Category Archives: Classic Cars

Where Have The Car Reviews Gone?

sixties_britain_classic_car_digestThe car reviews that used to appear on this website seem to have dried up? So, have they been moved or what?

We are pleased to say that because of our hard work Sixties Britain has become very popular but, pleasing as this is, it has created other problems. At present we are using virtually all the resources allocated to us, in fact sometimes access to the site is impaired for this very reason. So, in order to reduce the load on the server, the car section is being transferred to a super new website, Classic Car Digest, hosted on Blogger and the link is here.
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BMC ‘A’ Series Engine

BMC_a_series_engineThe BMC ‘A’ series engine may have been the smallest but it was one of the most produced and most frequently used engines fitted into cars made by British Motor Corporation (BMC).

In fact, during its long lifespan from the 1950s well into the 1990s, it powered some of the most iconic and popular of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s cars including the Mini, Mini Cooper, Austin Allegro and Austin Maestro.

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Classic Car Jaguar Mk 2

Jaguar mk 2Built as a successor to the mid-fifties Jaguar 2.4 and 3.4, the Mk II became, and not without good reason, one of the best loved and best known of all Jaguars.

It was also a car that epitomised Jaguar’s traditional and very much pre-war values of style, comfort and performance enshrined in their motto of ‘Grace, Space, Pace’. The car was designed from the ground up to convey the occupant quickly and in style and it was also, incidentally, a 1960, red, 2.4 litre Mk 2 Jaguar that Inspector Morse drove in the television series. As much as anything, this has helped to make it so instantly recognisable (and sought after) today.
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Classic Car MG MGB

MG_MGBThe MG Car Company had a perfectly good sports car in the seven year old MGA. It was popular, it sold well especially in the USA, and offered great performance linked with the joys of fresh air sports car motoring. So, in 1962 when MG announced its successor, the logically styled MGB, it had to be, not just a good car, but one that was even better.

In fact, the MGB was not just better, it was, in most respects, streets ahead and the design was so popular and so advanced that, in a variety of incarnations, it lasted some 18 years until production stopped in 1980. In the process it became one of the most easily recognised and loved sports car on the roads of both Britain and America.

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A Short History Of MG Small Sports Cars

MG T seriesI am about to publish the first of my reviews of the iconic MGB sports car introduced in the 1960s. This article sets the scene for this and the other MGB reviews to come with a short history of the MG small sports cars.

Back in 1923 Cecil Kimber, manager of Morris Garages in Oxford, had the idea that a big section of the car-buying public wanted cars that were fun to drive and which had as their main theme that of performance. Of course, high performance cars were being produced but they were, for the most part, expensive and designed for just an elite. What Cecil Kimber wanted was to make performance available to the less well off car buyer, too.  His idea was to produce a car that was fun to drive but which was affordable and could also double as shopping and commuting transport.

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BMC ‘B’ Series Engine

BMC_B-Series_engineThe BMC ‘B’ series engine was in production and development for some 26 years and found use in a variety of vehicles over a considerable period of time. From humble beginnings, it was to become the mainstay of the MG MGB car that will form the subject of a full review to be posted soon.

This engine first saw life after the war when Austin started work on a new engine to power its A40 Devon vehicle produced from 1947 to 1952. A new engine was produced and in this form it was a four cylinder OHV 1200cc power unit producing some 40 bhp at just over 4000 rpm. The engine was a robust unit with a bore of 65.5mm and stroke of 88.9mm.

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Classic Car Audi Super 90

Audi

The Audi Super 90 is an important car since it was the last of the line of cars produced since 1965 and built in the 60′s era before the introduction of the Audi 100 in 1969 and the merger of Audi with NSU.

Prior to 1965 Audi produced cars with a three cylinder two-stroke engine but that changed when, in that year, they developed the first four-stroke engine of 1695 cc delivering some 72 bhp and known as the Audi 72.

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1960s Audi History

Audi

The history of Audi as a car maker is an interesting and complex one alive with mergers, squabbles and company acquisitions.

The modern era began, I suppose, with the merger in 1932 between Audi, Horch (a company begun by the founder of Audi), Dampf-Kraft-Wagen (DKW) (who already had a stake in Audi), and the defunct car division of Wanderer, a local manufacturer. These four companies joined together to form the Auto Union and this is the origin of the four rings seen on modern Audi cars, each ring representing one of the original four companies.

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