Autocar votes on 100 best Brits
PH-worthy favourites from Hethel and Blackpool well up there in the rankings too!
Don't worry either, this isn't one of those shows where you have to sit through three hours of talking heads discussing inane childhood memories amid endless ad breaks before the big reveal. You can just skim down the list and find the not entirely unexpected winner at the bottom.
You might want to take your time doing so though because there are some interesting inclusions on the list, not least the Megane Renaultsport 225 at #77. According to Autocar it merits inclusion as the first complete car developed by Ricardo and "sums up the British car industry best: the world's most talented engineers making cars the very best they can be." Ricardo has, of course, gone on to build gearboxes for the Bugatti Veyron and last year announced a deal worth £40m a year guaranteeing its future as the supplier of McLaren's M838T twin-turbo V8 engine to 2020 and beyond.
Consultancy and technical expertise in the global car industry have, of course, been a lifeline for the British car industry in the difficult transition from homegrown mass production and into the modern age. So nice to see Lotus recognised as the manufacturer with the most products in the countdown and also four cars from a certain Blackpool-based manufacturer close to PH hearts.
Read the full list over on the Autocar website.
Agree with the Mini, Elise, E-type, XJ, Range Rover, Austin Seven.
Many of the rest are millionaire playthings and/or some have produced less than 20 units so hardly a success.
Call me a git, but putting a big engine in a little car is not a design achievement.
/jealous misery mode
Wouldn't it be so much better if our engineers' undoubted talent could be used making our own country's cars (and trains, etc.) the very best they can be? You don't get the same feeling of pride over a foreign design as you do over one of your own country's designs, it connects with something deep inside you. We have been robbed of this feeling in Britain whilst directly comparable countries (France, Germany, Italy, etc.) carry on designing and building in multiple fields (cars, trains, trucks, ships, wind turbines, etc.). We design and build in precisely zero of these fields.
We are the direct descendants of the most intelligent, inventive people possible imaginable. With our people, under the right leadership, we could do amazing things again, things we could all be happy and proud of.
We have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start standing proudly as a people and country again. Once we do that anything is possible.
Wouldn't it be so much better if our engineers' undoubted talent could be used making our own country's cars (and trains, etc.) the very best they can be? You don't get the same feeling of pride over a foreign design as you do over one of your own country's designs, it connects with something deep inside you. We have been robbed of this feeling in Britain whilst directly comparable countries (France, Germany, Italy, etc.) carry on designing and building in multiple fields (cars, trains, trucks, ships, wind turbines, etc.). We design and build in precisely zero of these fields.
We are the direct descendants of the most intelligent, inventive people possible imaginable. With our people, under the right leadership, we could do amazing things again, things we could all be happy and proud of.
We have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start standing proudly as a people and country again. Once we do that anything is possible.
ks. Do some research. Then be proud that ze french had to go to Britain for our talent to make their cars desirable. The cars we make today are, in their own way the best in the world. Where does the world turn when they want motor racing expertise?? Not france, germany, usa, italy. But the UK. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff