Really posh sounding bloke in the advert ,only problem was build quality was crap they were rust buckets as soon as you bought them,plus at this era of time foreign cars were starting to flood in to Britain BL should have upped their game but they didn't thats why it went down the pan.They had no idea of how to produce quality cars.
Urgg leyland, my back hurts when I say that. I pushed enough of them in the 80s on cold starts. My mates dad had a princess, lets say more then a few times we had to take the bus.
First and only new car was a Jag XJS V-12....still have it, 237,000 miles...original engine, never re-built, original trans, original interior(other than those piece of shit felt headliners, but all newer cars have those)...only problem(other than a passenger side electric window-which mysteriously fixed itself) was the GM built air-conditioner(GMs' best) had to replace everything 4 times(compressor, evaporator, etc.). All-in-all a wonderful, dependable(with proper care), fast GT.
leyland cars rusted no worse than ford or vauxhalls of the time,i had a mark 2 escort 1.6 gl,in hearing aid beige, nowadays i refer to it as a "flintstones car"
Used to see a lots of Allegro's running around a few years back. Decades after bigger-selling Fords and Vauxhalls had bitten the dust. Maybe there were some reliability and rust problems but all cars in the 70's had that - and I bet most/all of the comments doing the BL cars down are people who never owned/drove one. Shame the whole strikes and troubled car-maker bit put people off and made them steer clear of the cars until Rover finally bit the dust. So now our money goes to Germany and Japan.
@MrChubbleyWarner Well i'm just about old enough to remember when people said French and Italian cars were rust buckets. But I guess people believe what they want to believe.
There are many. many reasons why British Leyland / Austin/Rover failed, there are facts made in most of the comments which are true, which when you add them all up collectively spelt the end, to be honest not all the cars were bad at all, but one thing i have always felt, is they had too many cars competing against each other.
Although From the Reasearch I've Done the Very Structure of B.L. Was A Mess.
Putting So Many Different Company's Together Just Like That Was Never Going to Work at all since many of them Were Making Very Similar Stuff & Most Hated One Another.
At Least "Daimler-Jaguar" & "Land Rover" Surrvived this Conglomerative Disaster.
0:41 The salesman couldn't even get the name of the car right. It was meant to be pronounced "three thousand five"; not "three thousand five hundred".
well it is sad wat has happened to this country i used to be proud but not anymore its like landrovers heh britpart= shitpart ive now gone back to old fords and im not sorry....
Triumph Dolomite Sprint,Triumph Stag,Triumph TR6, MGB GT V8, Rover SD1 V8,Jaguar XJ6 and 12, all this is good cars.. BL made good cars yes...The Union and stupids marketing executives kill him...
If Greedy Leyland hadn't Bullyed Rover Into Agreeing to being Taken over in the Late 1960'S They Would Still Be Here Today Making Great Car's Like the "P-6" & It's Planned Successor the "P-8", BMW Wouldn't Be Anywere as Strong & All British Car's would Still be Major Players. Their Was Nothing Wrong with Most B.L.'s Car Design's (Exept the Marina/Ital which was Just Dreadfull) They Just Lacked the Investment in Updating Factory's & a Effective Workforce..
@michaelfergusonuk - Surely, the reason was that at the time the Germans made better cars and the Japanese made reliable cheap cars with good after sale service. The British make great cars in sheds.
@michaelfergusonuk - Er, Me, sweeping statements? Chuckle! Name a mass production performance car (yes, slight bend on the question) owned by a UK company? As you well know, it's only a matter of time. By the way, I own a LandRover- love it. So, not all bad is it.
The carmaker BLMC to MG Rover went wrong because they got lots of small amounts of government cash at the wrong time, instead of fewer, larger amounts at the right time. Austin Allegro in 1973 wasn't as radical as the Morris 1100 in 1962 because they had to raid the parts bin for 1100, 1300 & Maxi (1500 & 1750) engines. Allegro & Princess were hatchback-shape, but the management stopped the designers making them hatchbacks as they felt the Maxi's hatchback was it's unique selling point.
Although i think the Structure of BLMC was also a considerable mess & that having so many different Car Make's under the same Owner was a Disaster waiting to happen.
("Austin" & "Morris" /"Morris Garage's" & "Triumph" & "Austin-Healey" / Jaguar vs Leyland's Leadership are
a perfect example of this lack of cohesion & constant Infighting)
In my view they should have taken the Mass market marqes (eg Austin / Morris / Standard etc) & split the smaller Makes between them as such
No they wernt bad cars. But the cars that BL depended on for Volume - Allegro, Marina, Maxi etc where. Fact is Ford suffered just as much industrial unrest if not more than BL during the 70's yet emerged with 30% market share by having the right product.
@gr84man Can you say that, hand on heart about the Land Crab? or the Allegro? LOL, nothing wrong with your Dolly, but some of the other awful crap they produced was quite laughable compared to the Germans or Japs.
