Impromptu BL line up

Author
Discussion

Hooli

32,278 posts

199 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
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My word that XJS is a beauty thumbup

Mr_B

10,480 posts

242 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
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Nice, but was thinking 70's XJ would be more fitting.

Yertis

18,015 posts

265 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
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What a lovely collection. All you really need to finish it off is an Interceptor... biggrin

Personally I would have chosen an old '70s XJS – but can understand you'd prefer to own one that works and can actually be driven.

Escort3500

11,827 posts

144 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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A great eclectic collection there Sir (ooh, the alliteration).

I'm intrigued, however, as to whether Mrs BV shares your passion for this unusual and choice collection. And if so, is she allowed to drive any of them, or is the poor woman confined to a modern daily driver? We need to know.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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Mrs BV tolerates my mania, and sometimes sort of approves. Better than chasing women, after all. She really likes the Dolly, Rover, Landy, and Jag, and likes driving the Jag (it is sort of hers, really). She hasn't tried the others but says that she will do at some point. She hates the Excel, partly because she thinks it is about to explode (she is probably right), and partly because she is tiny and the large single wiper, when parked, blocks her view. She has a 2000 Pug 206 CC as her daily runabout.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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Hmmmmm. I toyed with the idea of an Austin 1300 GT, but now I really want this!


http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C620063

CharlesdeGaulle

26,088 posts

179 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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That's a cute little thing, but a little optimistic on pricing, non?

Poisson96

2,098 posts

130 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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Both. Solves any problems with choosing wink

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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I think over priced also, and I am not in a hurry. I may wait and see if it is still on sale in a few weeks from now.

Poisson96

2,098 posts

130 months

Sunday 2nd August 2015
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You need a small A series powered 4 seater to finish the line up off

Richie Slow

7,499 posts

163 months

Monday 3rd August 2015
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Breadvan72 said:
Hmmmmm. I toyed with the idea of an Austin 1300 GT, but now I really want this!


http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C620063
Really?? yikes

Yertis

18,015 posts

265 months

Monday 3rd August 2015
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They are amazing cars actually. We bear them in contempt because they are so familiar to us. There's probably as much room in the back of that as in my A6. Probably rides better too.

Riley Blue

20,912 posts

225 months

Monday 3rd August 2015
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I'd rather have a 1300GT - if anyone knows where my old one is, BYB 408J, please get in touch.

Mr_B

10,480 posts

242 months

Tuesday 4th August 2015
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Harry's Garage view on a 1980 V12 XJS is worth a look. Would have fitted in nicely to your collection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIMQGk4xQqM

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Tuesday 4th August 2015
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Sixes are the way forward (OK twelves are ace, but I have too many balls to juggle to take on added complexity and cost), and I slightly prefer the later cars, although the earlier ones do have great style.

I tested a 1994 4.0 convertible yesterday, on behalf of a friend who knows nowt about cars but wants an XJS. It had the later AJ16 version of the engine, which seems rather good, I must say. Mega mileage, but that seems a good thing on these cars rather than a bad thing, and at least shows that the car has not been a garage or show Queen. I am recommending that my friend buys the car if the seller will drop the price a bit.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Monday 10th August 2015
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Nature's way of telling me that it is 01.10, time to get the hell OFF eBay and go to bed....


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-Allegro-1750-HLS-...

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Monday 10th August 2015
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It has bucketed down with rain all day today, and the BL heaps all happen to be outdoors. The Landy leaks like a sieve, of course, but it did when new, I am sure. You can tell that the floor has fallen out when the water is no longer above your welly tops. The Dolly, Rover, and Jag, however, are bone dry in footwells, boots, gloveboxes etc. So, at least they aren't knackered (yet) in that particular.


Keep it stiff

1,762 posts

172 months

Monday 10th August 2015
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I have to confess that I rather like the Allegro. I had one as my first company car, well it was either that or a Marina. Granted that the acceleration was not that quick but at least once you got it up to a decent speed you could keep it there and the cornering was very good. At the time I was commuting between Horsham and Eastbourne, decent A road driving, and I was very sorry that it got written off, both at the loss of the Allegro and that fact that I was given a 1,200 Cortina as a replacement.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

53 months

Wednesday 12th August 2015
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My dad worked in BL as an Industrial Engineer (having come up from the shop floor) and later as a roving manager, with gigs in most of the divisions, and he has many tales of the 70s and 80s there. He says that Marinas were not as bad as people say they were, and that Allegros were potentially quite good, but both suffered from badly managed production lines and dreadful lack of investment and development. He blames the senior management and to some extent Government interference more than he blames the unions for the problems of BL. Working in teams that tried to improve production methods and quality control was, he says, like banging your head off a brick wall, and the (mis)direction from above was provided by committees, who disagreed constantly and changed their minds frequently. He was and remains a big fan of Michael Edwardes. He uses the words Lord Stokes as swear words. His views on the guys who ended up buying Rover and killing it off are not suitable for a family website.

He still calls Rover "the Rover" by the way, in correct 60s/70s BL parlance.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 12th August 06:50

v8250

2,724 posts

210 months

Wednesday 12th August 2015
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Breadvan72 said:
My dad worked in BL as an Industrial Engineer (having come up from the shop floor) and later as a roving manager, with gigs in most of the divisions, and he has many tales of the 70s and 80s there. He says that Marinas were not as bad as people say they were, and that Allegros were potentially quite good, but both suffered from badly managed production lines and dreadful lack of investment and development. He blames the senior management and to some extent Government interference more than he blames the unions for the problems of BL. Working in teams that tried to improve production methods and quality control was, he says, like banging your head off a brick wall, and the (mis)direction from above was provided by committees, who disagreed constantly and changed their minds frequently. He was and remains a big fan of Michael Edwardes. He uses the words Lord Stokes as swear words. His views on the guys who ended up buying Rover and killing it off are not suitable for a family website.

He still calls Rover "the Rover" by the way, in correct 60s/70s BL parlance.

Edited by Breadvan72 on Wednesday 12th August 06:50
BV72, if your father was a roving manager, does that mean he was a manager of Rovers or Rovings? Your fathers views of the Phoenix Four, or five, must be quite descriptive. Frankly, they should be behind bars with what they were allowed to commercially get away with...pension fund sized salaries, golden handshake bonuses et al, same with Stephen Byers and his utter incompetence with the MG Rover Group sell off; if only Jon Moulton was awarded the MGRG purchase the outcome would have been very different. Interestingly, I was in the Alchemy boardroom not long after the debacle, hanging on the walls were a number of colourful caricatures depicting the main protagonists involved...all very, very amusing.