British Leylands' other best sellers in plastic and diecast 1/24 or 1/25 scale

[Weaver]

The Princess has to be the best-looking BL car ever (followed by the P-76 sedan).  A family friend bought a pre-production P-76 from the factory after his Pugeot 404 died mid-trip ---- after driving a few hundred miles the Lucas electrics gave out at 2am leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere of the Australian east-coast.

Ah, Joe Lucas: known as "The Prince of Darkness" in the motorcycle world, or at least those bits of it old enough to remember his so-called "electrics". There can be found easily on the internet a treatise on Lucas electrics based on the premise that their real function is to keep the smoke in ......

Here's an excellent elaboration on it:  http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm

Think this is the original:   http://www.peizhang.com/forfun/forfun_writings_smoke.htm

[McColm]

The BMW Mini is availible in 1/24 scale (3 door) along with the longer wheelbased Countryman (5 door). A van or saloon versions could be built using parts from the Austin/BL Mini kits.

[Mossie]

Urrgghh, MINI Countryman.   What have they done to the poor Mini, it even looks pissed off about it!

Airifx have a MINI in their new 1/32 range, it'd be nice to see them do a Mini.  I'd also like to see them release there older range without the Starter Set, it'll shave a few quid off

[The Wooksta!]

They don't have all the 32nd car kits - some were sold off and some were damaged and whilst theyy still have them, it's not economic to repair them.

Hence the price of the Marina and the Maxi on ebay!

[McColm]

I've come across a company called ' Harold Radford Coach Builders Limited' 1963-1971.
They converted the Mini into a luxury car. They named it the Mini de Ville and gave it a rosewood dashboard, wooden steering wheel, New leather seats with arm rests and adjustable settings. Headlight covers and a boot.
The GT model was the first in their range to have a hatchback rear door.
The MkIII retained all the previous features and had Facel Vega headlamps.

Worth Whiffing to see a mini-Rolls Royce or a kitbash using spare parts.
Both on the original and BMW Minis.

[McColm]

Another best seller has been the Range Rover. There's loads of coach builders that have stretched, chopped or squeezed in V8 engines, pimped the interiors and added a few axles.
One name that stands out is Rapport Ltd-UK or Rapport International Limited. 1978-1981.
They had clients in; East & West Africa, Europe and the Arab States, what they didn't have was any profit on their books, as the Rapport Quadraporte proved to be their biggest seller.
Six wheels, slopping nose off a Ford Granada's grill and headlights. Two, four or six door. Hunter, convertible or hard top. V.I.P. luxury.

[Hobbes]

I still remember an old Top Gear episode on an Overfinch Range Rover (Series 2) fitted with a 6.2 litre Corvette engine. They had it drag-racing against a Ford Focus. The Overfinch was pulling a trailer with another Focus on it, and it still won.

[Nick]

The Rapport Range Rovers - a full pictorial history. I love the 6 wheel white-and-wood version on the right!
Shame about the Ford Granada grilles and headlights 

http://www.range-rover-classic.com/Home/land-rover-brochures/range-rover-specials/rapport-ltd---uk

[PR19_Kit]

http://www.range-rover-classic.com/Home/land-rover-brochures/range-rover-specials/rapport-ltd---uk

There's 49 different companies doing Range Rover conversions listed on that linked page! 

The ones with the modified front ends generally look quite hideous, and the grille of the car is one thing that makes it what it is, best leave it alone.

Rover were working on the car before I left Pressed Steel in Sept 1969 but they kept it VERY close to their chest and while we did some tests on the various chassis designs they were developing we never saw a complete vehicle at Cowley.  But once, when a colleague and I were at Solihull sorting out a problem on the P6B, we went into one shed and there was this MASSIVE boxy car thing that looked like nothing we'd ever seen before. We hadn't been there a minute or two before we were hustled back out again pretty quickly, but I can remember the name written on the tailgate, 'VELAR'. This was apparently the code name they used when the vehicle was out on the roads testing, although how they came up with that was open to question.

[bobbo]

I'd love to see a decent injection molded TR-2 or TR-3, 1/32, 1/24 or bigger.  At a decent price. 

bobbo

[DarrenP]

didn't airfix do a tr7

[McColm]

Yes they did . Tamiya also did a kit in 1/24 or 1/25, rally/motocross.
There's one on eBay 1/24 Airfix TR7 hardtop with rally decals.

[jcf]

Monogram also did a TR7 in 1/24th, came out as a new tool in 1977.
I built one round about then, long gone into the mists of history. 

[PR19_Kit]

Were they 4 cyl TR7s or V8 TR8 kits?

An 'upgrade' would be relatively simple as you could use an engine from a Buick Special or an Oldsmobile F-85 as the Rover V8 used in the TR8 was effectively the same engine, albeit with two SU carbs instead of the Rochester DualJet used on the GM cars.

Jo-Han certainly did a wagon version of the Buick with that engine as I have one The Loft, and I suspect AMT supplied it in other kits too. Of course an early Range Rover engine would be perfect as it would come with the SUs, and I think Heller did one of them.

[jcf]

Monogram did both, original release was 4-cyl TR7, modified kit released in '81 as TR8, but IIRC the
kit is a curbside w/out engine detail.