The rear engined Imp was a clever design that offered an alternative to BMC's all conquering but unprofitable Mini. With a complex but efficient and lightweight 875cc 398HP Coventry Climax derived engine and American influenced styling the car looked a winner, but it never did the thing all manufactures needed a car to do, make money.

The Imp may not have been the sales or financial success that The Rootes Group had hoped for, even in it's best years only 29,000 were sold annually in the UK which was about a third of the cars originaly projected sales. But it was a real drivers car, with its high revving rear mounted light-alloy engine, while the carefully developed all-independent suspension and rack and pinnion steering provided fun but sure footed handling that was much exploited in motorsport.

The Victors styling was very much a miniaturised version of what Vauxhall's parent companyGM, were doing in Detroit during 1957.With 390,747 examples being produced, the Victor FA was also famous for having a dogleg at the base of its wrap around windscreen that appeared to have been placed specifically to bruise your knee on when getting in or out of the car.

The Spitfire complemented Triumph's successful 'TR' sports car range when it was introduced in 1962, and it was priced to compete with the MG Midget.The Mk3 was introduced in 1967 and brought a new 1296cc engine that produced 75BHP, which was more than enough in a car that weighed only 1652lbs.

The Jaguar XJ6 Series II was introduced in 1973 with final production ceased in 1979. Only minor changes were made over the earlier Series I cars, the bumpers were raised slightly to meet pending US regulations, the front end was subtly revised and some minor technical improvements were made. The Series II XJ6 was delivered with either a 4,235cc DOHC I-6 engine producing 170bhp @ 4,750rpm or a 3,442cc DOHC I-6 engine which produced 160bhp @ 5,000rpm, transmission was still the 4 speed manual with optional overdrive, or the optional Borg Warner 3 speed automatic gearbox.

This model comes with a twin axle horse box which the Jaguar was more than capable of towing, and would be the perfect combination by many people around the country.

A V12 engine in a saloon car costing £3726 in 1972 was nothing short of sensational. William Lyon had produced another world-beater that left the opposition looking out of date, expensive and unrefined.

The HB Viva certainly looked the part, matt black bonnet, dummy air scoops, and a 104bhp inclined 4-cylinder engine borrowed from the Victor, and the larger cars front brakes it performed and stopped well, however the bigger engine made it understeer more than a sports saloon should do and it was expensive at £1062.Only 18,123 were produced between 1968 and 1970.

On 9th October 1969, the all-new Daimler Sovereign was announced. Available in both 2,8 and 4,2 litre versions the new Sovereign was a badge engineered version of the XJ6.

Jaguar bought the Daimler company in 1960 and, apart from the DS420 Limousine so loved by the Queen Mother, all new Daimlers produced since the 1960's have been based on Jaguar models.

The original British Daimler Company was formed in 1895 to make engines under licence from Gottlieb Daimler in Germany. The company eventually became a stand alone operation and merged with BSA in 1910, the main provider of Royal cars from 1900 until the mid 1950s. Daimler were purchased from BSA by Jaguar in 1960, mainly because Jaguar wanted their factory at Radford in Coventry. From then on most new Daimler models were more luxurious trimmed versions of existing Jaguars such as the Sovereign modelled here, which was based on Jaguars world beating XJ6.

In engineering terms the 1800 range of 1964, seen here as an Austin, was effectively a larger version of the Issigonis concept that had been so successful when used in smaller cars such as the Mini or 1100. The 1800 was designed as a replacement for the Farina, Cambridge/Oxford range.

With the exception of Aston Martin's brutally fast but traditional V8 Vantage Britain was a little short of true supercars during the 1980's. However if you wanted the thundering V8 experience, in a more affordable package, then the Rover Vitesse was for you.

A real performance bargain at an introductory price of £1150 the 86BHP, 1600cc 'Kent' engined Ford Escort Mexico was named in commemoration of the Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm's win on the London to Mexico World Cup Rally of 1970.

A fast stylish comfortable well appointed GT, the Stag never quite managed to shake off its early reputation for unreliability and suffered in sales terms as a result, especially in the export markets it had originally been designed for.

When the Princess range was announced in 1975, it followed what had by then becomethe Longbridge mechanical tradition, for it was front wheel drive, had hydrogas suspension and was superbly packaged.Harris Mann's futuristic wedge shape ensured the car looked as avant-garde as it actually was.

The Diplomatic Protection Group of the Metropolitan Police were responsible for looking after foreign diplomats in London. All their cars were painted in this distinctive red colour to enable them to be easily recognised by those same diplomats and distinguished from the normal Police vehicles.T he DPG had a total of eight Princess vehicles based in London.

When launched in 1975 the AD071 project or Princess, carried over the tranversely mounte 1.8 and 2.2 litre enginesfrom the car it replaced, the AD017 Landcrab.

With the Imp failing to sell and Linwood Haemorrhaging money, Rootes needed a simple, popular and most importantly profitable new product to sit below the successful Hunter. Thus the Avenger came into being and was launched in February 1970.By the time it was discontinued in 1981 it was known as the Talbot Avenger.

One of a very Limited Run of 250 Models Worldwide.

The TR7 design emerged victorious from the fracas; a front engined car that used many of the styling cues seen on the mid-engined ADO 21, after Harris Mann had been asked to sketch ideas for a new Triumph TR by managers at Longbridge. It was most definately a Triumph project although MG badged mock up models were made. This effectively left BL biggest sports car brand MG, with no new produt on the horizon this sealed their long term fate.

