Birmingham has a proud history of producing some of the best cars in the world - the home of the first ever mini along with Jaguars and Land Rovers.
But some of the cars built in the city’s motor factories at Longbridge haven’t always won praise from motor critics. There are a few rust-buckets our dads and grandads drove – shapeless, oil-leaking, stuttering, bland machines from a time in the motor industry that taste forgot.
And a trawl of trade magazines’ lists of Britain’s worst cars is dominated by two words – British Leyland. The Birmingham giant, dogged by strikes and production problems, was behind some of the naffest models in the history of motorised transport, say experts.
Many are now incredibly rare, simply because no one cared enough to preserve them. They misfired and are not missed. They now rust in peace. We've previously showcased some of the iconic car making moments in our city.
This is our tribute to the Leyland bangers that still take a bashing from critics:
1. Morris Marina
Produced by Leyland’s Austin-Morris division, the Marina tops website Car Throttle’s list of worst cars. It was ugly and had a reputation for going wrong. Of the 807,000 made from 1971 to 1980, only 120 survive, yet there’s no rush from collectors to claim one. Car Throttle says: “The Marina is the car that Top Gear used to routinely dropped grand pianos onto, which kind of sets a precedence for how bad it is. “It was outclassed in terms of driving dynamics by its arch rival, the Ford Cortina, with all the cornering stability of a blancmange. Then there was the styling. High-sided and dumpy at the rear, the car was once referred to as looking as though it was wearing a ‘full nappy’.”
2. Austin Allegro
Another derided member of the Leyland family, the Allegro reigned from 1973 to 1982 and 642,350 were sold on the home front. It’s high on Auto Express’ table of “worst cars ever made”, given the thumbs down for both looks and performance. Auto Express says: “It wasn't very spacious, had a range of asthmatic engines and was priced higher than its chief rivals, too, so it's no wonder it failed so miserably. And those cars that did find owners were nothing but trouble, with the constant threat of breakdown looming large every time you'd think about going for a drive.”
3. Morris Ital
The Ital’s time with us was brief – Leyland made it from 1980 to ’84, but it left a lasting impression. For the wrong reasons. The Ital, an updated version of the Marina, is rated the eighth worst car ever made by hotcars.com. The website’s withering rebuke reads: “What do you do with a bad car that's reached the end of its life? Well, if you're British Leyland (yes, there is a theme developing here), you just dress it up in fancier new clothing and try to pass it off as a new car. That's what happened with the Morris Ital. The Ital was, for all intents and purposes, a slightly more modern version of the Marina. As a result, it came with the same foibles as the Marina. It was boring, poorly built and performed poorly too.” It adds: “There are actually less surviving Itals on the road than Marinas, which should really tell you something about how bad the Ital was!”
4. Triumph TR7
I’m uneasy about Car Throttle listing the TR7 at number 10 on its list. Made by Leyland between 1974 and 1981, I always dreamed of owning the sports car. Back then, I thought it looked sleek and sexy. Car Throttle disagrees: “Legend has it that when legendary Italian car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro first clapped eyes on the TR7 in 1974, he walked around the car, paused for a moment, and then cried, ‘My god! They’ve done the same on this side as well’. “His words pretty much summed up a universe of feeling towards the TR7, which was ridiculed from the off thanks to its challenging ‘wedge’ looks.”