Problem with BL cars in the 70's &80's was everyone had owned or knew someone who had owned a real dog of a car. Arsey workforce that crippled an already poor management team & no real product focus for the future, for fucks sake America was still crying out for MG's and riumphs sports and they stopped making them! and why replace the tr6 soft top with the ugly and asmatic 2.0 tr7 when they could have replaced it with the soft top v8 first, beggars belief really.
The real crime was the government at the time encouraging Leyland to take over the dying cripple that was BMC who had no new products in the pipe line except the lamatable Maxi! this led to underdeveloped vehicles being brough into production that were unreliable and in many cases not very good to drive, couple this with utter stupidity from the unions doomed BL from the start.
MGRover (FORMER BRITISH LEYLAND)was totally and utterly let down and forgotten about and left to die under this so call socialist labour goverment,who just want to let manufacturing die in this country because it is seen as polluting and causing global warming.But they let the banks survive at a big cost to all of us and waste and borrow so much money,so much that we are now as a nation now broke and in debt.
The BMC - BL - Austin Rover "A" Series engine is still being used as an auxiliary power unit in British battle tanks! Who also made the first hatchback? (I make it the Mk 2 Austin A40 Farina). Who made the first transverse engined front wheel drive car? (I make it the Mini Minor - which became known as Mini). The Rover SDi was sensational to drive, as were the Triumph 2000 / 2.5 when first introduced.
The Tories weren't any better than Labour when it came to the British motor industry. Their policy was to sell everything off to the highest bidder. So in the 1980s our entire motor industry was sold to foreign companies and then downsized and now we basically don't have one any more. So the Tories are just as much to blame as Labour.
I couldn't agree more! But its typical British mentallity! People that strike in general are cunts! From BT to Rail to Fire Fighters (the biggest cunts) and a big fuck you to the postal service! People that strike deserve to have a stroke and become dependent on others and see how they like it when nobody can be bothered to care for them! A big fuck you to Great fat, obese, no respect for others, western diet, unhealthy, democratic, beurocratic britain!
How the fuck can you say that anyone that strikes is a cunt? I bet you are some stuck up middle class bint who has never done a days physical labour in his life.
I don't know if I agree with that... the MG (A,B,C) were nice-looking sports cars but they were also poorly built and rusted too quickly. Their performance was merely OK compared to contemporaries. I think the Triumphs were decent cars, especially the Dolly and 2000 models. Their biggest problem was they competed with other BL cars (poor product differentiation). The Jags were OK too, especially the ones designed by Lyons himself. The Allegro, Marina, Princess, Maestro, Ital, etc., not too good!
jaguar merged with bmc in 1966 to become bmh (british motor holdings) which got swallowed up by leyland in 1968. Jaguar was eventually demerged from then austin/rover in 1984 as a independent company
Damn. I didn't know that Jaguar, of all brands, was a part of Leyland Cars. This might be a dumb or rhetorical question, but how long was Jaguar a part of Leyland Cars?
British Leyland jingle was composed by Jonathan Hodge and sung by Jonathan Hodge, Gary Sulsh, Clare Torry,,,,,,," great cars and a great deal more from Leyland, Leyland cars " Yipee !
Could please someone of you tell me what the chorus in the final jingle is singing? I'm not an English-speaking native and I just can't understand it, it's too loud and fast. Thanks in advance to everyone. Cheers.
BL's cars weren't much better than this advert unfortunately - the old guy talking about the Rover is so cheesy its breathtaking. The French Allegro-owner in front of the Eiffel Tower - another couragously bad clip.
The reality is that any of these cars could (I repeat, could) have been world beaters if the bean-counters and unions hadn't ruined them. The desire was there but the ability to make good cars was not - now the UK owns none of the mass-market cars it produces. Wonderful.
I like the advert too - a classic in so many ways! Its sort of tragic to think that BL was already sliding down the slippery slope when that ad debuted but I doubt anybody could have predicted a complete absence of UK-owned mass car producers just 30 years later...
BL cars were not worse or better than the general European competition.
But the continental costumers (people like me) were used to the fact that British made cars stood for a quality product and value for money. Better quality than French or Italian ,more stylish and innovative than German, more economic than American.
BL failed to forfill this expectation and the Japanese took over this market, never to be regained by the British automotive industry again.
This video is golden. They're touting some of the worst cars ever made that they're the best. And possibly during the roughest year of all for BL. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, but records show that by the end of 1973, Japanese cars were outselling British cars in Britain. Plus had more equipment fitted as standard, like a passenger-side wingmirror and a radio! But, yes, they did rust more than BL. But then they were cheaper to buy, and in such circumstances lower price, more equipment-as-standard and better reliablity can be a winner market-wise, as demonstrated back then.
The cars were good,certainly not that much worse than a lot of the competition.If they had been built as well and with as good a management as the other companies we would still be making cars.
