The Austin-Rover web resource

January 17, 2006 2:50 AM

The Austin-Rover web resource A complete resource of the cars of British car manufacturer Austin Rover. Read the history of such design classics as the Morris Marina, the Austin Maxi, and my own first car, the Austin Allegro. No wonder Britain no longer has much of a car industry.
posted by salmacis (16 comments total)

For the super rich, there's always the upmarket version of the Allegro: the Vanden Plas.

Lovely, jubbly. A nice little motor, my son.
posted by veedubya at 3:07 AM on January 17, 2006

My Dad had an old Marina at one time, which was such a rustbucket I think it was effectively rainwater-soluble. He later had a bright green late-model Allegro with tan vinyl seats. He disliked it so much that he was greatly relieved when someone crashed into it & he was able to procure a Toyota with the insurance payout. The whole site has that authentic air of pervasive disappointment about it which seemed to characterise Austin-Rover.
posted by misteraitch at 3:13 AM on January 17, 2006

My dad's first brand new car was an Allegro Special. The one with the vinyl roof. The badly peeling vinyl roof. Living in a country where the telly wasn't in english, listening to my parents arguing about that heap of a car was my primary source of indoor entertainment.

Good days.
posted by veedubya at 3:25 AM on January 17, 2006

Ah, memories. Memories of lusting after a Triumph Dolomite or a Mini Cooper S. I actually owned a Mini once - complete in BRG with widened steel rims and drastically lowered suspension - I loved that car. My favourite ever was the conversion done to fit two engines into a Mini - the standard unit at the front and another in the back driving the rear wheels (basically another front end jammed in the boot). Can't find a link, unfortunately, but it would be the ultimate street sleeper.

I actually saw a Marina the other day, which made me try to think how long it has been since the past time I saw one. A long, long time.

Good times, good times.
posted by dg at 3:47 AM on January 17, 2006

The British Leyland cars were all awful, badly designed, badly manufactured, even the Jags broke down each and every month. The government (co-)owned company was suffering from a lack of vision in the management which resulted in boring and bad cars and wrong decisions..... the xjs and Triumph TR7, convertibles with fixed roofs and poor handling, etc.. Where did it all go wrong????
posted by Timepieces at 4:22 AM on January 17, 2006

Where did it all go wrong?

Basil Fawlty hit the nail on the head: "The British Leyland Concerto in four movements, all of them slow, with a four hour tea-break in between."
posted by veedubya at 4:33 AM on January 17, 2006

The XJS was just a victim of being built before its time and then being built badly. And having some features that should of been removed when the relocated the engine.

You can buy "modernised" XJS's these days and they are the dogs.

As for Rover. Well. Lets be honest, bar the new Rover 75 the company sucked. Trying to cash in on MGs badge was desperate and lame.

I think in recent times the biggest tragedy of the British car industry is that TVR, once a Blackpools favourite are now owned by a Russian.
posted by 13twelve at 6:21 AM on January 17, 2006

My father had a "buy British" policy. We had 4 Maxis (which must have been OK cars, since he kept buying them), a Marina (which he returned after a week, claiming the understeer was dangerous) and an Ambassador. Since then, it's been foreign cars all the way.

13twelve: My understanding is that since TVR were bought out, the build quality has gone way up.
posted by salmacis at 7:00 AM on January 17, 2006

No wonder Britain no longer has much of a car industry.

Don't worry. Here in America, ours has sucked for the past 20 years, too.
posted by wakko at 7:51 AM on January 17, 2006

I feel your pain salamcis. My dad was a buy British man during that era.

The saving grace was the Maestro, Montegos he owned were the MG versions and had speed as a redeeming feature. The ONLY redeeming feature.

Such crap.
posted by Frasermoo at 8:11 AM on January 17, 2006

Don't worry. Here in America, ours has sucked for the past 20 years, too.

Only your Japanese cars are bigger than our Japanese cars.
posted by bap98189 at 8:57 AM on January 17, 2006

Anyone see "Goodbye Pork Pie"? Sounds like a riot, from the description they give.

I still want a TR7. And an old Mini. Maybe a new one, too.
posted by QIbHom at 9:10 AM on January 17, 2006

My parents had a Marina at one time. My clearest memory is of how drafty it was - above 30mph it whistled. Mum insisted they got rid of it after a wheel fell off.
posted by normy at 9:30 AM on January 17, 2006

The saving grace was the Maestro, Montegos he owned were the MG versions and had speed as a redeeming feature. The ONLY redeeming feature.

Not entirely true. They also had rustproofing. (I so wish I was joking).

The problem with British Leyland was that it was made up of a vast armful of competing (failing) companies, stuck under government rule and expected to exist when the economy was fecked. Just about everything was against them. And that was before you added incompetant management.

You had seperate arms of the company making competing cars just because they could, but you also had the 'luxury' Jaguars shipping with body trim stolen from the Allegro parts bin.

The only real successes of the BL/BMC fiasco were the vehicles they inherited - the Land Rover and the Range Rover.
posted by twine42 at 9:32 AM on January 17, 2006

even the Jags broke down each and every month.
People used to say that, if you wanted a Jag, you had to be able to afford two, because one would always be broken.
posted by dg at 12:28 PM on January 17, 2006

My understanding is that since TVR were bought out, the build quality has gone way up.

Salmacis thats probably true. But. The bad build quality was part of their charm.
posted by 13twelve at 5:58 AM on January 18, 2006