The Rover Factory....

Has anyone seen this…?  

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=208

Amazing pics and stuff. I've seen that type of thing before, where they go expolring in old mental hospitals and stuff, which must be…..mental.

Its a shame it had to close, but to be honest, they'd not manufactured a decent car since the Mini, so its time had come. For example, anyone remember the sporty Austin Allegro (Equipe)? Here's a pic:



Golf GTI beater………..NOT!!!!

WOW!! way cool man  8)  You do that stuff? or just browsing? Makes me want to get on my ninja suit and go out with my camara….

You sold your red gti yet?

Nah.. i dont do that stuff but i do find it really interesting… reminds me of school days when we used to go exploring in a huge abandoned office block!!

Wouldnt mind going to that Rover factory though.. amazing how they just dropped tools and left the production line as it was.

Sold the GTI on Saturday (starting to regret it..   )

By the way… hows the GX? u still got it?

Oh… and that Allegro… Lovelllyyyy!!!  :wink:

A bit of motoring history on the allegro, the first models had a shell strength problem!! if you jack up the rear corner on the jacking point the shell wouls twist and cause the windscreen to pop out!!!

Nice design feature! obviouly the car above is ruined now someone has sat across the bonnet

I do think it's ashame we don't have a british motor industry for family cars anymore, but it not the first time a goverment has meddled and ruined it at least the British sports cars are going from strenth to strengh.

Rob

PS I didn't research that info on the Allegro, my Dad, Old style mechanic, told me it along time ago :wink:

And it?s more aerodynamic backwards??.

Where did it all go wrong? In the 60?s the best small car in the world; British mini, the best fast car; British E-type, the best 4x4; British Landrover, the best family car; British 1100-1300 Austin/Morris, the best car in the world British; Roll-Royce. Rovers and Triumphs for the middle classes and MGs and TRs for cheap thrills.

Early-1800 said

Where did it all go wrong?

That's an interesting question, and one which probably has been debated thoroughly elsewhere. The cars were no good but www.austin-rover.co.uk is a most informative site (I wish there was a site like that for VWs!)

In a sentence - they had a knack of misjudging future market trends, then designing cars which ended up slightly different to the intended outcome; and were plauged with unreliability and build issues. For example, the Allegro's body panels were never meant to make it look so 'pregnant', but they forgot to allow for the slight curve that the panels take on after they are pressed. And not fitting a hatchback to the Allegro. And the Maxi's cable change gearbox, etc etc.

Speaking of weak bodyshells, I read in an old copy of Practical Classics that Vauxhall recommended that owners did not get a glass sunroof cut into the roof of the HB Viva (early 70's one), because cutting into the roof panel would weaken the structure unacceptably  8O

(Shame that VW didn't say this, even though it wouldn't have been true, to dissuade owners from butchering mk1's with those horrific, leaky pieces of filth! PS: I don't like them…  :wink:  )

I think it when wrong when they sacked issigoniss (spelling?) and build the Mini Club man I had an Austin 1300 and it was the busness lovely ride, plenty of room etc etc…shame about the ability to RUST :cry:

Then they replaced it with with the Allegro spelt Agro :wink:

I love old british cars but, VW definalty took up the Mantle of inovation in the 70's and they don't rust the same 30 years on

The Allgro Equipe phto is hilarious . Imagine pulling up in it next to a mk1 GTI at the traffic lights :lmao: .

Apparently Crayford Convertibles (who specialised in converting new cars at a time when manufacturers rarely made everyday cars available in droptop form) experimented with making a convertible Allegro. Problem once no matter what bracing they tried they could not get any rigidity into the roofless shell. They were even rumoured to have tried filling the sills with concrete 8O

Sold the GTI on Saturday (starting to regret it.. Sad )

By the way… hows the GX? u still got it?

1 GTI not good enough, eh? Dont worry about the red one mate, your lhasa one should put the smile back. Just take it for a blast round the block!

Yeah still got the GX, but gonna be selling soon due to being 'given' a decent mk2 1.8 driver. Going to work on the campaign over winter, so drive the mk2 about instead!  :wink:

Yeah well, the red one was such a good original example whereas the Lhasa is a bit of a racer, would ideally kept both!  :cry:

Mk2 sounds good, i had a 1.8 Driver for a while, great car!

As for the GX, Hold on to those wheels as i found out they are Ronals which are becoming harder to find, and of course that parcel shelf!  :wink:

I hear what your saying about the gti's, original and pimp'd would be nice.  

As for the gx, its rolling on driver steels, and the driver got those alloys. Had a few different people say they are off an early 80's audi 80? or was that you? Will post a thread asking about them on here soon.

cheers

Yep.. I think i might get a standard one in the summer.

Theres some info on the wheels here.. (i kno its in french, but u  can use google translator or something on it)

http://www.passiongolfgti.com/article.php?id_article=109

If Rover would have stayed with Honda,they would still be going in terms of reliability,how often do i fix a Honda? NEVER,how often do i get asked to do a head gasket on a K series crap rover? DAILY.
and to top it off,i asked my mate off the track at rover why my 94 montego estate was rotten as a pear and my work mates 94 is MINT,he replied…….depends who was on with the wax gun!
Nice
Bert

cheers DC, thats a good link for wheel info    Yay, Ronals….

My old man used to have a montego estate and that was VERY rusty. Must have been sprayed by the same guy as yours Bert.  

cheers