British Motor Museum - Pic Heavy !

[MarvinsMom]

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.

 

both o0df these are real cars, well concept cars, based on Mini Cooper S engines and floors, the one on the left is ADO70 and was made by Michelotti in Turin. it turned out really over weight, and expensive, more than BL in 1973 could afford, while the one on the right is ADO34, Longbridge's thoughts on a possible sub-midget car, again based on the Mini for MG. here the fact that it was front wheeled drive had Abingdon up in arms, plus the cost of developing the car would have been prohibitive. 

 

BMC had spend god knows how much bringing the mini and ADO16 1100 to sale, so there wasn't much money left in the kitty. 

 

like many of the prototypes on show at Gaydon, they were all full of great ideas, even if the money wasn't available to fully deveolpe them into production cars. 

 

displaying them as they have on top of "Dinky" car boxes is i think a master stoke, as the miniatures look fabulous sat on them!

[Sigmund Fraud]

Sorry for the confusion, chaps... The photo was intended to make them look like Dinky Toys !

 

The "Princess Streetwise" is the Triplex 10/20 Glassback, an Ogle-designed prototype that was meant to show the unsuspecting 1978 public what the future of automotive glass manufacturing would bring !