What Is The UK Car Scrappage Scheme?

The 2009 UK scrappage scheme was the slickly advertised deal that sounded too good to be true. Trade in your road legal but battered old car. Get a £2000 discount off a brand new car. The Government would contribute half and the manufacturer the other half. The aim was to scrap old high emissions cars and put brand new, lower emitting cars on the road instead and reduce overall carbon output.

In total 392,227 cars were scrapped in return for discounts on new “cleaner” cars. It cost the tax payer £400 million, was it all just hot air or did the scrappage scheme have any credentials?

See The Scrappage Scheme Graveyard:

Why Was The Scrappage Scheme Needed?

After the 2008 financial crisis, the sale of new cars in the UK fell by over 20%. Car design and production is a hugely important part of the UK economy, generating turnover of £82 billion and created £18 billion worth of value to the UK economy in 2018. With almost one million people (2018) employed in the sector, a significant drop in sales would have resulted in large scale redundancies.

To prevent redundancies, Alistair Darling introduced the scrappage scheme which promised to aid funding a new car, so long as a road legal car was traded in exchange. The older car would then be scrapped and the Government are seen as heroes by saving the world from pollution.

Did The Scrappage Scheme Cause More Pollution?

The scheme was marketed as removing polluting cars. It also encouraged sales of new cars and scrapping cars that still had use left in them, which is bad irrespective.

“Unless you do very high mileage or have a real gas-guzzler, it generally makes sense to keep your old car for as long as it is reliable – and to look after it carefully to extend its life as long as possible. If you make a car last to 200,000 miles rather than 100,000, then the emissions for each mile the car does in its lifetime may drop by as much as 50%, as a result of getting more distance out of the initial manufacturing emissions.”

Guardian – Extract from “How Bad Are Bananas – The Carbon Footprint of Everything” by Mike Berners Lee

Most of the emissions are from the manufacturing process of a car, it makes sense to maintain existing cars on the road, not scrap them before they reach end of life. The scrappage scheme did both of these, so more pollution was caused from the influx of new cars produced, which would offset any saving in emissions from the exhaust pipe. Crazy.

“The most polluting car is a brand-new one; make a new one from scratch and you’re going to be working against its manufacturing pollution for years, no matter how low its emissions are but classics are a great example of recycling.”

Fuzz Townshend, to Classic Car Weekly

What British Sports Cars Were Lost To The Scrappage Scheme?

Many classic car clubs were angered and predicted rare classic cars would be traded in to get this bonus. Classic cars aren’t driven as much as more modern cars, so any impact on emissions would be negligible anyway. This resulted in the loss of a potential classic car for no real emissions benefit.

Various rare cars were lost forever, including this selection of British sports cars:

A number of other rarities from other brands were lost including some from Porsche, Peugeot, BMW and Audi. The scrappage scheme has also had the knock on effect of making some mundane cars very rare in the process.

In Summary

Many high emission cars were taken off the road, but many perfectly good cars that had plenty of years left in them were also scrapped. To make matters worse, prices were often raised on the new cars available via the scheme, making the discount a false economy.

The scheme did result in a net fall in emissions -5.4%, but did not take into account the additional emissions generated from the production process of the new cars. Besides, this fall in emissions came shortly after the 2008 financial crisis, so could have been caused by a range of events (eg less people commuting because of job loss after 2008).

The next scheme was funded by manufacturers themselves. This was not done in anyway to improve emissions, but to spur on sales of new cars. Very revealing.

Whenever the concept of a scrappage scheme comes up, it’s usually followed by some message about it helping the environment, but the embodied resources in old cars are never addressed. It’s just a nice way to sell new cars and make people feel good about it.

The launch of the Rover 600 in 1993 stemmed the tide a bit though. It proved Rover could build a good car. It was designed to replace the aging Austin Montego which would be kept on after the launch of the 600 (primarily for fleet sales).

The Rover 600 was based on the mk5 Honda Accord which was similar mechanically, but significantly cheaper. Aesthetic differences inside and out made the Rover more special looking (and hopefully compensate for the higher price). The body was elegant looking and the grille design managed to be traditional without looking old fashioned. The interior had the familiar melted mars bar effect wood everywhere, but also had nice door cards and seats. Overall it looked like Rover were onto a winner.