There's no single reason why Leyland failed...see Clarkson's "Who killed the British Motor Industry" clip. Part of the blame must be shouldered by us (the Great British buying public) I'm afraid. Even good Leyland products were pushed aside in favour of Datsun, Renault etc (equally as horrible 1970's cars) and also our keeping up with the Jones' attitude with BMW, Mercedes etc. We just didn't buy the cars even when they got it right and sorted themselves out by the mid 80's (post Honda tie-in)
The Rover SD1 was plagued with quality problems so the reputation was tarred after it won Car Of The Year 1976 and as a result people turned their backs on it:-(
Yeah for good reason, if we built cars like bl we would be even more of a lauging stock. Dong get me wrong, some of those cars are great, just built terribly
The sweeney would never had looked so good if it was for these classic's, watch todays cop shows and the cars are shite.. the cars had character and are a great laugh to look back on..
The Marina was the first nail in the coffin for BL, even by 1971 standards it was crap and it beggars belief that it was still a top selling car at the end in 1980.
Can you remember the advert for its 'successor' - the Morris Ital? "It can overtake faster than a Mercedes 200." I think I know which I would have rather had at the time.
It went wrong because the concept was terrible. We had so many different car firms, part of the same company, who were all compteting with eachother. It just didn't work at all. Not to mention the poor work conditions for the car assemblers, who inevitably didn't assemble them properly. However I did like the look of BL cars, except the Allegro obviously, that was horrid.
So What happened! I can not believe how we no longer have a brit industry. the French still hve Citroen, Peugeot ad Renau ( all competing for bottom place in JD Powers), Jerry still has Merc, VW, BMW & Audi, Italy has Alfa & fiat.
Terrible things happened at British Leyland but none more terrible than the Allegro. Just when things couldn't get any worse, out popped the Marina! Their slogan, 'Beauty with brains behind it.'
That yellow Triumpg TR8 didn't last long (0:25) The vehicle details for LOK 569P are: Date of Liability 01 05 1984 Date of First Registration 26 03 1976 Year of Manufacture 1976 Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1998CC CO2 Emissions Not Available Fuel Type Petrol Export Marker Not Applicable Vehicle Status Unlicensed Vehicle Colour YELLOW Vehicle Type Approval null
Funny how people seem to forget the dreadful management that had a part in BLs appalling history.We made all sorts of things in this country at one time and believe it or not some very good things, world beaters in fact.
Really posh sounding bloke in the advert ,only problem was build quality was crap they were rust buckets as soon as you bought them,plus at this era of time foreign cars were starting to flood in to Britain BL should have upped their game but they didn't thats why it went down the pan.They had no idea of how to produce quality cars.
TheWolfie6 3 months ago
Urgg leyland, my back hurts when I say that. I pushed enough of them in the 80s on cold starts. My mates dad had a princess, lets say more then a few times we had to take the bus.
AlannTH 4 months ago
First and only new car was a Jag XJS V-12....still have it, 237,000 miles...original engine, never re-built, original trans, original interior(other than those piece of shit felt headliners, but all newer cars have those)...only problem(other than a passenger side electric window-which mysteriously fixed itself) was the GM built air-conditioner(GMs' best) had to replace everything 4 times(compressor, evaporator, etc.). All-in-all a wonderful, dependable(with proper care), fast GT.
DecaturCentaur 4 months ago
Notice how they didn't highlight the Morris Marina. Basically because it had no selling points.
vicsmith5000 4 months ago
leyland cars rusted no worse than ford or vauxhalls of the time,i had a mark 2 escort 1.6 gl,in hearing aid beige, nowadays i refer to it as a "flintstones car"
blade0954 4 months ago
do brits ever say thirty-five-hundred?
kernals12 5 months ago
@kernals12 - absolutely never....maybe a pilot...no, he would say three, five, zero, zero...so it's still a no
MrChubbleyWarner 3 months ago
Used to see a lots of Allegro's running around a few years back. Decades after bigger-selling Fords and Vauxhalls had bitten the dust. Maybe there were some reliability and rust problems but all cars in the 70's had that - and I bet most/all of the comments doing the BL cars down are people who never owned/drove one. Shame the whole strikes and troubled car-maker bit put people off and made them steer clear of the cars until Rover finally bit the dust. So now our money goes to Germany and Japan.
quarkwrok 5 months ago
@quarkwrok ...and France!
MrChubbleyWarner 3 months ago
@MrChubbleyWarner Well i'm just about old enough to remember when people said French and Italian cars were rust buckets. But I guess people believe what they want to believe.
quarkwrok 3 months ago
Ha ha... Even brand new these cars were shite...
russkath 6 months ago
but...my TR7 never sounded like the one in this ad!!
MrChubbleyWarner 6 months ago
Wonderful...from the era where people still spoke 'posh'
MrChubbleyWarner 6 months ago
A great deal more rust than most.
yintontiddlyipo 6 months ago
the advert was better than there cars
nylonTS 6 months ago
@antony700 Don't forget that British Leyland was a government run automaker, like governments can do anything at all right, we all know they can't!
