Austin Rover

Morris Minors were also famous for suspension collapsing, another of Issigonis's designs.
Didn't Ford buy an Austin 1100 to work out how it was sold for the price and conclude BMC made a loss on every one? Who was in charge in those days , was it Edwards?
 
Weren't they torsion bars, with those bloody awful threaded trunnions top and bottom? Grease them every 10 miles?
John :)
 
Yes . And used on Marinas. And I think they used to advertise Marinas as having the "same suspension as an E Type Jag" Poetic licence taken a bit far!
 
I thought the Marina had a shimmed ball joint like the Mini, rather than the threaded one......long time since I worked on those (thankfully)
John :)
 
Against my better judgement, my missus bought an Austin Maestro. heap of shoite.
Sold it to an even dafter mate of mine.
He nicknamed it "The Mystery Machine", as it was a mystery how it kept going......

It did have one redeeming feature though: it was so utterly dreadful, it was the only car not vandalised on our local haunt's car park one night.
:mrgreen:
 
Odd. My 1987 Maestro VDP was fantastic. Did well over 100K and was still going when I got rid. Perhaps the early ones were less well screwed together.

In fact, all the BL cars I ever owned (a fair few) did over 100K.

Edwardes was Chairman of BL between 77 and 82.
 
ihatemyjob said:
MG Maestro had a digital dashboard, very hi-tec for the 80's, but a right pain if a dash bulb went.
Click to expand...

MG's and VDP's had it and it was optional on the HLS. Maestros were fitted with the "talking dash" from 1983-1985 and Montegos 1984-1985, less than a year in fact.

HLS models are like rocking horse poo.

4 Maestro HLS models survive on the road in the UK and there are no HLS Montegos on the road but I know there are at least 2 in existence (in bits...).
 
Hey, these were the business :notworthy:

640px-Austin_Allegro_Interior_with_Quartic_steering_wheel.jpg
 
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/mar/18/guardianobituaries
"...Ivan Hirst
Englishman who made Volkswagen part of the German economic miracle...

...Born in Saddleworth, on the eastern side of the Pennines, he came from a manufacturing background - his family owned a clock factory. He was educated at the local grammar school and the faculty of technology at Manchester university. He was a keen member of the Territorial Army, training at the drill hall in Huddersfield, and by 1939 had reached the rank of captain...

...
After D-Day, he managed a tank repair workshop in Brussels, and was then sent to the control commission to take charge of the Volkswagen project.

After it was over, Hirst worked for the Allied Military Security Board in Germany and became a regional industry director. He later joined the industry staff of the German section of the foreign office, where he stayed until 1955 before joining the international secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. On retirement in 1975, he returned to England and settled in Marsden, in the Colne valley..."

Not utilised by our own manufacturing industry - A proven success wasted !

-------------------------------------
http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/univ...keeping-bill/story-29841893-detail/story.html

Where is the dosh going ? Certainly little sharing if this is anything to go by.
"...Home perks of £400k-a-year University of Bath Vice-Chancellor ..."

A nation of shopkeepers... we seem to be.

-0-


 
I think that Allegro dash looks good, certainly compared with others of the same era.
 
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