Friday 31st July 2015

Classic & Sports Car 'best British car ever'

C&SC wants to know your favourite British car - last chance to have your say and be in for a prize!

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'Best British car' is an argument that must have been running almost as long as horseless carriages have existed on this island. To establish a definitive answer to the question, our colleagues at Classic and Sports Car are running a poll to discover just what the British public believe is the best British car.

The shortlist of 10 cars (full details below) has been selected by a panel of 100 classic car experts including Nick Mason, Julian Thompson, Russell Carr and Tom Karen. You'll probably be pleased to know PH wasn't consulted on which cars should feature...

Anyway, all that's required is a vote here for your best British car before August 1. Obviously only one vote is allowed per entrant, much though many cars will surely be competing for your selection. The best bit? Every voter is entered into a draw for a pair of tickets to the inaugural Classic and Sports Car show this October, where the poll winner will be announced. There are 25 pairs available.

So that's it. Get deliberating, then voting, and you could be on the way to Alexandra Palace for the show in a few months!

Cast your vote here.

Full shortlist:
- Austin Seven
- Bentley Speed Six
- Ford GT40
- Jaguar E-Type
- Jaguar XKSS
- Lotus Seven
- McLaren F1
- Mini Cooper S
- Range Rover
- Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

[Images: Classic & Sports Car]

 

[dbanes]

Yawn.

[Ali_T]

It'll be the Mini. It always is, though it should really be the Mini 850 or 1000. The prosaic versions had far more impact, and sales.

[dinkel]

Ali_T said:

It'll be the Mini. It always is, though it should really be the Mini 850 or 1000. The prosaic versions had far more impact, and sales.

Agreed.

[andyps]

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!

[Monty Python]

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?

[Mr2Mike]

Who decided to use a picture of the pug ugly S4 for the Lotus seven?

[easytiger123]

No Aston?!

[Ali_T]

Why is the GT40 there? I know, "engineered in the UK" etc etc yada yada yada, but Lola also made the Honda RA300 and RA301 but we don't think of those as anything other than Japanese, or the BMW M10 and M12 as anything other than German.

[stephen300o]

Trolling by including gt40..
My favourite British car is the Healey 3000

[dinkel]

easytiger123 said:

No Aston?!

Trade in the Jaguar XKSS (Jag had a handfull D-types left) and bring in the iconic 70s V8.

GT40 - It's a s British as the TVR Griffith 200 / 400 is American. Sorry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVR_Griffith_200

[suffolk009]

Is this just click-bait?

[DB9VolanteDriver]

Really, it can only be the E-type. A timeless classic that will forever be considered the most beautiful car ever designed, and one which shocked the world upon its introduction. No other car has ever made the same impact when revealed.

[kambites]

I think the question is loaded. Looking the options, the objectively best car is clearly either the Mclaren F1 or a recent Range Rover. Had the question been "most influential" or "best for its time" or simply "most desirable" my answer would be very different.

[pauloroberto]

I love GT40s and was shocked to find out they are British. I am reassured to know that they aren't.

[kambites]

pauloroberto said:

I love GT40s and was shocked to find out they are British. I am reassured to know that they aren't.

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.

[aeropilot]

Mr2Mike said:

Who decided to use a picture of the pug ugly S4 for the Lotus seven?

I'm also confused about the picture for the Cooper S, as I'm assuming, that the intension was for it to be the 'real' 970, 1071 or 1275 'S' versions, which would have taken all of 10 secs to Google to get a correct picture rather than what they have used

Given how many they made I'm struggling to know why a XK-SS is on the list & most people outside of geeky petrolheads will have never have heard of it.

As others have said, define 'best' first.

[SlipStream77]

DB9VolanteDriver said:

Really, it can only be the E-type. A timeless classic that will forever be considered the most beautiful car ever designed, and one which shocked the world upon its introduction. No other car has ever made the same impact when revealed.

Agreed.

[Sinnr]

Where is the MGB and Morris Minor? Surely they qualify.

[Kolbenkopp]

Agree the Mini will win (not a bad choice). Discussion about what "best" means can be endless . Poll question "what makes a good car and what is the best British by your definition" would not make great headline .

Missing the Elan.

[Quhet]

Original Land Rover surely?