RabidKoala 7 months ago
Communists. Couldn't make a decent car in Russia, couldn't make a decent car in the UK, either....
Phedrus1975 7 months ago
the unions destroyed leyland because they are comunist bastards and they are gonna still reck britain......down with the leftys
15kilkenny 8 months ago
0:30 the car was overtaken by a bicycle, this epitomises all BL cars almost lol
thomasjacklin 9 months ago
I will stick with my Honda Accord if you don't mind.
fatpigiam 10 months ago
There are many. many reasons why British Leyland / Austin/Rover failed, there are facts made in most of the comments which are true, which when you add them all up collectively spelt the end, to be honest not all the cars were bad at all, but one thing i have always felt, is they had too many cars competing against each other.
GRAHAM5020 11 months ago
WHAT LANGUAGE IS THIS IN???
2009jimmy2009 1 year ago
@2009jimmy2009 - English, bro. What language do you speak?
JBofBrisbane 9 months ago
@2009jimmy2009 English English, as opposed to American, Australian, South African, etc English.
June 15, 2011 1:06 am
whattheheck1000 8 months ago
the final nail in the coffin for B , L very poor cars !
midsaint776 1 year ago
Quality was a foreign word that was unknown during 60s/70s Britain
volumex2000 1 year ago
A Bad Company That was Advertised Well.
A Great Tragity.
michaelfergusonuk 1 year ago
@antony700 Quite Right.
Although From the Reasearch I've Done the Very Structure of B.L. Was A Mess.
Putting So Many Different Company's Together Just Like That Was Never Going to Work at all since many of them Were Making Very Similar Stuff & Most Hated One Another.
At Least "Daimler-Jaguar" & "Land Rover" Surrvived this Conglomerative Disaster.
michaelfergusonuk 1 year ago
0:41 The salesman couldn't even get the name of the car right. It was meant to be pronounced "three thousand five"; not "three thousand five hundred".
batreeka 1 year ago
Five doors, well I never.
PinariusNatta 1 year ago
My brother still has a TR7, its the dream car that I would like to own.
Feisty1967 1 year ago
well it is sad wat has happened to this country i used to be proud but not anymore its like landrovers heh britpart= shitpart ive now gone back to old fords and im not sorry....
sparge2 1 year ago
Central Locking on a rover 3000500?
SinclairisCool 1 year ago
@SinclairisCool
do you mean 3500 ?
pgzzz 1 year ago
@pgzzz
HA! yeah. Kinda had a brain malfunction.
SinclairisCool 1 year ago
Best part is from 0:04 to 0:07
How could those english believe a french (with fake accent) wud buy this shitty car? muahhhh
pasdecouilles6 1 year ago
Triumph Dolomite Sprint,Triumph Stag,Triumph TR6, MGB GT V8, Rover SD1 V8,Jaguar XJ6 and 12, all this is good cars.. BL made good cars yes...The Union and stupids marketing executives kill him...
officialraf 1 year ago
@officialraf Very True.
If Greedy Leyland hadn't Bullyed Rover Into Agreeing to being Taken over in the Late 1960'S They Would Still Be Here Today Making Great Car's Like the "P-6" & It's Planned Successor the "P-8", BMW Wouldn't Be Anywere as Strong & All British Car's would Still be Major Players. Their Was Nothing Wrong with Most B.L.'s Car Design's (Exept the Marina/Ital which was Just Dreadfull) They Just Lacked the Investment in Updating Factory's & a Effective Workforce..
michaelfergusonuk 1 year ago
@michaelfergusonuk - Surely, the reason was that at the time the Germans made better cars and the Japanese made reliable cheap cars with good after sale service. The British make great cars in sheds.
jushayward 1 year ago
@jushayward I'd look into British Automotive History a bit better than that if i were you before you make Sweeping Generalization's like that.
Plus name a single Performance car from China (if there are any yet).
michaelfergusonuk 1 year ago
@michaelfergusonuk - Er, Me, sweeping statements? Chuckle! Name a mass production performance car (yes, slight bend on the question) owned by a UK company? As you well know, it's only a matter of time. By the way, I own a LandRover- love it. So, not all bad is it.
jushayward 1 year ago
Ahh...great days when Britain actually had a car industry.
Feisty1967 1 year ago
The carmaker BLMC to MG Rover went wrong because they got lots of small amounts of government cash at the wrong time, instead of fewer, larger amounts at the right time. Austin Allegro in 1973 wasn't as radical as the Morris 1100 in 1962 because they had to raid the parts bin for 1100, 1300 & Maxi (1500 & 1750) engines. Allegro & Princess were hatchback-shape, but the management stopped the designers making them hatchbacks as they felt the Maxi's hatchback was it's unique selling point.
mwe152 1 year ago
@mwe152 Very true.
Although i think the Structure of BLMC was also a considerable mess & that having so many different Car Make's under the same Owner was a Disaster waiting to happen.
