Cars of the people. Part two tonight at 9.

[dugong]

They repeated the same mistakes with the Maestro and Montego which might have been good-looking cars but for some crap styling details.

Thing is, R Series engine aside, the Maestro / Montego were at least competitive out of the box. 

[Timewaster]

Thing is, R Series engine aside, the Maestro / Montego were at least competitive out of the box.

 

Think how far ahead they would have been if it hadn't taken the best part of 10 years to get it into the showroom.

[RoadworkUK]

^Yup. Maestro was better than Montego and IMO looks better 33 years later.

[warren t claim]

I'd be more interested if he took an Allegro or Marina and actually turned it into a decent car with top notch ride and handling. 

[dugong]

I'd be more interested if he took an Allegro or Marina and actually turned it into a decent car with top notch ride and handling. 

 

 

All the parts to make a Marina handle existed off the shelf - it was listed from day one in the Leyland Special Tuning catalogue. 

Were I JM's producer, I'd get Frontline / Costello involved; given the 'B's ./ Marina's heritage a bit of fabrication would produce something pretty wonderful - like a VHPD-engine Marina coupe with suspension from a Frontline LE50. 

[warren t claim]

All the parts to make a Marina handle existed off the shelf - it was listed from day one in the Leyland Special Tuning catalogue. 

Were I JM's producer, I'd get Frontline / Costello involved; given the 'B's ./ Marina's heritage a bit of fabrication would produce something pretty wonderful - like a VHPD-engine Marina coupe with suspension from a Frontline LE50. 

In all fairness, the only decent handling domestic saloon car back in 1977 was the Mk1 Cavalier or maybe at a push the Avenger.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

What WTC said. Read any Giant Test from the 70's and 80's and the BL stuff was slagged off in equal measure to Ford,Chrysler( non-Simca derived) or Vauxhall. Ok, we know they fawned over the Alfasud and GS , but British grey porridge wasn't expected to handle (or ride) competently.

It was only the advent of German underpinnings ; Granada, Ascona, Rekord and Sierra that things improved. Part of the reason we love 70's Vauxhalls,Fords or Leylands today is, I think, that old fashioned feel. Certainly if Escorts had a sophisticated, competent suspension system ,they would be as numerous and valuable as Renault12s or Fiat 128s.

[Inspector Morose]

I was just mulling this programme over again and one thing struck me (for I am a slow witted moron). I can see why the XJ-S was what it was now; it was a modern version of what the e-type had become. Problem was everyone remembered the e-type for what it was so nobody got it. Watching that programme made it so clear to see.

[dugong]

I was just mulling this programme over again and one thing struck me (for I am a slow witted moron). I can see why the XJ-S was what it was now; it was a modern version of what the e-type had become. Problem was everyone remembered the e-type for what it was so nobody got it. Watching that programme made it so clear to see.

 

 

Aye - it was a successor to the E-Type S3 V12 rather than the earlier six-cylinder cars. 

[Inspector Morose]

It all makes sense now. Thanks mr may.

[For Fiats Sake]

They repeated the same mistakes with the Maestro and Montego which might have been good-looking cars but for some crap styling details.

 

Beauty is in the eye of the V5 holder!

 

I like the Micetro - I even boughted one!  Something does go a bit wrong with the styling after the rear doors (just like on the Fiat Stilo) but you can't have everything and the true test is always loving a thing despite its faults.

 

That SAAAB - Wood.

[garbaldy]

Tonight's episode is supposed to be about 4x4 and land rovers.

[Cavcraft]

In fairness to the Marina it was just utter shit, and the only thing that could have really improved them was to never knock the sodding things up in the first place.

[HH-R]

There's something that just screams "shite" about the Maestro and to a lesser extent the Montego, even when they were current cars. I just can't put my finger on what it is. Still would, obs.

[trigger]

I really rather liked the early Range Rover May was driving tonight

[Slartibartfast]

This merits rewatching I think. There were so many little jokes thrown in that I kept noticing and giggling about but i can't remember any of them now and I bet I missed loads.

[warren t claim]

After careful consideration I've come to the conclusion that the best thing about this latest episode is the use of the Long Good Friday theme during the quattro segment.

 

No mention of the Jensen FF either.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

In all fairness, the only decent handling domestic saloon car back in 1977 was the Mk1 Cavalier or maybe at a push the Avenger.

