5 of the Most Memorable British cars

Whether you see BMW MINI or a classic Leyland Mini out on the roads, people immediately recognise it as a British icon. Often due to the fact, a large number of models have a huge union jack plastered over the roof, but there’s more to it than that, though. The original Mini was on sale for 41 years from 1959 to 2000 and it sold incredibly well due to its fixture in British pop culture. Mick Jagger, Steve McQueen, Rowan Atkinson and even Enzo Ferrari all had classic Minis. It was and still is, a truly classless car. Can you imagine today’s equivalent celebrities pootling around town in something equally affordable, such as a Ford Fiesta? Us neither.

Is this the best looking sports car ever built? Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but you’d have to be blind to not find this car devilishly attractive. It’s rather British too. Throughout its 14 years of production from 1961 to 1975, the E-Type was only ever produced in Jaguars Coventry assembly plant. Meaning every single E-Type in the world came from the Midlands. It’s another car that made it into pop culture. Austin Powers ‘Shaguar’ was, of course, an E-Type, and like the Classic Mini, that too was served up covered in a massive Union Jack. More recently, you might have spotted an E-Type taking the lead role as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding car. 

It was inevitable that the DB5 would feature in this list. How could we forget it? It might be the coolest car ever built thanks to featuring so prominently in the James Bond franchise and of course, is absolutely stunning to look at. The DB5 has been seen in 7 separate Bond films over the years going all the way back to Goldfinger in 1964. Some foreign people seem to actually believe that Great Britain is full of well-dressed men driving around in DB5s and fighting crime, which isn’t a bad reputation to have. Just over 1,000 DB5 models were originally made and a large number of these will have been crashed or taken off the roads by now, but luckily there were 25 brand new models released so keep your eyes peeled for those. 

The Land Rover Defender ended production in 2016 after being 32 years. It’s quite a big deal for us in Britain because it’s fair to say that the Defender is one of the best performing off-road cars ever built. It is world renowned for its ability to conquer any terrain, go where it wants and simply do as it pleases. Many other manufacturers have tried to emulate the capabilities of the Defender but all have failed, and that’s what makes it so iconic. Upon release, it was so versatile, rugged and capable that even 3 decades later, as the production came to an end, there is still no other car like it on the market. Oh, and the Queen has one. 

There’s now an all-new model coming in 2020, and this one won't be just for off-roading.
 

In 1998 Mclaren set a Guinness World Record for the world’s fastest production car after they sent their new F1 model to a top speed of 241 mph. This figure destroyed the previous record of 217 mph set by Jaguars XJ220 in 1992. It was a record that stood in place for another 7 years until it was beaten by Koenigsegg in 2005. The McLaren F1 is considered to be one of the greatest motoring achievements of all time. Its performance was simply mind-boggling and its design was unique and pioneering. No other road going car had a 3 seat layout like that and no others have since. The McLaren F1 was of a very limited production though, with only 106 models ever being produced. Interestingly, Rowan Atkinson owned a McLaren F1 and famously became the recipient of the UK's largest ever car insurance payout after crashing it… twice. Happily, he still managed to sell his twice-repaired F1 for a cool £8 million. Swings and roundabouts.