Here’s an interesting one – and one that poses more questions than answers them. This rendering fell into the lap of Land Rover Historian and former product planner, brand manager […]
The 1970 Hillman Avenger Liftback was the Rootes Group’s attempt to extend the appeal of its new mid-sized saloon – with a smaller hatchback version. The project would originally go […]
Before the Leyland Sherpa, BLMC looked into a more radical front-wheel-drive van to replace the ageing J4-series under the codename CV300. Thanks to the recent unearthing of these images from […]
The industry norm for the mid-1980s was for a car design to last about three to four years before it received its first facelift. In the case of the Maestro, […]
The Rover 75 would prove to be one of the hardest cars in the industry to facelift. That didn’t stop MGR Designer Lee Mitchell having a go with a re-nose […]
The Bentley Burma was an interesting six-cylinder saloon borne from BMC’s short-lived Joint Venture with the Rolls-Royce Group. It was to have been the company’s first monocoque production car, but […]
Think the idea of a new-age Land Rover Defender came along with Gerry McGovern’s smooth reboot? Think again… British Leyland’s Specialist Division had a very convincing crack at it back […]
The Austin Allegro was almost universally lambasted for being ugly, frumpy and undesirable looking. We take another look at the design process to show how the company never set out […]
Ah, the joys of social media… The Lignes/Auto website recently shared the above image in its social media feed. It was part of a quiz, asking members to identify this […]
First shown at the 1967 Geneva Motor Show, the Zagato Rover 2000 TCZ offers a fascinating insight into how a sporting P6 might have looked. This Lancia-looking coupe rather trod […]
Worthing-based International Automotive Design (IAD) decided to raise its profile with a TR7 facelift project called the IAD TRX… The design consultancy came up with a very 1980s incarnation of […]
BMC Australia and its Leyland successor produced some interesting prototypes along the way. This front-wheel-drive, V8-powered Austin 1800 was seriously investigated in 1968. However, it made way for the more […]
Had the BMC/ERA Project 378 or ‘Maximin’ come to fruition, the BMC 1100 and 1800 could have been rear-engined cars. Keith Adams recalls this fascinating project. Project 378: In an […]
The Italian design house of Bertone had a number of BL proposals over the years, but they were never taken up. Here are four Jaguar concepts that failed to make the grade. […]
The MINI Hot Potato was penned as a replacement for the long-lived classic in the early 1990s, as part of a series of radical proposals penned at Gaydon. Its Designer […]
Work on the promising MG ADO21 began in Abingdon in 1968, following the formation of BLMC. The E-Series powered mid-engined sports car had the looks of a Ferrari, but was […]
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 […]
Keith Adams remembers the Ford Probe III concept, unveiled at the 1981 Frankfurt Motor Show. This was no mere show-starring flight of fancy – it was there to preview the […]
Conceived as an advanced replacement for the Audax range and created with the same set of goals as the Hillman Imp, the rear-engined Rootes Swallow could have been the Group’s […]
Could car production have remained at DeLorean’s Northern Irish factory when the DMC-12 went out of production in 1981? Automotive industry grandee Barrie Wills tells the inside story of how […]
The BMC Mini Sports project was penned by BMC as a response to the excellent Pininfarina 1800 Aerodynamica – could this wonderful fastback shape be scaled down into the Mini […]
Ever wondered what all those ADO, YDO and LC numbers mean when we’re discussing the history of BMC, BL and Rover cars? Worry not, because our exhaustive list of development […]
Leyland 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 […]
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