 

 

Indeed. The Marina was (is) pretty dreadful. It had a narrow track, and the ride and body boom at certain speeds was awful. It had that horrid Triumph gearbox, propshaft boom and It could never have been made into a nice car. The Cavalier was an excellent car that should have outsold the Cortinas but Vauxhall had a real image problem back then*.  and a 1.6GL Cortina Mk4 for example was a smooth, quiet car with nice steering and decent handling up to it's limit - which was fairly high for a seventies saloon. It also had a solid, well finished feel that the Marina just lacked.

 

The original Allegro was absolutely awful, and the two sessions of turd polishing in 1975 and 1980 improved it to a point where it was just about acceptable as bargain basement transport. Anyone who bought an E Series Allegro instead of a 1500 Golf was clearly a fool.

 

The Maxi was a genuinely useful car with no British rival and the Princess could have been so good - indeed, it had real attributes in ride and interior space.

 

But the Triumph Dolomite a worthy rival for an E21 3 Series? Not in your wildest dreams.

 

I missed the first episode, but last nights one was very good.

[derskine]

Didn't find last night's one to be that great, to be honest.

[chaseracer]

The problem with the Marina was that it was essentially a rehashed Minor 1000; a 1948 design, updated in 1956 and 1962, then flogged in 1971 as a 'new' car.

 

Er, no.

[Inspector Morose]

Last nights felt a bit disjointed to me. I think the idea was right but t seemed like someone higher up got in the way to overplay the "lets support the Land Rover" card a bit too much so the development of 4wd into mainstream cars got squeezed and looked like more of an add on rather than part of the whole.

No mention of the FF or the boomlet of 4wd sierras and cavaliers that seemed to disappear as quickly as they appeared when people found out they were "a bit shit, really"

Liked the "we got our arsed handed to us on a plate" bit about Toyota and the conclusion that what we all need is a Panda mk1 4x4 made me chuckle.

 

Roll on the third episode. I'm liking it.

[Slartibartfast]

When they busted out the WRX I was expecting them to also look at Godzilla, because if you're talking about 4WD domination of the race track then my mind immediately goes to the Skyline, but they didn't.

[garbaldy]

But isn't the whole car of the people thing about affordability as well, the Subaru certainly comes ahead of the skyline in that respect.

[Slartibartfast]

Fair point

[Aston Martin]

Panda 4x4 was given the best position, with the least time.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

BL are officially shit.

 

Even BL say so!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTCfJKNE2hg

[inconsistant]

Sorry to go back to last weeks one, but the Allegro didn't need to be a hatchback, because there was an Allegro estate for those customers that wanted practicality. Or so the thinking at the time would have been.

So I'd suggest that it was this backwards thinking that was the problem, not the lack of a hatchback. The idea of doing exactly what was done before, just changing the shape of it every now and then. The idea that a little island full of stuffy uptight old men, on the edge of a continent could even begin to anticipate what all those sexy 70s Europeans, let alone the rest of the world, would want in a car amuses me greatly.

[Pete-M]

I think I may just keep my blue Impreza with gold wheels for a bit longer.

[plasticvandan]

Sorry to go back to last weeks one, but the Allegro didn't need to be a hatchback, because there was an Allegro estate for those customers that wanted practicality. Or so the thinking at the time would have been.

So I'd suggest that it was this backwards thinking that was the problem, not the lack of a hatchback. The idea of doing exactly what was done before, just changing the shape of it every now and then. The idea that a little island full of stuffy uptight old men, on the edge of a continent could even begin to anticipate what all those sexy 70s Europeans, let alone the rest of the world, would want in a car amuses me greatly.

Incorrect.The Allegro Estate didnt come out til 1975.I believe the reason for no hatch was to keep one of the few selling points of the Maxi intact.

[Formula Autos]

BL are officially shit.

 

Even BL say so!

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTCfJKNE2hg

That's an excellent film, and a deeply worrying one - given that management at BL presumably signed off on it.

 

Firstly, it seemed pretty star studded. If you were in awe of '70s comedy/ bit part actors. We had the caretaker from Grange Hill, frank Windsor off-of Z Cars, the bloke who ran the cafe in Last Of The Summer Wine, a Bond girl (Madeleine Smith from Live and Let Die), Mr Lucas from Are You Being Served?, the brother-in-law from On The Buses, Razor from A Touch of Frost, Denzel from Only Fools and Horses, and Poirot himself.

 

The problem was that the film portrayed BL workers as feckless idiots who had no idea of quality control and lost the plot at the sight of a pair of tits.

 

Admittedly we're able to see this now, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, t'internet, and all sorts of reasons unthinkable when it was made.

 

But was showing it to an unhappy and pretty militant workforce a good idea? An example of the type of thinking within BL's management at the time?