Austin Apache

A car based on the Austin 1300 but with the addition of a larger boot and extended restyled front was built by Leyland South Africa for a South African market. It’s used various parts from the before mentioned Austin 1300 as well as the Triumph 2000 and ended up being a similar size to the Triumph Dolomite.

British Leyland / Austin Zanda

There’s no denying the Harris Mann concept that debuted in 1969 was a looker, even by today’s standards. Which in the emerging wedge era was saying something. Also to be fair at the time of British Leyland it’s amazing it look this well balanced and didn’t have most of its flair taken out by having to use the parts bin like so many others of the time.

Piper GTT/P2

The Piper GTT/P2, now these are essentially the same car with some tweaks to the lights and engine between them. The one below seems to be a combination of the two models with it having the square lights to the rear of the P2 but the bonnet bulge, rather than an air scoop, of the GTT up front.

Piper Cars came out of the Piper Cams company that produced racing upgrades, the GTT came about from being asked to produce a sports GT car body and chassis to run Austin Healy Sprite mechanics and it was debuted at the 1967 Race Car Show.

Minki

The mini was in production for an impressive 41 years which just proves hoe versatile and loved the design, hell Rover even worked how to fit airbags to it in 1994. It even was sold against and beyond its replacements, the Metro. In 1992 though Rover planned probably its biggest shake up/ modernisation to date.

Austin Gipsy

It may look like a Land Rover, and after the conglomeration of British Leyland later in its life, been built in the same factory as the Land Rover but this was a direct completely independent competitor when it was released in 1958.

Coventry Transport Museum

The Coventry Transport Museum holds a certain draw for the car people in the UK, at some point on the perusal through the web looking for information to get you classic/retro car running you’ll end up seeing pictures of a “meet” or “national club event” parked up right outside the entrance in the huge open space. At that point your interest in this place is subliminally placed in your mind popping back up every time you see another shot of a car in the square.

Austin AR6

When you talk about “what might have been” then British Leyland/Austin/Rover had more chances of success than failure. A brand generally loved by the UK but failed to keep up with the competition and relied too much on nostalgia and being “British” rather than investing in new cars. One example of that, which to be honest by 1984 may already have been to late, was the final AR6 concept.

Austin Ambassador

When I first saw this I thought it was an Austin Princess but with a slightly more angular later body. In one respect I was right but this came a few years after the Princess as a stop gap for 2 years before the Montego was released. Launched in 1982 it was hatched back version of the previous Princess 2, with some style changes, and offered with a 1.7 or 2.0 "O" series engine, with the 2.0 offered with a single or twin carb option. There were 4 states of trim offered: the L, the HL, the HLS and the Vanden Plas.