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 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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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, […]
MG’s Sports car for the 21st century RICHARD Hamblin, former Managing Director of OMNI Design, and has managed to give us an invaluable insight into the design of the sports […]
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 […]
MG’s might-have-been bruiser Throughout the mid- to late-’80s, the Austin-Rover design studios produced several MG sports car mock-ups, most of which came to nought. Things became more serious following the […]
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 […]
When MG met Michelotti Until recently, AROnline listed the ADO76 project as a rubber-bumpered version of the MGB, but in essence there was much more to it than that… Moves […]
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 […]
The AR6-based MG Midget During the Mid-1980s, Roy Axe spearheaded the revival of the MG marque, by producing concepts wearing the revered octagonal badge. The idea was to produce interesting, […]
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 […]
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