I spied an interesting hashtag on Twitter recently – #10yearsago, which threw up some interesting tweets. 

This got me thinking: what was I doing 10 years ago? Something very significant, that’s what.

I joined Motoring Research, as Staff Writer.

This was back in April 2001, after freelancing for a few months on the launch of the MSN Cars account.

It certainly doesn’t feel like a decade (a decade!) ago. I can still remember my nervous first day, the first cup of Nescafe Alta Rica (favoured choice in the office) I drank, my first iBook computer which remains safely stored in my desk to this day.

The first press car I drove on my first day is also stored in the memory bank: an Audi A4 1.8T. In blue. Driven after a call to the Audi press office, and a much-appreciated OK on the insurance check.

Good job: my first press launch was also an Audi event – the C5 A6 facelift. Flying from the Stansted Harrods business terminal to Germany, to drive a left-hand drive car for the first time, abroad for the first time, on my own.

It was all a bit fraught, as was heading down to the press conference, then dinner, then the shock of the post-dinner trek to the bar: I only had €20 and this was an expensive-looking hotel. Ah, how naive…

An hour later, I was playing darts with James May and Richard Hammond, both in pre-TopGear days, being described as the new chap and slowly becoming less awkwardly starstruck.

The thrill remains to this day, though. For people like me, this is unquestionably the best job in the world.

10 years ago, then, my professional motoring journalism career began. That’s not a bad call for  #10yearsago tweet, is it?

So, does anyone else have any motoring journalism memories from 10 years ago?

First press car drive

Audi A4 1.8T

First computer

iBook

First project

MSN Cars – vehicle information pages (model history)

First launch

Audi A6 facelift

40 years ago this month, Sir Alec Issigonis, creator of Britain’s best-selling motoring icons, retired.

The creator of the original Mini, the Morris Minor, the Austin Maxi and Landcrab 1800 had reached the official BL retirement age of 65. And so, left full-time employment.

He was to remain on as a design consultant – indeed, reveals AROnline, at his retirement party, deputy MD George Turnbull joked: ‘Sir Alec would be doing exactly what he had been doing for the past three years. “But, I hope perhaps working slightly shorter hours “.’

This itself was a bending of official company rules, continues AROnline: semiretirement status was not an official category on the company books. “We have had to bend the rules because we do not believe that Sir Alec’s extraordinary talents have suddenly waned or dried up”.

Even so, it marked the end of a glittering career within the British motoring giant that was so large as a direct result of his talents (and arguably was not larger due to the lack of managerial control and focus of them).

It was also no way to treat a great man.

Issigonis as technical director

Issigonis had been made technical director in 1961 after winning worldwide plaudits for creating the Mini. However, in 1968, he asked to be relieved of day-to-day engineering duties. Charles Griffin took over development of the mainstream cars with Issigonis working in a forward-looking research capacity.

Why? Because Issigonis was becoming sidelined: design by committee was the new rule as BMC headed towards its merger with (takeover by?) Leyland, leaving him isolated and preferring to concentrate on his own special projects.

He was also politically weakened, through two great ideas that were flawed because of his stubbornness and thus failed in the marketplace. The 1800 and, in particular, the Maxi were good concepts hurt by a lack of focus on what customers wanted. They were too idealistic.

This worked for the Mini but, don’t forget, even Issigonis’ brilliant 1100/1300 was styled by a designer rather than simply designed by an engineer. How could BMC subsequently forget?

Hence the request to be relieved of his mainstream car duties. He wanted instead to work on his brilliant, uncompromised, far-sighted concept for a Mini replacement, the ingenious 9X. In his mind, this was the new Mini: bigger, better, smarter, cheaper, more profitable. A decade on, it was the car to revive the industry once again.

BL, as history tells us, singularly failed to spot the potential of this. Issigonis worked on it until his retirement, yet even a knighthood in 1969 couldn’t regain power at BL.

Indeed, many of BL head Lord Stokes’ team apparently blamed Issigninis for the decline of BL. As AROnline reports, the five millionth FWD BMC car was built in May 1971: a Mini Clubman. This was a notable achievement but one that also riled those within Lord Stokes’ team: 4.3 million of that 5 million total were Mini and ADO16 1100/1300 models.

