When the Type 14 Lotus Elite wowed the crowd at Earls Court in 1957, just nine years had passed since Colin Chapman had built his very first race car. After a meteoric rise in motorsport,…
Browsing Category British Cars
Range Rover Classic: The Beginning of the Luxe Truck
Even Bentley and Rolls-Royce make SUVs today, as unusual as that idea might once have seemed, and 2021’s roads are chock-a-block with luxe utilities. That might not have happened if not for two pioneering trucks,…
Vauxhall Victor F-series: Tri-Five in Miniature
You don’t often see Vauxhalls in the USA, but for a little while, one member of GM’s British contingent was as transatlantic as Katherine Hepburn’s accent. What you see here is an F-type Vauxhall Victor,…
Rover P6: Modern Disguised as Traditional
James Bond might have driven Astons, but George Smiley was a Rover P6 man. Alec Guinness gave Smiley international TV fame two years after Star Wars, and two years after P6 production ended. Guinness was…
Z Magnette: MG’s Modern Sports Sedan
MG is so closely associated with sports cars that some people forget the company always built family cars. The earliest MGs were, of course, just tuner car versions of Morrises, often complete with room for…
MG TC: The Archetypal British Sports Car
It was 10 years old and looked archaic on paper, but the MG TC was the right car for its place and time in a way few cars have ever been. Just 10,001 were made…
1974.5 MGB/GT: Pull Up to the Bumper
Today’s car is our very own 1974.5 MGB/GT. I hear you asking, “point five?” Yes. Typically, new models are launched in the fall that precedes the calendar model year – but that was only partially…
Flashback: Bristol Cars, Kensington
It’s a somewhat sad flashback today looking back at Bristol Cars’ old Kensington showroom at a time when Bristol was still owned by the cantankerous but devoted Tony Crook, then in his late 70s. The…
Jensen Interceptor: The Best of Bromwich
That huge glass hatch, that wide look and that V8 burble – it can only be a Jensen Interceptor. Of course, there was more than one interceptor – the name dated back to 1950. But…
Mini Down Under: Leyland Mini Clubman Van
Eagle-eyed British Leyland fans will also notice that this is not a Mini Clubman estate – although you can be forgiven for the assumption. In fact, it’s not an estate (er, wagon) at all but…
Boldly Transatlantic: the “Audax” Hillman Minx
It was the MG TC that ignited American interest in imported cars, and of course, primarily sports cars. But in the export-or-die era, it wasn’t long before family fare arrived. The first two non-sporting imports…
Too Little, Too Late: Austin Marina
Like so many vehicles created in changing or troubled times for their manufacturer, the Morris Marina was intended as a stopgap model. It was meant to last only four, maybe five, years and was aimed…