The Fall and, er, Fall of Rover

Admittedly, the Northern Irish mum of der Jalop des San Pedro fell from the Roman Catholic side of the Ulster apple tree. As such, most of our relatives haven't had much taste for English cars out of sheer loyalty. When we were young, it was Peugeots, Mercs, Starlets and Micras. As we got older, Bimmers and Audis entered the equation. One uncle had an MG, but that was largely a project car, and only in his retirement has said uncle returned to buying British — in the form of German and American-owned examples of bits of British Leyland. Our only first cousin (out of around 30 on the Emerald Isle) who likes British cars happens to be an aircraft mechanic. Essentially, British cars have been crap since the end of the war. Sure, some were beautiful and innovative. Some performed marvelously. But did they suck? Oh hells yes; they were the provence of tinkerers, masochists and proud Britons. The Beeb tells the story of Rover; it feels a tad sugarcoated, as if Michiganders were spinning the tale of Chrysler. That said, it's a good watch. But we would like former Top Gear presenter Quentin Wilson to extrapolate on the exact moment that Buick put a V8 in a pickup truck. (Parts 2-4 after the jump.)