Westminsters, Princesses and an unexpected Rolls-Royce engine: we check out the largest BMC saloons.

Words: Ian Seabrook

The original Austin Westminster A90 of 1954 wasn’t a bad car, but it wasn’t exactly super-desirable. However, on a visit to the Austin works at Longbridge, Birmingham in 1955, it is widely reported that HRH The Duke of Edinburgh remarked that the existing designs were “not really up to the foreign competition.” This caused some hasty thinking at the British Motor Corporation (BMC) of which Austin was very much the strongest partner. Pininfarina was invited to Austin and found himself with a large contract to redesign all of the saloon cars.

The first fruit of this new relationship was the delightful A40 Farina which replaced the popular A35 followed by the A55 Cambridge mid-sized saloon. The focus of this guide, the A99 Westminster, arrived in 1959.

It doesn’t get more traditional than a Morgan: we investigate the evergreen 4/4 and Plus 4.

Words & Pics: Paul Wager

There’s not another car company in the world quite like Morgan. Since 1910 the Worcestershire firm has been doing things its own way in complete defiance of accepted business practice in the car industry and has developed a massive following in the process.

The firm started out of course with three-wheelers, only moving into four-wheeled cars in 1936 with the 4-4 (later ‘4/4’), the badge signifying four wheels and four cylinders. Using a steel chassis with ash-framed aluminium bodywork, the car was a lightweight by the standards of the day and provided impressive performance. A four-seater version of the 4-4 was added in 1937, with a drophead coupe afterwards.

The body won’t rust, but you still need to  tread carefully buying the Lotus supercar.

Words: Chris Hope | Pics: John-Joe Vollans, Paul Wager

Nowadays, a new four-door hatchback is going to set you back somewhere in the region of between £8000 and £25,000 but why on earth would you settle for one of these anonymous atrocities when you could instead own a genuine British supercar like the Lotus Esprit?

The V8 models are still commanding strong money, but with both naturally-aspirated and turbocharged versions of the four-cylinder Esprit available in 17 different flavours (that is if you count all of the special editions) there really is an example for everyone’s budget.

Alfa’s 105-Series Giulia coupés represent the Italian maker at its very best... but you do need to know your stuff when buying them.

Words: Chris Hope | Pics: Magic Car Pics

Italian flair, good-looking lines and genuine head-turning appeal, which is backed by surprisingly potent performance. These are just some of the many pluses for these Bertone-styled coupés.
Unless you’re an Alfa aficionado, this period of cars can get a little confusing in terms of deciphering which is which. The coupés we’re looking at are all based on the ‘105’ chassis used in the ’60s Giulia saloons. This being the case, as well as looking at the original twin-cam 1600 versions, and the later 1750 and 2000 GTVs that followed, we’ll also have tips for the 1300 and 1600 GT Juniors – the so-called ‘entry level’ GTs.

From what we’ve seen, these Alfas are very much in vogue right now and prices do seem to be on the march upwards. We can certainly understand why – not only do the Giulia GTs have the potential to be fantastic track day machines, but left unmodified they’re still incredibly smart and fun to drive road cars.