Two iconic cars made during British Leyland’s legacy. Both were superb cars in their own right with many innovative and genuinely great attributes. However, due to many factors including industrial unrest, a foolish attitude towards expenditure from the powers of be in addition to too much internal rivalry would condemn these cars to becoming relics of a bygone era.
But my story of venturing deep into the classic car world did not start from here. Oh no. That fateful day was quite some time ago. Many years and cars ago my humble beginnings started much further back. Back when times seemed alot simpler, when I could barely think forwards at all. The world was my oyster and I was starting out as a bit of a hobbying spanner monkey.
If I had to pick a point in time that sparked this interest it was probably when my dad owned a number of hot hatches. These included 2 Ford Escort XR3is, A Metro Turbo as well as a hotted up Mini 1275GT, which was more of a 1380GT! There were other cars including MkII Fiestas and even a MkIII Orion of all things!
So where did my story start? That will soon arrive in the next post.
So, the first thread gave an indicator of what one of my many interests is. I guess the time has come to give this blog more of an introduction.
Where did my interest begin? Was from my vague recollection of remembering my father tinkering with a then unloved but tweaked Mini 1275GT? Was it from seeing these old cars wafting about and with the ubiquitous Flame Red paintwork really coming alive upon the car being used, regardless of weather conditions? One thing is for sure ; it would seem that I was destined to go through a period of time with some BL rust in my blood, quite literally! Below you will find out about how I got into this game, the joys, the pitfalls of owning a car. The good, the bad and the ugly of what can come your way. However, it was a superb learning curve, and it has given me an idea of how better to go from doing tasks in terms of from A to B instead of going via C, Y and Z! Hopefully some of you may find my tales enlightening! Otherwise I apologise for wasting your time.
I guess if a tangible point had to be specified as to when my interested was sparked it would have to be on my 16th birthday, yup a fateful day. This was in the form of my birthday present; a fairly cheap MGB GT in brown. If I had any sense back then you could say that I should have run for the hills, especially if I told you that the car only had one month’s MOT and tax! However, like any naive classic car owner I could only see the positives ; an 8,000 mile Ivor Searle engine with new ancillaries, a refurbished gearbox along with new rear leaf springs.
Naturally, the photos flatter the car. They say a photo speaks a thousand words ; that is always the issue with photos:
When the journey will begin.
That is the problem. A photo does only speak 1,000 words! What this photo shows is that the wings were slightly rusty at the front (nothing much), the door was iffy on the left hand side in addition to the fact that the overdrive was slipping upon the gearbox disengaging.
I could of course cut the car loose and look for something else. But what fun would that be?
The plan then was simple, or so it seemed at the time. Repaint the car, redo some of the suspension, acquire some new panels in addition to getting to grips with other areas of the car? Was it that simple? It never is, as you shall come to see in future updates.
Leyland Legends 