G51 in book of all-time great British cars

super well done on getting in there!

although i could spend an hour picking apart that list...

Indeed...tbh no two people would ever put together the exact same list. Good to see a Maestro Turbo at least appearing on somebody's list though, from a country where they weren't even sold...

It's easy to wrap yourself bitterly in the flag but just as it's sometimes easy to gloss over some of this country's complete and utter lemons as misunderstood masterpieces it's also easy to forget that other countries have their lemons too.

As an exercise, compile a list of the worst 50 German cars. But only do it if you are prepared to equally dispassionately create a list of the 50 worst British cars with the Morris Marina at the head of it.

I suspect the 50 would also be the 50 favoutite old British cars of RR contributors, me included.

I'd put the Marina at the top of the worst British cars built (which is why there are a load of us carrying on 'development'), but it'd be a crowded place as there would be a shedload of others vieing for the spot!

I agree that we have built some real lemons, as have other nations, but the appreciation of what we have achieved here really only comes from abroad, from people who have not been 'brainwashed' into believeing anything built abroad is either cool or glamorous by the British Media....it has long been a 'cool' thing to knock the UK and its achievements, whether in cars or other projects whereas countries like the US tend to hype themselves up, whether they deserve it or not!

Anyway, this is Retro rides and going by the worldwide oddities and shonkky wagons on here , don't take things to heart too much - Christ, I drive a Marina FFS!

Land Rover Freelander? ;D Wouldn't mind a copy of the book for my little library. congrats on making it into print!

Personally, I don't think the majority of British cars are anywhere near as bad as they are made out to be. Ironically, some of the cars that really are a bit poo are never seen on lists of greatest tat.
Case in point, the Herald/Vitesse range (apologies to their owners! It's nothing personal ) Having spent some time working on these cars for a living, I can honestly say they are pretty poor. They were archaic when introduced and remained in production for far too long. They rattle themselves to bits in no time and have pretty dire road manners, yet these cars are considered a thoroughbred classics whereas a Marina is considered to be junk. Admittedly, Marinas have their faults but they are considerable more robust than a Herald!

the one singular failing of the British Motor industry as I see it, time and time again was simply build quality. There were a few poor designs, sure ...but there were plenty of great ones too (like the Maxi) yet so often they were let down by shoddy workmanship and pitiful quality control.

The japanese had the quality thing sorted so even though their designs were often not technically all that advanced, the cars were well put together and lasted. Nissan didn't even produce their first FWD car until 1970, some 11 years after BMC, but the car was functional and reliable right from the start so it never gained a bad reputation, unlike cars like the Maxi.

If the British Motor Industry could have cracked the quality control thing they would have been world leaders and I'm sure, we may even have still had a strong motor industry now.

Well done G51

True its subjective, this was the best car i've owned, wish i'd not sold it!

The fact you're all rushing to the defence of British cars proves not everyone in this country is queueing up to knock them. Just don't defend the indefencible

Heralds? Weird little cars! I mean, who'd have thought in 1959 that the world would go for FWD transverse engined cars rather than RWD cars with separate chassis? I like my Herald precisely because it's cr@p, it has woeful brakes and suspension but is saved from deathtrap status by having barely enough power to pull the skin off the proverbial rice pudding and surprisingly enough turns out to be quite fun to drive.

Just for the purpose of this post I'm talking about the BLMC range, in my view they had more lemons than jewels not through bad design but bad execution. True there were oddities like the Herald and cars designed on the cheap like the Metro but on the whole most of the range would have been among the best cars of their day had they been built in factories with motivated workforce and effective quality control, and made from parts designed not to break. Sorry to pick on the Marina again, but I come from Oxford. We had Marinas. They were good when they were behaving but when they were bad they were truly awful. I've since known one or two ex-BL workers who regaled me with tales of life working at Cowley in the 1970s and listening to them I'm amazed any of the cars emerged onto the Cowley Road in a roadworthy condition.

In a way it's a good thing that this thread is about a Maestro. The Maestro arrived with a fanfare and died with a whimper but over its lifetime it proved that Cowley could make a car that was both well designed and well built. I've never driven an MG Maestro turbo but the Maestros I have driven, mostly unremarkable 1.3s and diesels were inexpensive and reliable transport for the various friends of mine that had them in the '90s which is more than could be said for the FIATs I was driving at the time. Richly deserving of a place in the book IMHO.

ORSUMS! Good work on getting into print