Month: February 2018

An Austin Anthology by James ‘Jim’ Stringer is an entertaining collection of true stories that feature just a few of the products manufactured by the Austin Motor Company from 1906 until the outbreak of the Second World War, including the people who helped to make them, those who drove them, and even those who flew them. Although the history of the Austin Seven and Taxicabs have been covered before in much greater detail elsewhere, you will find within these pages the stories of many other Austin creations: the Austin 12/6 which could be won by smoking Kensitas cigarettes; the Austin 20 which competed in the 1914 Austrian Alpine Trial; the remarkable racing car named ‘Pobble’ which went on to serve as an ambulance during the First World War, and the Australian couple who, in 1926, decided to drive their Austin […]

Jaguar will live stream the global premiere of its first-ever battery electric vehicle (BEV), the Jaguar I-PACE, on March 1, 2018 at 1:00PM EST (19:00 CET) from its manufacturing location in Graz, Austria. Thousands of prospective customers from around the world have already pressed the ‘I want one’ button on the Jaguar website to register their interest in the hotly anticipated electric performance SUV, and Jaguar is responding by throwing the doors to its live-reveal wide open; hosting an online webcast on its social channels.

MINI USA today announced that Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization dedicated to fighting domestic hunger through a network of food banks, is again the Official Charity Partner of the legendary MINI owners road rally, MINI TAKES THE STATES. Similar to the MTTS 2016 partnership, a portion of the proceeds from each registration fee will be donated to Feeding America. In addition, MTTS 2018 participants will have the opportunity to personally raise money and awareness for hunger in America. The legendary rally for MINI owners, which runs from July 14 – 22, will start from two separate locations on opposite sides of the country and meet in the middle for a weekend celebration of everything MINI. The starting cities will be Orlando, Fla., and Portland, Ore. The final destination is Keystone Resort in Keystone, Colo., approximately 75 miles west […]

Aston Martin Holdings (UK) Ltd, the designer and manufacturer of luxury handcrafted sports cars, today reported a record full-year financial performance driven by continued strong demand for the DB11 and special models. For the 12 months to 31 December 2017, the Group delivered its highest-ever revenues of £876m, up 48% versus the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to £207m, while pre-tax profit rose by a quarter of a billion pounds to £87m, reversing a pre-tax loss of £163m in 2016.

Jaguar has created the ultimate young driver experience, with its updated Jaguar First program, allowing 11-17 year-olds to get behind the wheel of an F-TYPE four-cylinder sports car, capable of 0-60mph in 5.4 seconds. The addition of F-PACE, Jaguar’s fastest selling car ever, also gives youngsters the rare chance to take lead as designated driver, whilst their parent or guardian enjoys resting in the back seat for once!

A 2018 British Racing Green Noble M600 CarbonSport will be at The London Motor Show this May, taking pride of place on the all-new Built In Britain feature. Designed, engineered and manufactured at Noble’s Leicestershire base, the twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 M600 CarbonSport is poised to be one of the stars of the show at London’s ExCeL in May. The car boasts a power output of 662bhp, resulting in a top speed of an estimated 225mph and a 0-60mph time of just 3.5 seconds. It weighs in at just over a tonne with a dry weight of 1198kg.

One motor car changed the course of automotive history. Today, the legend is re-told as Rolls-Royce Motor Cars proudly announces the creation of a collection of 35 model year 2018 Rolls-Royce Ghosts, created in homage to the original Silver Ghost’s achievement. In 1904, a pioneering motorist, a brilliant entrepreneur and an intrepid engineer were united by a desire to succeed. Three years later, this success was recognized by the world’s media. An unfathomable challenge unprecedented of its time and legendary to this day, was completed by The Hon. Charles Rolls and Claude Johnson in Sir Henry Royce’s ‘Silver Ghost’. The car achieved a non-stop long distance endurance record of 14,371 miles. This challenge was to shape automotive and luxury history, creating a world-renowned benchmark for excellence in the process.

A few years ago, Jaguar Land Rover made news by purchasing the entire James Hull classic car collection, which featured 543 cars, including 130 Jaguars and some extremely rare prototypes. The company never revealed how much it spent to acquire all of these models, but it seems ready to recoup some of its losses, and concentrate the collection as it will be auctioning at least approximately cars from the group at Brightwells Classic Cars on March 31.  No Jaguars or Land Rovers are being offered up for sale. The collection consists mostly of Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Morris, Ford, MG, Austin, Vauxhall, Peugeot, and Citroën cars, as well as several more minor brands. Some of the most notable offerings will be a 1972 Reliant Ferguson 4×4 prototype car—the only one in the world—a 1974 Rover P6 3500 Estate, a 1978 Vauxhall Chevette 2300, and an […]

Morgan Motor Company and Morris Lubricants are introducing the official Morgan Motor Oil. Available in a vintage style collectible 5-litre oil can, the Morgan Motor Oil is suitable for selected Morgan models only, and is manufactured from a combination of advanced base fluids and the latest additive technology. Morgan 10W-40  is semi-synthetic multigrade engine oil. It is formulated for use in petrol engines fitted to passenger cars, Morgan Motor Oil 10W-40 will protect camshafts, critical valve gear and bearings from wear, even under severe cold start conditions. The oil is not suitable for Aero 8, Plus 8 or 3-Wheeler. The decorative collectible can is also being sold separately, empty. Both oil and can may be purchased from the Morgan Motor Company website. Note: Press release courtesy of Morgan Motor Company.  

