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british leyland

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novelties

Safety Good, Sanity Bad: Build Your Own Acceleration Warning Horn For $7!

Ford's Nanny Key is pretty effective, but how do you punish drivers for such dangerous acts as turning or accelerating? Bring seven bucks to the junkyard, my friends, and you'll find everything you need to build the Ozzy Osbourne Inertial Penalty Horn!

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Feature

3:00 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
By Murilee Martin
4,327 views, 53 comments

Latest by FuzzyPlushroom: I highly doubt I could come up with anything better... or more irritating. more »

down on the street bonus edition

1973 MG Midget

This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. After the Shark and Minnow Midget/Continental combo, it only seemed right to share some photos of another street-parked Midget (ideally, one not overshadowed by some monster land yacht), and Kitt has shot such a car for us in her South Denver neighborhood. This one's for sale, and instead of a price it's got a printout of the NADA Guides retail value; hey, it's worth a try! I've done a fair amount of Midget driving, and they're a lot of fun… provided you carry every tool you own in the boot- you'll need 'em, thanks to the one-two punch of Lucas Electrics and SU carbs- and don't mind the disconcerting experience of viewing the undersides of truck trailers on the freeway.


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1:40 PM on Mon Sep 29 2008
By Murilee Martin
820 views, 22 comments

Latest by truck-o-matic: I had one when I was an 18-year-old. Bought it when I got a bunch of insurance money. Never had more »

classic ad watch

Your Mother Wouldn't Like The 1973 MGB

A bell-bottomed, braless British babe heads to her MGB after catching Last Tango In Paris- yeah, British Leyland was making cars for rebels back in '73. Need we refer to the legendary build quality of Malaise Era BL cars? We're envious, however, of the UK-market horsepower numbers listed in this ad; the North American '73 MGB packed a mere 78.5 horses under the bonnet.

3:00 PM on Thu Jul 31 2008
By Murilee Martin
6,531 views, 53 comments

Latest by dtremit: My mother's first car was a blue '71. My father talked her into trading it for a Mustang II. more »

classic ad watch

1980 Austin Metro: We Shall Fight On The Beaches! We Shall Never Surrender!

Just when everyone figured British Leyland was going to surrender the British Isles to the hordes of low-priced imports pouring across the Channel, here comes the brand new Austin Metro! Good for 62 MPG (at a blistering 50 miles per hour) and bashed together by drunks with hammers built with pride right at home, there was no doubt the Germans, Italians, Japanese, and French trembled with fear at the sight of the Metro.

12:45 PM on Thu Jul 31 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,500 views, 23 comments

Latest by 2CVDJ: Luckily they never had to film the Metro on the landing craft, that 'sea air' would have disintegrated it immediately. Actually, more »

classic ad watch

Princess: Car Of Choice For Off-Roading Germans

You can forget everything you've heard about the utterly execrable build quality of British Leyland's nadir, the Princess. Turns out that front-wheel-drive setup, Hydragas suspension, and weight savings from all the parts that fell off during normal operation made for excellent off-road performance!

11:00 AM on Wed Jul 23 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,608 views, 23 comments

Latest by loquaciousmusic: Search on YouTube and you'll find the "Top Gear" segment. It's hysterical. more »

novelties

If It Runs, Sell It: More British Car Jokes!

You know what's always good to cut through the oppressive miasma of a typical Monday in The Man's salt mines? British car jokes! Sure, fish in a barrel, but the jokes wouldn't be funny if we didn't all secretly love the cars. Leylandnügen: The Joy Of Towing! You'll see that and much more when you visit Trevor Boicey's Utterly Obscure British Car Humour site. [Utterly Obscure British Car Humour]

3:20 PM on Mon Jul 14 2008
By Murilee Martin
4,895 views, 31 comments

Latest by oslo(w)motion: @NovaloadMissesPolar: classic! My dad drove a 504. The bits I remember are: - the rusthole in the footwell (very fascinating when more »

classic ad watch

Insert British Leyland Joke Here: 1976 Triumph TR7

There's really not much we can add to the Legend Of The British Leyland Wedge here. American car buyers looking for a little car that weaves maniacally among mid-60s Galaxies and gets air cresting hills knew exactly where to go: follow the wedge-shaped British Leyland truck to the nearest dealer!

11:00 AM on Fri Jun 13 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,004 views, 33 comments

Latest by stannate: What we're all missing here is the Knight Rider tie-in, thanks to the wedge-shaped truck at the end of the more »

down on the street

1971 MGB-GT

Many, many cars have passed through my hands since I first picked up a '69 Toyota Corona for 50 bucks, but only a few really make me feel a twinge of regret when I think about letting them go. One such car is the British Racing Green '73 MGB-GT I owned for a few years in my early 20s; it was slow, handled like a garbage truck, went through $40 carburetor floats like other cars go through oil changes, and proved that all those Joe Lucas jokes are based on painful reality... but I still loved it. Perhaps this is the evil lure of the British Car, but I was finally able to heed the rule posted on a huge sign at the only British-car wrecking yard in Northern California: IF IT RUNS, SELL IT. This beat-to-hell MGB-GT, which could be a '71, '72, or '73, might be my old car, after a couple of decades of neglect. Sure, mine was pretty nice when I sold it, but a lot can happen in 20 years!
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9:00 AM on Thu Jun 5 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,819 views, 42 comments

Latest by foospork: My wife bought me an M3 two years ago, just so's I'd sell my MGs. (73 B & 74 more »

classic ad watch

The Triumph TR6: Built For Hoonage!

If your typical drive involves jumping through fiery hoops and playing chicken with walls of hay bales, British Leyland had the car for you! With a six-cylinder engine and legendary UK Malaise build quality, the TR6 sold pretty well in North America (though smog, bumper, and headlight-height regulations made it perform at a level a few notches lower than its British counterpart).

11:00 AM on Thu May 29 2008
By Murilee Martin
1,729 views, 26 comments

Latest by Murilee Martin: @Stoatmaster: The timing chains on the Stag's engine give it the easy win. Only a real man dares brave the more »

classic ad watch

Patrick Mower Has The Antidote To British Malaise: Value For Money!

After yet another shuffling of gut-shot British Leyland brands produced the Austin Rover Group, the ARG marketers decided to get serious about moving some iron off the lots. No more Triumph TR7s or MGBs- now they'd have television actor Patrick Mower pitching the Morris Ital, Rover SD1, Mini Mayfair, and other early-80s British Machinery offering Value For Money, otherwise known by the awe-inspiring acronym VFM.

12:00 PM on Mon May 19 2008
By Murilee Martin
933 views, 13 comments

Latest by Stoatmaster: @amblito: They exist in their own time-dump, a la 'Dracula Unbound'. So they've been put in a place where time ceases to more »