The second ever Land Rover concept was revealed at the 2008 Detroit Motor Show, after being previewed to the press in December 2007. It was a design masterpiece, and few […]
The Austin Ant (development code ADO19) is an interesting car, because it was a proposed military replacement for the Mini Moke overseen by Sir Alec Issigonis that featured a clever […]
The new Rootes B Car programme would prove to be a departure from the model that preceded it, the Hillman Hunter. The main difference between the Hillman Avenger and Hunter […]
MG Rover was keen to obtain the rights to other manufacturers’ vehicles and re-brand them as its own. We had the CityRover, but we could have ended up with this […]
In a week when we’ve been marking the 40th anniversary of the Austin Ambassador, it seems natural to ask the question: why was it in production for such a short […]
Before the MG XPower SV made its debut in 2003, Omni Design came up with these octagon-badged supercar proposals. Managing Director Richard Hamblin shares the inside story… MG’s sports car […]
Was the Triumph Broadside one of the biggest missed opportunities of the British Leyland era? It was designed to take the best bits of the TR7 it was based on, […]
Rover Special Products wanted to recreate the magic of the early-1980s by producing a spiritual successor to the MG Metro Turbo. The Metro SP was that car and it reached […]
Think the idea of a new-age Land Rover Defender is a new one? Think again… British Leyland’s Specialist Division had a very convincing crack at it back in the early […]
After Rover pulled the plug on the promising AR6 programme, Design Director Roy Axe decided that a light rebody of the upcoming K-Series Metro was required to keep it selling. […]
The Maestro Express was conceived by Austin Rover Group following a competition staged by a national newspaper to gauge the views of female drivers about their experiences of car ownership. […]
In the mid-1980s and following the opening of Roy Axe’s new Canley Design Studio, Austin Rover Design began to rediscover its mojo after some lean years. The AR6-based MG Midget […]
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 […]
Keith Adams tells the short-and-sweet story of the Austin Allegro Equipe – a go-faster saloon that its maker sold as a homegrown alternative to the Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti or […]
In the late-1970s, BL invested in its future by looking at the next step in engineering design. Under the leadership of Spen King, British Leyland Technology was created, and out of it came some fascinating projects, including the lightweight ECV3 prototype. […]
We don’t know much about the BMC 10X, only that Sir Alec was sketching it out around the time of the formation of BLMC. It could have been very interesting […]
Keith Adams lifts the lid on the little-known ADO76 project – Cowley’s early look at replacing the MGB. This styling sketch is all we’ve uncovered so far, but it offers […]
Ever wondered what all those ADO, YDO and LC numbers mean when we’re discussing the history of BMC, BL and Rover cars? […]
The Morris Marina was conceived in a hurry, but its Designers consoled themselves in the fact that it was only going to last five or six years… Here we reveal […]
In 1967, Joe Edwards of BMH managed to secure the services of Roy Haynes from Ford as a stylist at the new BMH/Pressed Steel styling studios at Cowley in Oxford. […]
The wraps came off the MG EX-E at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1985, and the automotive world sat up and took notice. The car was conceived to showcase AR […]
Some images from the Rover P10 programme, that would eventually sire the Rover SD1… Rover P10 concept design The Rover P10 and Triumph Puma were rival projects to build British […]
The Leyland P82 would have supplemented the P76 and Force 7, and would have provided an up-to-date replacement for the Leyland Marina. Industry expert Jack Yan fills in the blanks […]
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