Customers were simply not buying the more expensive (more profitable) Maxi and 1800 Landcrab FWD cars. Indeed this lack of profit for BMC was part of the reason it needed to be rescued by Leyland.

Issigonis leaves Britain’s biggest car company

A great career at Britain’s largest car company thus fizzled out as the new guard took over. Even Issigonis’ leaving gift seems rather mealy-mouthed: a no. 10 Meccano set. Fitting for a great man, sure, but shouldn’t such a key figure have been given something more significant, more substantial, besides?

40 years ago, Mr. Mini retired. One of Britain’s finest inventors was no longer able to influence British cars, despite his genius remaining bright.

It is to the eternal shame of BL that his power, expertise and impact effectively ceased in 1968 and ended for good in 1971. Mini 9X is the glittering example of what could have been…

• Would 9X have worked?
• Was weak management behind Issigonis’ mistakes?
• Does Issigonis deserve his reputation as an inventive engineering genius?

A press delivery driver revealed a cunning car coverup recently, exposing a famous Nissan to be not quite what it seemed.

Remember the pink Nissan Micra C+Cs? A brace of which Nissan ran between 2005-2006, both to turn heads and worry motoring journos who were given one from the press fleet in equal measure? And also, as you’ll see below, famously featured on Top Gear with Richard Hammond wearing a bag on his head?

Well, here’s something. It turns out they weren’t actually pink.

They were blue.

Yes, the pink colouring was a wrap – technology then still in its infancy and thus relatively unknown – and applied to one of the more popular colours available on the Micra C+C, the launch metallic blue seen in the brochures and press launch shots.

Obvious, innit? Not so at the time though, particularly for those serious motoring journalists stuck behind the wheel of one for a week (unless they looked up close, and spotted the bits not covered by the wrap). Their only solace being that it was all in a good cause…

Lot of good work for charidee, mate

Nissan put four pink Micra C+C them on the press fleet between November 2005 and January 2006. For every motoring journo that booked one out and put 250 miles on the clock, Nissan donated £250 to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

It was £250 for every 250 miles, too. As my weekly commute, back then, was around 1200 miles, Nissan could’ve been very charitable indeed. Alas, I didn’t manage to get one out.

Rich Tuckwell of topgayer.com did, though – and put on an amazing 1400 miles in just there days.

(Incidentally, the Micra C+C was in its (ahem) purple period back then, which meant Nissan had several more besides the pinks ones on the fleet, too. If journos didn’t manage to bag a pink one, then, Nissan also donated £10 to the charity for each normal one booked out.)

How much was raised? A hefty £8000, the total boosted further by some journos rallying friends and family to make additional donations.

The journo campaign tied with a broader Nissan GB campaign. The pink Micra C+Cs toured the UK to launch the Breakthrough ‘TLC’ campaign (Touch, Look, Check). Nissan visited city centres in the cars to hand out promo leaflets, and also held a competition, Text to Win, with the prize being a pink C+C.

All admirable stuff. But what happened to that car now? And, more importantly, is both it and the four press cars still pink? Or, has the secret of the delivery driver spread..?

+ How to make a motoring journalist happy

+ Saab classic: USB press kit joy

+ flickr: diary of a road tester

Renault Vel Satis guru Oliver Hammond piqued my attention via Twitter a while ago because of his efforts in building up a VelSat community.

His Vel Satis forum site is ever-more popular and it remains a curio I dip into regularly, not least to see what’s up for sale and whether prices have finally dropped down to a level that would warrant an impulse purchase (not yet).

And why my fasciation with the failed French 5 Series rival? Because of a happy week back in 2002, when I took one down to Newquay for a week’s holiday. Quite something for a still-green writer back then, stymied by the 25-and-over insurance rules of many press offices. Renault was one exception. Bingo: the keycard to a Vel Satis 3.0 V6 dCi Initiale was mine for a week.

Memories? Mainly of its might. A big car, is the Vel Satis, accentuated by its outlandish design and super-bold le Quement detailing. Like the MkII Megane, it’s dating now, but there’s still no denying its presence – back then, resplendent in road test dark green, it looked amazing. Every inch the epitome of avant-garde French executive travel.

