Month: July 2011

If a hatcback would have improved the versatility of the Princess, just think what an estate version could have offered. Picture supplied by Chris Collin

Turbo Technics cashed in on the popularity of the aftermarket turbo conversion throughout the 1980s; as the years passed, it conversions became increasingly wild. Thankfully, this Metro was reasonably mild… […]

Janspeed had been around for years, offering a range of tuning parts for cars as diverse as the Ford Fiesta and the Rover 3500. The Janspeed Metro was offered as […]

“Cowley’s Cortina” also received the MG treatment in an attempt to give the upmarket versions a little bit more cachet than perhaps the Austin could manage. When the Montego was […]

It has been said that the MG Maestro was never planned for during the LM10 development programme – certainly, early prototypes were badged as Austin Maestro EXPs. The MG badged […]

The Metro was the first Austin Rover car to be subjected to the MG treatment. Arguably, it was the most successful recipient of the octagon treatment, perhaps because the early […]

In 1986, we were treated to a pedestrian-friendly Metro – somewhat ahead of its time, we feel… Snub-nosed Metro THE Pedestrian Safety Car One (PSC1) had a re-designed nose, compliant […]

The Ford Fiesta is celebrating two milestones in the summer of 2011, reaching its 35th birthday with a total of 15 million cars produced worldwide. But despite turning 35, Fiesta […]

The Honda Ballade came to BL in the early months of 1980, and the company planned to create a different look for the car. The sketches, penned by the BL […]

Keith Adams The Defender is probably the most recognisable new car you can buy today, and like the Mini and the Jaguar E-type has become a British icon. That it’s […]

In 1990, world-renowned carrozzeria ItalDesign unveiled its Kensington – a very Italian take on how the next Jaguar saloon should look like. Could producing it for real given Jaguar its […]

A mid-1970s update and bumper height regulations meant that Jaguar needed to facelift the front end. Some of these proposals are very interesting indeed… A new face Images supplied by […]

Getting the styling right on Project XJ4 was always going to be tricky… And as you can see, they had a few goes at it, before settling on the final, […]

The Triumph 1300 was built in Israel by Autocars in a small-scale CKD operation. No doubt, the sophisticated little Triumph was seen as an effective upward expansion of the range… […]

The bloodline of Triumph’s popular small saloon, the Dolomite, can be traced back to the front-wheel-drive Triumph 1300 of the mid-Sixties. This timeline charts the key points in the development […]

The 1300 was a vitally important car for Triumph. It is clear from the number of attempts to get the styling right that the company wasn’t taking any chances – […]

Developed as a Metro replacement, on a shoestring and using a whole host of carry-over parts, the re-born Rover 200 should have possessed all the appeal of a damp weekend […]

We know that BMC investigated expanded the 1800 into van, hatchback and estate versions, but never got much further than the drawing board. However, one interprising individual in Australia went […]

When badge-engineering was at its height, BMC’s middle-market cars played host to a myriad of marque names. The ADO16 and Farina saloons were the most numerous, as they were offered […]

Alongside their trademark convertibles, Crayford were beginning to produce “estate car” conversions in the 1960s, the more apposite term “hatchback” not really having been coined at this stage. The Crayford […]

With its long wheelbase and front-wheel drive layout, the 1800 would have made the ideal starting point for a range of commercial derivatives. Sadly, only the Australians saw fit to […]