I attended this show as a guest of the Historic Marathon Rally Group. The BMC & Leyland Show, held in the grounds of the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, Warwickshire, has become a regular fixture on the Classic Car shows calendar. Good weather ensured that there was a good turnout of both exhibitors and visitors to this year’s event. I thoroughly enjoyed myself photographing some outstanding and historic cars and chatting to some of the owners.
As most readers know, BMC and its successor, British Leyland, encompassed many different British marques which had been born in the early years of the twentieth century. The (British) Daimler and Lanchester motor companies were amongst the founding members of the British Motor Industry. These two marques came, in 1968, to British Leyland via British Motor Holdings the name given to the entity that had added the Jaguar Group, owners of Daimler and Lanchester, to the BMC empire. It was great to see examples from these illustrious companies on display at this show.
Here are some photographs of cars which particularly caught my eye –
The Historic Marathon Rally Group Cars
Paddy Hopkirk (left) and John Watson, Chairman of the MGB Register, MG Car Club. The Jean Denton – Tom Boyce 1968 London to Sydney Marathon MGBHillman Hunter 1968 London to Sydney Marathon Recce car. Recovered from BOMBAY where it had been left as a ‘spares’ car.
Woman Magazine Morris 1800, built by BMC Special Tuning Abingdon for the 1970 World Cup Rally.
MG Metro 6R4 World Rally Championship 1985 – 86 ‘Works’ car
1964 Austin Healey 3000 “Works” Rally Car
Tribute Austin 1800 “Land Crab”, asused by BMC in “endurance” rally events, late 1960s early 1970s.
Another MG Metro 6R4 Rally Car
Triumph 2.5 PI 1970 World Cup Rally Car
Austin, Morris, Rover
1954 – 56 Austin A90 Westminster. First use of ‘C’ series 6cyl. engine.Austin A90 Atlantic Cabriolet. It was this car’s failure to sell in the U.S.that indirectly led to the Austin Healey100. Surplus 2.7 Litre 4 cyl. engines from the Atlantic were used in the AH 100.
Austin A40 Sports – another car with an Austin Healey connection. Bodies for these cars were being made by Jensen Motors, West Bromwich before Jensen was awarded the contract to build AH 100 bodies.Customised Morris Minor. Had it been within my gift, I would have awarded “Car of the show” to this car.
Rover 100 (Metro) with a Highly tuned ‘Caterham SuperSport’ 217 BHP engine.
Rover 200 BRM Special Edition
Austin Healey
Luke Bradley’s !964 Austin Healey 3000 MK III. it’s been in the same family since bought new in 1964 by current owner’s grandmother.
Austin Healey 3000 Rally Car, built by BMC Competition Dept to ‘Liege’ specification
MG
1956 MGA “Works” Rally Car driven by John Gott
MG ZS Saloon customised
Standard – Triumph
1924 Standard 11 Kenilworth Tourer
1950s Standard Eights and Tens!950s and60s Standard Ensigns and VanguardsTriumph 2500 PI customised, note the louvred bonnet!
1953 -55 Triumph TR2
BMW Mini
A beautifully detailed (by the current owner) Cooper S
Daimler Lanchester
1930s Daimler 15 Six light (side windows) saloon
Daimler 15 Coupe
1930s Lanchester 18 with “fastback” body
1959 – 64 Daimler SP250 (V8) Sportscar
The Entertainment
The Barn-Ettes. They were great, if you liked the ‘Ronettes’ you will love this trio.
Healey Family Plaques
It was good to see the Healey Family Plaques, donated by the Austin Healey Club Midlands Centre, looking so fine.
That’s all folks! I hope that you have enjoyed looking at the photos.