To my eye the Rover 600 looked like a Rover should, with neat lines and subtle elegance without any fussy retro additions. The slight issue was that the Honda Accord was mechanically pretty much the same car, but cheaper.

Iron fist meets velvet glove

So, onto the main subject of our story, the Rover 620ti. A year after the launch of the Rover 600, the 620ti was introduced.

Despite having pick of the Honda engines, Rover decided to use its own T-series engine for the new 620ti. The “ti” stood for “Turbo Intercooler” and thanks to that the 620ti had 197bhp. To put that in perspective, the Sierra Cosworth of the same era only had around 20bhp more.

Previous fast Rovers, like the demented Tomcat and big engined 800s were all a bit unruly when driven hard. The 620ti was far more composed than both. This was thanks to the Torsen differential; which the Tomcat never had. The Rover 620ti also featured Honda’s double wishbone suspension.

Altogether this made the Rover 620ti a radically different proposition to the plain-Jane Honda Accord. The Rover 620ti was also cheaper and faster than much of the German opposition of the day too.

The powerful Rover engine and classy interior combined with Honda underpinnings created a car perfect for the “Iron fist, Velvet glove” metaphor.

When I came across the Rover 620ti car magazine reviews, it was odd to see so much praise heaped onto a Rover. I’d always remembered the “620ti” name since then and always had a yearning to buy one. Unfortunately not many were produced and the good ones rarely come up for sale now. The engines were popular in the modifying scene too, making it rarer still as working cars are harvested for various bits to keep others running.

Whether I get the chance to run one or not, it was always nice to see critics raving about a Rover, even if a lot of the input was from Honda. Even Clarkson liked it.

“The suspension is superb”

Jeremy Clarkson on the Rover 600

In Conclusion

Being a big fast Rover saloon made for comparisons with the old Rover 800 that Tony Pond thrashed around the Isle of Mann TT circuit. This wasn’t a modified special though, just a very good car that Rover had made themselves (finally).

The more famous relative of the 620ti was the Rover Tomcat. This had everything on paper but faired badly with magazine critics. In comparison the 620ti was less well known than the Tomcat, but it certainly deserves recognition for its power and performance capabilities. With its turbocharged engine, and improved suspension; the 620ti offers the driving experience the Rover Tomcat promised, but couldn’t deliver. It also represented a great “Q car” with only the alloys and interior trim showing it was the fastest Rover around. A glorious moment in Rovers history.

That font and the lack of heritage

One of the main issues I have with the new JaGuar brand is that godawful font. It’s generic and rounded with a random capital “JaGuar”. It looks like something from a child’s toy. It’s feminine and the “leaper” is no longer atop the word Jaguar. The leaping cat is consigned to a strange design pattern elsewhere and the “growler” motif has also gone (insert your own joke).

The new logo/font has nothing to link to JaGuar’s illustrious past and any sense of masculinity or British-ness (admittedly not fashionable in 2024) has been erased. Strange, because when you look at other successful “British” brands like MINI, Bentley or Aston Martin, they are keen to express their British-ness. So JaGuar decided on a generic futuristic font with a random capital letter instead. Great.

That weird video

I don’t mean to deliberately trigger people, but the word “woke” often does. It’s often used when people comment on the new JaGuar brand. It essentially describes a person or thing that is hyper sensitive to social issues, both real and imagined. Usually accompanied by bouts of hysteria, especially if “inclusivity” or “representation “isn’t prioritised.

Well fortunately this “bold” and “brave” (Maybe in c.2005?) video has ticked all the boxes for representation and inclusivity with strangely dressed alien fashion models. No car was visible on the advert, just meaningless buzzwords. I’ve tried to decipher these below:

Copy Nothing – JaGuar has not copied anyone. They are pioneers in the EV space… Not.

Delete Ordinary – Well they deleted comments on Instagram and replied with some very smug and meaningless responses.