If anything, it felt even bigger from the inside. The huge seats were mounted very high atop their electric multi-adjust motors, whose variability even extended to a split seatback – the upper half could be raked independently to the lower. On the 300-mile trek to Newquay, this gave me no end of entertainment.

It was a distraction from all the glances I got. Seriously, everyone (so it felt) looked at us. I’d never driven anything that was such a headturner and, even now, few things have roused so much attention on the road. The Vel Satis was amazing, so it seemed: a pink Ferrari would have roused less attention.

Luckily, we were cocooned from it within, savouring the Makintosh-style wood trim and details, decent in-car audio quality and the surge of the big diesel. Something this easy and torquey was still a refreshingly new experience for me back then, and the satisfaction I felt remains clear in my mind. My love of torque may even have been cemented on that trip.

It wasn’t perfect. The ride could be taut, trim could creak in sympathy and lifeless steering certainly didn’t help pilot the big beast round Cornwall’s narrow streets. But I still loved it – still love it. The MSN Cars Renault Vel Satis road test talks about the minutiae, but the general vibe was positive.

Yes, it bombed, but it wasn’t through lack of character which, as a result, certainly infused goodwill amongst a loyal few. Still does, too: so, power to you, Oliver. Give me a shout when a cheap dCi V6 turns up, won’t you..?

+ Renault Energy dCi 130: F1 on the road

+ Renault Raider is back

+ The auto brands Lotus has links with

Porsche has launched the most driver-focused Panamera to date with the LA Motor Show debut of the Panamera GTS. 

And, pleasingly, the firm has looked to the past for its name, bringing back the moniker used for the most special 928 built from 1989 to 1994. The 928 GTS was the meatiest of the original front-engined Porsche and, thanks to wider rear arches hiding 9-inch wheels, the best looking too (even though I still admire the purity of the gorgeous 1978 launch model too – and am not the only one…).

The Panamera is arguably the spiritual successor to the 928: while the original didn’t have rear doors, it was still intended to be a luxurious four-seat Porsche. Misguided engineering and the resultant dreadful space inefficiency was the only reason it emerged instead as a 2+2.

Reviving a name from the past isn’t the only blast from history, though. The newest Panamera’s colour has also been taken from the Porsche back catalogue. For the Panamera GTS only is the availability of an all-new hue for the luxury four-door range: Carmine Red.

Now, when I first saw it, for some reason my memory piped up ’944′, and it seems this is partly right. OK, the Carmine Red isn’t actually from the 944 (the one I was thinking of is an amalgam of Maraschino Red and Velvet Red, for the record…), but it HAS been used on Porsches past.

Carmine Red Porsche 928 AND 911

Indeed, it was actually used on the 928 itself, for the 1988 model year. It was also, more significantly, available on the 911, again for a limited period between 1987-1988 (some reckon the number of 911s in this colour doesn’t even reach the hundreds…). Yes, original Carmine Red – L80F – is a very rare colour indeed.

So why has Porsche brought it back? Maybe a mooted reason for its introduction back in the 80s reveals why: on the 911 it was a less vivid, less garish alternative to the commonplace ‘guards red’ 3.2 Carrera of the era, which Porsche believed many people desired.

Colours reflect the times and the financiers that lusted after Porsches had suffered a tumultuous time on Black Monday. Cheeriness was thin on the ground: a jazzy Guards Red car parked outside Lloyds wasn’t really what the red brace crew wanted.

Evidently not all that popular, as it turned out, given its short time on the options list: the Yuppies ensured fortunes revived, briefly, so the brighter hue soon returned. This is why 911 fans actively search it out today: it’s extremely rare.

And why the apostrophes above for Guards Red? Because, according to Tony Corlett, Guards Red wasn’t actually used on the 3.2 Carrera, with ‘India Red’  (027) being Porsche’s preferred name, later changing to Indian Red (80K). Same colour, different names.

(The joy of being a Porsche fan, if you didn’t already know, is delving into details like this…)

Question is, does the Panamera GTS possess the same name but a different colour? It *seems* similar, but is it exactly the same as the 1980s original?

If you’re as insatiably geeky as me and thus interested, you’re in luck. I’m such a devourer of details, I’m going to try and find out…

+ My hit car colour of 2011

+ Xirallic: what is it?

