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British 4 door cars

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BritishCarMan

BritishCarMan

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I was wondering if there was a british 4 door car that is findable in the USA? I am considering some options for my wife. It needs to be good on gas and enough room for 2 kids in the back and still get some groceries in it. Was such a wonder made? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Sure was. And I'm the proud owner of one. An MG Magnette is just what you need. A ZA or ZB will be a lot easier to find than a Farina version. Go to www.magnette.org for pictures and loads more info. They are a blast to own and drive
 
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Sure was. And I'm the proud owner of one. An MG Magnette is just what you need. A ZA or ZB will be a lot easier to find than a Farina version. Go to www.magnette.org for pictures and loads more info. They are a blast to own and drive

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A fellow in my local British car club has a Magnette - Black w/ red interior. Its a stunner!

Basil
 
That's a good suggestion! I feel obligated to add my biased opinion as well. If you want something more exotic and a bit more antique, we greatly enjoy our Y-Type MG. It is basically an MG TD with a saloon 4-door body on it in a pre-war style. It uses the same XPAG engine with single SU carb. Front suspension is independent with rack and pinion steering, a first for MG. These are the last of the pre-war style saloon cars from MG which makes them a bit odd as they look as though they are from the late 30's to early 40's, but were actually built from late 40's to early 50's. Click my sig image to go to my MG page and see photos.

A ZA / ZB Magnette as James suggests would probably be more reliable and modern-feeling.
 
I hate to state the absolute obvious, but Jaguars are good rides -- certainly the 6cyl saloons. Rolls-Royces from the 70s can be had for as little as $10K in good shape. 50s Bentleys are also available for less than you'd think.
 
There is lots of availability of British "saloon cars" within North America.

Everything from smaller 1950's models (with tiny engines) to the Jaguar's mentioned above, something that would be very useable would be a saloon car in about the 2-litre class of the 1960's... say Rover 2000TC, Triumph 2000, Sunbeam Arrow. As nice as the Magnette Z-series is (I love them) there is more choice out there.

There is a club within North America for saloon cars, the British Saloon Car Club of Canada - https://www.geocities.com/motorcity/7967 - that is well worth checking into if this is what you're thinking of doing.
 
Also don't forget about the four door version of the MG1100; there are probably still some around.
 
Most of the British 4 doors are pretty obscure cars with only a few of each kind made. But there are loads of them out there. Austins, Morris's, Rovers, the list goes on forever. We have a Magnette and love it. Although it does get rather hot in the summer way down here.

Steve, if I had my choice, we'd have a Y! In fact, we have a YT stashed at a barn around here, but it is so rotten, it would probably take about a decade to rebuild. But, it's worth it as it such a rare bird.
 
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...something that would be very useable would be a saloon car in about the 2-litre class of the 1960's... say Rover 2000TC, Triumph 2000, Sunbeam Arrow.

[/ QUOTE ]Ok, I'm definitely biased, but it would be hard to find an overall better choice for modern traffic conditions than the Triumph 2000. They're not exactly common, as only around 1800 of them were "officially" sold in the US. They're very roomy and comfortable inside, and performance isn't bad even in stock configuration. Note that later versions not sold in the US had yet better performance (2500cc, fuel injection, etc.), and it's not all that difficult to "upgrade" a 2000 with TR6 motors and such.

Oh, and there are also four-door Heralds, but you pretty much have to go to India to find one of them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
There is also the Sterling if the wife wants something newer. A lot of Honda in there though.

29_1_b.JPG
 
Well Mace, im a bit biased too. But IMOP the Jaguar MK1,MK11 and of course the Daimler 250 HemiV8 powered saloons are hard to beat. They don't chug alug around.---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Well also on the biased side you can't go wrong with a Rover P6..either the 4 cylinder 2000TC or 2200TC or for more get up and be gone the 3500S........Performance is better than all other Brit 4 doors excepting say the Jag but at a price that wouldn't even pay for a brake job on a Jag, and the comfort level is much better along with decent trunk........You can't go wrong
 
A vote for the Ford Cortina,definatly British,and darn near bullet proof.When Ford came out with the Cortina they made most other small Brits instantly obsolete.Not to mention you can still get parts at NAPA.
 
Well Rovernut, the P6 is no match for the Bristol Saloons either.Nice car though. Plenty of boot space in the MK11's---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif
 
Another vote for the P6 here.

The Cortina isn't bad either - the Lotus one would be real nice. Even better would be the Granada, or probably more common a Prefect (if there are any left that haven't been rodded).

Jags and Daimlers (which I class together, heathen that I am) are going to COST on maintenance, but if that's not an issue then they are nice. I always had a thing for the Inspector Morse car. (MK2 Jag - Inspector Morse was a UK TV show. It was also voted the car most English men 25+ would like to drive).

For a bit more money you can get an AMV8. Another one I'm quite fond of since it's the only AM I'd ever be likely to afford.

The Herald might work if the kids are small - I had a convertible about 15 years ago, the only two good things I can say about it are that it has a great turning circle and I sold it for a profit. It accelerated like a Morris Minor, but the brakes were worse (I had them at the same time and we used to "race" them against one another /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif). The guy on this forum from LI that has one as his avatar has my greatest respect if it's not a Vitesse and he ever ventures out on the LIE in it. Of course it's only a 2 door so it violates the first requirement.

I had a Dolomite as well. That was much more fun - not the Sprint sadly though. I think someone suggested that also, but I've only ever seen one in CA.

One slightly obscure one, but good for fun would be the Austin taxi for sale on Ebay right now.

And finally if you want fast - well relatively - there is a guy in CT with a built for the US Sierra Cosworth for sale. Every Essex boy's dream car in the 80's. It's about 2x what they go for in the UK though.
 
Wow....that's alot of cars to consider. I normally stick with the 2 seat convertables but I thought of checking the prospect of a british family car. The Magnette is definitly a beutifull car. There are others mentioned that I'm not sure what they look like but I will be doing some image searching to find out. Another thing I forgot to mention is I can't spend a large sum of money to buy one. It would have to be fairly inexpensive. But I have got some ideas of what to start looking at. Thanks all
 
Well BCM, if you are smitten with the MG Magnette,it has a twin brother known as the Wolsely 15/50 slightly lower powered but in the same league.---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif
 
Well Alan, speaking about obscure I saw a DIesel powered London taxi just a week ago I ner heard of them.Also if your thinking of relativly fast cars then you certainly can not over look the "Daimler" 4.5 Ltr Hemi V8 powered Majestic Major- Most certainly not to be lumped with Jaguar---Keoke- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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