Highlights

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 […]

Let’s get bumpy this week!  Our Video of the Week this time is going to be a Morris 1100 television commercial from New Zealand featuring the car’s hydrolastic suspension. Made for the New Zealand British Motor Corporation (BMC) distributor Dominion Motors. If you don’t know, hydrolastic suspension was used on early Minis and the full line of BMC 1100 / 1300 cars, collectively known by their factory designation of ADO16. The ADO16s include the MG 1100, Austin America, Morris 1100, Vanden Plas Princess 1100, Riley Kestrel, and many more. At this point, BMC was huge into badge engineering. Hydrolastic suspension cars, at least in this form, use liquid-filled dampers at each of the four wheels instead of shocks and springs. Those dampers, which are basically large heavy rubber bladders, are connected front-to-back by hoses. This means that when the front left […]

Aston Martin and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills announced today that guests who book the new “Live Aston Martin” suite package before March 31 will receive exclusive access to drive an Aston Martin through the streets of Beverly Hills. Offered to guests for a limited time, the activation also features an Aston Martin DB11 display vehicle at the Beverly Hills property and a pop-up retail store. This is the perfect venue for current and prospective clients to indulge in the spirit of LA’s car culture by driving one of the world’s most beautiful cars amid a luxurious backdrop. It’ll certainly add an unforgettable dose of adrenaline to the hotel stay! — Laura Schwab, president of Aston Martin the Americas

MINI UK is proud to announce the return of MINI CHALLENGE for 2018, bringing packed grids and spectacular racing to fans across the UK. Packing 49 thrilling races, across four different classes into 13 all-action weekends, the MINI CHALLENGE will once again visit legendary race circuits including Silverstone, Brands Hatch, and Donington Park. Confirming the status of MINI CHALLENGE as one of the premier single-make race series in the UK, the top level John Cooper Works class will support the British GT and BRDC British Formula 3 championships for the second year in succession and, for the first time, the series will be supporting DTM at Brands Hatch on 11-12th August 2018.

A new Aston Martin online shop has opened its virtual doors at shop.astonmartin.com. The new shop is the best destination to purchase anything from an Aston Martin print to clothing from their lifestyle collection. For anyone looking for Aston Martin Racing team wear, they can now head over to the Ready-to-Wear section where they will find not only team kit but apparel featuring limited edition artwork, polo shirts, bags, cashmere scarves and even a mini race suit for younger fans of the team.

Phase I of Aston Martin’s new manufacturing facility at St Athan in Wales is now complete.  Work started on the site in late 2016 when Aston Martin was first given access to the former MOD site, phase I works included the creation of the customer and staff reception areas, administration, and management offices and the employee restaurant. Phase II, which commenced in April 2017, will see the three super hangars redeveloped into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with Aston Martin’s SUV due to start production in 2019.

Three years ago in the pages of The Financial Times, Rolls-Royce announced to the world that it would create an all-new, high-bodied car that would redefine luxury travel by making it Effortless, Everywhere. In other words, a Roll-Royce SUV.  Today, Rolls-Royce has confirmed that its new motor car will be called Cullinan. The name Cullinan has been hiding in plain sight since we revealed it as the project name some years ago. It is the most fitting name for our extraordinary new product. Cullinan is a motor car of such clarity of purpose, such flawless quality and preciousness, and such presence that it recalibrates the scale and possibility of true luxury. Just like the Cullinan Diamond, the largest flawless diamond ever found, it emerges when it is perfect and exists above all others. — Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce