False Dawns for Brit Cars - How many???

[triang1]

Seeing the MG6 finally coming to the market like a wet fart in the night made me think;

 

How many times have I seen this before???

 

Well do I remember the launch of Talbot .

 

The Metro - a car to beat the Japanese at their own game.

 

The Retro Jag S-Type and X-type - beating BMW at their own game

( The new XFs etc seem to be doing better - but you don't see many)

 

Austin Rover seemed to be on a winning formula with the 214 & 216 and 75 until BMW got cold feet.

 

Then there was the Cityrover - the MG6 of the last decade?

 

Not all bad though -

 

MINI has shown how it can be done,

Rolls Royce reborn and going from strength to strength and seeing off Maybach for the pile of expensive poo it was

Bentley similar.

Range Rover ( never reborn but always solid)

and Triumph Motorcycles - who would have thought it back in 1991???

 

Any other temporary rebirths that I have forgotten?

[barefoot]

I've got one!

 

Reliant - haven't shit loads of different folk made Scimitars & SS1's before admitting defeat

 

Middlebridge or something?

[jnoiles]

Jensen was another. Didn't Marcos come back a few years ago? Or have they never left? It's hard to keep track.

[morris_ital_lover]

MGF/TF, return of the small British sports car but this time with added metro components and OMG HGF.

 

m0rris

[RedSparrow]

I think the MGF was quite a success considering the company had no money to work with. I think it's well past it now though. I wonder how the new Chinese ones are selling in the UK.

[Negative Creep]

Pretty much all the small volume sports car makers. They release a debut model, gets a good reception. Then announce a follow up to "move upmarket and challenge the 911". Never heard from again

[dollywobbler]

Apart from Aston Martin. Born in 1913, bust by 1924. Bust again by the second world war. Owned by a tractor bloke. Then the 1970s. Bust again. Then eventually scooped up by Ford after a bit of a recovery, now entirely British again.

 

The Reliant Scimitar was indeed brought back as Middlebridge. The three-wheelers lived on very briefly under new ownership too.

 

I think the ultimate has to be Lea-Francis. Didn't last that long after the war, then made the first of many comebacks in 1960 with this.

 

A complete flop for some reason.

 

Then in 1980, this happened.

 

Disgusting. Shows as being in production until 1992, but they sold FIVE in that time!

 

This happened in 1998. A failure again.

[RedSparrow]

That last Lea-Francis photo looks like a shoop, look at the far left and right headlights.

Either way, I don't get how no-one at any point in it's design said 'that's pig ugly, change it!'.

[Pete-M]

Jensen dropped a massive bollock by trying to build it here in Liverpool.

 

Other than Ford, which is now Jaguar Land Rover as eny fule kno, us Scousers don't exactly have a reputation for building kwality cars. They should have tried again back in the Midlands - but made sure that any "Red Robbo" union type characters were shot on sight.

[triang1]

I think the MGF was quite a success considering the company had no money to work with. I think it's well past it now though. I wonder how the new Chinese ones are selling in the UK.

 

Yea I suppose MGF had a good run for a few years at least and was not only a viable sports car in it's own right but was a welcome relief after a string of Metro/Montegos etc with red seat belts and scattergunned octagons.

 

"if only" the Phoenix group hadn't sold the family silver then maybe the MG could have delivered for the 21st century - it had the ideas.

[Cavcraft]

Sorry if I got the wrong end of the stick here but wasn't the Metro hugely successful when first launched? I seem to recall large queues and even waiting lists when it arrived and it was a funky little car that actually wasn't as bad as some people said.

[dollywobbler]

True. I think it's easy to forget the success of the Metro purely because it lingered on for so long. Even the K-Series era update was a pretty good effort. It just lingered on for too long.

[ashmicro]

The MEtro was killed off, at least in part, by screaming journalists OMG EURO NCRAP. I had a head on in my 1.1S with a 405. Not a mark on me.

[Station]

I think the MGF was quite a success considering the company had no money to work with. I think it's well past it now though. I wonder how the new Chinese ones are selling in the UK.

 

They completely stopped making the TF last year for that reason. If it had have been in British management hands, they would've kept making the car for a few decades!

[triang1]

Sorry if I got the wrong end of the stick here but wasn't the Metro hugely successful when first launched? I seem to recall large queues and even waiting lists when it arrived and it was a funky little car that actually wasn't as bad as some people said.

 

Fair enough I in the suppose - it wasn't a false dawn if it went to sell so well, maybe it's more that the launch advert ( landing craft full of nasty johnny foreigner cars being turned back - old soldier saluting it - land of hope and glory soundtrack) seemed to have that sort of message to say "ok the foreigners have given us a beating over the last decade - but that's the last we'll see of them! - we Brits may loose battles but we win the war"

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

They completely stopped making the TF last year for that reason. If it had have been in British management hands, they would've kept making the car for a few decades!

 

British companies and even consumers may indeed often be guilty of stupidly persisting with obsolete products (I've been to recently refurbished houses where a mixer tap, which I'm told was standard issue for even poxy little flats in late 1970s Portugal, was either nonexistent or confined to the kitchen), but it's only the Chinese who can still sell you a brand new Mk2 Jetta!

[Tayne]

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[gtd2000]

They completely stopped making the TF last year for that reason. If it had have been in British management hands, they would've kept making the car for a few decades!

 

British companies and even consumers may indeed often be guilty of stupidly persisting with obsolete products (I've been to recently refurbished houses where a mixer tap, which I'm told was standard issue for even poxy little flats in late 1970s Portugal, was either nonexistent or confined to the kitchen), but it's only the Chinese who can still sell you a brand new Mk2 Jetta!

 

I'm not sure why the separate taps still exist - you'd suspect it would cheaper overall to produce a single tap unit and sinks/basins with only one aperture?

 

This isn't even taking into account the obvious aspect that a mixer tap is more practical if you wish to wash your hands under running water.

 

Perhaps we are just so fvcking hard in the UK that we can use either freezing or scalding hot water to perform this function?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

WILDLY OFF-TOPIC POST- FLAMETHROWERS AT THE READY.

 

I really don't get the plumbing in the UK. I bought a house in 2001 that was in amazing condition, done up nicely etc etc (was sold in the 2006 because "house prices have risen too fast and by too much", a correct assessment which nevertheless earned me nothing as the money went into the stockmarket that had its crash even before house prices began to soften!) and it didn't even have a shower at all.

 

Looking for a place to rent last month, I was shocked to see that there were still quite a few dwellings that didn't have one. Alright, they weren't brand new or anything, but they were in decent overall condition and somehow even seemed to have non-stinky inhabitants!

[HillmanImp]

Pretty much all the small volume sports car makers. They release a debut model, gets a good reception. Then announce a follow up to "move upmarket and challenge the 911". Never heard from again

 

They need to stick to what they are good at. Prompted by Trigger's lights question, it would appear that Ginetta are doing alright under their current ownership. Keep meaning to pop up to the factory for a sniff around of they will let me as its only local.

[Tayne]

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[gtd2000]

I've got a few properties back in the UK and did my first full strip and rebuild of one that was bought in 2004 and renovated in 2006 (sitting tenant in between).

 

From living all over the place that had an impact on the intended "re-model" of the home.

 

I did give the original layout drawings of the flat to an Architect to see what he could do with it - but it was obvious he'd never been out of Scotland before and had no clue regarding space management whatsoever. I'm a QS (by degree) so perhaps I'm biased?

 

His ideas basically involved using the maximum effort for the least gain - not something I look for when taking on a project.

 

In the end, I had a two bedroom, two bathroom flat with, what I consider the best use of space - the space ideas coming from my time in Hong Kong and walk in closets and en-suite shower rooms from living in the USA.

 

I also did a full new build starting in 2009 which was completed last year - the space management from the contractor was absolute crap - you can tell they never travel and see better ideas. Of course a lot of great ideas would never take place/be used due to the "aye been" mentality of the local planning office....

 

Perhaps they are the ones who wish to continue the use of separate taps?

[gtd2000]

WILDLY OFF-TOPIC POST- FLAMETHROWERS AT THE READY.

 

I really don't get the plumbing in the UK.

 

We do some very odd things over here as far as continental europe is concerned.

 

Its partly driven by the fact that plumbers (and the building trade in general) are miserable bastards who want to expend as little effort as possible and continually fit the same crap they've been fitting since Adam was a lad.

They're also determined to get their percentage on everything that goes through their hands whilst "passing on all their discount" to their loyal customer and friend, hence the profusion of cheapo shit basins made from designs which have been around for ever and can be picked up for sweeties at the trade counter.

 

The other side of the building trade is their relentless money grabbing ways in relation to new house builds.

If you were spending £475k on a new house you'd want the builders to have spent more than £1400 on the three bathrooms...

 

Yes, we tend to use very outdated or inefficient methods of working by comparison.

 

The plumbers on the new build were fucking horrendous to be quite objective. All of the bathrooms (3.5 of them) were to be installed with minimal plumbing - the house is underfloor heating throughout but there were to be 4 chrome towel radiators installed. They installed them using plastic pipe through the floors - they were supposed to be at 90 degrees from the walls...with chrome pipe

 

The 50+ year old plumber told me you could not get chrome pipe for that size of radiator.....

 

The wall mounted bidet in the downstairs wet room was installed about 3" from the wall, when asked why the wall mounted bidet was not installed correctly they said it was not a wall mountable unit. The box for the bidet was produced and the plumber shown and the plumber then said there was no way to access the back of the bidet to install it onto the wall. The plumber was then shown the box out behind the bidet that he had the builder install to put all his fucking plumbing into...

 

I'll tell you it's no wonder we can't build cars...we can't build fuck all properly even with clear and precise instructions on how to do it

 

Edit:

I could post up the 6 page excel snagging list but this was just scratching the surface - funnily enough this plumber is a Council Approved Contractor...it beggars belief! Even the Builder was speechless...

[Tayne]

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[gtd2000]

 

 

oops!

[warren t claim]

Just to get back O/T may I mention TVR? Raped by a Russian teenager.

[Tayne]

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[Tayne]

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[warren t claim]

Just to get back O/T may I mention TVR? Raped by a Russian teenager.

I believe the same happened to LDV.

 

Both used Rover V8 engines. It's not looking good for Morgan.

[Tayne]

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