Maestro could have looked like BX?

adamskibx · Post by **adamskibx** » 10 May 2005, 01:33

Well thats the end of that then! lol. That Harris Man design is ugly but there really is no denying it influenced the BX design. Too many similarities even ifit is stupidly proportioned.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 10 May 2005, 03:53

I thought the Rover SD1 was supposed to be based on the Ferrari Daytona? - pity they got the roof line wrong and the thing always looked as though it sagged in the middle.
I have fond memories of being loaned one - loads of horrible limeflower plastic inside - and a suspension system that was so crude that it should never have been fitted to anything in the 1970's - I eventually got it to betray itself when I found a nice bit of broken surface and the back axle started to go beserk and loose any contact with the road all at about 30 MPH!
jeremy

dillosk8ter · Post by **dillosk8ter** » 10 May 2005, 04:21

Yes the SD1 was inspired by the Daytona, there are pics of the prototype with '70's Italian exotica on the Austin Rover fansite, under SD1 development.
Interesting page on BX prototypes (Citroenet):
http://www.citroenet.org.uk/html/b/bxpro.htm
Interestingly, the concept quoted as having 'a strong Peugeot influence' (4th down, left hand side) has, in pic next to it faint echos of SM around its hindquaters. Personally I quite like this concept, sure its slightly 'pugesque' from front/side view but quite alot of distinctivly Citroenesque touches also especially quirky/unconventional Sm influenced (?) rear.
Looks like it was taken at 'customer clinic', if so it show what could have been.....although I think this design would have dated much more quickly. A much curvier approach, makes the BX next to it look very angular!!

dillosk8ter · Post by **dillosk8ter** » 10 May 2005, 04:35

Also definate echos of CX in nose of first concept, aside from that what an ugly/dull looking car...thank god they didn't make that!!
Second down, left hand side, definate BX features evolving....
Third down, front/rear shots. Estate/hatch crossover interesting, think it would have dated fast...again not very attractive (almost normal wheelarches also).

adamskibx · Post by **adamskibx** » 10 May 2005, 04:36

Yes that one picture does look rather like the SM in a way- It also looks very much like the Renault 25 from the rear, both of which were Robert Opron designs I think. The Renault Feugo also had similar touches. From that BX site I cant see any connection to the Maestro after all but I just cant get my head round how similar that one protortype for the Maestro is to the BX- surely there must be some conection, even if the designer just saw this design and incorporated it into the BX shape subconciously!! A bit far fetched I know

I read into these things too much!
As for SD1's, I dont care how bad they are they are stunning cars. It lacks what the CX has in quirkynes, engineering excellence etc, but it equals it overall I feel. I dont know how but it just does. My dad had one he picked up at an auction when I was a kid; it was a metalic blue Vanden Plas with Citroen style headrest cusions and electric everything! I remember a time when we had to swirve off the road in it as a van coming the other way and overtaking a car was coming straigt for us. I just remember the cabin filling with smoke from the brakes and ending up in a farmer field with cows either side of us. We couldnt beleive that the guy in the van even had the cheak to thank us as we squealed past him about to crash into a field!!!

dillosk8ter · Post by **dillosk8ter** » 10 May 2005, 04:59

Are we discussing the Harris Mann sketch, there are similarities but I think the BX has a slightly sleeker rear, more fastback. But it has a similar overall outline, similar semi covered rear arches and bulging front arches and ever door shape but quite different nose treatment, chrysler/Talbot Alpine has similar(ish) outline to BX I think (albeit faintly). It could just purely down to the styles they were predicting for the 1980's, 1982 Cavalier hatch had similar shape. Aside from self leveling arguement, would have made interesting comparrison with BX if Mann's design had been approved and developed with Hydragas...........

dillosk8ter · Post by **dillosk8ter** » 10 May 2005, 05:06

Yes lots of development info on SD1:
http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?Im10storyf.htm
Apparently SD1 inspired by both Daytona and that 1800 prototype.

adamskibx · Post by **adamskibx** » 10 May 2005, 05:09

Yes thats the one. Would have been an interesting comparison if it were made and had hydrogas like you say. Your probably right about the styles just predicting whats going to be stylish for the 1980's too. It just seemed odd that my friend who told me about the Maestro protortype being incorporated into the BX and the fact that that Autin Rover site has that sketch that looks so similar. My friend read What Car magazine from when he was very small. In fact they were the first thing he started to read as his grandad past them onto him (this was back in the 1980's). He also has a strange interest in Austin Rover. He probably just remembered that picture from somewhere and his memory got distorted over the years. Who knows.

bxbodger · Post by **bxbodger** » 10 May 2005, 15:25

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That Harris Man design is ugly but there really is no denying it influenced the BX design. Too many similarities even ifit is stupidly proportioned.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
And is not the BX wrongly proportioned too? ( to my eyes, anyway- mainly between screen angle and bonnet, it just doesn't look quite right )
Very few cars at any time have a radically different appearance to their competitors- Harris Mann's Princess did, and the CX did, but for weirdness to sell it has to be good, and both these cars rode so much better, and so much more comfortably than any of their competitors at the time they coud get away with it...and despite what Guigiaro ( was he not responsible for a Daewoo Matiz covered in flowers...) said about the TR7 it ended up as the best seller of the TR series and to those of us who were youngsters when it came out, the most radical looking of them as well!!

most cars from a similar era end up looking the same as they are selling into the same market - 1930's saloons ( I would defy anyone without obsessive anorak knowledge levels to tell an unbadged Austin big7, Moorris 8, Ford 8 apart....),50's yanks,90's jellymoulds,etc, and look how many cars designed in the late 70's/early 80's have the same front end treatment as the BX with the grille below the bumper-BX,Renault 5/19/21, chevette, Mk1 Cavalier, the list goes on.....