British Motor Museum - Pic Heavy !

[Sigmund Fraud]

Are you a confirmed BL apologist ? Do you have 14 quid and an entire Saturday to spare ? Then why not visit the marvellous British Motor Museum in Gaydon ?

 

Well... I did. Here's what I saw :

 

 

The truly amazing Rover/Alvis mid-engined prototype. I had never seen it in the metal, and I was certainly not disappointed !

 

 

Twin-engined Moke featured marvellous bodgeneering : throttle and clutch pedals work on both engines, but there are two gear levers ! GR8 !

 

 

70000rpm !!! Evidence, if any was needed, that the present is far inferior to how people visualised the future in the past.

 

 

Fast cats in the foreground, midlife-crisis show-bore garage-queens in the background... Most visitors seemed to spend a lot of time in this part of the museum, I didn't.

 

 

"Spares or brave restoration".

[Sigmund Fraud]

 

P4-based roadster was gorgeous. Unfortunately, only a handful were made.

 

 

This BL single seater was powered by a Sprint engine with Bosch mechanical injection ! Shame this engine didn't find itself in a "Special Tuning" version of the Dolomite.

 

 

Check this video out, if you want to know more about this car. Seeing it in the metal confirms how brilliant British engineering was at the time (and how small Stirling Moss must be to fit in it !).

 

 

Issigonis built this hillclimber in his shed, while working for Wolseley. As you would expect, it's rubber-sprung and the driving position looks remarkably uncomfortable.

 

 

Start them young !

 

 

Dinky toys, in fetching* limeflower and tundra. Shame they were never produced.

 

 

There were plenty of other interesting rally cars, but nothing that you haven't seen elsewhere.

 

 

OLLI, from the days when they were not bought exclusively by affluent Londoners.

[Sigmund Fraud]

 

This electric car prototype was Mini-based and looked super-funky in 70s metalflake paint. I'd have one over a Renault Twitzy any day.

 

 

After checking the main museum, I moved to the "Collection" building next door.

 

 

I started with the first floor, which overlooks the museum workshop. As you can see, they work on a fairly eclectic mix of cars... Lucky buggers !

 

 

The museum has kindly provided this small seating area, where fed-up ladies can spend some time looking at their smartphones, while their old-chod-obsessed men can roam around, fondling aging BL tin whenever the museum curators are not looking.

 

Note the infamous "Longbridge tunnel" Clubman in the background. It was fairly battered, but better structurally than many restored* examples.

 

 

There were plenty of engines on display, some sectioned and some intact. I was puzzled by this turbocharged RV8 - anyone know what car it belongs to ?

 

 

XXX-rated.

 

 

All the BL safety cars were there. They provide a frightening glimpse into what would have happened if Volvo had bought BL.

 

 

No gears ? No problem !

 

 

The last 75 ever made.

 

 

This looks like a normal mini, but is a prototype of a possible Mini replacement. Slightly longer and wider, it used plenty of Metro (or, rather, R100) parts, including a K16 and a modernised interior. I would !

 

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

 

The infamous MGF test mule... Express delivery indeed !

 

 

This looks like a normal, early-1990s Mini, but is a super-rare Venezuelan-built fibreglass-shelled model !

 

 

What's so special about this MG Metro ? An inline-six engine, of course ! Madness !

 

 

Can you imagine this being sold as the successor to the Maestro ?

 

 

The ground floor was full of Jaguars, with the first-generation XJ6 somewhat over-represented.

 

 

They did, however, have some nice obscurities like this XJ40 estate...

 

 

...and the lovely Daimler Corsica.

 

 

They also had the first X-type off the production line, which was also the only X-type in the world that has never had any welding.

 

 

That's all, folks. I hope you enjoyed !

[Junkman]

There were plenty of engines on display, some sectioned and some intact. I was puzzled by this turbocharged RV8 - anyone know what car it belongs to ?

Mine!

[Timewaster]

It is 7 or 8 years since I went. Looks familiar still behind the changes.

 

Do they still have the cinema showing old Pathe motoring and BLMC propaganda films?

 

My GF had a quiet snooze in there while I watched black and white films of ADO16 prototype testing with Chumly-Warner voice overs.

[scruff]

It is a GR11 day out. 

 

The Rv8 with the turbo is the Perkins/Rover "Iceberg" diesel. 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Do they still have the cinema showing old Pathe motoring and BLMC propaganda films?

 

My GF had a quiet snooze in there while I watched black and white films of ADO16 prototype testing with Chumly-Warner voice overs.

 

They do indeed, complete with a period cinema entrance !

 

 

The Rv8 with the turbo is the Perkins/Rover "Iceberg" diesel. 

 

Cheers ! Just 150HP apparently, but should have enough torque to move a house.

[dave21478]

The last ever 75 looks shoddy as fuck - the panel gaps are all over the place.

[Lacquer Peel]

I think all of the facelifted 75s are like that.

[PiperCub]

The 'Maestro replacement' has a Citroen look about it IMO.

