Craig Cheetham
Happy New Year! Whether you love partying until the early hours and revelling in the sentimentality of the occasion, or, like me, prefer to stick the kids in bed and curl up on the sofa with a beer and a good book, the festivities are pretty much over, and for many of us it’ll be back to reality with a bang over the coming few days.
In terms of New Year’s resolutions, I’ve made a few. The vast majority won’t interest you – although among them are a commitment to buy a Rover 75 or MG ZT before the year is out (as cheaply as possible, for I always do) and to finally get my two latest projects up and running so I can write about them in ‘Our Cars’, especially as I’ve owned one of them for five months now…
There’s plenty to come from AROnline in 2015, too. In terms of new cars, there’s the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Jaguar XE and MG’s new SUV to look forward to, and no doubt many others besides.
And there are also a number of significant anniversaries – not least the fact that 10 years will have passed since MG Rover fell off its perch – we covered the story in great detail on this site at the time, and will be going back over some of the coverage during the Spring.
In addition, we also hope to bring you a couple of interviews with people who were there at the time – no guarantees, but we’re working on it.
One thing we’ll definitely do, though, is mark some of the more significant birthdays among ‘our’ cars. I’ve no doubt missed a few, as this list was compiled under the influence of eggnog, so please leave a comment if there’s one we’ve missed and need to cover…
For starters, though, 2015 marks:
60 years of the MGA
Albeit extremely hard to believe, given the fact it still looks so lithe and aerodynamic.
50 years of the Mini Marcos
An often forgotten, but ultimately pretty cool half kit car Mini derivative.
40 years of the BL Princess, Jaguar XJ-S, Rolls-Royce Camargue, Reliant Kitten and AMC Pacer
Clearly, 1975 was a vintage year for the car industry. Although there’s nothing British about the Pacer, we’ve included it in this list as it’s often referred to as ‘America’s Allegro’, and we’ll be profiling its rise and, er, fall later in the year…
Happy Birthday, too, to Coventry’s infamous flying buttresses and arguably Mann’s greatest creation, the Princess ‘Wedge’.
30 years of the MG Montego Turbo and MG Metro 6R4
One, an iconic and highly successful performance car well worthy of the MG moniker, the other a souped-up Metro (you can tell he’s been drinking, can’t you?)
25 years of the Rover 400, Rover Metro Mk 2 and Mini Cooper RSP
The car that put Mini back on the map, the car that put the boot into the excellent R8 and the upmarket-feeling supermini that won What Car’s Car of the Year award as Rover rode the crest of a wave – how times, sadly, changed…
20 years of the MGF
Unbelievable as it seems, Gerry McGovern’s mid-engined two-seater is two decades old this year…
Wishing you all a safe, prosperous and Happy New Year – and please keep supporting and following AROnline…
- News : Sponsor a CityRover restoration in aid of CALM - 8 July 2020
- Unsung Heroes : Rover Streetwise 2003-2005 - 27 September 2019
- News : ‘As-new’ Metro Vanden Plas 500 unearthed - 30 July 2015
Happy New Year to all the AROnline team!
A couple of other anniversaries not mentioned: 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of HHR/Theta, the ‘2nd’ generation Rover 400 Series and R3, the third generation 200 Series.
Thirty years ago in April was the launch of the MG Montego Turbo, not the MG Montego [EFi] which itself was announced in April 1984 as part of the main Montego saloon line-up. 1985 also saw the launch of the evolution Rover SD1 Vitesse, the much vaunted twin-plenum Vitesse.
Talking of Rover Vitesses, it was 30 years ago in March that the first Austin Rover Group engine appeared in a Honda-designed model in the form of the S Series-powered Rover 216, which of course included the 216 Vitesse EFi.
Twenty years ago the first examples of the mildly updated Rover Metro range(now known as the Rover 100 Series in all markets) went on sale, having been announced on Boxing Day in 1994.
45 years ago saw the launch of the Triumph Stag and the Range Rover.
There are probably a few other anniversaries I have missed out, but 2015 certainly looks like being a bumper year for celebrations.
Happy new year everyone.
Thanks for the above David3500, not enough Triumph stuff on the site.
How can the XJS be 40? Every inch a “proper” classic now, love it or hate it.
It’s also 20 since the launch of the e39 generation 5 Series – again, love it or hate it, it was a game changer!
Happy new year everyone 🙂
30 years since the Bentley Turbo R, whilst they may have bodged a turbo onto the Mulsanne in ’83, the R was the real deal with suspension and handling tweaks that allowed you to really enjoy the extra power.
Happy new year, this is definitely the best motoring website around and I’ve enjoyed it for the last 13 years.
40 years of the Princess, this is one anniversary I will be celebrating as I’ve been a big fan of the wedge shaped car since the late seventies and once it was sorted around 1977 became a very nice car.
Happy New Year to all. So many enjoyable hours have been spent on this website along with making friends with several who share the same passion for the cars.
MG geek observation – the red MG F above seems to have a different tonneau cover to Fs and TFs that I have seen which tuck under the rear edge of the boot lid. Any ideas?
@Eamonn: there were two versions available, I think up to and from 1998. I recently bought one which does not go under the boot lid on ebay but it doesn’t fit on my 2000 model year MGF. This variant is held in place by a wire worked into the rear edge of the tonneau cover but there is nowhere for this to go on my MGF.
Thanks tr_man
Was it not in the autumn of 1995 that the Vauxhall Cavalier was replaced by the Vectra? I still miss that generation of Vauxhall Cavalier.
So does everybody that appreciates rock solid reliable and cheap motoring I should think!
What is an e39 5 series? I don’t remember seeing one in Buists.
This one: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=e39&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GLGlVKTnENfkatD5grAH&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=585
The Pacer looks like a P6 prototype.
Forty years of the XJ3.4.
25 years of the ROVER Metro – that one really strikes me! Again, I can remember my first viewing – I was working for Plaxton Group ( which owned Henlys ) and the very first had that day arrived at the dealership. Seems like yesterday when Metro suddenly became a refined, quality machine.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!
@ Sam
And Buist / Brammall never sold BMW either… they were BL/ARG dealers in the North East (ahem) (sarc)
This is a site for UK cars.
Forty Years of the TR7? or not?
On sale in USA yes, show in Europe yes, but not here in UK until ’76.
Yes, almost 10 years since MG Rover folded. That was about the same time that I discovered aronline and it was so useful in providing so much objective detail as to what was happening, plus the involvement of SAIC and Nanjing Auto. I look forward to another great year for aronline!
A personal annicersarie: 10 years since i bought my very first car: a 1985 rover vitesse, which in turn sparked the Rover-Fever again in the family.
Still got the vitesse… She’s turning 30 this year…. Wonder what kindoff cake i should get 🙂
For me, Rover Metro Mk2 is one of the most interested car, by the fact that it was one of the last ‘real’ British cars and ‘fun to drive’ character(Although it hasn’t been existed in South Korea). Maybe I have to say like; Congratulations to having a 25th birthday!