Month: April 2018

There are many types of books in an MG collection. There are shop manuals, marque histories, racing stories, advertising records, and on and on. There are few however that standout is completely different. MG, Made In Abingdon: Echoes from the Shop Floor by Bob Frampton is one such book. This book is one of the few that while dealing with the MG factory, doesn’t actually have a ton of information about the cars. Instead, it is about the people and is told in their own words. MG, Made In Abingdon will give you a feel for the people and the time and the place made famous by the sacred octagon. In the book, we hear from the true voices behind the cars. We hear stories that range from tea-girls bringing cinnamon buns to the line-workers to fist fights in bars to men […]

Over 80 British Car enthusiasts made their way to Abingdon Spares in Deep River for a tech session with internationally known British Carburetor authority Joe Curto. It was a tight fit but we managed to squeeze everyone in, with only a few standing! We even managed to get a few sports cars out of hibernation and into our parking lot! Joe provided a very interesting, informative and sometimes humorous two and a half hours of discussion on the famous SU carburetor. Joe began by describing the various types of SUs, starting with the H type (T-series) through the HIF (MGB) carbs.

Our video this week features a car you rarely see anymore, especially in the US, the Hillman Imp. The video takes a look at the production of the Hillman Imp at the plant in Linwood, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The program includes interviews with past members of the Linwood workforce. It also examines the wider workforce, trade union, management and government relationships which existed throughout much of UK manufacturing in the 1960’s and 70’s. The Hillman Imp was a small economy car made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. It was made in many different forms and in addition to the Hillman marque was also marketed as both Sunbeam and Singer. Unveiled in 1963 after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine block and cylinder head cast in aluminum.

Without equal and a class apart: the new Lotus Exige Cup 430 Type 25 is a collector’s piece like no other and a fitting tribute to one of the most successful and influential Formula 1 cars of all time. Based on the celebrated Exige Cup 430, unveiled at the end of last year, the two-seat Type 25 is a unique opportunity to relish a universally acclaimed sports car named in partnership with Classic Team Lotus. Referencing the Type 25, the single seat Lotus racing car that dominated the 1963 season, the new car features a raft of exotic and unique features as well as specially commissioned heritage documentation. Powered by Lotus’ formidable 3.5-litre supercharged and charge cooled V6, producing 430 hp and 440 Nm, the Lotus Exige Cup 430 Type 25 is not only the fastest in its class, sprinting […]

Future owners of the still-to-be unveiled McLaren Hyper-GT, codenamed BP23, will this week receive a sculpture of the car’s evocative and luxurious yet sporting interior. The BP23 ‘Speed Form’ also features a hint of the bodywork design that will make the next Ultimate Series McLaren the most aerodynamic car ever from the marque and help it to achieve the highest top speed of any McLaren, at more than 243mph. The BP23 ‘Speed Form’ provides an early hint of the luxury and imagination that extends under the skin of the vehicle to its icon-eclipsing interior, which is arranged in the same three-seat, central driving position layout as the McLaren F1 that inspired it. As befits a gift associated with such a rare car, examples of the BP23 Speed Form – which are individually numbered – will not be available to buy.

At the Geneva Motor Show, Morgan Motor Company revealed its most extreme road-going model to date, the Aero GT – and the first edition has now rolled off the production line, destined for Revolutions Morgan in Scotland. Morgan Motor Company will produce just eight of the special Aero GT variants – all vehicles individually built bespoke to customer specification. The Aero GT represents the end of Aero 8 production, guaranteeing that every Aero 8 owner will be the custodian of a very significant piece of Morgan history.

Auto Class Cars, authorized distributor of MG in Qatar, has announced that the MG RX5 compact SUV will be available in the Qatari market by the end of April. MG Motor’s new ‘Hero SUV’ will be available at the MG showroom on Salwa Road, with prices starting at around QR54,000 (approximately $15K USD). The new MG RX5 will appeal to a range of customers, especially younger buyers looking for value for money in a stylish, technologically-advanced package that allows them to stand out from the crowd, according to a statement.

Twenty-one-year-old McLaren Automotive Factory Driver Ben Barnicoat got off to a perfect start in the opening British GT Championship weekend at Oulton Park, winning the first race of the season in the 570S GT4 of customer team track-club, in turn scoring the track-only Sports Series model its first victory of 2018 in global competition. Barnicoat drove perfectly in the treacherous conditions on Bank Holiday Monday morning, as heavy rain prior to the race made it a particularly intense affair for the drivers, negotiating the tight, twisty Cheshire circuit.

Three years after the beginning of a grueling testing program that has seen it conquer every corner of the globe from freezing snowfields to searing deserts, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan will undertake The Final Challenge to prove itself “Effortless Everywhere” in the public eye. In an unprecedented partnership, Rolls-Royce and National Geographic will work together to publish daily film and photograph updates as Cullinan undertakes trials in Northern Europe, the Middle East, and the United States for a final time ahead of its world debut later this year. The Rolls-Royce Cullinan will embody all the values and capabilities that drove Rolls-Royce’s two founding fathers, the Honorable Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce, to secure the marque’s reputation early last century, as they took top honours in rigorous public adventures such as the Scottish Reliability Trials, the London to Edinburgh event and […]