Sports car concepts

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 […]

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 […]

The Triumph Fury was a little more than a motor show crowd pleaser – it was a hint at what Triumph could really achieve with its sports car range during the 1960s. Shame this show concept didn’t make it into production… It was a huge missed opportunity. […]

The MG DR2/PR5 was created as a modern-day reboot of the Austin-Healey 3000 or MGC – an open-topped, two-seater, multi-cylinder sports car. Its conception and development process was an interesting […]

Robert Leitch tells the story of the amazing ADO30 – a grand tourer that sprung out of a design competition before coming close to replacing the Austin-Healey 3000. The ‘Fireball XL-5’ proved to be a victim of internal politics, tight budgets, and more pressing problems for parent company BMC. But still, it would have been wonderful… […]

The original targa-topped Triumph Bullet and its fastback Lynx cousin were originally conceived to replace the GT6 and TR6 – it was a long-running project. However, internal post-BLMC merger politics […]

The ADO70 Calypso, a sporting Mini prototype, was built by Michelotti as a proposed low-cost replacement for the MG Midget. Sadly, this promising idea was canned before it was evaluated […]

For the Geneva motor show in 1998, Rover unveiled this interesting proposal based on the MGF. The Super Sports lost its windscreen and gained a whole lot more besides. Starting with its 197bhp Janspeed supercharged K-series engine. […]

Ahead of its time This wooden model, photographed in March 1959, clearly shows the interesting passenger door cut-out, which extends into the rear wheelarch area, presumably with the aim of […]

The MG EX234 project was developed in 1964 as a proposed replacement for the MGB. Under the skin lurked some very interesting engineering solutions… The EX234 project was instigated in […]

Back in the late 1960s, when the influence of ex-Ford man, Roy Haynes, started to take hold, some very interesting design projects started to emerge from the Pressed Steel Fisher […]

Keith Adams Originally posted 26 March 2011 It was strange seeing MGF prototypes PR1, PR2 and PR3 for the very first time on a recent visit to Longbridge. I had seen them […]

MGB for the 21st century? Hinted at for some time in the press, the MG GT Concept marries the well-known capabilities of the MG TF chassis and the KV6 engine, […]

Anglo-French Rover? It wasn’t only Matra’s Renault Espace Gen 3 that MG Rover had been interested in – Longbridge executives could have ended up reviving the MG Midget name with […]

The Aston MGB The 10th September 1979 became known as “Black Monday” among MG enthusiasts around the world, because it was the date that BL finally went public with their […]

Active between 1960 and 1964, ADO34 was a project to develop a Mini-based roadster, which would logically have replaced the MG Midget and Austin-Healey Sprite. Different versions were put forward […]

The sporting version of the Imp looks as promising today as it did back during the 1960s. A lack of money would spell its end… Rootes’ engineers knew that the […]

BL Zanda The BL Zanda was a motor show prototype produced by Harris Mann and showed to the world in 1969. This car still exists and is on display at […]