Austin

After First Auto Works stopped selling the slow-selling Lubao and its derivatives, the production rights and tooling were sold to Sichuan Yema Automobile Co, headquartered in Chengdu.  Although the Maestro […]

The three-box ADO16, as restyled by Michelotti – it shared its basic body structure with the South African Austin Apache and, to this day, fans say that this car should […]

There was an operation to build Austin Maestros in Bulgaria, and we have the full and exclusive story of how it came together. Meet the Rodacar Maestro – which we […]

A couple of years after production had ceased in the UK, the Rover version of the Austin Montego was re-introduced in the Indian subcontinent in order to compete in the […]

Central to Austin Rover’s plans for the late-1980s and into the ’90s was a fresh-looking replacement for the under-performing Montego. There were many promising design proposals, but the AR16 and […]

The Austin Apache was designed by Michelotti in 1970, alongside the almost identical Austin Victoria, and was produced by Leyland South Africa at its Blackheath plant from 1971 until the […]

Ian Nicholls crunches numbers to show you just how successful the Mini and BMC 1100/1300 ranges were for their maker. It’s interesting to see how they literally ruled the world […]

Keith Adams on the ADO22, a little-known project to update and refresh the BMC 1100/1300 for the 1970s. Sadly, it didn’t make the cut, and needed to make way for […]

Ever wondered what all those ADO, YDO and LC numbers mean when we’re discussing the history of BMC, BL and Rover cars? […]

The Austin Allegro was almost universally lambasted for being ugly, frumpy and undesirable looking. But the company never set out to build a willfully ugly car, as these images clearly […]

Celebrated as one of BMC’s greatest white elephants, the Austin 3 Litre emerged the way it did because circumstance was not on its side. The Austin 3 Litre development story […]

The car Back in 2011, I visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of Maestros, Montegos and the odd Metro. I’m a former Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it was […]

The Austin Ambassador was a late-life facelift of the Princess, which added the versatility of a hatchback. In addition to this, it gained new styling and a fresh, 1980s-style interior. […]

The BMC 1100/1300 was a world-beater from the get go. At the very least, it became a British institution, becoming the country’s best-selling car for much of the 1960s and […]

THE Italian Allegro, that it seemed, no one wanted… Short and not-so sweet THERE’S not much to say really about the Innocenti Regent. This version of the Allegro was produced […]

Here’s a precious one – produced at the Proto-Build Shop at Canley in 1987, this MG Maestro Turbo that AROnline owned in 2007 is a one of a kind… Here’s the […]

Thirty years ago, Austin Rover Group unveiled the MG Maestro Turbo, which at launch was the fastest accelerating MG road car ever built. David Morgan tells the story behind the […]

Frazer established itself as a new car company in 1981, offering this fabulous-looking Tickford Metro, which was first shown at that year’s London Motorfair. The Tickford name was owned by […]

The Montego development story tells the tale of how the long-overdue replacement for the Austin Ambassador and Morris Ital came into being. However, the Montego failed to realise its potential due to […]