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newVideoPlayer("/70s_Leyland_Princess_476.flv", 506, 423,""); You can forget everything you've heard about the utterly execrable build quality of British Leyland's nadir, the Princess . Turns out that front-wheel-drive setup, Hydragas suspension, and weight savings from all the parts that fell off during normal operation made for excellent off-road performance!
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newVideoPlayer("76_Triumph_TR7_476.flv", 506, 423,""); There's really not much we can add to the Legend Of The British Leyland Wedge here. American car buyers looking for a little car that weaves maniacally among mid-60s Galaxies and gets air cresting hills knew exactly where to go: follow the wedge-shaped British Leyland truck to the nearest dealer!
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newVideoPlayer("70s_Triumph_TR6_476.flv", 506, 423,""); If your typical drive involves jumping through fiery hoops and playing chicken with walls of hay bales, British Leyland had the car for you! With a six-cylinder engine and legendary UK Malaise build quality, the TR6 sold pretty well in North America (though smog, bumper, and headlight-height regulations made it perform at a level a few notches lower than its British counterpart).
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newVideoPlayer("82_Austin_PatrickMower_476.flv", 506, 423,""); After yet another shuffling of gut-shot British Leyland brands produced the Austin Rover Group, the ARG marketers decided to get serious about moving some iron off the lots. No more Triumph TR7s or MGBs- now they'd have television actor Patrick Mower pitching the Morris Ital, Rover SD1, Mini Mayfair, and other early-80s British Machinery offering Value For Money, otherwise known by the awe-inspiring acronym VFM .
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newVideoPlayer("70s_Triumph_Spitfire_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Try to imagine a not-so-hot pursuit between a Malaise Triumph Spitfire and a smog-motored mid-70s cop Mopar. Will the single-digit gas mileage of the police car result in a drained fuel tank before the British Leyland build quality of the Spitfire sends it coughing to a halt on the shoulder in a cloud of wire-insulation smoke? We'll never know, because it turns out the Triumph wasn't running from the cops after all. Whew!
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newVideoPlayer("70s_MG_Triumph_476.flv", 463, 387,""); You'll have fun in the sun, "motoring tops-down" in a spiffy new late-70s MGB, TR6, or Spitfire. Note how the horrifyingly ugly bumpers of the Spitfire are barely glimpsed as we see happy Americans driving hundreds of yards with no apparent electrical malfunctions. Sure, British Leyland gave up on the idea of selling MGs and Triumphs in the US just a year or two after this ad, but can't you feel the optimism here?
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newVideoPlayer("70s_Triumphs_476.flv", 494, 410,""); When you're caught in flagrante delicto by your special lady's husband and have to flee on foot while dressed in a towel, you might breathe a sigh of relief when you discover he plans to chase you in a Triumph Stag; after all, the timing chains probably won't hold out as long as your legs. But then, in one of those cruel twists of fate that seemed all too common in Malaise Britain, you find yourself in the waking nightmare of being forced to choose another Triumph in which to make your getaway!
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newVideoPlayer("Austin_Princess-476.flv", 475, 376); After seeing James May torturing himself with that British Leyland stalwart, the Austin Princess, on a recent Top Gear episode , we realized there's far more to the Malaise Era than 140-horse big blocks and tape-striped Brougham Edition Detroit land yachts. Thanks to British Leyland's inimitable devotion to engineering and build quality, the Princess set a new standard for, uh, luxury? Here we see how a Princess jaunt to the Continent with one's driver can lead to reversal of class roles and the possibility of Hot French Hitchhiker adventures.
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