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,…
Posts tagged British Cars
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,…
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…
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…
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…
Three-Wheelin’: Reliant Robin Mk1
In time all Reliant 3-wheelers, including the earlier Regal and later Rialto, came to be commonly called “Reliant Robins,” (or worse – “Robin Reliants”) so familiar were they in the fabric of U.K. life. In…
Ace Archbishop: Ford Cortina Mk1 GT
In the 1950s, English Fords had done quite well in the USA, but aside from the Anglia they had been swept aside by the Falcon. But the Falcon didn’t compete directly with the smallest cars…
Triumph TR3: Hard Core
Triumph’s legendary TR3, in fact, all post-war Triumphs, probably wouldn’t have happened if not for an argument between Sir John Black and William Lyons. Former Humber man Black had revived a nearly moribund Standard in…
The David Brown legend: Aston DB2/4 Drophead
Keen on speed from a young age, David Brown was a natural fit for Aston-Martin. Though his father didn’t drive, he grew up around the family business – David Brown & Sons – founded by…
BMC’s Finned Farinas: Austin A55 Cambridge
The story of the big BMC Farina cars starts with the 1952 merger of the Nuffield Organization (Morris, MG, Riley, and Wolseley) and Austin into BMC. Rationalizing the disparate array of cars the combine now…
Airborne Armor: Land Rover 1/2-ton Lightweight
It’s a Land Rover alright, but of a very particular kind – it’s called the “half ton lightweight,” although it’s actually not as light as the name or materials used would imply. The story of…