Breaking Moulds – More of the same, a generic “bold” & “brave” advert from early 2000s and following other manufacturers into the EV space – so far unremarkable. Not a broken mould in sight.

No wonder it’s caused a reaction. But with sales dwindling, “experts” on twitter are saying the brand needs to be feminine to sell to women. This is possibly the most ridiculous response I’ve heard. Do you think women want stuff because it’s pink and fluffy?

Porsche, Bentley, Aston Martin have all pitched themselves to the female market but have maintained their historic links to the past. They’ve kept similar fonts and styles, the badging has been updated but keeps important elements like the horse on the Porsche badge. Anyway, What’s to say a woman doesn’t want a masculine brand?

The other odd element to this story is the interview with a marketing guy at JaGuar that had setup various new DEI groups within the company. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a business model focused on promoting diversity and reducing discrimination. While this sounds positive, it’s often used to justify increased spending and compliance with specific quotas. Surely that’s a fallacy for the Human Resources to sort out, not the marketing guy?

In summary

The importance of the font and brand cannot be underestimated; Jaguar has no proprietary EV technology, no special batteries or motors. Effectively the same as everyone else (or worse). So common sense would say to lean on your history and heritage; something the Chinese companies can’t do.

And finally I’m critical of this, not because I’m some kind of awful human being, but because I’m a petrolhead (running a car blog passion project) and I love Jaguar and Jaguar’s. The last thing I want is for Jaguar to go down the pan, but it looks that way now.

Further reading:

• Attitude on the rebrand – It’s been called a gay rebrand, so see what Attitude thinks of it
• Marketing Week – Mark Ritson at Marketing Week

By the early 1980s a slew of great cars were on offer for the performance conscious driver. British Leyland, through luck or judgement had stopped production of the ageing MGB in 1980. This meant they could aim more resources at the new “Hot Hatch” market. As the Mini Cooper S was retired in 1971 there was space in the British Leyland range for a fast, fun small car.

A Brute Force Approach

British Leyland had an embarrassment of riches to enter this market. A wide range of platforms, engines, badges and brands could be used. Rather than build something to compete directly against the Golf GTI and Peugeot 205 GTI, British Leyland decided on a brute force approach. The Metro, Maestro and Montego would be assigned more powerful engines and sportier suspension for “MG” badged versions. This made for wider appeal plus the added cachet of the MG badge, even if it upset the purists, being on a hatchback and not a sports car with a leaking roof.

The Metro Cooper

Making use of the MG badge for these performance biased cars was a good move, effectively creating a performance sub brand. One striking omission was the lack of a Cooper badge. John Cooper had effectively invented the hot hatch with the original Mini Cooper. It seemed logical that a Cooper version of the Metro would follow.

The Metro was a practical, modern hatchback. With a tweaked engine and Cooper badges linking it to its famous predecessor, the Metro Cooper would be a surefire hit. Work on building this had started shortly after John Cooper had driven an early version of the Metro.

He was impressed and singled out the Metro as a worthy successor to the Mini Cooper. The Cooper badge had decades of motorsport history associated with it. Certainly enough to compete with the popular new GTI models from Volkswagen, Peugeot and the like.

The Modifications Begin

John Cooper began building the Metro Cooper with his team in 1980. The new Metro would be tweaked to improve performance, handling and styling. Cooper’s team were incredibly knowledgeable on tuning the A-series engine and had assembled the parts to improve performance, styling and handling.

The engine setup included a new camshaft, larger inlet valve, polished head, twin carburettors and a freer flowing exhaust manifold. This got the engine to 88 bhp (a useful amount more than the MG Metro). Wolfrace alloy wheels and side graphics completed the updated visual package.

Metro Cooper Project Cancelled

The prototype Metro Cooper was left with British Leyland for analysis. After comparing performance figures, an issue was raised about launching the Metro Cooper at the same time as the MG Metro.

A separate concern was raised about the warranty. The Metro Cooper was never a factory backed project. As such, any aftermarket items fitted to the Metro would invalidate the British Leyland warranty, no matter who fitted them. Having to sell a car without a warranty made Wadham Stringer nervous.