 

A six-cyl Metro - OK, I'm now interested in Metro's.......slightly

 

The blue one below the RV8 motor looks rather Alfa-esque, like someone's been thinking 'GTV'

 

Always wondered why Jaguar never made an offical estate car before the X (no preceived demand??), the one there is a good looking car. 

(& I admit it, I was going to make an identical comment to yours on the X-type myself!)

 

 

Gaydon along with the Nat motorcycle museum are two places are keep saying 'I'm gonna visit' but every time I'm up that way I don't seem to have the time. (Same goes with the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden). 

[Roverageous]

The last ever 75 looks shoddy as fuck - the panel gaps are all over the place.

 

 

Yup. It's also not in very good condition when you see it up close (this goes for a fair few cars there :/)

[HMC]

Great! Also worth mentioning that on my ticket at least entry provides you with a years pass. Hence after going en route to last years shitefest I'm going to go again en route to this years event, for a double whammy of shite, and tears of bitter regret*

 

 

* not shitefest honest, but the unfulfilled promise of various prototypes etc

[holbeck]

That 'Maestro replacement' is ECV3, a Spen King project to showcase BL Technology. I remember it being shown on Tomorrows World at the time. It's all aluminium and with a 3 cyl version of the engine that would eventually morph into the K series.

 

 

[garethj]

Issigonis built this hillclimber in his shed, while working for Wolseley. As you would expect, it's rubber-sprung and the driving position looks remarkably uncomfortable.

 

As I'd expect, seatbelts are as non ergonomic as it's possible to be while the ashtray is easier to reach than the steering wheel.

[holbeck]

The plans for that special were drawn on the garage wall of Issigonis' family home in Kenilworth.

 

Can't find the link now, but there are some photos online somewhere.

[johngarty]

Great pics. Cant find any interior/dash pics of the British Leyland ECV3 Concept Vehicle anywhere.

Anyone have any?

[HMC]

I love the metro pizza delivery / MGF mule. Reinforces the idea that they were enthusiastic/creative/talented engineers developing it on a shoestring. Wonder if Rover or mayflower people were responsible?

[barrett]

The ECV3 is the reason my Panhard is in a million bits: BL acquired it when they were studying stressed aluminium construction in the '70s and set about stripping it down into its smallest component parts, which is how bit has stayed ever since. I'll try and get the two together when it's back in one piece

[barrett]

The ECV3 is the reason my Panhard is in a million bits: BL acquired it when they were studying stressed aluminium construction in the '70s and set about stripping it down into its smallest component parts, which is how bit has stayed ever since. I'll try and get the two together when it's back in one piece

[Mr_Bo11ox]

great stuff!!! Any more intel on the 6-cyl metro?

 

Thats the first time I've seen a pic of the iceberg diesel, flippin brilliant.

[seth]

Ah, you came across my favourite ever B series engine - the MG EX twin cam and blown one.  Would love to snaffle that and bolt it into a Farina but I think the steering and suspension might be in the way of that massive supercharger and carbs.

[Sigmund Fraud]

great stuff!!! Any more intel on the 6-cyl metro?

 

It apparently uses a six-cylinder version of the 9X engine (of gearless Mini fame), with a displacement of only 1.3l !!!

[Noel Tidybeard]

That 'Maestro replacement' is ECV3, a Spen King project to showcase BL Technology. I remember it being shown on Tomorrows World at the time. It's all aluminium and with a 3 cyl version of the engine that would eventually morph into the K series.

 

 

 

that would probably be the same/similar engine that was floating round in a 5 door allegro hatch in rthe early 80's

[tommotech]

Love the MGF mule, heard about it but never had the opportunity to see it.

 

I did see the original Freelander mule though, that was a Maestro van.

[HMC]

Before they sold off a fair few of the BLARG exhibits there used to be quite a few first and lasts off the line. Interesting if only to show how some cars, starved of development funding hardly changed at all over the production run.

[quicksilver]

great stuff!!! Any more intel on the 6-cyl metro?

 

It's a 1275, developed from one and a half of the 850cc four-cylinder 9X engines in the 9X hatchback and the gearless Mini. Lord Stokes ordered the destruction of everything related to that project but Issigonis defied him and secreted several cars and engines at his home. From what I understand, when the AR6 Metro replacement was being developed in the mid-80s, Issigonis's camp dusted off this six-cylinder 9X and proposed it as an alternative to the K-series.

[oldcars]

The last ever 75 looks shoddy as fuck - the panel gaps are all over the place.

Is it the bonnet to bumper ones? Mine was like this but got it adjusted a bit, but most are.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

This one caught me right out. I even googled 'Dinky prototype series' on evilbay. The coupe in the centre I assumed was J - BL must have done some serious perving over the likes of the 100a etc before creating this design, shirley?

 

 

And what's the story of the Princess on 'roids? I see lots of DNA in that as a predecessor to the Rover Shitewise.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Tbh I thought they were models to start with and that one in the middle is very Japanese. If it didn't have the name underneath I'd definitely say it was a Datsun or Honda.