British Cars

[928cs]

I've had a couple of interesting British cars come my way over the past few years whilst hanging out at an established British car restoration shop. I've seen some of the finest restorations of E-Types and other rarely seen cars like a '57 Lemans 24 AC ACE Bristol. Some of these were brought back from the grave. One was considered too far gone but the owner wouldn't hear of it. It's spectacular now but of course that came at a price. It was a money is no object restoration.

All of these cars are interesting even if I've seen the ugly side of ownership. They're not all bad but many seem to have had bad owners. That seems to be the fate of inexpensive sports cars. All electrical issues I've seen have been the work of ham fisted mechanics or ignorant owners. (Remember, ignorance is curable, stupidity is not)

A couple of superb TR250's and I have crossed paths as well as the TR6, MGB and other Triumphs like a GT6 (SMALL!) and a real favorite, a RHD TR3.

Now an MGA has popped up as has a TR4 with Surrey Top. The TR4 is my favorite of the series. Gionvanni Michelotti did a magnificent job.

Last but not least a very well sorted +4 Morgan.

I'm leaning toward the TR4 just because it has more "wheaties" and offers up a lot of choices when it comes to modifications. The MGA is a classic though and is a tough one to overlook especially since the SO likes it a lot. It's beautiful sitting still.

Up to this point doing nothing has been SOP for these temptations but it may be time.

I would love to hear and see about the AC Ace Le Mans.
A friend of mine owns a real one too, Ex-Le Mans and Tour de France in period, with a special bodywork.

A Classic Mini is a great car, ideal for a crazy dog like I was at 18. I loved mine, and girls liked it too.
I miss the no-assistance of any kind experience.

[62S-R-S]

I would love to hear and see about the AC Ace Le Mans.
A friend of mine owns a real one too, Ex-Le Mans and Tour de France in period, with a special bodywork.

A Classic Mini is a great car, ideal for a crazy dog like I was at 18. I loved mine, and girls liked it too.
I miss the no-assistance of any kind experience.

@#!

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[geneulm]

If there were such a thing as an r-gruppe gt6, I've put one together. Seems a lot faster than it is. Has lots of drama. But SMALL! Same car I drove as a teen when staying with my aunt and uncle in Seattle in the late 70sIMG_5237.jpgIMG_5236.jpgIMG_5238.jpgIMG_5241.jpg[ATTACH=CONFIG]

I have no clue on how to turn these pix around.

[911MRP]

We didn’t make many of these Lotus 340R — quite an interesting variation the Lotus Elise so nice to see a group of seven together and have a chat to the owners several who said they had bought and had them from brand new

https://www.goodwood.com/grr/event-c...s-were-broken/

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Steve

[sithot]

A GT6 is fun. A little cramped inside but nice seat of the pants input. The sense of speed is really there!

NOTE: The ignition key is not intuitive! See it?

An original set of wheels were installed to sell it but I liked the spoke style a lot more.

[geneulm]

I used the one-off ill fated gt6r as my inspiration. So a true irs made from triumph bits replaced the rotoflex. Fabricated rear a-arms and vertical shock mounts along a LSD. Front is similar tubular a arms. Vented ford front disks.

[budge96]

Ahh British cars where it all started or uhm didn’t from time to time haha, had a run of TR’s starting with a 250:resurrected from the grave
then TR6’s at least three a couple with hard tops ..
Even had a spitfire or two neighbors had MGB GT and our club consisted of mostly TR6 ‘s and TVR s back after college.
Only recently heard the swan song of British cars and had to pull the trigger on a BR green ‘76 TR6 basket with factory hard top cheaper than a lot of transmissions we talk about around here LOL …Bert

[911MRP]

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How about a Lotus Exige? This is photo of an example I took recently at the Goodwood track. The couple who had long-owned it said it was a much used and much enjoyed example of a series 1.

For those who interested in automotive new product development and engineering this extract is from a Lotus internal memo among my papers.
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Minutes of one of a stage-gate meeting where we formally signed it off back at turn of the millennium when I was a one of the two directors of Lotus Engineering Ltd business . An original paper with my hand annotation. Obviously just a partial; it wouldn’t be appropriate to post the content of an internal document of a work meeting that I participated in. Note by this point we weren’t using the internal “code name” for the development project. However is under working title of “Elise Coupe” so predates the Exige name we being used.

I seem to recall we launched the first series Exige at Brands Hatch with the help of the worlds fastest man on four wheels — the world land speed record holder and Royal Airforce Pilot Andy Green. Although that event might’ve been the launch of the the Elise motorsport version developed as a single model race series in support of the then hugely popular British Touring Car Championship. Lot going on in Lotus Engineering Ltd and Group Lotus Plc that time. Lotus cars are just one customer of Lotus Engineering: in the latter the talented teams were very busy just with not only refresh of Elise, M250 ( thst a different sage gate we terminated) but also things for other OEMs e.g. developing the GM Speedster/VX220 and the design development of the “world engine” for GM and helping PAG develop the Aston Martin Vanquish a car that is now known to have featured a lot of Lotus innovations. Unsurprisingly some of the specifics of which model launches happened where and when are a bit hazy nearly quarter of a century later.



Maybe if keen on a British car a VX 220 the British Vauxhall marque badged variant:
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/top...vauxhall-vx220
It’s a niche car that might fit the bill? Not only designed and developed with significant Lotus Engineering Ltd support but each was built in the greenfield factory we stood-up at Hethel England specifically to assemble them alongside the then new second generation Elise. They shared the same underpinnings. Don’t know about these cars being a “Classic” yet but recalling all this frenetic activity on the Lotus Engineering project portfolio around 25 years ago makes me feel old Particularly when I see the new factory we commissioned back then has been retired and a replaced with new one there!


Steve

[911MRP]

… or perhaps a an Aston Martin Vanquish ? This attachment is an old article but it touches on some of the collaboration in Britain during the development and build programme. Aston Martin Lotus Engineering Ltd, TWR and others working together to bring new thinking to a historic British marque. And of course the charming talented Mr Callum who designed it is British.

https://www.autozine.org/Archive/Ast.../Vanquish.html

Steve

[sithot]

Anyone exploring the Shenandoah Valley should visit this place. The photos on the website appear to be down. They are on vacation till July 10. Here's one link that's working.
https://www.gassmanautomotive.com/about-us/

And this one is pretty neat too:
https://www.gassmanautomotive.com/re.../ac-greyhound/


BTW; they have a really cute '53 Morgan Plus 4 Twin Spare for sale.