+ August 2011: what is Porsche up to at the moment?

The new Vauxhall Astra Cabriolet won’t be the Vauxhall Astra Cabriolet, it seems.

That’s not posh enough for a brand that, says CAR magazine, is on the third phase of its brand revival that commenced with the ‘line in the sand’ Insignia.

Now the mainstream models such as the Meriva, Astra and Zafira have been overhauled, Vauxhall/Opel can concentrate on new niches targeted at ‘changing perceptions’.

Such as the new car that won’t be the Vauxhall Astra Cabriolet. It will also eschew the old Astra TwinTop’s folding hard-top roof, as the trend for the heavy, rattly, complicated and stylistically challenging roofs has passed. In comes a canvass roof that will enable designer Mark Adams pretty much free reign to create a classy-looking open top.

He told car magazine it will look ‘nothing like an Astra’, and not because looking like an Astra is a bad thing, but because this car is going to be something bespoke and individual. It’ll be based on the Astra platform, sure (probably the longer-wheelbase Sport Tourer estate) but, as with the Astra GTC three-door, share not a single panel with the five-door hatch.

What to call it, though? Well, I’ve got a great idea. See, the new Vauxhall Zafira is being called the Zafira Tourer. So, why not revive a similar name from the past for the new Vauxhall Astra Convertible?

Vauxhall Open Tourer. Has a ring to it, no? Simple, elegant, classy, neat and retrospective, I reckon it’s perfect. Referencing classic Vauxhalls such as the 1913 D-type and 1926 30/98 Type OE currently residing at the brilliant Vauxhall Heritage Centre at Luton, it’s potentially a brand in its own right and thus would fit perfectly with Adam’s aims for the new cabriolet.

Vauxhall Open Tourer it is for me, then: revealed next summer and on sale hopefully just before the onset of autumn (as Car said, Vauxhall will be hoping for an Indian summer…). It’ll be revealed in between Vauxhall’s new supermini crossover to be launched at Geneva 2012 and the Vauxhall Junior that’s due at Paris 2012, and almost certainly be up for giving the Volkswagen Eos and Golf Cabriolet a run for their money.

Vauxhall Open Tourer as a name, though… do you agree?

+ Vauxhall does the electric car market a favour

+ Why the BSM pass rate may increase with BSM deal

+ Vauxhall gives new Astra rear suspension a twist

Back in the days when we could watch rallying on TV, and the Lombard RAC Rally was actually called the Lombard RAC Rally, millions of us would await William Woollard and Steve Ryder every night of the multi-day epic.

The BBC Lombard RAC Rally nightly report show was brilliant: proper rally cars in a proper rally, reported on my men with big microphones, big coats and big hair, within big rally HQ centres full of people in the background busily shuffling reams of paper.

And how was it announced within the nation’s living room each? With The BBC Lombard RAC Rally music, which every petrolhead in the land knows by heart. You know the one…

Fast-forward to today, and cue wistful reminiscences from me each time I hear this song on BBC 6 Music. No, they’re not taken to playing the RAC Rally theme tune with gloriously oft regularity – rather, it’s an actual song, written by an actual band.

Check it out, and tell me you’re not back in 1991 within the first few bars.

Propaganda were, a well known internet resource tells me, a 1980s German synthpop group. Duel was their second single, released in April 1985, and was also their highest-charting UK single (it reached 21).

It was performed on their one and only Top of the Pops appearance too. But, far more significantly, it also became the theme tune to those wonderful rally reports of the 80s and 90s.

Well, almost. Thanks to some music geek brilliance inspired by BBC 6 Music presenter Chris Hawkins, it seems the theme tune was actually a hybrid, of both Duel and its B-side, Jewel. As explained more fully here – with links for you to indulge yet further.

Apparently, Duel was also used as the theme tune for the 2005 WRC TV reports, too. But, as by then, most people had stopped watching rallying, mainly because they were (and still are) unable to, this passed me by. Such a shame: check out all the links and tell me you don’t miss rallying.

How about this for a scenario, then: The BBC grabs back the rights for WRC in 2012, and once again starts showing nightly rally reports, plus a Sunday evening highlights show to, say, follow Top Gear.