("Austin" & "Morris" /"Morris Garage's" & "Triumph" & "Austin-Healey" / Jaguar vs Leyland's Leadership are
a perfect example of this lack of cohesion & constant Infighting)
In my view they should have taken the Mass market marqes (eg Austin / Morris / Standard etc) & split the smaller Makes between them as such
michaelfergusonuk 1 year ago
No they wernt bad cars. But the cars that BL depended on for Volume - Allegro, Marina, Maxi etc where. Fact is Ford suffered just as much industrial unrest if not more than BL during the 70's yet emerged with 30% market share by having the right product.
rickerbycourt 1 year ago
@gr84man This is very true i worked there for 13 years and every time we got a car just right they axed it CRAZY.
burns1961 1 year ago
@gr84man Can you say that, hand on heart about the Land Crab? or the Allegro? LOL, nothing wrong with your Dolly, but some of the other awful crap they produced was quite laughable compared to the Germans or Japs.
LaughingVulture 1 year ago
Ahhh...Great days, I love the late '70s. I remember the British Leyland ads so well.
Feisty1967 1 year ago
By the 70s BL cars became crap. It's a pity because austin/BL used to make great cars.
whonut 1 year ago
Problem with BL cars in the 70's &80's was everyone had owned or knew someone who had owned a real dog of a car. Arsey workforce that crippled an already poor management team & no real product focus for the future, for fucks sake America was still crying out for MG's and riumphs sports and they stopped making them! and why replace the tr6 soft top with the ugly and asmatic 2.0 tr7 when they could have replaced it with the soft top v8 first, beggars belief really.
volkswin 1 year ago
The real crime was the government at the time encouraging Leyland to take over the dying cripple that was BMC who had no new products in the pipe line except the lamatable Maxi! this led to underdeveloped vehicles being brough into production that were unreliable and in many cases not very good to drive, couple this with utter stupidity from the unions doomed BL from the start.
volkswin 1 year ago
totally agree
armjos1 2 years ago
MGRover (FORMER BRITISH LEYLAND)was totally and utterly let down and forgotten about and left to die under this so call socialist labour goverment,who just want to let manufacturing die in this country because it is seen as polluting and causing global warming.But they let the banks survive at a big cost to all of us and waste and borrow so much money,so much that we are now as a nation now broke and in debt.
THANKS LABOUR.
armjos1 2 years ago 2
@armjos1 You are right there.
GRAHAM5020 1 year ago
Comment removed
RenettoRenetto 2 years ago
LEYLAND CARS!!!
EXTREME4YEARSTOCOME 2 years ago 8
The BMC - BL - Austin Rover "A" Series engine is still being used as an auxiliary power unit in British battle tanks! Who also made the first hatchback? (I make it the Mk 2 Austin A40 Farina). Who made the first transverse engined front wheel drive car? (I make it the Mini Minor - which became known as Mini). The Rover SDi was sensational to drive, as were the Triumph 2000 / 2.5 when first introduced.
knausspiano 2 years ago
Dont forget the (far as I remember) first production 4 cyl 16v engine (Dolly sprint)
GingerPhilG 2 years ago
The Tories weren't any better than Labour when it came to the British motor industry. Their policy was to sell everything off to the highest bidder. So in the 1980s our entire motor industry was sold to foreign companies and then downsized and now we basically don't have one any more. So the Tories are just as much to blame as Labour.
mattrwsmith 2 years ago
Im afraid the facts disagree with you.
BLMC was formed under a Labour Government its dwindling remains would later die in 2005 as MG Rover in the Blair era.
Wilson was also responsible for the problems of Rootes Group. It would eventually be sold to Chrysler, later PSA and be closed under Blair.
Labour also saw BMW buy the Rover Group. Land Rover being sold to Ford. MG sold to the Chinese and Ford buy the Rover name.
The Tories only sold BL/ARG to British Aerospace.
yiddlipo 2 years ago
Had the workers at BL hadn't been so useless or been on strike half of the time, BL could have made some seriosuly world beating cars.
Shame really how it all ended up.
kazimann 2 years ago 3
I couldn't agree more! But its typical British mentallity! People that strike in general are cunts! From BT to Rail to Fire Fighters (the biggest cunts) and a big fuck you to the postal service! People that strike deserve to have a stroke and become dependent on others and see how they like it when nobody can be bothered to care for them! A big fuck you to Great fat, obese, no respect for others, western diet, unhealthy, democratic, beurocratic britain!
saintwinky29 2 years ago 3
Well said mate.
kazimann 2 years ago
How the fuck can you say that anyone that strikes is a cunt? I bet you are some stuck up middle class bint who has never done a days physical labour in his life.
safeasfuckbra 2 years ago
The British Leyland ad. was composed by Jonathan Hodge and the vocals are by him , Gary Sulsh, Stuart Leathwood & Clare Torry
tshirtheaven 2 years ago
gotta love that jingle, wish ads were as cheesy as this today :L
catchthewave91 2 years ago
The only decent cars made by British Leyland were the Mini and MG
2009DM 2 years ago
I don't know if I agree with that... the MG (A,B,C) were nice-looking sports cars but they were also poorly built and rusted too quickly. Their performance was merely OK compared to contemporaries. I think the Triumphs were decent cars, especially the Dolly and 2000 models. Their biggest problem was they competed with other BL cars (poor product differentiation). The Jags were OK too, especially the ones designed by Lyons himself. The Allegro, Marina, Princess, Maestro, Ital, etc., not too good!
