RE: C&SC 'best British car ever' poll

[Hugos]

Best car has to be the Lotus 7 - reason - Its still being made

[sideways man]

My vote is the mclaren. Because when I win the raffle, I'm sure they will let me drive one for the publicity photos

[GT2CS]

Hugos said:

Best car has to be the Lotus 7 - reason - Its still being made

They are still making mini's, range rovers, and even the GT40 under licence at Superformance.

[Huff]

I'd very much like one of each, please.



(I dont care for pointless populist polls though.)

[Eddie1775]

They've already done this one and the Mini won

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/origina...

[Checkmate]

Mini in the picture isn't even a Cooper S... Good work PH. It's a Sport 500, an ex had one and it was miles away from my S spec engine.
Might well win, as it's a car that appeals to the heart, but the shortlist is lacking so many other brilliant British cars.
Frankly I don't believe there is a "best British car" as we have made so many wonderful and diverse cars in our history, it's impossible to come up with any metric by which you can judge any as 'better' than another.

[e46acs]

Define 'best'? Mini v Range Rover v Mclaren F1?

Why no Land Rover?

Why no DB5?

[npf20]

Monty Python said:

andyps said:

I guess it has to depend on the definition of "best" - there are many arguments that can be made in favour of the Mini largely based around the influence it had on cars generally, but agree it should be a basic one rather than the Cooper S. They all have merit, of course!

My thoughts exactly - a Range Rover is a completely different beast to a Mini, so what do you judge "best" on?

It is the one with the most votes.

[Dinoboy]

The GT40 argument is fantastic, we should all vote for it just for a laugh.
Another one that causes a rumpus with our friends from across the pond is that British legend the AC Cobra

[Dinoboy]

Actually this is just a load of rubbish so they can sell your details to third parties to send all sorts of rubbish via email etc.

[AlexKing]

kambites said:

I'd say it's a British car. As I understand it, design was carried out by Lola then construction was moved to a Ford plant in Slough. The only American input was the funding and the engine.

So, nothing significant then - only what makes it go and what made it happen

[Dinoboy]

So if Ford had bought Ferrari in the 70's and tommorow I stuck a small block in my 400i it would be an American car?

[Earl of Petrol]

This list does not look as if it has been thought through,

Aston Martin DB5
Jaguar XJ6

To name just two.......

[Gorbyrev]

Much as I'd vote for the Lotus Seven the S3 in the picture doesn't help its cause!

[daytona365]

So where's the D type ?

[GravelBen]

DB9VolanteDriver said:

Really, it can only be the E-type. A timeless classic that will forever be considered the most beautiful car ever designed...

It won't be considered the most beautiful car ever designed at any time, let alone forever. The most beautiful car would have to be well proportioned for starters, which the E-Type fails miserably at.

[andyps]

GravelBen said:

It won't be considered the most beautiful car ever designed at any time, let alone forever. The most beautiful car would have to be well proportioned for starters, which the E-Type fails miserably at.

Enzo Ferrari disagreed with you

[MikeT66]

GT40 is my own personal favourite car ever - but I'd say it was joint Anglo-American at best. Began life with help from Lola prior to Eric Broadley pulling out of the agreement, before development continued at FAV. British input continued after the development had moved from FAV in Slough to Shelby in USA, through design improvements to Ken Miles' becoming arguably being the chief development driver.

Shelby and Kar Kraft in America became the main developers, however, with significant monetary input from Ford - thanks to Henry Ford II's 'win at all costs' mentality regarding defeating Ferrari.

So, for British car, I'd go with first Lotus Elan. The perfect sports car?

Edited by MikeT66 on Friday 3rd July 08:54

[kambites]

AlexKing said:

kambites said:

I'd say it's a British car. As I understand it, design was carried out by Lola then construction was moved to a Ford plant in Slough. The only American input was the funding and the engine.

So, nothing significant then - only what makes it go and what made it happen

Significant, but a very small proportion of the car as a whole. At least three of the cars in that list used engines designed by American companies and one has a German engine.

Edited by kambites on Friday 3rd July 08:50

[plasticpig]

daytona365 said:

So where's the D type ?

The Jaguar XK-SS on the list is the road version of it.