What Might Have Been

[panky]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... rris-minor

I'm glad it wasn't

[Blaketon]

Just think of the Mini . Some of them are more like Maxi Plus and I recently looked up the weight of one of them. 26cwt or about the same as my grandfather's Riley RM . I don't take much notice of modern stuff but they don't seem that roomy, despite their bulk.

[simmitc]

That wasn't published on April 1st was it?

[Chief]

despite their bulk.

People say alot of the bulk with modern cars is down to all the modern safety features that now have to be fitted, along with all the additional crash protection bars etc.

I was surprised to see the concept still had a bonnet flash, would have thought pedestrian safety would have forced that to be dropped - either way, it makes me think of a MINI estate, and the front wing line looks like it would have been a decal

[Blaketon]

Seems a bit self defeating, having to make cars into tanks, in order to protect you from being hit by another tank. Lighter cars are surely easier to control. I remember my father made the point that when cars cocoon you, to disguise the impression of speed, it makes drivers less aware of what is happening. I rarely drive anything modern but when I do, they usually lack feel, the steering feeling like a fairground ride used to, where the "Steering" wheel was just screwed to a piece of wood. My father made the point that everyone should experience driving one of the less capable saloons from the 1950s (I have driven a Rochdale GT, based on a Ford E93A chassis and know what he meant). He made the point, many times, that the Morris Minor was one of the few saloons that handled really well back then. My uncle still managed to roll his new Series 2 but my father (Who was in the car at the time) said that if my uncle had owned a Ford Popular, he'd not have been able to progress as fast and if he had tried to, would have gone off the road a lot sooner. After the Minor, my aunt and uncle bought a Nash Metropolitan, which was more typical of period road holding and then had one of the last ZB Magnettes, a good handling car, which they kept for years (I have driven a ZA and liked it).

[Chief]

having to make cars into tanks

Funny because people I know have described the Minor as being built like a tank