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The Whole Story

The complete history of BMC, British Leyland and Rover, penned by Keith Adams in 2005.

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part One – From humble beginnings…

28 December 2013 Keith Adams 8

Here, in full, is the giant 10-part story of the British Motor Corporation, from its beginnings, through the strife of British Leyland, the brief success of Rover Group and then […]

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Two – Formation of an Empire, BMC is created

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 17

In 1952, old rivalries and suspicions were allegedly slaked when The Nuffield Group and Austin joined forces to become the British Motor Corporation. The idea behind BMC was a good […]

George Turnbull

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Three – British Leyland, turbulent times

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 1

The creation of the British Leyland Motor Corporation, in 1968 may have been a long time coming, maybe it is also easy to describe it as an answer to a […]

Spen King

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Four – The Ryder Years, Ship sinking fast

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 0

Sir Don Ryder had been plunged in at the deep end by the government. He was given little time to make sense of a mess that had been building up […]

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Five : Michael Edwardes arrives

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 5

In August 1977 the inevitable happened and Ryder resigned as Chairman of the NEB. Ryder did not leave on bad terms; in fact when he left he remained upbeat about […]

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Six – The 1980s – a decade of lost opportunities

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 0

Sir Michael Edwardes had left BL a much better position in 1982 than it had been in 1977 – this is an unarguable fact and despite the opinion of some […]

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Seven – Life under British Aerospace

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 2

Life must have seemed very quiet for any Rover manager following the sale of the company to British Aerospace in 1988 – gone were the days of constant media scrutiny, […]

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Eight – Night of The Long Knives

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 1

Many within the media and the British Government saw Honda as being the saviours of Rover; a logical conclusion to draw when one considers the amount of collaborative work that […]

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Nine – Like a phoenix from the flames

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 8

In January 1999 BMW announced that Walter Hasselkus’ replacement as chief executive of Rover was Professor Werner Sämann, a man regarded within the industry as a bit of a ‘tough […]

The Whole Story

The BMC>MG Rover Story : Part Ten – Down and out in Longbridge

25 August 2011 Keith Adams 8

Forget for a moment, all the talk of pension funds, selling the family silver and drunken deals with the Chinese, and cast your mind back to May 2000. The world […]

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Rover Metro development story
Development story

The cars : Rover Metro/100 development story

4 August 2022 40

Under the skin, there was plenty to crow about the Rover Metro of 1990 – the K-Series engine and interconnected Hydragas suspension were a technical marvel in this class. However, […]

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