Riley Elf…Big brother of Mini

Mini was an epoch-making compact car which arrived to market in 1959.

The East-West engine layout and FWD became the world standard over 20 years later.

BMC was a company Austin group and Nuffield group joined together in 1952. Due to the merger, BMC carried Austin, Vanden-Plas, Morris, MG, Wolseley and Riley.

Basic brand Austin and Morris sold Mini and more upper grade Wolseley and Riley sold one with extended trunk called Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet.

Due to the brand management, they were not only longer trunk like VW Golf and Jetta.

They had more luxurious interior and also had hydrolatic suspensions which was unique design of BMC.

Although Mini was made until year 2000, this big brother retired 1969, which  was also the last season of Riley.

A year before,BMC merged with Leyland group and they ended up with managing 15 brands in a company.

Even before the merger, most of the brands were struggling to survive and the merger which was led by Government did not improve their situation.

That was how, Mini missed a chance to update.I would say 1969 when Elf retired was about time those cars were supposed to be withdrawn.

It has been already over 40 years and today, it is very hard to see one of those even in New Zealand which is almost like museum of old British cars.

After the WW2, there were famous compact cars like VW Beetle, Citroen 2CV or Mini…..there is something in common.
All of them failed to go through model change and ended up with such a long life span.
Now, those cars look charming…..but at least in 70s,  those just looked aged…….

Today, BMW which is ex-owner of Rover-group still have right of Riley brand  although the company was sold to China.

It has been over a decade since New Mini was produced by BMW. Perhaps, they could make Riley Elf based on New Mini with extended rear…

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Citroen 2CV…French logical design!

Volkswagen Beale was developed by Dr. Porsche to be the basic of basic at that time. What about Citroen 2CV?

Believe it or not, 2CV was the composition of French technology…..I am not joking !!

The project started in 1935 to make a vehicle French farmers could replace their cattle or horses.

But, because of the WW2, the project completed in 1948.
When this was first introduced….people just laughed about it. It is unique looking today….but even 60 years ago, it was unique or funny looking.

VW beetle looked much more normal…or even Renault 4CV or Peugeot 203 from Frence looked way more normal….but 2CV was quite logical design….believe it or not….

VW body was rounded to make the surface area small to consume less sheet metal.

• Citroen was trying as flat as possible to make it easy. The lines on bonnet is to make it strong.
• All the glass is flat…..it is cheaper and does not have expensive winding mechanism. Frond door glass folds up.
• The roof was “canvas top” which you can fully open to carry big things, use less sheet metal and make top lighter= lower down center of gravity. Also it is good to release the interior noise coursed by the noisy air cooling engine.
• Shock absorbers are mounted under floor to save interior space and there are only 2 of them! Front and rear are connected together.
• Believe it or not….it is Front wheel drive which is 10 years earlier than Mini and all others like VW were rear engine which does not have enough luggage space.

Now you know how logical this design is…..

Due to the logical design, the floor is fully flat and for the size of the body it was amazingly roomy inside.

The seats made by pipe and straps just like simple beach chair….there is no adjustment or anything…but it is comfortable enough. Modern seat designers really should experience this seat. Hi Toyota! I am talking to you !

On early model, wiper was driven by Speedometer cable !!!
This means it is speed sensing wiper over 60 years ago!! This also means wiper does not work when you stop. Don’t worry…. In this case, you can use wiper manually.

Everything was unique and also quite logical….that is why I really like this car.
They did not design to be cute or anything.

I  always say logical design is beautiful.

This excentric car was made until 1990 but they had to retire because of emission control and safety standards.

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European cars in North America

We used to say 50% of cars in the world was made in the United States, the 50% of the Americans are GM and the 50% of GM are Chevrolet……

Well….as you know, till the early 80s, about 90% of market was dominated by America Big3 and there were just a little bit market for imports those days.

Now, It is hard to see Cadillac or Lincoln on the street and Mercedes or BMW are everywhere…..

This way, people think there are lots of European cars in North America.
But, is it true?

Tell the truth, there are lots of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and VW…….but no other things.

I used to live in New Zealand which is part of British Empire…..we had Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Rover or etc…..

We used to have that kind of cars in North America too in 80s, but all of them have already left from us. What was the problem?

•  Imports are not as economical as domestics.
• Those cars were not as reliable as Japanese.
• Maintenance was dealer dependent.

In case of luxury cars, those were not big problem….but for normal cars, those were big problems and that was how more people bought Japanese instead of Europeans.

Especially the quality of those cars were absolutely nightmare those days. In North America, people used to service cars at petrol station. In that culture, European cars were not really welcome for most of the people.

European compact cars have lots of good things. They are compact, lots of room, good performance and good design….but they did not mean too much to American people because for American people, compact cars are for cheap 2nd grade cars.

That was how Japanese succeeded in North America and Europeans left.

It has been over 20 years since then and what happened to them?

• Europeans are still making cars in their own style.
• Japanese became bigger and bigger….and now they are like dull & boring tasteless creature…….although the quality is still the best…….

To sell in North America, Japanese lost character and Europeans which left American market are still making charming cars.

When Chrysler went broke, Fiat helped them. It was to get back to North American market again.

Now Fiat 500 is sold by Chrysler dealers and I sometimes see those in Vancouver too. The price is starting from $13,000.

I don’t think it is successful at this stage…..but it is better to have something different here.

When we talk about Imports, All we have is Japanese, German and Korean……what’s are boring market !!

I miss Citroen’s driving feel ” Soft like American car,  Stable like German cars and Fast like Sports car…..”