RoadCone411 2 years ago
when the advert was made they were on strike,rover 3500.ecenomical family motoring....not!!
blade0954 2 years ago
I like the leyland turbine logo it reminds me at Tatra aircooled Logo
Klottelitsch 2 years ago
this ad is much better then the dull Vauxhall and kia ads that are on now
MasterBattle2000 2 years ago
I love Ethel in the Dolly Sprint!
WelshyM 2 years ago
To be fair, thr last of the SD1 rovers wasn't too bad.
unigateman 2 years ago
the Rover 75 wasn't so bad either....
I actually liked it
Turismo87 2 years ago
The last of the SD1s where great!
mercedesE320fan 2 years ago
jaguar merged with bmc in 1966 to become bmh (british motor holdings) which got swallowed up by leyland in 1968. Jaguar was eventually demerged from then austin/rover in 1984 as a independent company
AshtrayI 2 years ago
Damn. I didn't know that Jaguar, of all brands, was a part of Leyland Cars. This might be a dumb or rhetorical question, but how long was Jaguar a part of Leyland Cars?
silac1993 2 years ago
British Leyland jingle was composed by Jonathan Hodge and sung by Jonathan Hodge, Gary Sulsh, Clare Torry,,,,,,," great cars and a great deal more from Leyland, Leyland cars " Yipee !
tshirtheaven 2 years ago
Could please someone of you tell me what the chorus in the final jingle is singing? I'm not an English-speaking native and I just can't understand it, it's too loud and fast. Thanks in advance to everyone. Cheers.
Gavichap 2 years ago
Great cars and a great deal more from Leyland, Leyland Cars.
RobJames1971 2 years ago 3
BL's cars weren't much better than this advert unfortunately - the old guy talking about the Rover is so cheesy its breathtaking. The French Allegro-owner in front of the Eiffel Tower - another couragously bad clip.
The reality is that any of these cars could (I repeat, could) have been world beaters if the bean-counters and unions hadn't ruined them. The desire was there but the ability to make good cars was not - now the UK owns none of the mass-market cars it produces. Wonderful.
RoadCone411 2 years ago 4
It's sad, but everything you've said is pretty much spot on :-(
Still like the advert though LOL
Genius83 2 years ago
I like the advert too - a classic in so many ways! Its sort of tragic to think that BL was already sliding down the slippery slope when that ad debuted but I doubt anybody could have predicted a complete absence of UK-owned mass car producers just 30 years later...
RoadCone411 2 years ago
BL cars were not worse or better than the general European competition.
But the continental costumers (people like me) were used to the fact that British made cars stood for a quality product and value for money. Better quality than French or Italian ,more stylish and innovative than German, more economic than American.
BL failed to forfill this expectation and the Japanese took over this market, never to be regained by the British automotive industry again.
helmuthoorn 2 years ago
Thank Tony Blair.
mercedesE320fan 2 years ago
its sad. only Jaguar is left.
jakobat1994 2 years ago
i'd much rather have a japanese car from the 70s and 80s over a bl car any day
Turismo87 2 years ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
And many people did.
GRAHAM5020 2 years ago
Junk.
Rawlinson18 2 years ago
commie unions .old fart management , and not looking to the future. also some of the cars looked crap .70s kid
25ghr 2 years ago
Oh to be able to walk into a car showroom with a s brand new Triumph Stags and a Rover SD1 in it! The stuff of dreams.
koksy 2 years ago 3
I thought the TR7 was quite cool really - always very overlooked compared to the Spitfire and GT6, Stag, earlier TR`s.
SimonDolan 2 years ago 2
Big oversized union poisoned giant led by old farts. No wonder it couldn't compete with the Germans and Japanese
Anglichanen 2 years ago
It has four wheels, an engine Oh and some doors - Not as extras mind
PIGSICK1 3 years ago
Superb! All these motors are pretty much classics or very near collectables - only trouble is finding one..:-)
Jaguar being sold off by BL in the 80's was the best thing to happen to them, shame that the economy was so up sh1t creak at the time.
wilkopilko 3 years ago
This ad is from the previous year of 1976, I believe.
AntarcticaTelevision 3 years ago
I still have no idea what the narrator says from 0:14 - 0:17.
cbehr91 3 years ago
"Well, even they've got to watch the petrol, haven't they?"