Timed to fit in with the start of the full nation-pleasing MINI WRC campaign, it would be absolutely perfect. Particularly if it follows the F1 model, and revives the iconic theme tune.

An epic thought, no? Grown men would cry. Me amongst them.

+ Rover Vitesse and Tony Pond: back in the news (but only one is amazing)

+ Blyton Park: F1 on Britain’s newest racing circuit

+ Walter Hayes feedback from Richard Hayes

BMW is committed to a future of turbocharged engines, both diesel and petrol, that will enable it to drop each cylinder set down a peg.

The V10 is dead, thank god, replaced by V8s. In time, V8s will become straight-sixes. Straight-sixes will become four-cylinders. Four-cylinders will become three-pots. We might not see BMW Boxer engines in cars just yet, but don’t rule it out longer-term (Fiat’s done two-cylinders with TwinAir, after all).

Turbochargers are the enabler to ensuring fewer cylinders can still produce sufficient torque, power and big car feel. BMW, pone of the turbo pioneers in the 1970s, has a wealth of expertise to call upon, including that of Paul Rosch, leader of the 1980s F1 turbo programme.

BMW thus has a clear strategy for vehicle turbocharging, that caters for both petrol and diesel engines: this determines both the choice of turbocharger and guides the lengthy calibration process once development begins.

There are two basic strategies in BMW’s choice of turbocharger unit – one for diesel, one for petrol. The 1 Series, boasting an all-turbo engine line-up, is a good car to demonstrate this.

Ignore confusing names for now: BMW muddles things with its TwinPower Turbo naming system. The assumption this means ‘twin turbos’ is incorrect, but it’s not entirely obvious what it does actually mean. Nor is the fact it means different things for different fuels.

So, here’s BMW’s turbo strategy for the new 1 Series, in a nutshell.

Diesel

Variable geometry turbo

Variable geometry turbos optimise the aspect ratio of the turbo according to engine revs. They allow strong boost at low engine speed but don’t choke the turbo of air at high speeds.

The secret is a series of adjustable vanes, which direct airflow onto the turbine housing. They’re adjustable according to engine revs and manipulate the passage of exhaust gas.

Small exhaust gas flow at lower engines speeds sees the vane almost close. This directs a sharp flow of air (which is accelerated due to the narrow passage) to the turbine wheel, maximising its force and helping minimise turbo ‘lag’.

At high engine speeds, the vanes fully open, directing gases directly onto the turbines. This ensures the gas is fully unrestricted, maximising efficiently.

Variable geometry turbos are common on diesels, and their benefits are felt most strongly at low engine revs. They’re rare on petrol engines due to the much higher exhaust gases, which creates a challenge for the mechanical reliability of the adjustable vane system. Only Porsche currently offers a variable geometry petrol turbo, in the 911 Turbo.

Petrol

Twin-scroll turbo

Here, cylinders whose firing pulses interfere with each other are separated. In a four-cylinder engine, two cylinders feed the turbo on one side of the inlet, and the other two feed the separated-off other side.

Twin-scroll turbos are fed by a manifold similarly divided: instead of being open, it’s also divided in two. Result: exhaust gases flow more smoothly through the system, which allows the cylinders to be filled more completely and also scavenged more completely.

As it’s so much more efficient, greater valve overlap can be used, too – the exhaust gases are ‘self cleansing’ so don’t need such tight control in and out: this keeps cylinder temperatures down, which further improves efficiency.

BMW started the theory with the twin-turbo six-cylinder engine, whose units were fed by a dual trio of cylinders. “The we learned it’s even better to combine Valvetronic and a single twin-scroll turbo,” said the BMW engineer I spoke to on the launch. “This further reduces losses – any efficiency at the turbo level is very significant: as it is the breathing system of the motor, efficiencies are multiplied through the whole engine…”

Clever stuff. And if you want to really understand why it’s so important to separate out cylinder pulses, put your hand over a (cold) exhaust pipe, and feel the ‘pops’ of gas.

Mix and match?

Makes sense. But why not use twin-scroll on diesels? Pointless, said my BMW man. Diesels work at lower load, with more air, so the spread between min and max airflow is not as big.

BMW has instead tailored the characteristics of both feels to the characteristics of turbos available by suppliers. It has hidden this optimisation beneath the veneer of confusing names, sadly, but the merits are clear upon investigation.

