some nostalgia.............the Rover SD1 still looks quite striking
BBC News - West Midlands - motors and music
BBC News - West Midlands - motors and music
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Thanks Will, almost brought a tear to my eyes! I used to have a 3.5 SD1 back in their day, and it was one of the more comfortable cars I've ever owned. Shame about the Leyland build quality! Sad to see all those names gone.
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Some great photos.
It's the first time I've seen a photo of the old Bullring in years and I struggled to get my barings, it's changed so much. I would have preferred to have kept the whole shebang than just the Rotunda. I'm too young to remember it in it's heyday, so my only memories are of a half-empty, run down, shopping centre, but what a great building.
I've owned two 'Birmingham' cars:
1. The first was a 1955 Austin A30 which I bought in 1993 at the age of 17, and it had a single owner from new, covered less than 1,000 miles per year (genuine), and still had the toolkit wrapped in newspapers from 1959!! That car was super slow, and I don't really count it as one of my cars because I only really bought it for the registration number, and I didn't really drive it - just a few times. It sat in the garage whilst I teared around in my Vauxhall Nova 1.3 SR and then Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 SRi 16v, both of which wore the A30s registration number.
2. The second was a 1996 Rover 220 SDi which I bought in 1997 at the age of 21, and it was 12 months old, but had covered something like 26,000 miles. It was a rocketship in diesel terms at the time, and it was about as fast as you could go in a diesel at the time although the Golf GT TDi came soon after.
I also learned to drive in a 1972 Morris 1800 ("Landcrab"), which my grandad owned from around 1973, and passed it on to my parents in 1980 when he died. I can't quite remember how old I was but I guess at around the age of 10 (ish). A wonderful car.
All of them were great. It's a shame that those companies no longer exist
It's the first time I've seen a photo of the old Bullring in years and I struggled to get my barings, it's changed so much. I would have preferred to have kept the whole shebang than just the Rotunda. I'm too young to remember it in it's heyday, so my only memories are of a half-empty, run down, shopping centre, but what a great building.
I've owned two 'Birmingham' cars:
1. The first was a 1955 Austin A30 which I bought in 1993 at the age of 17, and it had a single owner from new, covered less than 1,000 miles per year (genuine), and still had the toolkit wrapped in newspapers from 1959!! That car was super slow, and I don't really count it as one of my cars because I only really bought it for the registration number, and I didn't really drive it - just a few times. It sat in the garage whilst I teared around in my Vauxhall Nova 1.3 SR and then Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 SRi 16v, both of which wore the A30s registration number.
2. The second was a 1996 Rover 220 SDi which I bought in 1997 at the age of 21, and it was 12 months old, but had covered something like 26,000 miles. It was a rocketship in diesel terms at the time, and it was about as fast as you could go in a diesel at the time although the Golf GT TDi came soon after.
I also learned to drive in a 1972 Morris 1800 ("Landcrab"), which my grandad owned from around 1973, and passed it on to my parents in 1980 when he died. I can't quite remember how old I was but I guess at around the age of 10 (ish). A wonderful car.
All of them were great. It's a shame that those companies no longer exist
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Pride of Longbridge day tomorrow from 10.00am - Cofton Park.
Dieselman
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Classic comment from a worker at closure...
I'm Gutted...
LOL..
I'm Gutted...
LOL..