The Metro Cooper was renamed Metro Monaco to satisfy any problems British Leyland might have had with the Cooper name (The Monaco was the name of a Cooper racing car).

It’s difficult to say whether the timing or the warranty was the real issue behind the Metro Cooper’s cancellation. However the cost implications were quite clear. John Cooper confirmed the list price of the MG Metro was cheaper than the car they would buy to start converting to a Cooper.

While the Cooper badge had significant cachet, it’s difficult to say how much more people were willing to pay. In the end Wadham Stringer decided the risk of selling a Metro Cooper without a warranty was too great and ended involvement in the project.

In a strange turn of fate, the Metro never really replaced the Mini. This meant that John Cooper would continue to sell Mini Cooper’s until 2001. This left the Metro Cooper nothing more than a sad footnote in history.

Other Metro Performance Variants

The need for performance variants of the Metro resulted in a wide variety of models over the years:

1981 Metro Cooper (2 prototypes produced)

1982 MG Metro (120,197 produced)

1983 MG Metro Turbo (21,968 produced)

1985 Metro 6R4 (205 produced)

1986 MG Metro 9x 6 cylinder turbo (1 prototype made)

1990 Metro GTa (Now Rover 100)

1990 Metro GTI (Now Rover 100)

The Elan is pure Lotus in design. A distillation of Colin Chapman’s expertise and knowledge. Gordon Murray, Jay Leno and Harry Metcalfe are all paid up members of the Elan club. When I receive the rather simple looking key to take an Elan out for a drive, I feel a certain weight of expectation…

What if the little Lotus is rubbish to drive?

Driving Experience

After the initial surprise at the size of the Elan, once inside, it looks old. Really old.

A thin rimmed steering wheel, delicate, thin A pillars and Jaeger dials all look great, but ancient. It feels like a museum piece rather than a cutting edge driving tool.

Once started up the engine sounds far more potent than its capacity suggests. A few taps on the throttle and the little engine revs instantaneously, with a crackle from the exhaust. Maybe this will be good after all?

The pedals and gearshift are small and delicate. Once on the move everything falls to hand easily – especially the gear lever, just a hand span from the wheel. A few more throttle blips and we’re off down a country lane, the Elan’s natural hunting ground. It’s size makes it simple to place and dodging pot holes soon becomes an instinctive game.

At speed the Elan is forgiving to an extent. The fabulous steering tells you exactly what’s going on, to the extent that you rely less and less on the brakes. You soon build trust with the car and its ability to carry momentum through a corner. The steering is hyper sensitive, so inputs need to be measured. Once you’ve re-calibrated, the Elan becomes a great companion on even the most challenging roads. Pitching the car into corners quicker and quicker becomes natural rather than something to be feared. It feels like a go-kart that has grown up (slightly).

The (Lack Of) Weight

The Elan’s alert and responsive nature is down to its hybrid construction. A steel backbone chassis with fibreglass bodywork keeps the Lotus at a featherweight 690 kg.

The 1971 Sprint version added a more powerful punch in the form of a tuned engine. Taking just 6.2 seconds to get to 60 miles an hour, this was faster than the contemporary Jaguar E-Type (7.4 seconds) and Lamborghini Muira (6.7 seconds).

Out on the road, the lack of weight is felt by the immediacy of the controls. The small 165/70 tires smoothing over bumps that would agitate stiffer sprung and heavier modern cars.

The Engine

Lotus engine’s are often unfairly overlooked as they were generally borrowed from other manufacturers. The Elan is no different and uses a Ford “Kent” engine modified with help from Cosworth. A Lotus cylinder head and light flywheel transformed the engine into a free revving, miniature exotic.

The nature of this buzzy engine sits well with the rest of the car. It’s brilliant fun to wring out every gear and feel the car squirm under power. The little engine won’t get you an instant speeding ban and it’s no less fun for it.

The Issues

The Elan is not without its foibles. The electric windows were a late replacement for the sliding windows intended by Chapman. They were considered dangerous in a crash, and an alternative was needed at short notice. The door design couldn’t fit a manual winder, so begrudgingly Chapman opted for the heavy electric option. A real rarity back in the 1960s.

