Citroen XM Forum

citroenxm wrote:Oh Yes, the Imp Was FAR better then a Mini by all accounts..

Im not sure about the design team for BL though... Everything was just sooooo ugly.. All Agro, Princess, Marina,

Now what were nice was Humber Super Snipes and Imperials, and Humber Scepte (Arrow Cars) a much better looking Hunter, and Singer stuff!

The BL designs were ahead of their time in both looks and engineering concept. I'm going to exclude the marina...

Don't forget Triumph and Rover and Jaguar came under BL.

Unfortunately the Unions and generally slipshod labour force made them poor cars.

You are right, the dolomite sprint, first 16v production car. Mini was the first production compact FF format car. Jaguar first production car with hydarulic disc brakes

My wife used to work for a Rootes garage in Sevenoaks when we were first married, they sold Imps, Minx's Rapiers and Humbers, as a result of that I had some very cheap ones: a '58 Humber Hawk, a '59 Snipe and a '60 Snipe with picnic tables in the rear, lovely cars, I saw a couple in a show a few years ago and they have interiors that would outshine modern luxury cars.

Peter

I have the answer Paul. I met and worked with Harris Mann, head of BL design. His designs were spot on. They were ruined when the stubborn engineering department wouldn't make the designs work. The Allegro should have been much sleeker. The engines it had to have, meant it became a dumpy old pudding.
The Marina was simply unforgivable mind you.

Your spot on Will. Red Robbo killed BL.

The Brits were great at interesting engineering, look at the Rover 75..the brilliant P6, Sd1. Harris did point out, Rover at least were great at turning almost nothing into something...er ShityRover excluded... But we just wasted valuable opportunities. Thank God JLR are having a renascence.

BL should have been amazingly inventive company. Instead...well we know what happened.

russ92xmsed wrote: Your spot on Will. Red Robbo killed BL.

At least he united the workers.

Dieselman wrote:

russ92xmsed wrote: Your spot on Will. Red Robbo killed BL.

At least he united the workers.

Too little too late sadly

Brilliant Will. At least they had the sense to see the light in the end.

So true Jim, too much damage done. What was the classic strike on the SD1 line...stray cats in the factory apparently. Brand new factory, with stray cats....mmmmmm