Austin

Rover Special Products was one busy department during the early 1990s, and proof positive is the Montego Lifestyle SUV from the MGA design consultancy. Keith Adams shares previously unpublished photographs […]

Are there any reasonably-priced 1970s classic cars left? It’s a conversation I have with myself many, many times in recent months. Given it’s BL50 year, it’s apposite that the answer […]

In the BMC Board Files, Chris Cowin, author of British Leyland: Chronicle of a car crash, unearths the minutes of BMC’s secret Board meetings and finds that they contain an honest view of […]

The Metro started BL on its road to recovery but, if it was going to be a long-term thing, then it needed to be followed up by equally popular mid-sized […]

AROnline’s historian-in-residence Ian Nicholls digs into the archives to discuss the Austin Allegro launch and growing pains from the perspectives of British Leyland’s movers and shakers at the time. Overture to […]

These Austin Metro prototype engineering drawings are very interesting, because they show how this clever little supermini evolved from the ADO88 to the LC8. Although the two cars look very […]

BL urban myths: there are lies and there are damned lies… Okay, so the products of BMC>MGR have not always been built or designed as well as they could have […]

The BMC A-Series engine did service in a variety of cars for almost 50 years, during which time it was available in a bewildering variety of capacities and states of […]

Based on the Mini, the Austin Metro shared its A-Series engine, and when launched in 1980, it was hailed as the car to save British Leyland. It did, too… […]

Ever wanted a full breakdown of BMC>MGR production figures, but didn’t know where to go? Fear not – AROnline has all the numbers you’ll ever need. […]

In 1959, Innocenti signed a deal with BMC that would see it become a car manufacturer for the first time. That would see it building the Austin A40 for local consumption. By 1963, more than 40,000 A40s had rolled off the line in Milan, and as Keith Adams explains, this one had something of a secret… […]

Sometime in 1979, the Austin-Morris product planners would have met with BL’s upper management to explain the LM10 strategy. This model set perfectly demonstrates how the Montego saloon and estate […]

Austin-Morris looked seriously at a plan to build a saloon version of its upcoming Metro hatchback. But as we exclusively reveal, it was canned rather late in the day due to financial cut backs. […]

ADO74 – the first attempt by British Leyland at replacing the Mini never saw the light of day. It was one project, but had many faces: a wide variety of styling exercises were produced before the programme was cancelled in 1973, as British Leyland could not raise the £130m needed to produce it. […]

The first weekend in July saw the return of the BMC and Leyland Show to the British Motor Museum in Gaydon. Having reached its fifth anniversary, the event can now safely […]

British Leyland was working on a new supermini throughout the 1970s. It settled on an updated Mini with a hatchback, called the ADO88 – the only problem was that it didn’t clinic very well with potential buyers. That’s why the ADO88 transformed into the LC8 – a restyled version penned by David Bache, creator of the Range Rover and the Rover SD1. […]

The ADO88 project was BL’s attempt at creating a supermini out of the original Mini. It formed the basis of the Austin Metro […]

The biggest criticism normally aimed at the Maxi – other than the early model’s obstructive gearchange – is usually reserved for its plain Jane styling. The Aquila showed how it could have been made into a far more stylish beast. Alas, it was only ever to be a one-off styling exercise. […]