The internal combustion engines is moving towards a turbocharged future. BMW possesses a great deal of IP in the area and continues to demonstrate this on its new car introductions.

Question is, what next for BMW’s turbo strategy?

+ flickr: on launch

+ Saab classic: USB press kit joy

+ BMW 1 Series power meters

20 years ago this week, Rover Group pulled out of the US new car market.

Why? Because the business strategy was to sell upwards of 30k cars a year over there and it never achieved anything like that.

Factor in appalling J. D. Power initial quality results, plus the resultant cacophony of bad press, and it’s not hard to see why Rover fled with its tail between its legs.

The whole experience was one of great intentions but failed execution. Historically, British cars had always sold reasonably well in the states, particularly the sports cars. Rover wanted to revive this, and enjoy useful returns from what was then the world’s largest car market – first with executive models and later with an all-new sports car.

Add in the fact its launch car, the Rover 800, was actually a Honda Legend – a car already sold in the US as the Acura Legend (and thus already homologated) – and the logic was unfailing. Austin Rover Cars of North America (ARCONA) was duly established in 1986, selling a 2.5-litre V6 Rover 800.

Well, not quite: the cars were actually marketed under the Sterling brand. Thus, the launch car was actually a Sterling 825. With real wood veneer and lush Connolly leather, it was every inch the trad-modern British car.

US buyers agreed, with initial sales matching the well-established Honda/Acura: no mean feat for Rover, given the high standing Honda had in the US.

Being British, though, the company of course snatched defect from the jaws of victory.

Because, the rot quickly began to set in. Those J. D. Power survey results flowed… and, frankly, damned the Sterling brand mercilessly. Electrical problems, paint problems, corrosion, unreliability – the whole sorrowful lot was revealed by disenamoured US owners. The headliner was morbidly amusing: leather turned green in the sun. Not funny if you were an owner, though. A tragedy if you were Rover.

Overestimates, overproduction

It was all going wrong. In October 1989, recalls AROnline, 1800 people were laid off at the Cowley production plant. Weeks of work were cut in November, December and January. Plant turnover was 900 cars a week: it was geared up to do double. All the preparation work for those glorious US sales was going to waste. The US wasn’t buying.

Desperation set in. Rover released an image of the Rover 800 Coupe in 1990, a full two years before it was due to go on sale. All to try and rouse interest in the flailing US division – after all, the Coupe was designed specifically with the US market in mind.

Mind you, Rover’s admirable pricing stance was not helping things: the firm refused to discount. In a country that takes car discounts for granted even without the rampant price war that was underway at the time, this was misguided. Yet, in the early days, Sterling dealers couldn’t budge. They had their margins set in stone and they didn’t allow for much movement.

Well, I say ‘dealers’. In another sound idea turned sour, the 160 Sterling dealers weren’t actually stand-alone outlets. They were multi-franchise dealers, and thus, shared floorspace with Cadillacs, Buicks, Jeeps, even Daihatsus.

As the brand was selling a couple of cars a month, salesmen didn’t give it time and didn’t bother to learn the nuances. There was no loyalty. Sterling simply couldn’t gain traction with the people who were meant to be selling it. Another black mark.

Glimmer of hope?

Rover USA did eventually do something right: it installed Graham Morris as president. Former man behind the TR7 plant, he spoke very sensibly in late 1989 to Autocar, acknowledging the division’s failings and vowing to put them right.

By then, the company was renamed Sterling Motor Cars, Inc. It was trading with incentives, including $5000 cash back (mainly to shift all the unsold cars). Its dealers were happy and said quality was improving, after 44% of them told J. D. Power they’d be happy to leave a year earlier.

It was still bloody – 14k sales in 87 had dropped to 9k in 88 and would struggle to hit 6k in 89 – but Morris was saying the right things.

His business model? Range Rover in the US. That also used a multi-franchise dealer model. It worked. How? By being a niche maker with a desirable image. Sterling would achieve them same.

But then, bang. In August 1991, Rover pulled out, for the third time in 20 years. Chief executive George Simpson said it was all down to economic conditions, but disastrous sales pretty much saw to it anyway. They hadn’t picked up in 1990: 4015 were sold. 1991? 1878 to the end of July. It was disastrous. It was maybe inevitable.

