So far ahead and then, well, British Leyland……….

[Wrighty]

So many semi related auto makers round the world that I do not understand.
Seems some Brit cars swapped parts between companies or brand names?
US seems simpler with GM owning numerous brands and swapping parts, or not.
Ford is more of a curio with English Ford, and stuff like the I believe English Ford propane V4 used in fork lifts being borrowed and cast as a V6 then used in the German made Mercury Capri.

Clearly Austin used some same motors as MG, and maybe this was British Leyland "owning" all those car companies?
Or was it a subcontractor company making motors for several auto makers?

Funny how Chrysler became Daimler Benz and we saw Mercedes parts in cheap Dodge cars then that fell apart.
But we still have newly built work vans that look identical and are sold as Mercedes or Dodge.
I have a junk Volvo Volvo, currently drive a Ford Volvo, and my next car will probably be a Swedish investment group Volvo.

I like Volvo because rich folks buy them then at 100k get scared and sell them but poor folks are also scared of "Volvo mechanics" who charge $600 (plus labor) for an alternator etc etc.
(Comfy leather too!)
Also they dont rust in the snow belt, like alla those cars claimed to run 400,000 miles that fall into dust at 150,000.
Dummies in Maine still seem to think a rusted out Tacoma with 250k on the clock is worth $2000?
Poor people thinking!

British Leyland mostly swapped badges, bits of trim and gave them all different model names. The Mini came as an Austin 7, Morris Mini Minor, Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet. All with different bits of tinsel, wood or seat material. Oh, and the Wolseley and Riley both had a box welded on the back to increase boot space.

 

[PonyB]

Any idea who built this little beauty?

 

[Butcher of Strats]

I inherited the Marina’s successor, an Ital. The Marina was the BL competitor to the Ford Cortina and, if I remember rightly, the Ital finished up head to head with the Cortina’s successor, the Sierra and Vauxhall’s Cavalier which ultimately won out due to it’s success as a rep mobile. The Ital was awful. At the time it was the newest car I’d ever owned, but it wasn’t anything like modern, even in it’s day. I remember loose trim, rough velour seats and woeful handling. Take a roundabout at more than walking pace and you were cornering on the door handles.

Curious what the Marina is and if sold under other auto maker names?
I keep seeing Morris Marina, but I had an Austin Marina two door, with IIRC the same motor as an MGB.
Got the car for like $50 and it was OK except for only 17psi compression in one of the cylinders.
Burned a lot of gas that way plus gas got past the rings into the oil so I pulled the pushrods on the bad cylinder and ran a winter on the other three cylinders.
Bad tie rod ends too so I took two off a junkyard car, some oddball junkyard half way up the coast of Maine had all Brit cars, self service so I took them off something or other and they fit my Austin.

 

[Wrighty]

Curious what the Marina is and if sold under other auto maker names?
I keep seeing Morris Marina, but I had an Austin Marina two door, with IIRC the same motor as an MGB.
Got the car for like $50 and it was OK except for only 17psi compression in one of the cylinders.
Burned a lot of gas that way plus gas got past the rings into the oil so I pulled the pushrods on the bad cylinder and ran a winter on the other three cylinders.
Bad tie rod ends too so I took two off a junkyard car, some oddball junkyard half way up the coast of Maine had all Brit cars, self service so I took them off something or other and they fit my Austin.

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They had old A series 1300 cc engines and antique running gear.

 

[Butcher of Strats]

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They had old A series 1300 cc engines and antique running gear.

Yeah thats the body style, surprised it was a 1300cc though?
I forget what info I had, probably a Chiltons.
I do recall the stick shift pulled out of the transmission now and then.
I see the Morris was sold in the US as an Austin.

 

[StratUp]

I usually got 25 mpg, but that's still 200 miles per tank. Yes, to get 200 miles of range on lead acid batteries you'd need ridiculous weight, and to get it with lithium it's still a lot.

Most Americans have cars that will go 350-odd miles, and we fill up roughly once a week or maybe every 10 days. The thing with an electric car is you can plug it in at home. And 35 miles worth of charge is about what you'd get overnight on a regular 120v extension cord. So you plug in when you get home and it's ready to go the next day. You don't need a week's worth of range, you need a day's worth. Plus maybe a little extra just for comfort's sake.

I drive way less than 35 miles most days. I drive more than that about twice a month. An electric car with a range of 35 miles would be sufficient for 93% of my driving; I'd still need a different vehicle for the other 7% of the time.

AFAIK, you're not supposed to charge electric car batteries until they are down to about 20%. You also don't charge to 100%, more like 80%. Still works for commuters though.

 

[drp146]

I grew up in the 70s and my dream car was an MG or Triumph....but my father, who is a sports car fanatic, warned me away from British cars.

But man, this just looks so sweet:

and this one!

and this:

That last pic looks a lot like mine, without the hardtop.

 

[BuckNekkid]

IDK, BMW bought the Mini Cooper?

And ruined it.

I had a 1961 Mini Cooper. It was a gas to drive (and they were the hands-down winners in SCCA B and C class sportsters. You couldn't give me one of those fugly Beemishes.

 

[omahaaudio]

where did it all go wrong?

 

[omahaaudio]

I have a card saying I'm a factory trained British Leyland mechanic.

One of those came with every Haynes repair manual.

 

[drp146]

One of those came with every Haynes repair manual.

