Yesterday, I posted a picture of the spectacular jet-powered Rover-BRM Le Mans racer from 1963. Today, we fast forward to the next Rover-BRM car, the Rover 200 BRM, introduced in 1998 to add a bit of zip to the R3 range with a top sporty model. Red quilted leather interior, BRM-typical orange nose detailing. I think the reason they didn’t make this an MG was to avoid diluting the impact of the then-new MGF. Snapped at the NEC Classic Car Show, 2024.

Today, another couple of examples of Rover’s highly successful R8 range. While yesterday’s hatchback versions were badged as the 200 series, the handsome four-door saloon (white car) and Tourer estate (grey car) were badged as 400s. The system of model naming was the same as BMW’s, so the ‘420’ badge on the estate signifies a 400-series car with a 2-litre engine - although this was before BMW took over Rover. Pics taken: NEC Classic Car Show, 2024.

This is where the story of the small Triumphs gets a bit more complicated. Alongside yesterday’s more basic Toledo, the company also came up with a separate parallel development of the 1300, the larger-engined 1500, which unlike the Toledo, continued to use the 1300’s front-wheel drive layout. There was also a more imposing double-headlamp front-end. (1/2)

Long before the motor industry invented terms like platform-sharing and scalable architectures, Triumph was already doing it in the 1960s with the Spitfire (green car) and six-cylinder GT6 (yellow car), which were based on the Herald/Vitesse, a process facilitated by the Herald’s separate chassis and bolt-on panels, which made it easier to offer different body types. Photos taken at The Great British Car Journey in 2023. Back on the saloons tomorrow.

Yesterday’s Triumph Herald was blessed with rakish, even sporty, good looks but these belied that car’s position as an affordable small saloon, initially fitted with the 948cc engine from the Standard Ten. Its stablemate, the Vitesse, introduced in 1962, combined the Herald body and a more powerful straight-six engine, initially a 1.6, later a two-litre. Note the modified twin-headlamp frontal treatment. Pic taken: The Great British Car Journey, 2023.

A few days ago, someone posted on a forum of which I am a member a still from an old episode of Top Gear featuring a green Renaultsport Clio 200 Cup with the highly appropriate registration plate CL10 CUP. This rang a bell and when I checked back through my old photos, I was able to confirm that I had indeed seen this very car in a local car park in 2023.

Yesterday I posted a photo of the last-generation Land Rover Defender high-capacity pick-up. Today, I’m covering another legendarily tough pick-up, the Peugeot 404. This particular example is still very much in daily use in Tunisia, where my brother snapped it a few days ago. Magnificent.

Today the Lotus 2+2 story continues with the Elite, produced between 1974 and 1982. The wedge-like design bore a family resemblance to that of its contemporary, the mid-engined Esprit, but it had a conventional front-engine/rear-drive layout. A large and luxurious car by Lotus’ then standards but still very light. The Elite had a glass hatch but if you didn’t want that, there was an alternative, of which more tomorrow. Snaps: NEC Classic Car Show, 2024

Yesterday, I mentioned that LEVC, the manufacturer of the London taxi, was part of the Chinese group Geely, owner of Lotus, Volvo and Polestar. An important influence on the look of Geely group cars was Peter Horbury, who was in charge of design for Volvo in the 1990s and later returned to the same role with Volvo, and then Geely and Lotus. One of his best-known designs was the 1998 Volvo S80, with its distinctive strong shoulder line. Snapped locally.

Today, after looking at the Lotus Eletre, Mini Cooper and MG, we’re focusing on a fourth example of British-badged cars using Chinese EV technology. This is the LEVC TX, the modern incarnation of the traditional London black taxi cab, which is basically a range-extender EV. I snapped this one inside the factory near Coventry where it is made in 2019. The plant is operated by the Chinese group Geely, which also owns Lotus, Volvo Cars and Polestar.

Today, a third different badge-engineered variant of BMC’s immensely successful ADO16, the MG 1300, seen here at The Great British Car Journey in 2023. Given that MG was BMC’s performance brand, it’s interesting that this car is rather less sporty in appearance than the Austin 1300 GT I posted yesterday.

Today we’re looking looking at an ADO16 sister model of yesterday’s Morris Countryman estate. The Austin 1300 GT saloon is quite different in character with its blacked-out grille and vinyl roof. BMC offered the ADO16 with just about every badge in its stable, with specs from basic plastic to full wood and leather. Flooding the zone meant a bit of overlap between the 1300 GT and the MG-badged ADO16s. Snapped: The Great British Car Journey, Derbyshire.

If you like wood, you’ll like this, the incredibly wooden Austin 16 Woody estate car from 1947. Snapped at The Great British Car Journey in Derbyshire in 2023. As I’ve said before, The Great British Car Journey, a great collection of mostly mainstream rather than exotic British cars, really is worth a visit.

Today, another small British estate car with a lot of wood - the Morris Minor Traveller, seen here at The Great British Car Journey in Derbyshire in 2023. One big difference between the Minor Traveller and its more modern Mini counterpart/successor featured yesterday is that the wood is structural on the Minor but only decorative on the Mini. I have a sequence of posts on the Minor and its off-shoots planned, so look out for that in future…

I’ll return to the topic of British EVs in a few days but first, a look at some Reliants. Meet the 1967 Reliant TW9, or Ant, commercial. Like the small Reliant cars of the time, this was a three-wheeler, but with heavier duty construction. The link to yesterday’s Brush Pony is that some TW9s were used as milk floats - although several other adaptations were available, such as tippers or refuse collection versions. Snapped: NEC Classic Motor Show, 2024

Old, quirky, British and electric - again. This electric delivery van for the posh London department store Harrods dates back to 1939, and was used until 1970. Harrods had previously used American Walker electric vans but designed and made these later models itself. Upon retirement, this particular one, part of a fleet of sixty, was presented to the National Motor Musuem at Beaulieu, where I captured it on my phone in 2023.

Yesterday’s Vauxhall Ampera provoked quite a bit of discussion (thank you to Paul and Theo for telling us about their ownership experiences and further explaining how the powertrain works), so today I thought I’d post about its very close sister, the Chevrolet Volt. This is my own Volt, which unfortunately isn’t the real thing but a nice 1:18 model given to journalists on the UK press launch. Volts were sold in Europe alongside the Ampera.

No, I haven’t posted the same car two days in a row - this is the original Vauxhall Astra, a smaller but slightly older sister to yesterday’s second-gen Cavalier. The two cars have a strong family resemblance, accentuated by the examples in yesterday’s and today’s photos featuring the same terracotta colour, which was popular in the UK. A rebadged Opel Kadett D. The Opel would later take up the Astra name too. Snapped at The Great British Car Journey

When is a Vauxhall not a Vauxhall? When it's a Bedford. Bedford was the commercial vehicle brand of GM in the UK for many decades, and was also applied to small vans based on Vauxhall cars, or purpose-built vans like this, the CA produced for most of the 1950s and 1960s. Bedford lorries also formed the backbone of the British Army's fleet during the Second World War and for decades afterwards. Snapped at the British Motor Museum, 2024

Today, we’re moving on to Vauxhall’s FC Victor, produced between 1963 and 1967. Despite its boxier appearance, the FC was the first Victor with curved side glass. Like the FB from yesterday, it was also available as a sporty VX 4/90 model, or as here, at the The Great British Car Journey in Derbyshire, an estate. Sorry for the odd angles on the photos - the brilliant TGBCJ has packed so many interesting cars into its display space. Well worth a visit!