I have heard a story that one of the BL (or its parents) motor plants managed to not only build but even deliver to a customer, a sedan that had 2 doors on one side and a single door on the other.

Is this actually true, and if so does any photographic evidence exist? Or maybe it was a Ford?

Cheers

Fred WB

During the 70s, a combination of overstrong unions and weak management delivered some shocking work at numerous companies in the UK. BL was just one of many.

BL had an imfamous workforce. It was not uncommon for a rattling sill on a car to be due to a discarded coke can being stuck in there. or for various nuts and bolts to be missing from interior trim or minor fittings. The 3 door car sounds like an urban myth to me but having heard plenty of stories about them, I wouldn't actually be surprised to see the pictures.

One small fact sbout the Moggie Minor, when it was prototyped it's designer, Alec Issigonis, decided the body was too narrow and ordered it widened by 4 inches, so the development team sawed it in half down the middle, added the required 4 inches and welded it all up. This is why the moggie had that distinctive wide ridge down the middle of the bonnet. Read about this here.

there was a car designed to only have 3 doors..... A rear passenger door only on the 'kerb side'.....

The Moggie was originally designed to have a flat four engine like the Alfasud which is why there's so much room under the bonnet.

quote:

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Originally posted by Peteff
The Moggie was originally designed to have a flat four engine like the Alfasud which is why there's so much room under the bonnet.

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3 doors.... Yeh its called the Toyota Previa

I suspect the 3 door car is an urban myth, but would be more likely to be an Allegro than a Minor due to the time at which the problems existed.

I certainly remember being told by someone who ran a dealership that they got cars in with seats which did not match and similar faults.

I remember recently (within the last few years) a car being shown that was supposed to go into production. It was a small hatchback and had the said 3 doors.
I'm pretty sure it was a Ford. Possibly a replacement for the Fiesta.

Terry

in the us the amc pacer (waynes world car) has the passenger door longer than the drivers door to get the passengers to get in the back by the passenger side only

AMC Pacer - now there's a classic! That'll be the Mirth-mobile if I'm not mistaken?

<bursts into Bohemian Rhapsody....>

Like most myths about BL it is false.
BL did however manage to build a Marina with one drum brake and one disc brake on the front. On brand new Austin Allegros the hand brake would not meet MOT brake efficiency standards unless given some TLC by the deallers mechanics at PDI time.

Industrial sabotage -- I once came accross a plastic production plug that had been deliberately inserted into an Imp engine block at the Linwood plant.

I know of one battery (non-UK) manufacturer that had problems with one of its assembly line workers inserting coins between the plates of batteries durring assembly.


As for a a Morris Minor engine being the same weight as a Rover V8 -- no way. The Mnor had a BMC A series which was relatively light -- about the same as 1300 xflo, the Rover V8 however was within a kg or two of the overweight BMC B series.

I saw a Volvo 144 in Stavanger which had the 1 door 2 door thing, it was a post office car and these doubled up as taxis in rural areas, and the one door thing was to stop passengers getting out into traffic.