Siezed brakes, water pump failure and hot starting issues (because of the location of the starter motor) are all common issues that demand commitment and patience from a prospective owner. But with Gordon Murray, Jay Leno and Co as fellow owners, it’s a small compromise.

The Legacy

The Elan is possibly the pinnacle of Chapman’s single minded approach to car design. While it was never designed as an outright speed machine, the Elan could more than hold its own with contemporaries. Even today, it would take a fast car to catch the Elan down a country lane.

Against its competition of the day? They wouldn’t see which way the Elan went.

A Frogeye Sprite or MG Midget would get to around 80-90mph at best. The Elan would go well past a hundred. The Elan’s agility would run rings around more powerful opponents like the MG V8 or Austin Healey. In later Sprint form it would out accelerate anything with a Jaguar or Lamborghini badge.

The combination of cutting edge Lotus design and the relatively crude and outdated design of competitors must have seemed incredible back in 1962. The Elan was a leap forward in car design and one of the finest sports cars to come from Britain.

The only real competition it had was from its Lotus siblings. The later Elan +2, Lotus Europa and older Lotus Elite are all heirs to the Lotus crown, but in my eyes the Elan, with it’s cute matchbox styling and wonderfully engaging drive marks it out as the holy grail of Lotus.

The Lotus Elite might have started the hybrid GRP and steel chassis design, but the Elan is where Lotus really showed what was possible. Since then, numerous cars have left the Lotus factory using the same materials and with the same character. In my view much of this stems from when that little Elan was launched.

Whether you’re an avid collector or appreciate great engineering feats when you see them, you can’t help but marvel at what this remarkable car achieved back in 1962.

If you struggle to appreciate the Lotus Elan, drive one, you’ll soon realize why it’s brilliant!

Taking cues from the 1978 Pininfarina XJSpider concept car, Keith Helfet would design the F-Type. The range would contain a Coupe/Targa (XJ41) and a convertible (XJ42). Sir William Lyons had retired from Jaguar, but the team took the XJ41 for his approval. Apparently Lyons was fond of Helfet’s work and deemed it worthy of the badge.

Almost a decade later, the XJ41/42 project was bloated with safety legislation and unnecessary complications. A separate dashboard for right and left hand drive cars was decided on, rather than a modular one that could be adapted for both. The design team opted for a big hatched boot rather than the simpler, smaller boot. As the car got bigger and heavier, the engine was changed to a twin turbo straight six with four wheel drive.

While it was apparently very fast with the new engine (easily past 170mph at Nardo) the 1800kg the XJ41 wasn’t the sports car Jaguar intended to be.

When Ford took over Jaguar in 1999 projects were reviewed. The expensive and delayed XJ 41/42 project came under close scrutiny. The XJ41 had turned from a small lightweight sports car into another XJS.

Employees booked a lot of overtime against the project so Ford put it on hold. Jaguar was in a precarious financial situation, so had no choice but to go along with Ford’s recommendation.

Another Chance?

Tom Walkinshaw at Jaguarsport (part TWR part Jaguar owned sub company) saw an opportunity with the XJ41 and attempted to get Peter Stevens to re-design it. While this didn’t come to fruition due to Steven’s workload, Walkinshaw contacted Ian Callum instead. The XJ41 was redesigned and presented to Jaguar. The XJ41 was turned down again, due to the company’s precarious financial position.

The Jaguar Changes Its Spots

When Ford started looking at building a new Aston Martin, the XJ41 project seemed to be the obvious contender. Ian Callum’s redesigned XJ41 became Aston Martin’s new DB7.

Revealed at the Geneva show in 1993, the Aston Martin DB7 received a rapturous reception. The complicated bloodline of the DB7 could be traced right back to a car intended to replace the legendary E-Type. The DB7 was launched in 1994 and its strong sales enabled Aston Martin to grow as a brand under Ford.

