Engineers at Rover's top secret research facility at Gaydon have been
working in their spare time on a specially modified MGF, with a view to
taking it to Bonneville for Speedweek.
Information is sketchy and hard to get, as there has been no official
release on the subject; all I have been able to ascertain is that `if
the car is ready, and if we decide to take it, then we will talk about
it'. The car is not intended to be a record-beaker, a la EX181 (which
ran at Salt Lake in '57 and '59) but as part of the anniversary
celebrations of Speedweek. Like EX181, the MGF Speedster would have a
mid-mounted, small capacity high output twin cam engine....
It occurred to me that Digesters local to Bonneville might like to check
this out - and of course if there is anyone handy with a camera if the
car officially breaks cover, then please let me know as I may be able to
grant you everlasting fame and a few green-backs into the bargain!
The other hot story at the moment is that Chrysler is rumoured to be
interested either in buying Rover or even swallowing BMW whole. Chrysler
wants to build cars in Europe - as of course GM and Ford already do
(Chrysler retreated from the UK in the early '80s) and there had been
talk that Chrysler - which is developing the engine for the next new
Mini - might wish to build cars at Longbridge. Both Chrysler and Rover
have denied the stories, saying that the visits by Chrysler staff to
Longbridge was just a case of production engineers visiting on liaison
connected with the new Mini, but of course the rumour mill persists.
The latest twist to this story, appearing in the British magazine `CAR',
is that Chrysler wants to buy BMW, and the Quandt family - which owns
BMW - is said to want to sell. There are already links; Chrysler and BMW
are co-operating on the new Mini engine - to be built in Mexico - and
Chrysler's MG-loving Bob Lutz - Swiss born American who speaks fluent
German - used to be highly placed in BMW and knows Wolfgang Reitzle,
BMW's present engineering guru and rumoured heir apparent to Bernd
Pischetsrieder. You only have to see the concept cars and fun cars which
Chrysler builds these days to see where the synergy would lie. But its
still all rumour folks!
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