RobJames1971 3 years ago
@cbehr91
"Well, even they've gotta watch the petrol, haven't they"
EnglishStan 1 year ago
@cbehr91
this allegro is the best car i have ever owned
or something similar
lee2217 6 months ago
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lee2217 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
leyland aso had a great bus and truck division until purchased by volvo and daf respectively
lee2217 6 months ago
i liked this video :)
i cant watch this video 6v
6468803 3 years ago
This video is golden. They're touting some of the worst cars ever made that they're the best. And possibly during the roughest year of all for BL. Thanks for sharing!
cbehr91 3 years ago 2
Yes, but records show that by the end of 1973, Japanese cars were outselling British cars in Britain. Plus had more equipment fitted as standard, like a passenger-side wingmirror and a radio! But, yes, they did rust more than BL. But then they were cheaper to buy, and in such circumstances lower price, more equipment-as-standard and better reliablity can be a winner market-wise, as demonstrated back then.
C4atm 3 years ago 2
All the cars had there innovations!
How mang Datsun 120Y's and other 70's japs do you see running unrestored?
Japanese cars may be reliable and have more features, but they are all boring style and rusted worse than BL
nipperoid 3 years ago 2
well rusted worse than BL cars... im not so shure. yes japanese 70's cars rusted really bad, but you cant really say BL cars were rust resistant.
seltsum 3 years ago
The cars were good,certainly not that much worse than a lot of the competition.If they had been built as well and with as good a management as the other companies we would still be making cars.
Joe90ridesahonda 3 years ago
In my opinion the Mini is the only good car BL ever made.
crowbarftw 3 years ago
french cars are unreliable, generally shite etc and they survived i wonder why british car industry failed?
ststephens97 3 years ago 4
unions...
gthebrave 3 years ago
along with some dreadful management
hurricaneUK 3 years ago
True that!
gthebrave 3 years ago
This ad had music written by Johnathon Hodge and sung by him, Gary Sulsh, Stuart Leathwood and Clare Torry.
It was used on lots of British Leyland adverts,
tshirtsprout 3 years ago 3
Fantastic information!
RobJames1971 3 years ago
Clare Torry - she performed the vocals on Pink Floyd's "Great gig in the sky" from Dark Side of the Moon...
joh2 3 years ago
the self correcting steering on the rover 3000 was good
hamster700 3 years ago 2
I heard that one of the companies that owns MG or Rover might bring back Austin.
MigAfraid 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
layland failed because ie the cars were shit
hamster700 3 years ago
Wrong!
RobJames1971 3 years ago
Were the
Triumph 2000 / 2.5
Mini 1000
Range Rover 3.5
such bad cars?
I think not
Ther unions helped to kill BL not "shit" cars
WelshyM 3 years ago 10
Alot of the cars were well designed but were not put together with the care they needed, due to the strikes and funding problems.
1066ant 3 years ago
@WelshyM Exactly, They were good as BMC before, I love my 1967 Wolseley.
Leyland made some crap cars and it marred their reputation, loads of good cars came out of the factories though.
I the end it just fell apart, shame.
G1NZOU 1 year ago
@WelshyM Well said, they often get stick about reliabilty, build quality etc, but I never had a problem with my Rover 25, its a great car to run
LightningT5 1 year ago
There's no single reason why Leyland failed...see Clarkson's "Who killed the British Motor Industry" clip. Part of the blame must be shouldered by us (the Great British buying public) I'm afraid. Even good Leyland products were pushed aside in favour of Datsun, Renault etc (equally as horrible 1970's cars) and also our keeping up with the Jones' attitude with BMW, Mercedes etc. We just didn't buy the cars even when they got it right and sorted themselves out by the mid 80's (post Honda tie-in)
sxs50750 3 years ago
What a fabulous tune, I shall be whistling this all day!
czechstop 3 years ago
The Rover SD1 was plagued with quality problems so the reputation was tarred after it won Car Of The Year 1976 and as a result people turned their backs on it:-(
AnthonyUK 3 years ago
kkk walked out of the mini
jx1299 3 years ago 2
Great motors.. don't make em like that any more.. did the sweeny proud!
jgs36 3 years ago
Yeah for good reason, if we built cars like bl we would be even more of a lauging stock. Dong get me wrong, some of those cars are great, just built terribly
Jimbobmcsquarepants 3 years ago
The sweeney would never had looked so good if it was for these classic's, watch todays cop shows and the cars are shite.. the cars had character and are a great laugh to look back on..
jgs36 3 years ago 2
The Marina was the first nail in the coffin for BL, even by 1971 standards it was crap and it beggars belief that it was still a top selling car at the end in 1980.
Allegro first made in 1973 wasn't much better.
Rover SD1 and Austin Maxi not so bad though.
MidlandNinja 3 years ago
Can you remember the advert for its 'successor' - the Morris Ital? "It can overtake faster than a Mercedes 200." I think I know which I would have rather had at the time.
rct220 3 years ago
The Marina cant have been that crap if it was a top selling car then.