The Triumph TR7 was launched to the public in 1975. From outside observation at least, it looked like Triumph were designing a failure. With awkward styling, a simple live rear axle, fixed roof and a four cylinder engine – The TR7 was supposed to improve on its predecessor, but many elements seemed like a backward step. The TR6 was ancient but still had its six cylinder engine, a soft top and independent rear suspension.

To understand why Triumph did this, we need to look at the situation back in the early 1970s and what parent company, British Leyland were trying to achieve with the Triumph brand.

Gestation Of The TR7

Since the earlier merger of companies, British Leyland had both MG and Triumph selling sports cars against each other. The former Triumph boss, Lord Stokes was now in charge at British Leyland and needed to rationalise the range of cars.

British Leyland Competing Sports Cars 1969-1974 (Excluding Jaguar)

Lord Stokes decided the new sports car should, over time, replace all the sports cars under the British Leyland brand. One sports car would replace all the others, from the entry level MG Midget to the bigger and more powerful Triumph Stag. This would prevent the company from competing directly with itself. The American market was top priority for the new car.

Concept Cars

At the time both MG and Triumph had concept cars that were in development, the MG AD021 and Triumph Bullet. These cars were polar opposites in design and layout.

The MG AD021 was an exotic mid-engined sports car. Designed to replace both the MG Midget and Triumph Spitfire, it featured hydroelastic suspension and a futuristic design.

The Triumph Bullet was more traditional with a simple front engined, rear drive setup. It had been worked on since 1969 and had been modified to fit a variety of engines to expand the range further.

The Bullet was the concept that got the go ahead in 1971 and it was to be badged “Triumph” despite MG being a much better known brand in America. It could be argued that Lord Stokes did this out of loyalty to his previous employer, but the rationalization plan intended to keep MG as the open top car brand, which left Triumph for other sports car variants.

A Backward Step?

So why did British Leyland go with the Bullet and not the more exotic AD021?

In the world of British Leyland the answer would usually be lack of funds or lack of time. In this case, the answer was actually based on research. Triumph had sent out Spen King and Mike Carver to America to analyse what the great American public wanted from a prospective new sports car.

It turned out mechanical simplicity and exotic looks were most important. In the US you might be hundreds of miles from the nearest Triumph dealer, so simple mechanics a local garage could fix was the preferred option.

Against the contemporary Porsche 914 and Fiat X19, the TR7 was able to look exotic, while maintaining a simple front engine, rear drive layout. The compact slant four engine fitted neatly under the steep bonnet. The steep windscreen was apparently designed to enable American customers to see up at the overhead traffic lights.

The lack of a soft top was down to American legislation that seemed hell bent on banning convertibles. In response British Leyland designed the TR7 as a hard top, leaving the convertible market to the existing open top MG models.

All good points so far, until you found the spec sheet. The slant engine was advanced but it was less powerful than the old Triumph TR6 engine by 45bhp. If it was badged MG, the comparison wouldn’t have been made, but would you upgrade from the old TR6 to the new, less powerful TR7?

Plan For The Worse, Hope For The Best

Production of the TR7 started in 1975. Despite the planning of British Leyland, the TR7 would suffer the same quality issues and industrial action that previous cars had. In the rush to hit the production deadline, several badly finished cars were sent to the press for testing which didn’t go down well. An issue with overheating was also experienced by a press car too.

The Speke plant in Liverpool was shut for almost a year after workers went on strike. British Leyland moved the entire operation to Canley in Coventry in 1978. Quality improved drastically, but the car’s image had been tarnished somewhat by the earlier quality issues. Cars built in Canley were identified by the rather crude laurel badge on the front of the car.

The Battle For Sports Car Sales In America

The success of earlier MG and Triumph models in America didn’t go unnoticed and Fiat, Porsche and Datsun all had cars lined up to chase the Yankee dollar. They were all universally acclaimed for their handling and the Datsun in particular was about as practical as a sports car could be.