The new Land Rover Explore mobile phone is tough and capable – like the Discovery SUV that inspired it. Powerful enough for two full days of typical use and durable enough to keep you connected when the going gets tough, it is developed by Land Rover and Bullitt Group and will be revealed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Bugeye Sprites. Who doesn’t love them? They capture all of the fun and tradition of a British Sportscar in a package that is both adorable and adaptable. You can do anything with them from take a leisurely drive in the country to run full out in vintage racing. And, as many have said, you can have more fun going 50 to 60 miles per hour in a Sprite than you can by going 120 miles per hour in a larger car. Our video this week comes from the BugyeyeGuy and goes into the identification of the differences between the very first 1958 Bugyeye and the later models.

The new Lotus 3-Eleven 430 has retaken the title as Lotus’ quickest street-legal sports car – a fitting send-off for the company’s legendary road racer. The most extreme machine that Lotus builds, the new 3-Eleven 430 is the fastest Lotus road car to lap the challenging Hethel circuit, 0.8 seconds quicker than the second place Exige Cup 430, and two seconds quicker than the previous 3-Eleven, delivering a benchmark time of 1 minute 24 seconds. Upgraded and specifically re-optimised for the 3-Eleven, the supercharged and charge-cooled 3.5-litre V6 engine produces 430 hp and 440 Nm, propelling the 3-Eleven 430 from 0-60 mph in an astonishing 3.1 seconds (0-100 km/h in 3.2 seconds) and a top speed of 180 mph (290 km/h) – up from 3.3 seconds (0-60 mph) (3.4 seconds 0-100 km/h) and 174 mph (280 km/h) for the previous […]

We published the notice a few weeks ago about the car, but now Morgan Motor Company has released the first teaser images of the much anticipated 50th Anniversary Edition of its iconic Plus 8 ahead of its full reveal at the Geneva Motor Show on March 6. Named after the famous eight-cylinder engine beneath the car’s hand-built body, over 6,000 Plus 8 models have been built in the last 50 years at Morgan’s Pickersleigh Road home.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has today announced its new House Charity for 2018, The Ickle Pickle Partnership. Colleagues at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood vote for their House Charity every year through a company-wide nomination process and the successful organization is supported through a number of initiatives. This year’s winning charity, The Ickle Pickle Partnership, turns gifts and donations from generous people into specialized equipment such as incubators and ventilators to help Neonatal Units provide the highest levels of intensive care for the smallest and most unwell babies.

American demand for British-built cars rose in 2017, as increasing popularity of the UK’s ever-growing range of premium, luxury and sports cars, helped drive UK automotive exports to the country. Latest figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), show almost 210,000 US buyers chose a UK-made car last year, an uplift of 7.0%. A total of 1,671,166 vehicles rolled off UK production lines in 2017, a -3.0% decrease on 2016 – but still the second highest output since the turn of the century. Export demand from 160 markets worldwide now represents 79.9% of all UK car output – the highest proportion for five years.

Vintage racing isn’t just a hobby, it is a passion. And an art. We are quite pleased to have a guest article by Don Racine of Mini Mania about using the ribcase transmission from the ubiquitous “Spridget” in the vintage racing application. The most conventional gears in the everyday manual transmission are helical cut. The single biggest advantage of this design is the reduction of noise that is inherent in the more efficient, easy to manufacture straight cut gears. The helical patterns allow for a much less violent meshing of the gears. But, the decreased noise comes with a few penalties. The first of which is sideload – because the gears are helical, some of the thrust is lost in the rotational direction and thus must be controlled with a thrust surface. The thrust surface most often used is called thrust […]

We have talked about Jaguar’s new production run of the legendary D-Type before, and now the folks at Goodwood have a video for us. In this video, Tim Hannig of Jaguar Land Rover Classic shows the Goodwood crew around the extraordinary Jaguar D-Type Longnose. Built in 2017 to emulate the stunning 1956 machine, the car shone brightly at Retromobile in France. Note: Video and text courtesy of Goodwood Road & Racing.

With Chinese New Year marking the start of the Year of the Dog today, Land Rover has introduced its range of pet-friendly accessories designed to make life with canine friends that little bit more straightforward. Land Rover now caters for the journey to and from the walk with its comprehensive pet packs. The boot can be protected from wet paws and fur with a rubber mat or liner tray, both offering waterproof protection. The mat covers the carpet on the load space floor, while the liner tray has a raised lip on three sites to cover both the floor and side wall carpets. A full height partition can be easily fitted to not only keep pets safe and comfortable but also prevent muddy paw prints on the passenger seats. The partition also enables owners to separate the load space into two […]