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Automotive bull5hit facts thread


Taff

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I read in a motoring magazine decades ago that "The Austin America was so good that it was only allowed to be exported to the U.S. and none could be purchased by Britons."  Sounds like a load of crap to me. 

Wrong. The model in question  was originally  called the Austin ARMORICA , after the ancient name of Brittany, and was designed to spearhead an invasion of the European market in a similar manner to the Ford  Cortina and Granada and the Triumph Dolomite. Unfortunately the name  got distorted on the  shop floor at Longbridge due to the local accent  and  the car ended up in a market for which it was never intended :(

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That 46.3 is not the price of petrol, rather it's the amount that Rover had agreed to pay Mr Soichiro Honda ( pictured) just before his death in 1991) for using his name on their engines. This licensing agreement actually runs out soon and all Minis will have 1275GT stamped into the rocker cover instead to save that 46.3p.

It is believed this will save Rover as a volume British manufacturer and John Towers who is brokering the deal will get the Freedom of Oxford,Longbridge and Coventry.

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It is suspected he also received £37.25 from Jaguar for the Allegro VdP proposals which later became the X-Type.

 

BMW used some of the old Allegro drawings for the current Mini Countryman - but they were a bit too pretty so they hit 'em with an ugly stick.

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<http://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonheads/m3-csl-development-team-ph-meets-transcript/27916>

M3 CSL development team: PH Meets

 

And the boot floor?

HBS: “Standard M3.â€Â

Some people believe that the boot floor of the CSL is made of cardboard and can’t hold any weight, though?

HBS: “No, no. That was a joke actually, you know. Did they think it was real? We do have a paper composite used as the bottom in the boot made from compressed lollypop sticks and fulmar sick, we do have that, but that’s the only cardboard I know of.

“You don’t see the chassis’ optimisations either. That’s not visible.â€Â

 

etc...

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The Artist Formerly known as Prince and Datsun sued each other over the rights to the "Prince" trademark in the USA.

 

So Datsun had to rebadge all Prince models as NIssans, but due to a legal technicality, Prince also lost the intellectual property rights to his own name in the process.

 

Under the terms of the final settlement, he was allowed to call himself Cedric, but chose not to.

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The sales of the Citicar/Comutacar electric at 4,444 units bears mute testimony that they were awful, but made a futuristic wheezing sound at maximum speed America's best-selling electric car ever. The massively-sloped windshield inspired the X-Wing Fighters of sci-fi fame and the little 8-foot cars were used in one of the more cheaply-funded Star Wars movies...minus the laser blasters and hyperdrive. Written in Ewok language on the Manufacturers I.D. Plate, it says "FQ!FQ!%%%$GIG&)*&FQ@!@!><{{[_]}+-_-"  (I Would Not Be Caught Dead In This).

 

Note --- this was a grim USA electric car built from about 1974 to 1983. Sadly, the Norwegians are still building it...though they've kept mum about where & why.

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