Fast Marina Magazine

Sorry Ben, new guy and all that...

What is the score with the Ital? Last off the line?

Yeah last off the production line at Longbridge.. The last few Itals were built there.

And last car to have a Morris badge..

Think we should all make our selfs heard, Ive emailed them here.. hmcenqu1@heritage-motor-centre.co.uk <hmcenqu1>

What have you said Gary? I'll do the same. Also I think Sam is phoning them today about SRV2..

short and sweet Ben:

I and others have seen pictures of rare prototypes and test cars sitting out in the rain next to your building. Someone also made comment that there is a Nissan Primera in the Museum!? what is going on!!??

Please elaborate as this is causing allot of friction in the classic car world..

Regards

Nice and direct. I'll pen somthing now..

Seen this?:

Press statement from Rachel Andrews at the Heritage Motor Centre.
****

Storage of Reserve Car Collection at the Heritage Motor Centre

The British Motor Industry Heritage Trust was given notice to leave its previous storage facility at very short notice some months ago and having looked at a number of options the decision was taken to bring storage on site for security and financial reasons. This process has been more prolonged than we anticipated as planning permission has had to be sought from the local authority. As a result we have had to keep some cars outside, a situation we are clearly less than happy with.

Since the images posted on the MG Rover web forum were taken we have been able to move a significant number of the most fragile cars, primarily prototypes into covered storage and we hope to complete the process for all the collection with 4-5 weeks. At the same time we have also taken the opportunity to inspect cars in our workshop. We certainly have no intention of keeping cars outside during the winter period and have no plans to sell any cars from the reserve collection.

This move is only an interim solution, and we have already begun work on plans for a major on-site Collections Centre that will enable us to permanently display all the vehicles in our collection and will enable enthusiasts and the public to view the whole collection including rarer prototypes all year round, and will also contain our Archive and Workshop facilities. Fundraising for this centre which is likely to cost in the region of £3 million will begin in the New Year and we hope to complete this major project within 3-4 years.

Moving to the content of the collection, in the past few years we have done a lot of hard work to make the Trust's collection more representative of the whole of the British motor industry and are trying to include more companies, not just the old British Leyland marques. We have added cars from Ford, Lotus, Aston Martin, Reliant, Armstrong Siddeley, LTI and Vauxhall in recent months - this is something that we will be developing in the coming years. Despite these changes, all of the old favourites and the most significant cars from our collection are still on display. The recent refurbishment of the museum also allows us to include more information, photographs and film from our Archive, which we hope enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts will enjoy alike and, we think, is a positive addition.

We have also taken the opportunity to spruce up the rest of the museum. Whilst it may feel more empty, this is in response to an often-raised comment by visitors that they would like more space around the cars, to view them more easily. We have managed to achieve this with a reduction of less than 10% in the number of cars on display from before we closed for the refurbishment work, by using the space much more efficiently. The few cars that have been displaced are still in our collection, will remain so and will be returned to the museum from time to time.

I hope that this has helped to explain the situation that the Trust has found itself in and we would like to assure you that we are working hard to resolve the problem as quickly as we possibly can. We also appreciate the concern and support of clubs and individuals who help sustain our motoring heritage for future generations.

If you have any questions on the above, the team at the Heritage Motor Centre would be happy to chat you about this. We'd also appreciate you adding our enquires email: hmcenqu1@heritage-motor-centre.co.uk to your forum, we welcome feedback and are happy to respond to any enquiry regarding this matter.


Its only a bl**dy woman in charge!! :x sorry Sam!

Yeah I did see that. I think after that response was given they moved the cars to the "Staff" car park.. It's a lovely place under shady trees... YEAH RIGHT! Have they seen what tree sap and bird crap can do to paint!!

Send the boys round Gary!? Adz is good at intimidation tactics!

Just had a peek at the PC website, and as far as i can see from their responses we seem to be the only ones who are concerned about the cars :roll: , they will all start bleating later on though when it`s too late to save these cars, same old attitude as usual from some other clubs....if it doesn`t affect one of their own cars then why worry?, surely all these cars are important as far as our motoring heritage goes, even the ugly ones

Guys, I can assure you that it is not just us who are concerned about these recent events, indeed several other BL websites have been asking the museum what is going on.

This is the latest picture taken a few days ago, it is a P6 nicknamed Gladys, a hand made prototype coupe and a one of a kind. Yes the cars have been moved but they are indeed under trees now (in autumn, when the leaves fall off them too), and have been packed closely together. All it would take would be a bunch of yobs ten minutes and that lot would be toast.
Indeed I seem to think this is what Gaydon would like to see happen to these cars, then it would allow Ford to fill the car park with other BL stuff, and the cycle continues....

EL Presidente IOW wrote:Just had a peek at the PC website, and as far as i can see from their responses we seem to be the only ones who are concerned about the cars :roll: , they will all start bleating later on though when it`s too late to save these cars, same old attitude as usual from some other clubs....if it doesn`t affect one of their own cars then why worry?, surely all these cars are important as far as our motoring heritage goes, even the ugly ones

Alan from the Dolly club says hi Frank (made himself known to me on the PC site as I don't go on the dolly club...!), you did a little job for him I believe!

It seems to me that despite all the bleating we do, no one will take us seriously until it's too late.

We have done our best to highlight the situation, time will tell if they do the right thing and get the vehicle's under cover before the onset of winter.

Thanks Al, lets hope we can make enough noise to let them realise the mistake they are making, and at least make it obvious we will not take it lying down!, say hello to Alan for me, yes i did a fair bit of work on his little Honeysuckle coloured Dolly...nice little car when it gets finished

I have asked the staff at PC to make a comment, so.....

A pic from the Auction Gaydon had a few years ago:

so do we know who bought the marina ?