Impromptu BL line up

[P5BNij]

Lowtimer said:

Basic, about £6K, but you would have wanted some of the options too.

e.g.

- Nylon fabric trim (£ 26.13 - 26. July 1976)
- Power assisted steering (£ 204.47 - 26. July 1976)
- Tinted glass (£ 63.16 - 26. July 1976)
- Head restraints - pair (£ 30.36 - 26. July 1976)
- Inertia front seat safety belt reel mount (£ 19.73 - 26. July 1976)
- Option-pack: (£ 116.64 - 26. July 1976)
Comprising: Tinted glass
Head restraints
Brushed nylon trim
Inertia reel safety harness

Can't recall what the average working man's wage would have been at the time, but I dare say some of those options would have eaten right into it. Thanks Lowtimer.

More BL period frippery...







Product placement New Avengers style...


NEC this morning...








The Ian Ogilvy / Saint XJ-S...

[P5BNij]

sun.and.rain said:

P5BNij said:

Listen to these images. Listen hard. That's the sound of rusting that is.


On a separate note here's a short vid of Scottish driver Ken Wood's Inverness-registered rally Dolly Sprint with Rover V6 power. Ken Wood has a long history rallying various Triumphs, Rover SD1 V8, etc.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KpTG-rVvtsk

And one from the 80s with the SD1. I remember seeing and hearing this V8 on a Scottish rally in 1985.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp1JJYtigEk

There's more info and vids on tinternet.

Great stuff! The Marina Coupe is currently parked about a mile and a half away, I can actually hear it fizzing from here...!

(There were several more BL goodies at the NEC but sadly my camera couldn't cope with the overwhelming aceness of it all...).

[sun.and.rain]

P5BNij said:

sun.and.rain said:

P5BNij said:

Listen to these images. Listen hard. That's the sound of rusting that is.


On a separate note here's a short vid of Scottish driver Ken Wood's Inverness-registered rally Dolly Sprint with Rover V6 power. Ken Wood has a long history rallying various Triumphs, Rover SD1 V8, etc.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KpTG-rVvtsk

And one from the 80s with the SD1. I remember seeing and hearing this V8 on a Scottish rally in 1985.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp1JJYtigEk

There's more info and vids on tinternet.

Great stuff! The Marina Coupe is currently parked about a mile and a half away, I can actually hear it fizzing from here...!

(There were several more BL goodies at the NEC but sadly my camera couldn't cope with the overwhelming aceness of it all...).

Ken Wood's old Golden Wonder Rover SD1 OOC 272X is currently on sorn and motd till October 2016. The sound of it rallying through the forests was just fantastic.

[Lowtimer]

P5BNij said:

Can't recall what the average working man's wage would have been at the time, but I dare say some of those options would have eaten right into it.

UK average earnings in 1976 were £2,651 gross. After stripping out RPI inflation, average earnings are now 50% higher. A 1976 Range Rover inflated by RPI would today be about £42K, which in one way sounds cheap, but in another way considering it's actually only the size of a new Golf and has zero equipment and can barely do 100 mph, is quite a lot.

[P5BNij]

Lowtimer said:

P5BNij said:

Can't recall what the average working man's wage would have been at the time, but I dare say some of those options would have eaten right into it.

UK average earnings in 1976 were £2,651 gross. After stripping out RPI inflation, average earnings are now 50% higher. A 1976 Range Rover inflated by RPI would today be about £42K, which in one way sounds cheap, but in another way considering it's actually only the size of a new Golf and has zero equipment and can barely do 100 mph, is quite a lot.

Thanks again - sobering stuff!

[P5BNij]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

A little pricey, but the Dolly Sport's grown-up brother; the practical version for the dad about town.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C717547

Lovely, there can't be many of those left on the road (there is one in the collection at Coventry Transport Museum though). Found this earlier...


More Canley goodness...




Blatant product placement again in The New Avengers...




Gambit's XJ-S looks dead swish here...