“It is neither a saloon car nor a sports car in behaviour, yet it has only two seats in a very attractive and comfortable interior. It is an easy enough car to drive when pottering around and reasonably quiet when so driven, but drive the TR7 like the sports car Leyland proclaim it to be and it becomes fussily unpleasant”

Motorsport Magazine – Clive Richardson June 1979

TR7/TR8 Rally Success

With overly high suspension and angular looks the TR7 looked like the Lancia Stratos’ ugly sister. The Triumph is all awkward angles where the Lancia exudes style, but they both shared success in rallying.

The late introduction of the Rover V8-powered TR8 derivative, which was only sold in North America, was converted into a rally car in 1978. The Rover V8 was lighter and more powerful than the slant four engine on the TR7. The road going V8 had around 155 bhp, but the rally spec car had 300 bhp. It’s early success on tarmac stages led to some improvements for forest stages including a hydraulic tappet system. With Tony Pond behind the wheel, the TR8 rally car was almost unbeatable.

The End Of The TR7 & Triumph

The rationalization plan went out the window in 1978 when a soft top version of the TR7 was launched, meaning more cannibalized sales between MG and Triumph. The MGB was finally axed in 1980, when British Leyland decided to focus on the “hot hatch” market instead.

In 1981 the strength of the pound meant Triumph made a loss on every car sold in America. This marked the end of the TR7 and the TR8 (although this was never sold in the UK). The car continued in production for the domestic market until 1984.

The last Triumph car made was the boxy Acclaim, shortly after the TR7. The Acclaim was a rebadged Honda Ballade, so the final “real” Triumph was the TR7.

The TR7 sold more than 100,000 examples but isn’t remembered fondly, partially due to the divisive styling but also the fairly mundane engine. The TR7 was another example of a pretty good car, that was impeded by poor construction, internal rivalry and fast improving competitors. It would be the last sports car with a Triumph badge.

The Tiger Gets Its Stripes

Rootes initially contacted Ferrari in a bid to enhance the performance of the four cylinder engine. After the consultation, Ferrari went quiet. Carroll Shelby was contacted to see if he could work his magic in the same way he’d done with the AC Cobra.

Carroll Shelby and racing driver Ken Miles quickly built a prototype of the Tiger at Shelby American garage. The 1.7 litre four cylinder was replaced with the Ford Windsor “small block” V8. (Most Tiger’s have the 260 cubic inch engine, but in the final year of production got the 289 cubic inch version). The new engine was twice as powerful as that of the Alpine.

The engine bay of the Sunbeam was not large enough to house the V8 motor so it took some brute force and lateral thinking to make it work. The body shell and bulkhead had to be modified to fit the V8.

When Sir William Rootes was informed about the Tiger, he was angry not to have been involved from the outset. His sign off was required before any car went into production so the prototype was sent to England to receive its final approval.

From West Bromwich to New York

Once happy with the car Sir William contacted Henry Ford ll and ordered 3000 Ford V8s to fit to the upcoming Tiger. After some deliberation, it was decided that production should remain in Britain. This was sub contracted to the Jensen factory in West Bromwich.

The Sunbeam Tiger was launched at the New York Motor Show in 1964, just months after the prototype was finished and signed off.

Sunbeam Tiger Specification

The interior is almost identical to the Alpine with a four-speed manual transmission and a wood-rimmed steering wheel. The Tiger had a modern rack and pinion steering fitted in place of the Alpine’s recirculating ball steering. This made it easier to fit the engine and improved steering somewhat.

The new engine added 280 pounds of weight so suspension was changed accordingly. The Tiger never really lived up to its billing as a performance car. It was criticized for both handling and braking.

And yet, the Tiger is still a fixture in various racing events in America. It’s Anglo-American development earned it the title of “the poor mans AC Cobra”. It also accomplished some success on the circuit which boosted its popularity. The Tiger won two major races in 1965. It also finished second in the 200-mile Road America race.

After a few years of production, Chrysler acquired a majority stake in Rootes. The Sunbeam Tiger was discontinued, and Rootes sold its automotive properties to Chrysler. In addition to the automobiles, the company still had an interest in the chassis and bodies of the Sunbeam Alpine.

Around 7000 cars were built before production was ended. The Tiger is remembered fondly in the UK for being a successful cross Atlantic collaboration.

