British Leyland

The Triumph Acclaim was a Honda Ballade built by British Leyland at Cowley, the deal that began the Honda-Rover era and the last car ever to wear the Triumph badge. A guide to the Acclaim's unlikely story, the trims and Triomatic, why so few survive, buying checks and values.

The Austin Allegro spent decades as the punchline of British motoring, the round car with the square steering wheel. The real story is stranger and kinder, taking in a lost wedge design, Hydragas suspension, the Vanden Plas 1500 and a survivor scene that adores it. A guide to the range, the reputation, buying checks and values.

The Triumph Dolomite Sprint was British Leyland's answer to the BMW 2002, a compact sporting saloon whose clever single-cam 16-valve engine reached the mass market a decade ahead of the rest, and the first British car with alloy wheels as standard. A guide to the engineering, the racing success, what to look for when buying, and what they are worth.

The Triumph Stag was a glamorous Michelotti-styled 2+2 convertible with a bespoke 3.0-litre V8, conceived to rival the Mercedes SL but undone by a notorious cooling problem. A guide to the engine saga and why it overheated, what a properly sorted car is like, what to look for when buying, and what they are worth now the reputation has been rehabilitated.

Triumph put sports-car motoring within reach of ordinary British drivers, from the cheap-and-cheerful Spitfire and Herald to the muscular TR sports cars, the V8 Stag and the clever Dolomite Sprint. A guide to the classic Triumphs worth knowing, the marque's Coventry-to-British-Leyland story, and why a good one is one of the friendliest ways into classic ownership.

The Princess was Harris Mann's other wedge, a front-drive Hydragas-suspended family car that BL forgot to give a hatchback. A guide to the 18-22 launch confusion, the Princess 2, the Ambassador handover, what to look for, and what they're worth.

British Leyland was supposed to dominate the 1970s family-saloon market and instead spent the decade losing it. The Marina and Princess fell short of plan. The Vauxhall Victor, Chevette, and Hillman Avenger took the volume. A piece on the five cars that defined the segment and why each is now worth a second look as a cheap British classic.

The Morris Marina sold over a million cars, finished last in nearly every road test, ran on a front suspension dating from 1948, and survived in such small numbers that finding a clean one today is a real search. A guide to the lineage, the Ital handover, what to look for, and what they're worth.

What British Leyland was, the marques it absorbed, the thirty-year industrial arc from the 1968 merger through nationalisation and privatisation to the 1999 BMW breakup, and why it still matters for owners of 1970s and 1980s British classics.