Shite might-have-beens

[kinkersaab]

[HillmanImp]

I found this....I think it should win the compo:

 

 

In a more serious note, I did find this on t'interweb a few years back:

 

 

Which I think is real fly (except for the fucking awful wheels).

 

Rootes did make one apparently and this is someones recreation that they knocked together in the 80's.

 

[uk_senator]

Heres some I made earlier:

 

Lada coop:

 

XJ40 coops:

 

X350 coop:

 

XJ40 estate:

 

Only yesterday I was sat behind this, thinking I bet I could get that roof & tailgate to fit...

[Richard]

Metro Breadvan

Rather shit mock up I did in paint once upon a time.

 

I saw a real one just like that being bangered in the 1990s.

[DodgyBastard]

I'd quite like a Polo derby breadvan, something like this,

 

 

[Partridge]

So Rover were behind 911?

 

The X350 coupe makes me want to throw up, but I really like the XJ40 estate and coupe.

 

I’m liking the Polo Classic GTi-a dream realised. And didn’t somebody say something about a Cav MK3 estate? http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9 ... qiOAaT4ixk

 

The Derby Breadvan remind me of the MK3 Escort estates.

[uk_senator]

Oh, I forgot, I did these over a decade ago on paint...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this was made in small numbers, but should have been mainstream:

 

I did do a Calibra fronted Carlton B estate somewhere (& a Senator B fronted one), but I cant find it now.

[Spiny Norman]

I did this one of my Royale. Would have made quite a smart wagon I reckon....

 

[Albert Ross]

Ital Estate/Van using the BL/Perkins Prima 2 litre diesel from the Shilpa. (same basic layout as the petrol 2 litre....) Would have made a stonking towcar (in beige)...

[Partridge]

I’m sure the Marina Van has been done, by someone, somewhere. It would have been a great car to go head to head with the Bedford HA...

[ayrshirelad]

The Metro saloon looks very much like a Nova saloon that vauxhall did make. As for the Marina VDP, where do i sign for that!? There is pics of a mock up of a Marina coupe badged as an MG. Perhaps had they sorted the suspension properly they could have made the TC saloons and coupes as Mg models and sold them for a higher price. Morris Garages did of course, start out by selling modified Morris saloons. So it wouldnt have been so unusual for a Marina to be badged as an Mg. Leyland missed a trick by not making a Triumph Dolly estate, and the SD1/ They could have been the as said before the BMW 3 Touring of their day. However tis easy for us to say that 30 odd years down the line.

[whitevanman]

/\ Perhaps the arse end of an Omega estate ??

[cort16]

There's a guy over on Retro Rides did a 3 door Nova estate using a Saloon and hatchback.

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=117799&page=3

[whitevanman]

I assumed it would need to be sectioned etc, but it is of the same style and era.... or as you say perhaps an Astra Mk2 Estate as it has similiar styling.

[Partridge]

If the problem is the tailgate glass then why not get a Range Rover Classic upper tailgate frame, cut it down to size and then get a new piece of glass cut to size, add one of those 1960s stick on demisters and Bob's your uncle!

 

if its good enough for those who bastardize Rolls Royces...

 

Try finding a Rangie tailgate which hasn’t rusted away first! I think they forgot to dip those bits in the rust proofing stuff

[Tayne]

.

[Cavcraft]

Mk3 Cavalier estate. One day (if I ever acquire skills, patience, money, time and tools) I'm going to make one.

 

based on what exactly ?

 

Camira / cav 2 estate

 

Astra 3 estate

 

Vectra estate ?

 

or by extending a cav 3 hatch ?

 

Fuck knows. Probably a Mk2 Cavalier estate, though a Mk3 Astra or the ever popular* Vectra would probably fit the bill. Just to make it look even worse I'd be very tempted to graft a Calibra front end on.

[Formula Autos]

Shite might have beens?

 

How about if BL had actually fitted a hatchback to their hatchback shaped cars of the '70s?

 

A hatchback Princess and Allegro then wouldn't have been so wilfully odd (in that respect at least) compared with their competitors*. It might have hastened the demise of the Maxi as well, and so might have brought forward the launch of the Maestro a little. All of which would have left BL/AR with a much more competitive range of cars.

 

So they might have sold more.

 

So we might not have ended up with the 'unpleasantness' of 2005.

 

* I don't think it would have mattered too much in Blighty, but might have helped export sales.

 

 

Or how about if Talbot had been allowed to live? - with the 309 being a Talbot instead of a Peugeot? The Arizona nearly happened, after all.

 

So that would have been the Horizon replaced.

 

Which leaves the range needing a BX/405 based Alpine/Solara replacement.

 

The Samba would presumably need to be replaced with an AX based creation - perhaps the car that went on to become the Pug 106 even?

 

A Rancho replacement would have been nice too. How about something based on a 305 van then? Or even based on the Arizona?

 

The Tagora might just have been chalked down to experience, and that part of the market abandoned. Or could it have possibly been succeeded by something XM based? - a sober bodied (possibly conventionally sprung) saloon version to tempt buyers who thought the XM was too space-age, and too Citroen.

 

That would have set Talbot on its way into the early '90s. Could it have survived even longer?

[Albert Ross]

Sure, they could have revived the Talbot-Lago name, and made a hideously expensive GT/Coupe, with a bespoke OHC V8, derived from a French fire engine of the 1950s, giving fuel economy to rival Concorde, and the turning circle of the Titanic. Colour schemes of Gold with Chocolate brown bottom half would not have been uncommon. 1733 would have been sold, mostly to Merkins, and those sold, would now be languishing in breakers yards, still untouched, because 80% of the vehicles sold would have suffered expensive gasket failure, and been ditched due to unavailable parts. 4 years ago, someone at Talbot would have found the key to the storeroom where the gaskets were, all this time, they would have found their way into our hands, and we would all be swanning around in these ungainly wallowing gas-guzzlers. knowing that we have 12 sets of engine gaskets each, to keep us going for a year or two. US spec motors would be arriving on these shores by the container load, and we would be keeping the lot.

Well. Maybe.

[Shep Shepherd]

I can't help thinking that if the Ford Sierra Sapphire was launched at the same time as (or indeed before) the Sierra hatchback and estate, as opposed to five years later, the Sierra range in general would have been an instant hit with fleet buyers and private buyers alike.

 

I think that a mark 1 Sapphire Ghia in black or a dark metallic colour with 'aero' wheel covers, 'regimental stripes' and 'smoked' rear lights as per the hatchback version would have looked really cool

[drum]

Did some of you chaps design the signum?

[Volksy]

How about if BL had actually fitted a hatchback to their hatchback shaped cars of the '70s?

 

A hatchback Princess and Allegro then wouldn't have been so wilfully odd (in that respect at least) compared with their competitors*.

 

TBH, their most modern/advanced competitors weren’t hatches either. AlfaSud and Citroen GS were all born as Saloons, Later developed into Hatches with the series 2 Sud and the GSA.

 

BL released the Ambassador (Y Reg) to update the princess.

[RedSparrow]

This type of thread pops up every 12 months or so.

Strange as it sounds, BL didn't want the Princess, Allegro or Marina to clash with Maxi sales.

[John F]

Fuck knows. Probably a Mk2 Cavalier estate, though a Mk3 Astra or the ever popular* Vectra would probably fit the bill. Just to make it look even worse I'd be very tempted to graft a Calibra front end on.

 

You might as well just do a Calibra estate then, Billy.

 

If you do, please make sure it's a facelift. Nobody really wants them, but tidy early ones are getting harder to find.