English Cars: I've always been interested in cars, and England had, and still has, a variety we don't have here. I read somewhere that England has had more independent car makers than...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've always been interested in cars, and England had, and still has, a variety we don't have here. I read somewhere that England has had more independent car makers than any other country. In the USA, we have just the Big Boys cranking them out by the millions. Too bad.

One thing I noticed watching English TV is that there are small companies supplying virtually everything for old, unique cars. I doubt you would find shops like that here. One place makes body panels for cars that haven't been produced in fifty years. When I had T-series MGs, I could rely on Moss Motors in CA for virtually anything, but other old, limited production cars could be out of luck. One place the parts guy visited has 650,000 parts for old English cars. Another place specializes in parts for old Renaults, another one has Citroen parts. You name the make, and there is a specialty business supplying parts.

I know people are going to offer lists of specialty parts suppliers in this country. That's good, but I've never seen any.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

jerryc41 wrote:

I've always been interested in cars, and England h... (show quote)

My youngest brother has made his living (a very good one) Working on Just "British Cars" also the name of his shop.
He did hand make a lot of the smaller body parts by hand.
He closed his shop last year and retired.
The parts are there but sadly the offered body parts often don't fit properly.
I remember replacing a fender and hood on a 1998 E 350 with aftermarket parts, neither fit properly, which made the job take twice as long. We would have saved money with used parts and probably not had to paint them.
But the boss only looked at the price of the parts.

n4jee Loc: New Bern, NC

With the demise of The Roots Group in the '70's We lost Hilman, Humbler, Talbot, Singer, Sunbeam, Kerrier and Commer automobiles. Hillman and Sunbeam were the biggest imports into the US. The V8 Sunbeam Tiger by Carol Shelby is probably the best known. British Leyland retired the Moris, Austin and Triumph marquis. You can still buy a Jaguar, Morgan, Bentley, Land Rover, Rolls Royce (BMW) or Mini (BMW) in the US, But I'm not sure that any Minis are actually in the UK any more.
I've owned the following British autos: Austin A40 convertible, Triumph TR3, and Sunbeam Alpine.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Here’s my list of owned British cars:

Jaguar MK2
Sunbeam alpine (series 2)
Bug Eye sprites (2)
Triumph TR4
Triumph Spitfire
Mini (850)
Mini Cooper 1275
Cortina GT
MGA (MGB engine)

Just plebeian stuff - sadly, none of the really interesting machines such as an Aston Martin, ACE Bristol, XKE, TVR/Griffith, Morgan, Lotus etc, but I’ve driven them all at one time or another.

RiJoRi Loc: Sandy Ridge, NC

My father-in-law said he owned a "Rolls Canardly". When people asked what that was, he'd look surprised and say, "Why, it rolls down one hill, and can 'ardly make it up the next!" 🙄

--Rich

Rich2236 Loc: E. Hampstead, New Hampshire

n4jee wrote:

With the demise of The Roots Group in the '70's We... (show quote)

I had a Hillman Minx, or as I called it a: Hillman Jinx! It was the worst car I ever owned. I sent a letter to Roots Moters, and in the letter I asked who they hired as "quality control engineering." When they sent me back a reply, and in one sentence they gave me the sum total of their company. "What is quality control engineering?"
Even my MGs were better than that Hillman!!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

n4jee wrote:

With the demise of The Roots Group in the '70's We... (show quote)

It's a shame what's happened to the British car industry. When MG stopped being imported here, they blamed it on US safety and emissions regulations. Funny how every other company in the world could adapt. Rolls Royce is now owned by a company in India. The Mini, which is now larger than my Honda Fit, is German - BMW.

I enjoyed my 1958 English Ford Prefect, various MGs, and E-Type. I always wanted an Austin-Healy 3000 and an AC Cobra.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

TriX wrote:

Here’s my list of owned British cars:

Jaguar MK2
Sunbeam alpine (series 2)
Bug Eye sprites (2)
Triumph TR4
Triumph Spitfire
Mini (850)
Mini Cooper 1275
Cortina GT
MGA (MGB engine)

Just plebeian stuff - sadly, none of the really interesting machines such as an Aston Martin, ACE Bristol, XKE, TVR/Griffith, Morgan, Lotus etc, but I’ve driven them all at one time or another.

Ah, yes! I had a Cortina GT. That was a fun car. Red.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

jerryc41 wrote:

I've always been interested in cars, and England h... (show quote)

Years ago in my youth I had determined that I was going to buy a Landrover. But before the purchase I was in an auto parts store and inquired about them. The sales person told me they were a good car as long as you never had a problem. But he mentioned that if you have a problem it might be a long time before you can get the part. It seems that the manufacuers send out the parts of VARIOUS BIDERS and so the part might be made in one country one year and in another country the next year. So that created a problem trying trace down the part.

limey

Rolls Royce owned by a company in India???? Don't know where you get that oiece of false information.

Caroll Shelby always thought the Sunbeam Tiger was a better car than the Cobra but it had a Ford engine and when Chrysler bought Rootes it didn't have a suitable replacement engine.

kvanhook Loc: Oriental, NC

I had a TR2, two TR3s, an Austin Healy 100-6. They certainly help you develop better mechanical skills.

Bmarsh Loc: Bellaire, MI

I always liked the engraving on the Lucas headlight switch. DIM. and. DIMMER

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

I learned my lesson with 2 MGAs a 58 and a 60. Both had the standard Lucas issues...crappie electrical systems.

mr spock Loc: Fairfield CT

alberio wrote:

I learned my lesson with 2 MGAs a 58 and a 60. Both had the standard Lucas issues...crappie electrical systems.

Amen!
From a former Lotus Europa owner

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

limey wrote:

Rolls Royce owned by a company in India???? Don't know where you get that oiece of false information.

Caroll Shelby always thought the Sunbeam Tiger was a better car than the Cobra but it had a Ford engine and when Chrysler bought Rootes it didn't have a suitable replacement engine.

Yeah, sorry about that. They own lots of things, but not Rolls Royce. The Germans at BWM now own R-R. They're winning the War one car at a time.

Jaguar Land Rover, the name of the company, is now part of Tata, the Indian car maker. It bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 1008.

https://www.jaguarnorthhaven.com/about-us/who-owns-jaguar/