Top Gear took Paul Sherwood’s Lada Riva to see if the experts at Lotus HQ could turn the boxy Soviet into something more fun in just two weeks. What could be more exciting than a build thread involving a Lada and Lotus?

**Unfortunately I couldn’t find the entire episode, however, video clips are below!**

The Unwitting Lada Riva

The Lada Riva was the butt of many jokes in the UK. It’s bluff appearance and low quality was at odds with the conspicuous consumption prevalent in the UK. Mechanically it was given enough to move under its own power and not much else. This made it perfect for the show and a huge challenge for Lotus having to build something worthy of their famous badge.

Lotus Begin Modifying The Lada

Lotus’ Chris Ardle was in charge of the project and met with Paul to discuss the plans they had for the unwitting Lada Riva.

The first decision was to swap the Lada engine with a twin cam Fiat engine. The late Guy Croft was both a Lotus employee and an expert on the Fiat and Lancia twin cam engine. According to a forum post the spec for the engine was considerable with a straight through exhaust and lightweight flywheel among the modifications Croft suggested.

Before the engine was swapped, Lotus test driver Gavan Kershaw took the Lada around the Lotus test track. Kershaw found the car awful and said it was “the worse car I’ve ever driven”.

After the engine swap, the Lada was given BBS Wheels, Yokohama tyres, Bilstein suspension and uprated brakes. Hand finished OMP seats from the Lotus factory were fitted. The car was resprayed in black with a contrasting silver line and hammer and sickle motif.

Lotus spent 1000 man hours on the project, putting the estimated spend at around £100,000.

The Final Result

The end result was a quick and fun to drive Lada as demonstrated by Kershaw on the Lotus test track. The car attained a cult following and several replicas were built. The actual car is registered P968 OEX.

What Happened To The Top Gear Lada Lotus?

According to a Pistonhead thread; Sherwood sold the Lotus Lada in 2003, due to family commitments. This was just a year after the car was shown on TV and it was sold without Tax or MOT, so it was unclear whether this indicated a bigger issue with the car. Another Pistonhead user (Stefan?) bought the car via eBay for around £5000 and immediately moved the car to Germany.

According to Sherwood some teething issues were solved and he assisted Stefan in selling it on to another party.

After several years of being housed in a Lotus showroom near Munich, Stefan (with help from Sherwood) sold the car on and the car was moved to MotorWorld Munchen, where it remains to this day.

The car seemed to have some issues which prompted the first sale without Tax or MOT. Even so, this seems like a hasty decision and the cars cult following shows just what a desirable car Lotus managed to create. If it ever came up for sale again, I’m certain it would reach a far higher figure than the one it initially went for.

Lotus Lada – Top Gear Episode part 1

Lotus Lada – Top Gear Episode part 2

The Corsica was built as a styling exercise by the Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) team. The Corsica was based on the X300 platform with the standard 4 litre straight six engine. The interior is adapted from XK8 and XJS parts. The roof mechanism is fully functioning too, which took significant effort from the SVO team.

Constructed over 18 months, the mechanics of the car weren’t finished until 2006. The Jaguar Enthusiasts Club (JEC) and the Jaguar Heritage Trust worked with the Nottingham based Jaguar specialist David Mark’s to complete the car. Additional strengthening was added around the transmission tunnel and key areas to ensure the body remained rigid without the roof. New front and rear subframes completed the car and made it easier to move to different shows and museums.

The Corsica was a beautiful car and showed how flexible the X300 platform was. Jaguar had often experimented with different bodystyles on both the XJ40 and X300 platforms; sadly only the saloon or long wheelbase options were ever put into production, leaving the Corsica and XJ40 coupe as handsome concepts that would never be available for sale.

Whether the Corsica wasn’t practical to build or Jaguar were worried about cannibalizing sales of the then new XK8 convertible, it’s difficult to say. Like the XJ40 coupe before it, the Corsica would be a reminder of what could have been.

More about the Daimler Corsica can be found on the official Heritage Motor museum site. Photography & information on the process of preparing for Single Vehicle Approval (SVA) is available on David Mark’s website.