Gaydon Oddities

[archieboy]

A few pics from Gaydon heritage museum

A P6 Rover with funny looking front



SD estate



An MG that should have happened



??



Another MG



And hidden out back

A triumph 1500





?? but i liked it






I did have a few more but seem to have lost one of my memory sticks

[qwerty]

Normally i love estate versions but that SD is NARSTY!!

Triumph 1500 looks cool

[penski]

Boso-nosed Acclaim?

*n

[archieboy]

penski said:

Boso-nosed Acclaim?

*n

With dolly sprint wheels

[jettadeluxe]

archieboy said:

penski said:

Boso-nosed Acclaim?

*n

With dolly sprint wheels

Everything screams Dolly apart from the reworked nose!

[briandamaged]

First Rover is a turbine-powered P6. Achingly gorgeous IMHO!

SD1 wagon would have been a sure-fire winner if they'd launched it I reckon.

Red MG was a styling exercise, I seem to remember reading somewhere that underneath is a TVR Griffith???

I think PXC200E was styled by Zagato, certainly has a 60's Lancia look about it. I think again it has P6-V8 underpinnings, likewise the last one comes from one of the Italian styling houses, looks like it's Dolomite-based???

[jettadeluxe]

archieboy said:

A few pics from Gaydon heritage museum

A P6 Rover with funny looking front

Prototype P6, when it was supposed to have a gas turbine engine in it.

They then changed to petrol power, but kept the weird suspension set-up.

[dollywobbler]

It isn't a prototype P6 as such - it is a continuation of the gas turbine theme like JET 1 and that blue thing which was also turbine powered.

The Silver Triumph is a Michelotti (I think) re-design of the Dolomite.

Absolutely shocking that they are storing some historically important vehicles outside. Do we thank Ford for that as they now own the place?

[archieboy]

Thanks Brian for your wealth of knowledge ;D i was too lazy to read the plaques

dollywobbler said:

Absolutely shocking that they are storing some historically important vehicles outside. Do we thank Ford for that as they now own the place?

Well lets hope they have to sell that aswell, some of that stuff was going a bit rusty which was a real shame.

[Odin]

Egad, they didn't have stuff outside when I last went. Poor effort.

[sav]

I do hope that they get those cars back under cover soon.

The green Triumph 1500 LUL 79P is known as Triumph SD2 and is actually a 2litre injection.

Reminds me of a Citroen BX from a few angles.

[dollywobbler]

Anyone got any idea how long that lot have been outside? Must be a month or two but I haven't been to Gaydon since last Autumn.

[whitbytom]

That Rover is so used to being called ugly it's done a dirty protest on the floor....

[dugong]

The red MGA - ish thing was referred to as the DR2, it was designed by Roy Axe's DRA team and was based on the chassis of a TVR 350i. It was to be marketed as an Austin Healey at one point but the funds weren't available and there were legal squabbles over the name.

And I bloody love the Heritage Motor Museum, I've been in the back 'secret' workshop and everything. I sat in Wolfgang Reitzle's AH 3000 and stared at the MGF PR1 prototype for a bit. The once mooted Rover R6 replaceement was at the back as well. There was some other stuff covered up that my tour guide was vague about, I think one of them might have been the Mini ACV 30 concept, another one of the Spirituals (and maybe PR3, cos he grinned when I pointed and mentioned it, the MGF had not long been launched).

There was also a converted 400 (old shape) pick up truck being used as a site hack, it was blue, wonder if it still exists?

Disgraceful that some of the old prototypes have been left out in the open. Are they really that pushed for space?

[Lankytim]

Yes, blame Ford for the nice cars outside rotting. Theyve been there a while from what I can gather. That green hatchback thing has a nice scrape down the N/S from being moved about too. The last ever Rover 100 and Montego were outside along with "new" Ital estate, Maxi and Allegro.

The museum recently sold off a load of cars as they were so pressed for space. A load of sales props such as a cut away marina coupe and SD1. They looked like the cover of a haynes manual! The last ever Maestro were also sold, along with the last Rover 214. A load of old curse word to some people but cars that need to be preserved in a museum IMHO!

Cant believe they stuck those cars outside and had a C reg BLUEBIRD inside. Wasnt even "new" either- it had 60k on the clock

[dugong]

I'll have the SD2 if no one wants it.
;D

[bigrod]

The P6 was the first car specifically designed to do over 200 MPH.

And I'd have the SD1 estate too!!!