I'd know if they're crap, I have one!
ljantiques 3 years ago
I've just bought a 1977 Triumph Stag, its brilliant! - How did we go so wrong with BL?
WelshyM 3 years ago 3
It went wrong because the concept was terrible. We had so many different car firms, part of the same company, who were all compteting with eachother. It just didn't work at all. Not to mention the poor work conditions for the car assemblers, who inevitably didn't assemble them properly. However I did like the look of BL cars, except the Allegro obviously, that was horrid.
tencents2 3 years ago
"This Allegro is the best foreign car I've ever owned"...Lol Don't know what sort of foreign cars he owned before that.....
wdj1988 3 years ago
So What happened! I can not believe how we no longer have a brit industry. the French still hve Citroen, Peugeot ad Renau ( all competing for bottom place in JD Powers), Jerry still has Merc, VW, BMW & Audi, Italy has Alfa & fiat.
So just where the hell did we mess up?
dennisrrhodes 4 years ago
idiot management,idiot unions and crap cars that no one in there right mind would buy...
a case of" the british public will buy any old tat we churn out so we wont bother to make they good"
oh how we all laughed when Datsan(nissan) brought out the Y120...
grahamkeithtodd 3 years ago
Where did we mess up?
Thatcher
dmc1200 3 years ago 2
"Great cars and a great deal more from Leyland...LEYLAND CAAAARS!"
quirpco 4 years ago
Regarding that accent... heloooo that is so Itallian!!! lol
Did they think people were that untravelled!
sebcool06 4 years ago
Is Ethel really driving the rallied up Sprint?
WelshyM 4 years ago
Terrible things happened at British Leyland but none more terrible than the Allegro. Just when things couldn't get any worse, out popped the Marina! Their slogan, 'Beauty with brains behind it.'
APPLELOOT 4 years ago
No, fist was the Marina in 1971 and then, in 1973, the Allegro...
vitorskoda 4 years ago
"Thees Allegro eez ze best foreign car I've ever owned!"
Aye, and that was the worse fake French accent I've ever heard! XD
Nice old advert though.
SamagesDubz 4 years ago
kazimann 4 years ago
Was that your car? How do you know all that stuff about it (except the obvious facts like colour and plate number)?
quirpco 4 years ago
search DVLA car check on google, click on first link and click vehicle enquiry.
nipperoid 3 years ago
that was a TR7 notice its 2.0 not 3.5
nipperoid 3 years ago
As the slogan for the Austin Metro used to go:
'A British car, to beat the world.'
kazimann 4 years ago 2
Lol it barely struggled to fufil it's purpose as a car let alone take on the world..
wdj1988 3 years ago
That blue Sd1 looks superb
emeraldxm 4 years ago 2
Funny how people seem to forget the dreadful management that had a part in BLs appalling history.We made all sorts of things in this country at one time and believe it or not some very good things, world beaters in fact.
vidpop 4 years ago
If that Jaguar XJS had been made at any time other than when BL were in charge, it'd be spoken about in the same breath as the E Type
badongism 4 years ago
..................Ooooirroitt im a thick broooomie and oi loik slade!! and cup a sooooop!!
mjd775 4 years ago
With a little more effort and a few less strikes from the workforce, BL would have been a different story. It's such a shame it's all gone now.
RobJames1971 4 years ago
................the death of the English car industry!! Thanks Brummies!!
mjd775 4 years ago
i take my comment back about the companies that dont exist. jaguar, mini, mg exist but not british owned. what went wrong with bl?
jaggass 4 years ago
ill have a dolly sprint!!
bloozeman101 4 years ago
I'd have a Dolly Sprint or an SD1 in good nick; British cars were great, just a shitty workforce.
dmc1200 4 years ago
Triumph motorcycles are a totally different company to Triumph cars.Just the same name.
Joe90ridesahonda 4 years ago
And Triumph bikes aren,t the original company.
vidpop 4 years ago
how many of those companies exist? 0 except triumph bikes
jaggass 4 years ago
that morris marina scene in the car reminds me of hyacinth and richard bucket from keeping up apperances
jaggass 4 years ago
Leyland were shit. My dad had a triumph TR-7 (the yellow one) and it burst in to flame's on the M25 in 1983
microsoftiscrap 4 years ago
Bad year for yellow ones bursting into flames on the M25...Now if he'd bought a blue one...
jawajawa350 4 years ago
Just because your 1 car caught fire that doesn't mean all of the other cars were shit. Jags for example last a long time.
samandlauz 3 years ago
Jags wernt hade by BL
microsoftiscrap 3 years ago
Jaguar cars in 1977 were part of the BL Empire, with the - Jaguar-Rover-Triumph, specialist division.
Jaguart were sold off from BL in the 1980's!
WelshyM 3 years ago
I have a maestro and it starts first time every time compared to my 2.0 td Rover 75
michaelc6012 4 years ago