Cars never produced that should have been.

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 20:46
Cars never produced that should have been. - Trilogy

This Peugeot 505 convertible, to my eyes, is a good looking car that could have been worth making. Can others think of any more?

c2.staticflickr.com/4/3418/3371845206_28e7650e0f.j...g

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 21:00
Cars never produced that should have been. - craig-pd130

The original Triumph Stag prototype was a nice clean looker, but apparently the scuttle shake was so horrendous that they ended up tacking on the B-pillar loop and the link to the top of the windscreen, as BL wouldn't pay to properly strengthen the rest of the body.

In contrast, they did make the right decision killing the Stag Coupe at birth. Ugly thing.

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 21:20
Cars never produced that should have been. - Avant

BL short-termism was responsible for a lot of might-have-beens. Maybe it's easy to say it with hindsight, but didn't they have any idea in the early 1970s of what VW (Golf) and Renault (5) were up to? If instead of the dumpy Allegro we could have had a 5-door hatchback evolution of the 1100/1300, this could have made a great deal of difference. They'd already pioneered the hatchback with the A40 Countryman, and followed it up with the Maxi, so we may never know what the logic was behind the Allegro.

And I think there was an Italian design for a Mini replacement, which Alec Issigonis supported but the stupid suits didn't.

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 23:13
Cars never produced that should have been. - Wackyracer

If instead of the dumpy Allegro we could have had a 5-door hatchback evolution of the 1100/1300, this could have made a great deal of difference. They'd already pioneered the hatchback with the A40 Countryman, and followed it up with the Maxi, so we may never know what the logic was behind the Allegro.

The original drawings and plans for the Allegro was for a much bigger car than it became in production.

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 21:19
Cars never produced that should have been. - Auristocrat

Austin/Pininfarina 1800 - www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/concepts/concepts-and-pro.../

Ital Design Kensington - www.italdesign.it/en/projects/jaguar-kensington-en.../

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 21:36
Cars never produced that should have been. - daveyK_UK

Rover RD60

www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/concepts/concepts-and-pro.../

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 22:01
Cars never produced that should have been. - Trilogy

Kensington became a Daewoo.

Avant, the 9X. www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/concepts/concepts-and-pro.../

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Sun 9 Nov 2014 23:14
Cars never produced that should have been. - gordonbennet

Lexus 300 and 400 should from the start have been offered with the 4.2 Landcruiser Diesel as an option, and an estate version of 300 too, they'd have wiped the floor with the Germans.

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Mon 10 Nov 2014 09:35
Cars never produced that should have been. - peterb

That 1800 is the Citroen C6, surely?

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Mon 10 Nov 2014 18:39
Cars never produced that should have been. - Wackyracer

Austin/Pininfarina 1800 - www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/concepts/concepts-and-pro.../


That looks like a Citroen SM at the front.

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Mon 10 Nov 2014 00:08
Cars never produced that should have been. - Avant

Many thanks, Trilogy - the 9X was the one I was thinking of. I was getting slightly muddled between that and the Innocenti version of the Mini.

Very good and fair write-up in AROnline. To my eyes at least, the 9X looked much better than the Metro - and probably would have been successful enough to supersede the Mini, which the Metro never did. I think production of the Metrol stippoed in 1996 or thereabouts, the Mini keeping on till within a year or so of the introduction of the new MINI in 2001.

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Mon 10 Nov 2014 10:04
Cars never produced that should have been. - Alanovich
The Volvo 300 estate:

s15.photobucket.com/user/RandomHero1984/media/Othe...l
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Mon 10 Nov 2014 15:22
Cars never produced that should have been. - twitcherman

You're joking - looks like a hea*** for a very short corpse.

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Mon 10 Nov 2014 15:30
Cars never produced that should have been. - skidpan

The Volvo 300 estate: s15.photobucket.com/user/RandomHero1984/media/Othe...l

Good god. Even uglier than the SSSSSSangyong thingy with the conservatory on the back.

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Mon 10 Nov 2014 18:38
Cars never produced that should have been. - Wackyracer

The Volvo 300 estate: s15.photobucket.com/user/RandomHero1984/media/Othe...l

Good god. Even uglier than the SSSSSSangyong thingy with the conservatory on the back.

That was exactly what I thought when I looked! But, was trying to think of the model of the Ssangyong.

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Mon 10 Nov 2014 17:17
Cars never produced that should have been. - craig-pd130

A few people made lovely-looking convertibles based on the Jag XJ Coupe.

No wonder Jaguar never made it, as it would have cannibalised sales of the XJS (and also they couldn't stop the standard Coupe leaking water in through the windows, so a convertible would be even worse)

www.historics.co.uk/media/338231/1978_jaguar_xj6c_...g

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