Well, I got mine by going to their factory school in Houston, when I was working at one of their dealerships.

 

[rolandson]

Had a 68 MGB-GT in the mid 80's. As long as it didn't require mechanical services, that was a fun car to ...

We had some cobblestone streets near the railroad switching yard. In the rain, it was fun to see how many 360's I could do...

Had use of an Austin Marina in the mid seventies...what a piece of rubbish.

Spouse however had a Datsun 510.
Nice large engine compartment with a small iron 4 cyl engine inside. One could basically crawl into the compartment to work on the motor ...with room to spare.

That car is still running. She sold it to the mechanic she used, who still has it.

 

[drp146]

Had a 68 MGB-GT in the mid 80's. As long as it didn't require mechanical services, that was a fun car to ...

We had some cobblestone streets near the railroad switching yard. In the rain, it was fun to see how many 360's I could do...

Had use of an Austin Marina in the mid seventies...what a piece of rubbish.

Spouse however had a Datsun 510.
Nice large engine compartment with a small iron 4 cyl engine inside. One could basically crawl into the compartment to work on the motor ...with room to spare.

That car is still running. She sold it to the mechanic she used, who still has it.

I learned to do sliding back turns in MGB's. They weren't mine though, they were customers cars. If they only knew what we put them through!

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

One of those came with every Haynes repair manual.

I keep asking my pal Alan if Jags and Land Rovers will ever come with heated rear bumpers...

... to keep your hands warm while pushing them.

 

[Neil.C]

Any idea who built this little beauty?

It's a French Citroen, you can tell by the corrugated sides.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

So many semi related auto makers round the world that I do not understand.
Seems some Brit cars swapped parts between companies or brand names?
US seems simpler with GM owning numerous brands and swapping parts, or not.
Ford is more of a curio with English Ford, and stuff like the I believe English Ford propane V4 used in fork lifts being borrowed and cast as a V6 then used in the German made Mercury Capri.

Clearly Austin used some same motors as MG, and maybe this was British Leyland "owning" all those car companies?
Or was it a subcontractor company making motors for several auto makers?

Funny how Chrysler became Daimler Benz and we saw Mercedes parts in cheap Dodge cars then that fell apart.
But we still have newly built work vans that look identical and are sold as Mercedes or Dodge.
I have a junk Volvo Volvo, currently drive a Ford Volvo, and my next car will probably be a Swedish investment group Volvo.

I like Volvo because rich folks buy them then at 100k get scared and sell them but poor folks are also scared of "Volvo mechanics" who charge $600 (plus labor) for an alternator etc etc.
(Comfy leather too!)
Also they dont rust in the snow belt, like alla those cars claimed to run 400,000 miles that fall into dust at 150,000.
Dummies in Maine still seem to think a rusted out Tacoma with 250k on the clock is worth $2000?
Poor people thinking!

It's been like this for a long time. Ford Europe was using Peugeot diesel engines in Granadas back in the late 70s. They still use Peugeot diesel engines and gearboxes, and now they own Mazda, you find a lot of parts that are common to Mazdas. When they bought Jaguar, as new models were introduced, the engines, gearboxes and running gear was sourced from the Ford 'parts bin'.
GM Europe has basically just been rebadging models since the late 70s - every Opel model had a Vauxhall badged equivalent in the UK.

By the way, the 'new Mini' was a BMW project, probably brought about by the success of the 'new Beetle'. BMW didn't 'buy' Mini.

 

[Cesspit]

That's where we were different to the rest of Europe. In Italy, they buy Italian cars, in France they buy French cars etc etc. It might have been partly national loyalty, but it was also maybe because they realised that, without a car industry, their manufacturing sector was ****ed. And therefore the country was ****ed.

But in this country, car buyers didn't look at it this way. So our car industry was indeed ****ed & later died. Pretty much the same thing happened to our entire engineering infrastructure.

If the country is indeed ****ed now (and the evidence is certainly pointing that way...). the rot started in the 1970s.

Spot on, same happened to our motorcycle industry. Thank God for John Bloor and his vision for Triumph motorcycles, proving with the right mindset great machines can be produced in the UK.

 

[HighwayStar106]

Any idea who built this little beauty?

That’s a Citroen HA van. Beloved of hipster coffee-sellers.

 

[stratman323]

So many semi related auto makers round the world that I do not understand.
Seems some Brit cars swapped parts between companies or brand names?
US seems simpler with GM owning numerous brands and swapping parts, or not.
Ford is more of a curio with English Ford, and stuff like the I believe English Ford propane V4 used in fork lifts being borrowed and cast as a V6 then used in the German made Mercury Capri.

Clearly Austin used some same motors as MG, and maybe this was British Leyland "owning" all those car companies?
Or was it a subcontractor company making motors for several auto makers?

Austin & Morris were basically the same thing. You could get an Austin or Morris 1100/1300. That never made sense to me either. Rover made the posh cars in the range - those big ugly saloons that MPs used. Jaguar was posher still but with more performance & lots of wood.

MG started out as Morris Garages, in Oxford I assume, & they used Morris engines to make their sports cars. British Leyland was the umbrella group, I believe they made lorries too.

 

[stratman323]

Not to argue but identifying details?
I had the impression the industrial revolution wuz borne in the USA?
Guess it depends on at what point do we say last year it was not then the next year it was.

Seriously?

Wow. History teaching really needs to take a greater priority. That's actually quite scary...