But it was something that should not have happened.

How was it possible to fail when selling Honda engineering, which US buyers liked, topped off by British design and luxury, which US buyers liked, through a broad-network multi-franchise dealer network, which US buyers liked? Anyone?

The painful ache of irony

Ironies continued after the brand’s departure from the US. That’s because the US market was never to get the R17 facelift car, launched in 1992. This in itself was tragic, for it was a car that would surely have at least stated the US turnaround.

It was, remember, the first modern ‘aero’ car to bring back the traditional chrome grille, brilliantly integrated by Woolley. Remember the fuss it caused over here? Imagine how that would have gone down in the US.

The R17 also benefitted from many of the lessons learnt in the US. Rover, in fairness, had listened to all those complaints, and waded through all the J. D. Power statistics. The engineering department was duly charged with ensuring electrics didn’t go pop, leather didn’t turn green. The R17 was the quality-leap product of all that engineering. Which was was never to make it to the market that led to it

Nor, indeed, would the Coupe. Presenting Rover with yet more problems. Goodness, Europe certainly didn’t want a large 800-derived Coupe: but as there was no other home for it, lumbered with it we were. A tragic, complete waste of resource that once again showed how misguided the US pullout was.

The more you look at it, both the harder yet the easier it is to believe. But, given how Rover Group is no longer with us, maybe it’s also a lesson in how not to do things?

I do, however, have a treat for those of you who are particularly wistful and upset. Here is the last Sterling 827 sold in the US. Buy it and savour the memories…

Do you have any views on the failed Rover US exploration?

+ Is the Giulietta an Alfa Romeo Rover 75?

+ VIDEO: Range Rover Evoque on the road

+ Why Victoria Beckham is right for Range Rover

McLaren F1 owners are currently in possession of a potential goldmine. Literally. 

The price of gold is at an all-time high: on Friday, the intraday price rose to $1637.50/oz, as investors seek out what’s descirbed as ‘the ultimate safe haven’. It’s a renowned beacon of safety, says the Wall Street Journal, and people are flocking to it.

Why now? Because on top of many global uncertainties, the US debt crisis is also panicking investors. The US Congress is split and the stalemate is worrying (amongst others) the moneymen.

As of Friday, just four days were left to sort it all out: given such dramas, the security of gold is seen as even more attractive than it already was. Hence, the gold rush.

Which means McLaren F1 owners are quids in.

Gold bay

That’s because the engine bay of the McLaren F1 is clad in heat-resistant gold foil. Not just any gold foil, either, but full-fat 24 carat gold.

A car developed without compromise naturally uses the best materials, whatever they are and whatever their cost. Few things reflect heat better than gold. So into the engine bay it went.

And now it’s worth more than ever. Familiar with all these gold cash-in places, which give you money by weight for old gold rings, necklaces and the like? Well, McLaren F1 owners can now take great heart in the fact there’s a great chunk of ready cash sitting a few inches behind them, should they wish to do the same.

£776.75 to be exact.

That’s the going rate for the 25g of 24 carat gold in the McLaren F1, according to one random online gold cash-in site. Staggering, aye? Not that any McLaren F1 owners would ever dream of doing such a thing. But you’ve got to admit, a nugget like this is pretty cool, no?

There’s a serious point, of course. Modern cars are made from a bounty of precious materials, and while the gold in the McLaren F1 is an extreme example, there’s still value in the various alloys a new car carries. Whereas old cars really were junk after a certain age, you’ll always be able to extract some value from a modern car – if only from the catalytic convertor alone.

As End Of Life regulations commit car makers to disposing of old cars at no cost and with increasing fervour, you can be sure the added value of these materials has been factored into their calculations. It’s not all just legal obligation and charity, you know.

Not just car makers, either. I wonder if CAP factors the gold price into the McLaren F1′s RV…

UPDATE – 19 August 2011

Sky News Business today reports gold has reached another high, of $1859.95/oz. Maybe McLaren F1 owners should hold onto their fast-appreciating asset…

+ McLaren dashboard comes to Runkeeper

+ McLaren F1 dashboard on the cheap

+ iPhone App from Rolls-Royce: best in the world