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Wales
by Joske Vermeule, September 1
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Forums39
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Jun 14th, 2026
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Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 239
L - Learner Plates On
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L - Learner Plates On
Joined: Sep 2015
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Very interesting statistics, and it opens up an interesting possibility:
1. Following Brexit, UK-built cars no longer count as being sufficiently 'British' so fall foul of the rules of origin
2. Foreign manufacturers are unable to absorb to costs of tariffs so divest themselves of their UK manufacturing facilities
So, could we have:
3: A UK consortium led by Dyson gets together, buys all the facilities, and starts building a fully-UK originated car under a resurrected brand name from the past.
Unfortunately it appears Dyson are not on the same page: 
Joe T '96 Morgan +8 4.6 '68 Pontiac Firebird Twitter
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 5,945 Likes: 28
Charter Member
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Charter Member
Joined: Jan 2009
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The strange thing about the perceived status of any car is that as far as I can see it's almost entirely in the eye of the owner rather than the observer. Definitely not the case. I was really surprised by the reaction of friends when I had the Ferrari . I had expected some hostility / jealousy and what I got was a lot of "good on you". Particularly from the women. Dare I park it on a city backstreet at night or Dartmouth in regatta week with loads or drunks about - no. But then there always will be losers jealous of those who can afford nice things, and in the UK there will always be moronic drunken yobs. Its the price of living here. In the US people admire the successful. In the UK mostly they resent them.
Last edited by howard; 13/11/17 03:02 PM.
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 5,549 Likes: 67
Charter Member
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Charter Member
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So true Howard. I remember years ago when I was knee high to a grass hopper and the Dockers sort of ruled the country, I saw a picture of some beautiful new Jaguars going for export to the States and some moron had scratched across the bonnet " This isn't a Dockers car".
You will also all recall last years effort when that dozy Scottish journo. congratulated the moron for keying a parked Aston Martin.
Here for a good time not a long time!!
Reg
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Joined: Apr 2008
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Scruffy Oik Member of the Inner Circle
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Scruffy Oik Member of the Inner Circle
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Unfortunately it appears Dyson are not on the same page: Yes, I saw that today. Sad, really. OK, not Dyson then. Maybe there's someone else who has a greater interest in rebuilding Britain's manufacturing base.
Tim H.
1986 4/4 VVTi Sport, 2002 LR Defender, 2022 Mini Cooper SE
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Salty Sea Dog Member of the Inner Circle
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Salty Sea Dog Member of the Inner Circle
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Graham (G4FUJ)
Sold L44FOR 4/4 Giallo Fly
'11 MINI Countryman Cooper D All4
'90 LR 90 SW
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Joined: Jan 2009
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Charter Member
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Charter Member
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Unfortunately it appears Dyson are not on the same page: Yes, I saw that today. Sad, really. OK, not Dyson then. Maybe there's someone else who has a greater interest in rebuilding Britain's manufacturing base. Seems to me that we have long lost belief in ourselves. In a way the above post about the Allegro illustrates it. It wasnt a bad car - there were many worse ones at the time, and some better. Nevertheless, we happily knock whatever we made. Why should anybody buy anything from us when we dont support our products ourselves? And thats not having a dig at Graham who is only doing what most of us do. Can you imagine a French person doing that about a Renault? Yet they were even less reliable at the time than anything from Austin. I find it difficult to see any future for us. We are defeated already.
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Joined: Dec 2009
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Tricky Dicky Member of the Inner Circle
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Tricky Dicky Member of the Inner Circle
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Unfortunately it appears Dyson are not on the same page: Yes, I saw that today. Sad, really. OK, not Dyson then. Maybe there's someone else who has a greater interest in rebuilding Britain's manufacturing base. Seems to me that we have long lost belief in ourselves. In a way the above post about the Allegro illustrates it. It wasnt a bad car - there were many worse ones at the time, and some better. Nevertheless, we happily knock whatever we made. Why should anybody buy anything from us when we dont support our products ourselves? And thats not having a dig at Graham who is only doing what most of us do. Can you imagine a French person doing that about a Renault? Yet they were even less reliable at the time than anything from Austin. I find it difficult to see any future for us. We are defeated already. Well when I read SBM's thread last week I began to wonder if I was on the same forum, but having read your reply I know exactly what he meant. You may be ready to roll over howard but I can assure you nobody I associate with is thank goodness, there is plenty of fighting spirit left in our country and among the cheerful folks on here too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxqvwkmTNy8Do cheer up for heavens sake...
2009 4/4 Sport Henrietta
1999 Indigo Blue +8
2009 4/4 Sport Green prev
1993 Con Green +8 prev
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Joined: Jul 2007
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Salty Sea Dog Member of the Inner Circle
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Salty Sea Dog Member of the Inner Circle
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Virtually all cars of the period were rubbish, no matter who built them or where.
Even the likes of Rolls Royce had major rust weaknesses...
Graham (G4FUJ)
Sold L44FOR 4/4 Giallo Fly
'11 MINI Countryman Cooper D All4
'90 LR 90 SW
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Joined: Apr 2008
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Scruffy Oik Member of the Inner Circle
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Scruffy Oik Member of the Inner Circle
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I owned a 1975 Allegro 1750 GL, from 1982 to 1984. I bought it for £320, commuted it to Bristol and back every day. It did 40 mpg, everything worked, it didn't break down, it was reasonable comfortable and could carry a reasonable load - we collected an entire flat-pack kitchen for our first house in it. We only got rid of it when 'er indoors pranged it, and we got £160 for it. A much-maligned vehicle in my view.
Tim H.
1986 4/4 VVTi Sport, 2002 LR Defender, 2022 Mini Cooper SE
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Roadster Guru Member of the Inner Circle
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Roadster Guru Member of the Inner Circle
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BL were masters of the 'nearly right' car. Stag, Dolomite Sprint & SD1 were three which should have been much more successful than they were.
Allegros were very decent cars, as was the Maxi, but just not quite there.
And when BL did it well in terms of selling, they just didn't develop the car. e.g. MGB.
Metro Turbo was a great car........
DaveW
'05 Red Roadster S1
'16 Yellow (Not the only) Narrow AR GDI Plus 4
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