[Morningside]

P5BNij said:

...


...

That is the same colour as mine was. I had an "R" reg one with SS exhaust, Kenlow fan and full length roof and slotted wheels.

Great car until it died due to oil starvation on the M25.
I tried like mad to find a TR8 a few years back to relive the nostalgia and could not find one so finished up with TVR instead.

Edited by Morningside on Sunday 6th March 20:58

[iSore]

P5BNij said:

Pics are a few years old but this Coupe is still knocking about locally, I saw it last week, seems to be a daily driver...

As average as they were (and they weren't bad by 1971 standards), that is quite a clean and pretty design. A pity BL didn't spend an extra few quid per car - McPherson struts from the Dolomite etc. But BL sold loads and made a few quid, so.....

[Yertis]

Lowtimer said:

UK average earnings in 1976 were £2,651 gross. After stripping out RPI inflation, average earnings are now 50% higher. A 1976 Range Rover inflated by RPI would today be about £42K, which in one way sounds cheap, but in another way considering it's actually only the size of a new Golf and has zero equipment and can barely do 100 mph, is quite a lot.

It probably had all the equipment it needed, though, or that had been so far invented. Sat nav in those days would have involved fitting an astrodome.

[P5BNij]

iSore said:

P5BNij said:

Pics are a few years old but this Coupe is still knocking about locally, I saw it last week, seems to be a daily driver...

As average as they were (and they weren't bad by 1971 standards), that is quite a clean and pretty design. A pity BL didn't spend an extra few quid per car - McPherson struts from the Dolomite etc. But BL sold loads and made a few quid, so.....

Maybe it's the shape of the thing but whenever I see this one out and about it doesn't look at all out of place or dwarfed by everything else on the road. One of my Dad's workmates had a Coupe (in fabulous Limeflower IIRC) and another had three four door versions on the trot. Just like Hillman Hunters, Vauxhall Victors and BL Landcrabs, they were everywhere when I was a nipper.... all razor blades and white goods now.

[PGM]

Think a bit of rust must have fallen off one of these last night:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35743721

[P5BNij]

More gratuitous BL nostalgia...





















Tea break at Longbridge...

[rovermorris999]

The shutlines around the bonnet of the green TR7 are very evocative of the period

[uk66fastback]

Blimey, Red Robbo ... is he still alive?

[anonymous-user]

He is currently 89. My father crossed swords with him a few times when my dad was in BL management. It is not widely known that when Robinson was fired by BL, the workforce voted against a strike in his support.

[Lowtimer]

Yertis said:

Lowtimer said:

UK average earnings in 1976 were £2,651 gross. After stripping out RPI inflation, average earnings are now 50% higher. A 1976 Range Rover inflated by RPI would today be about £42K, which in one way sounds cheap, but in another way considering it's actually only the size of a new Golf and has zero equipment and can barely do 100 mph, is quite a lot.

It probably had all the equipment it needed, though, or that had been so far invented. Sat nav in those days would have involved fitting an astrodome.

I think most people felt the the power steering should have been standard.

[P5BNij]

Edited by P5BNij on Wednesday 9th March 13:52

[PGM]

Some BL in Rita, Sue and Bob Too, who remembers that film?

|http://thumbsnap.com/4KUQ017y[/url]

Edited by PGM on Wednesday 9th March 14:15

[anonymous-user]

Crarp advert featuring rubbish TV tough guy Patrick Mower -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tySdXlnxM6g

[P5BNij]

Breadvan72 said:

Crarp advert featuring rubbish TV tough guy Patrick Mower -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tySdXlnxM6g

That was cheesily fabulous, duly bookmarked. I've just finished watching the 1973/74 series of 'Special Branch' in which Mower shows off his penchant for a bit of roughhouse with nefarious West London villainy, it's not actually that bad! (The opening and closing titles however are full of cheese, Euston Films did it much better with 'The Sweeney' and 'Out').