arrival it looked as though the company was on the verge [...]

LIFE must have seemed very quiet for any Rover manager, following the sale of the company to British Aerospace in 1988 – gone were the days of constant media scrutiny, public haranguing and trade apathy. Arguably, for the first time since 1968, the company could get on with their new model programme, and follow it [...]

Many within the media and the British Government saw Honda as being the saviours of Rover; a logical conclusion to draw when one considers the amount of collaborative work that they and Rover had undertaken, but sadly, this to prove not to be the case. British Aerospace as stewards of the Rover car company had [...]

IN January 1999 BMW announced that Walter Hasselkus’ replacement as chief executive of Rover was Professor Werner Sämann, a man regarded within the industry as a bit of a “tough guy”. He could not have joined Rover at a worse time – its future was far from certain, and it was an inevitability that there [...]