From its announcement in 1962, it was obvious that the MGB was going to be a big success. The extremely attractive styling, masterminded at Abingdon by MGs chief body draughtsman Don Hayter, was bang up to date and covered MGs the monocoque structure, which was if anything stronger than it needed to be. You did not get scuttle shake in an MGB! It was produced for over eighteen years and in that time 513,272 were made, making it the best selling sports car in the world for many years. The 1800cc B-Series pushrod engine produced only 95bhp, giving a 0-60 time of 12.2 seconds, so it was not the fastest vehicle in the world but it had a great competition career nevertheless.

Due Week Commencing 3/11/08

From its announcement in 1962, it was obvious that the MGB was going to be a big success. The extremely attractive styling, masterminded at Abingdon by MGs chief body draughtsman Don Hayter, was bang up to date and covered MGs the monocoque structure, which was if anything stronger than it needed to be. You did not get scuttle shake in an MGB! It was produced for over eighteen years and in that time 513,272 were made, making it the best selling sports car in the world for many years. The 1800cc B-Series pushrod engine produced only 95bhp, giving a 0-60 time of 12.2 seconds, so it was not the fastest vehicle in the world but it had a great competition career nevertheless.

Vauxhall are the UK side of General Motors and this four car centenary set celebrate 100 years of the company since been established in 1907. This collective set show their most important post war cars and consist of the Velox PA 1957-1962, Viva HB 1966-1970, Cavalier 1981-1988 and the Astra MKV 2004 onwards.

The Austin 1800 was launched in 1964 and the MKII modelled here first appeared in 1969, sporting small fins on the rear of the car in attempt to make it look less like its by then universal nickname, the Landcrab. It was the biggest of the revolutionary and high tech Alec Issigonis inspired front wheel drive range of cars and shared its engine with the MGB and had a fantastically roomy cabin. The same car was also badged as a Morris and a Wolseley.

The Allegro was later launched in 1972 as a direct replacement for it's best selling 1100/1300 range. Its styling was certainly different and for engineering reasons the car that actually arrived in the showroom, was considerably different from stylist Harris Mann’s original drawings. The most controversial fitment on the original Allegro was the almost square Quartic’ steering wheel which was dropped fairly soon after the launch. The car was eventually withdrawn in 1983 after 642,350 had been produced. JBY 794N, the 1300 Super De Luxe on which this model is based, was unusually fitted with a vinyl roof from new by the dealer who supplied the vehicle.

The reverse-rake rear window may be thought of as styling gimmick drawn up by American designer Elwood Engle, but it did give good rear headroom and maximise the boot space, qualities that helped the 105E rack up nearly 1.1 million sales in it's eight year life. The car was also critical to Ford's long-term statedgy, for it was the first car to employ a new OHV engine which, in one form or another, would power all small Fords up to the late 90's, including the KA.

The Allegro was the replacement for the much loved 1100 range, Britains best selling car for almost ten years. Its task was never going to be easy and it was handicapped from the start with the quality control problems within the British car industry, especially when the Japanese companies were starting to demonstrate that cars could be reliable. British Leyland sold 642,350 Allegro's.

No other car has been quite such a sensation at launch as the Jaguar E-Type was at the Geneva show of 1961. Obviously the offspring of the companys recent Le Mans winning D-Type, in engineering, style and nomenclature, it offered 150mph performance for only £2098! The only British car to approach it in performance terms was the Aston Martin DB4 and that was almost double the price. The fact it was without doubt, one of the most beautiful cars ever designed was just a welcome bonus.

Jaguar bought the Daimler company in 1960 and all new Daimlers produced since have been based on Jaguar models. On 9th October 1969, the all-new Daimler Sovereign was announced. Available in both 2,8 and 4,2 litre version's and was basically a rebadged XJ6.

With the Imp failing to sell and Linwood Haemorrhaging money, Rootes needed a simple, popular and most importantly profitable new product to sit below the successful Hunter. Thus the Avenger came into being and was launched in February 1970.By the time it was discontinued in 1981 it was known as the Talbot Avenger.

The 2 litre eight valve TR7 was launched in America in January 1975 as a hardtop due to American safety legistation. The car's European debut did not come until May 1976 some seventeen months later! of which the main variant was to be a convertible, which would appear in the USA from July 1979. Manufacturer of the TR7 eventually ceased in October 1981 after just 112,375 car had been built.

If a metal metaphor for BLs trials and tribulations during the seventies is sought, look no further than the Triumph TR7; In December 1967 Triumph and MG were deadly rivals and by April 1968 they were commercial partners. Within two years of the merger an informal design competition had effectively developed with BL, between the front engined Project Bullet Triumph built at there Canley factory with help from stylist Michelotti, and the mid-engined MG ADO 21 project that had been drawn by Longbridge based stylist Harris Mann.

Due Week commencing 23/02/09

Rose taupe livery with jewel headlights.

Due week commencing 2/02/09

Due Week commencing 23/02/09

Launched in 1970 the Avenger was really the last car developed by the The Rootes Group and proved very successful, surving a myriad of name changes before finally been discontinued in 1981 after nearly 800,00 examples had been produced in the UK. The car modelled is the 1972 "Top Hat Special Edition" which was based on the 1500 Super and featured a white vinyl roof.