I believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraid…
Not really a flop but when Land Rover came into the group they were dropped as there wasn’t a need for both. On tests the Gypsy out performed the LR in almost every way, it climbed steeper hills and was also far more comfortable to drive. We had a couple of the later ones as breakdown vehicles, one was left hand drive, and they had the 2.2 petrol engine from the LD van etc. Neither gave many problems plus the chassis didn’t rot as rapidly as the Rover! There was a shed full of them on Ashbourne airfield at one time, the Ministry stored them there and they were taken out for a run occasionally and then put back into store. A few pop up at vintage rallies as they auctioned them off with very little mileage on them and they look almost like new!
Pete.
According to wiki there were over 21,000 Gypsy’s sold in it’s 10 year production run (1958-68) which I guess for such a specialised vehicle is not too shabby. I guess that with the Land Rover already being in the Leyland camp at the time of the takeover of BMC (or BMH to be exact) and their (Leylands) mindset at the time there was always only going to be one winner.
I believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraid…
Not really a flop but when Land Rover came into the group they were dropped as there wasn’t a need for both. On tests the Gypsy out performed the LR in almost every way, it climbed steeper hills and was also far more comfortable to drive. We had a couple of the later ones as breakdown vehicles, one was left hand drive, and they had the 2.2 petrol engine from the LD van etc. Neither gave many problems plus the chassis didn’t rot as rapidly as the Rover! There was a shed full of them on Ashbourne airfield at one time, the Ministry stored them there and they were taken out for a run occasionally and then put back into store. A few pop up at vintage rallies as they auctioned them off with very little mileage on them and they look almost like new!
Pete.
According to wiki there were over 21,000 Gypsy’s sold in it’s 10 year production run (1958-68) which I guess for such a specialised vehicle is not too shabby. I guess that with the Land Rover already being in the Leyland camp at the time of the takeover of BMC (or BMH to be exact) and their (Leylands) mindset at the time there was always only going to be one winner.
I suspect, too, a little bit of snobbery attached to running a Landy rather than a Gypsy.
John
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If she was in this country, she’d have been pinged for parking on the wrong side of the road.
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What are the rules where you are. She’s parked in the direction of the traffic.
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I was being facetious because of how far she’s parked from the kerb.
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A true nun and car story: Back in the '60s my late mum found out she had a long lost cousin who was an elderly nun who’d lived abroad from an early age, was now back in the UK and hoping to make contact with her family. Long story short, I took mum and her sister to visit at the college in Hertford that was run by nuns and where the cousin lived. Outside the front door was a brand new red Cortina GT, proper jack-the-lad motor in its day. Got talking to the nun who did the driving, she asked if I liked her new car. I said yes, and commented on the fact it was a GT. She said she liked driving fast, had been pulled by the Police lots of times but when they saw who was driving they always let her off with a finger wag or head shake and “take it easy in future sister” or similar, and she also said she could park anywhere and never got a ticket.
Bernard
I believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraid…
Not really a flop but when Land Rover came into the group they were dropped as there wasn’t a need for both. On tests the Gypsy out performed the LR in almost every way, it climbed steeper hills and was also far more comfortable to drive. We had a couple of the later ones as breakdown vehicles, one was left hand drive, and they had the 2.2 petrol engine from the LD van etc. Neither gave many problems plus the chassis didn’t rot as rapidly as the Rover! There was a shed full of them on Ashbourne airfield at one time, the Ministry stored them there and they were taken out for a run occasionally and then put back into store. A few pop up at vintage rallies as they auctioned them off with very little mileage on them and they look almost like new!
Pete.
Best of both worlds - I used to have a friend in the old lorry world who was a retired garage owner,. He had a LWB Gypsy estate that had had the front wings rot away, couldn’t find any new ones so he grafted series 2 Land-Rover wings on, it was cleverly done but did look odd.
Bernard
Its Sheppard st, Swindon. The factory on the right was Comptons, who manufactured uniforms for the military and farther down in the distance is the railway works
Its Sheppard st, Swindon. The factory on the right was Comptons, who manufactured uniforms for the military and farther down in the distance is the railway works
I don’t know exactly where this was taken but near Preston I should think seeing as the Atki is on test.
I wonder if that roller attendant is having a ■■■■■,wants to careful he doesn’t scald himself.
