For our British friends on the 4th of July...

[onager]

And completely off-topic...except that many people who owned these cars claimed they had paranormal tendencies: not starting, not running, suddenly collapsing into piles of iron oxide dust, etc.

Posted this to GD, but re-posting here for our resident British friends.

A little nostalgia (???) in the form of a 1971 British Leyland TV commercial.

The Best Engineers In The World Create A Beautiful Car: Morris Marina!

Unfortunately, none of them seemed to be CAR engineers. In this case, I think "engineer" meant "guy with a striped cap and a set of HO-scale trains."

One of the British commenters in the original thread notes that this family of cars was the Austin Maxi/Allegro/Marina - neatly abbreviated as "Maximum-Agro."

A few of these were imported into the U.S. and sold as the Austin Marina. I'd be surprised if any have survived.

http://jalopnik.com/5579051/the-best-engineers-in-the-world-create-a-beautiful-car-morris-marina

[mr blur]

1. Nah, engineers don't wear striped caps over here -

More white coats and clipboards.

Always had French cars myself.

[onager]

2. French cars? I worship the Goddess...

At least I worship her from afar. To own one, I would need a much bigger bank account. I've heard that restoration/maintenance can involve very serious, Biblical-wrath-o-god, sudden-poverty-inducing expenses:



The part about engineers was a bad joke. Here in the US, the guy who runs a train is called an "engineer," just like the lab coat/clipboard people who design and make stuff. Train engineers often wore striped caps. People who own HO-scale train sets often put on an engineer's cap to run their toy trains.

[realisticphish]

5. They're not TOYS

they're HIGHLY DETAILED MODELS.

And N-Gauge is better :D

[onager]

6. That was bait!

I knew I would smoke out a train-ee or two!

My own Weird Hobby is building scale models of tanks, cars, zombies, etc. etc.

And people referring to them as "toys" puts my teeth on edge, too.

Then we have those guys who collect and modify 1/6 scale highly detailed military figures.

Referred to by the rest of us as "Battle Barbies." Which drives those guys crazy.

[realisticphish]

7. it's been a while for me

when I lived at home, Dad and I built a LOT of buildings; honestly, I think we did that more than any of the actual trains. It's a hard hobby to have in an apartment; but I have started doing model airplanes occasionally, which helps with the fix.

Dad also makes and paints lead soldiers.

[LeftishBrit]

3. I'm a non-driver; though I live in one of the rather few cities in England where the car industry is

still significant (Oxford; the Cowley plant).

I don't remember the Morris Marina, but other Morris cars were common in my childhood. Not bad cars in general.

[mr blur]

4. The Morris Minor was pretty cool -

There was a time when everybody here over the age of 60 seemed to drive one. Especially old ladies in woolly hats. And vicars.



Trust we Brits to proudly make "The World's Supreme Small Car"

[frogmarch]

8. Anyone know what this car is?

I'm not sure when the picture was taken, but I think in the mid to late 1930s. It's of my birth mother in the family car near their home in Quetta, Baluchistan. Except for my grandfather, she was the only one in her family who knew how to drive. I've always wondered what kind of car it was.

[onager]

9. Stumped, but guessing...

Sporty little devil of a car, ain't it? Thanks for posting this intriguing photo.

I'd guess maybe a Wolseley Hornet, but that's definitely an uneducated WAG. The photo below is a restored 1929 model. I'm guessing that from the "dip" in the doors, the space between the hood vent louvers, and the small fender-mounted driving lights. Unfortunately, all items that could also be on a Morris, Austin or several other British cars of the same vintage.

It's also possible that the body is a custom, one-off design mounted on a regular production car chassis. That was very common back in the 1920's and '30's, especially in Britain.

[frogmarch]

10. I see the resemblance

between the cars in your picture and mine. The restored Wolseley Hornet looks beautiful! I wonder if any were red at the time. Wow!

Here's another car picture - this one with my mother and my grandfather - from perhaps the late 20s or early 30s. This one was taken in northern India, where they spend their summers to escape the heat.

What is this car? Is it a little Austin? Anyone know?