Unsuccessful facelifts

[lesapandre]

BMC were one of the few companies to add fins when they were going out of fashion...

1968 left and 1964 right. Pointless and it looks more old fashioned.

[adw1977]

The minor facelift of the Mk1 Cortina has always looked fussy to me, the simplicity of the original isn't improved by adding more chrome to the front:

[Missy Charm]

Blimey.  Four pages and we haven't had the most significant, and worst, one of all:

Neat

Nasty

Whoever thought that sticking the Hannibal Lecter mask on the front was a good idea should be shot.  Or sacked.  Whichever is cheaper.

Unfortunately, other marques seemed to follow suit.  I'd suggest this as the ur-ugly modern car (no pun intended).  

[ETCHY]

  On 27/06/2024 at 18:48, GeordieInExile said:

This is easily my favourite crap BL facelift:-

 

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Good choice.

The use of Marina wings with a wanky infill panel above the too small to fill the gap headlights & grill really shows.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Have we had the 306 yet? 

Phase 1:

 

Phase 2: 

[GeordieInExile]

  On 27/06/2024 at 21:07, ETCHY said:

Good choice.

The use of Marina wings with a wanky infill panel above the too small to fill the gap headlights & grill really shows.

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My favourite shit design touch is the blacking out below the link in the rear door windows. So half arsed. 

[Muniphobia]

  On 27/06/2024 at 20:08, lesapandre said:

BMC were one of the few companies to add fins when they were going out of fashion...

1968 left and 1964 right. Pointless and it looks more old fashioned.

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Maybe it's me but my Grandad had a facelifted one up until I was 10 (and then changed it for a Astra Merit which he hated) I'm used to the facelift and was surprised to find out the rear lights were originally horizontal.  I thought the vertical lights suited the lines of the car and don't look out of place.

[Urko]

I know this has been done to death elsewhere but I was always baffled by the Marina 2 interior - at a time when outfits like BMW were arranging stuff around the driver, BL goes and points the radio at the passenger

Was this a nanny state BL saying don't fuck about with medium wave whilst driving?

 

[lesapandre]

  On 27/06/2024 at 20:08, lesapandre said:

BMC were one of the few companies to add fins when they were going out of fashion...

1968 left and 1964 right. Pointless and it looks more old fashioned.

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Comparison of the 1800 and it's direct rival the Peugeot 500 range:

Austin 1800 new 1964 and Peugeot 504 new 1968

And...

Austin 1800 revised 1968 and Peugeot 404 new 1960

There is nothing wrong with the 1800 fins - just a funny retrograde styling move where the back of the car could have been modernised more fashionably to boost sales. Peugeot dropped their fins in '68...BLMC introduced them in... 1968.

[warch]

BL Rover really pushed the boat out when redesigning the Land-Rover in the late 1960s.

to this. Diehard Land-Rover reputedly spat out their real ale in shock when pictures of this radical redesign were leaked to the public in 1972

[sierraman]

BL were the absolute kings of turning a crisis into a catastrophe. Look at the TR7, it was very popular in America but after the TR6 it just looked like a complete aberration. 

[ETCHY]

I do like the Clubman but have to say, it's a bit half arsed & not really a success

[ETCHY]

SD1 for me is another, the later ones just never looked as cool somehow.

 

[ETCHY]

Whilst on a Rover theme, pure Mk1 2 door Rangie without the add on plastic & extra doors is at least looks wise , better IMO..

[Urko]

I agree about the SD1 and Rangey and would add I prefer the original SD1 dash and interior too.

[Muniphobia]

  On 28/06/2024 at 10:26, lesapandre said:

Comparison of the 1800 and it's direct rival the Peugeot 500 range:

Austin 1800 new 1964 and Peugeot 504 new 1968

And...

Austin 1800 revised 1968 and Peugeot 404 new 1960

There is nothing wrong with the 1800 fins - just a funny retrograde styling move where the back of the car could have been modernised more fashionably to boost sales. Peugeot dropped their fins in '68...BLMC introduced them in... 1968.

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Maybe they added the fins to make it look more like the Peugeot 404 Farina models

They did get rid of the fins with another facelift in 1970, but only in Australia

 

[lesapandre]

Not seen that before. Very tidy.

[martc]

  On 28/06/2024 at 09:26, Urko said:

I know this has been done to death elsewhere but I was always baffled by the Marina 2 interior - at a time when outfits like BMW were arranging stuff around the driver, BL goes and points the radio at the passenger

Was this a nanny state BL saying don't fuck about with medium wave whilst driving?

 

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Yes, pointing the radio at the passenger rather than the driver was done deliberatly as a safety feature,  so the driver could focus on driving.

The bumbling idiots however had no excuse for the wipers going the wrong way a feature later mk1's as well....There's a whole section on AROnline about it.

https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/morris/marina/archive-thousands-of-marinas-need-modification-of-windscreen-wipers/

[Urko]

Didn't early Golfs have LHD wipers?

[lesapandre]

  On 28/06/2024 at 16:35, martc said:

Yes, pointing the radio at the passenger rather than the driver was done deliberatly as a safety feature,  so the driver could focus on driving.

The bumbling idiots however had no excuse for the wipers going the wrong way a feature later mk1's as well....There's a whole section on AROnline about it.

https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/morris/marina/archive-thousands-of-marinas-need-modification-of-windscreen-wipers/

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Crazy -and if you did not have a passenger..?

[martc]

  On 28/06/2024 at 16:37, Urko said:

Didn't early Golfs have LHD wipers?

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In Germany, or here? Boom!

I think they went in the correct direction for the UK, I can't find a pic of an M reg one, but here's an N, wipers going the correct way -

Some French imports (the Talbot Samba for example) went the wrong way, fairly recent BMW 5 series did as well, kwality engineering as expected.

Also some single wiper cars had the wipers going the wrong way; how's that you ask? - well they started from the left so sweeping a whole screen of water towards the driver on the first sweep, although after that there wasn't the same problems as two wiper systems going the wrong way.

[martc]

  On 28/06/2024 at 16:49, lesapandre said:

Crazy -and if you did not have a passenger..?

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What, no passenger? When does that ever happen when you're driving?

(thinks the bumbling idiot designer at BL who was accompanied by his carer wherever he went)

[Urko]

Weirdly, it was early Mk2 Golfs, up to about 1987 -

https://www.vwgolfmk2.co.uk/cars-for-sale/vehicles/1984-golf-gti-8v/

[lesapandre]

  On 28/06/2024 at 16:37, Urko said:

Didn't early Golfs have LHD wipers?

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It was the early Golf GTI's that were LHD only. 

[lesapandre]

  On 27/06/2024 at 21:29, Dick Longbridge said:

Have we had the 306 yet? 

Phase 1:

 

Phase 2: 

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Is Susan Boyle French?

[lesapandre]

  On 28/06/2024 at 14:17, ETCHY said:

I do like the Clubman but have to say, it's a bit half arsed & not really a success

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Hmmmm - 'shall we give the car a hatchback or make the front square?'

'Let's make the front square.'

'Then we can make both types...at extra tooling and manufacturing cost...'

 

[Urko]

  On 28/06/2024 at 17:06, lesapandre said:

It was the early Golf GTI's that were LHD only. 

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LHD Wipers - all early MK2 Golks

[SunnySouth]

  On 28/06/2024 at 17:10, lesapandre said:

Hmmmm - 'shall we give the car a hatchback or make the front square?'

'Let's make the front square.'

'Then we can make both types...at extra tooling and manufacturing cost...'

 

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What actually was the point of the Clubman face, was it purely a styling thing to identify a particular trim level? Seems a touch excessive…

[ProgRocker]

Lesley Ash. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

  On 28/06/2024 at 17:07, lesapandre said:

Is Susan Boyle French?

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I'd rather not get close enough to find out...