Sports cars might be the greatest things since sliced bread, but they’re not ideal for every driving situation. These machines aren’t quite suited to extended trips or inclement weather, and comfortably carrying more than two people is rarely their forte.
Why not opt for a quirky, vintage British family car as a practical alternative? Anyone can have an MGB or …
I own two funky English Ford's.A 1968 and 1969 Cortina GT's.The 68 from new also.Most people have no idea what they are or who made and sold them.Have fun answering questions about them.
Where I live in British Columbia, we had a lot of British imports for many years including sedans.
I drove Jaguar Mk 2 and Mk 9, Riley 1.5, Wolseley 6/99 , Sunbeam Imp, and old Jensens (still run a 71 Interceptor)
I never got around to building a couple of Q ship projects. I wanted to use a TR4 driveline in the Triumph Mayflower we had (the suspension was based on the 1800/2000/Renown that begat the TR2 etc. and I wanted to use one of my hot MGB engines in a Riley 1.5 (you need to upgrade brakes and rear axle but that is all easily doable).
Nice to see these neglected classics getting some mention.
My 1957 Austin A35. Funky...for sure!
I had a 1954 Austin Princess Vanden Plas limo for 30+ years. It had the 3990cc 6 cylinder that the Austin-Healey 100-4 2660cc 4 cylinder engine was based on. Lorry chassis with 6-lug wheels. Lug nuts were Whitworth thread, brass, and handed L and R. It was the A135 model.
I switched jobs so let this go before I was able to start body work. Makes me sad still. Some of these are completely unknown in the US and make really really good drivers due to good parts availability in other countries.
I like the Austin A40s a lot, and many of them have been mildly hot rodded, which usually consists of upgrading to disc brakes and using the trans and engine from a later A series. A friend had done up 1275 in one and it was a hoot.
Also had a teacher at a British oriented private school who had a really rare one (not a coupe so off topic for this thread) an Austin A40 Sports made by Jensen. It looked decrepit with flapping bits of soft top and likely fenders, too. He had a done up Chev 283 in it (this was a lot of years ago) and used to go out hunting for American hot rods to punish.
Triumph Herald, pretty much standard:
And one that's been tweaked a bit:
And a race-prepped version:
In reply to Gary :
I totally want a Vitesse.
spitfirebill said:In reply to Gary :
I totally want a Vitesse.
Yeah - with a 2JZ transplant! 
Rover 2000TC. There is none funkier. Horizontal front coil springs. Modified DeDion rear end. All body panels, including the roof and the rocker panels bolt on to a structural floorpan/tub. Girling swinging caliper inboard rear disc brakes (except on the very earliest cars, which had Dunlops) which are the most insane thing you've ever seen (only used on one other car, some English Ford.) How insane? The pads have the friction material angled, the entire caliper is supported by a single pin...
A 2 liter SOHC "heron head" 4 cyl motor with twin 2" SU carbs...probably the most normal part of the car.
The Rovers were always considered by British car fans to be an intentional boon to British mechanics tp pay for their holidays. There was no single day (including bew car delivery day) that all of the oddball gadgets worked at the same time. Good luck finding a replacement Ice-Alert today.
It was also a good example of the wrong headedness of the factory vis a vis carb sizing. No 2.0 needed a pair of 2" SUs, the same carb they specced for racing MGBs which suffered ever after by being unable to use 1 3/4" carbs that gave better acceleration instead of the big ones that couldn't maintain flow velocity (even though they could post a BHP or two higher at peak on a dyno).
I have owned Ford Zephyrs' Mk 1, 2, 3 and 4 and restored a 1959 Mk 2 convertible from scrap and ALL of them were great cars although they all had small faults. The Mk 1's had differential problems, the Mk 2 had door lock problems, the Mk 3 had column change faults and the Mk 4 2,5L V6 tended to overheat but the 3 litre was magic. My favourite of all was the Mk 2 convertible.
In reply to chandler :
Love these Dolamites!
These are pretty cute too.
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