Memories Of ISTEL - Keith Adams And AR Online

One of the best things about running AROnline is hearing from people who were right there in the thick of it, especially when they’re still passionate enough to keep the memories alive decades later.

I was tipped off about this story about the ISTEL-liveried MG Maestro rally and how it appeared on daytime TV......more

Online takes a closer look at how British Leyland quietly led the digital revolution in car manufacturing. This 1980 magazine article, reproduced here, reveals how the Austin Metro was developed......more

Back in 1984, a young Tim Harvey was making a name for himself in one of the most competitive one-make series of the decade – the MG Metro Challenge.

Backing him all the way was ISTEL, a tech-savvy IT provider that was part of the Austin Rover family, and had a keen eye for emerging talent......more

Keith Adams is a very well respected motoring journalist with a massive interest in all things BL related . He has a huge presence in the motoring community writing articles for various classic car magazines, is editor of parkers and created the website AR online - which is the definitive history of BL. He in IT for many years including a period at Longbridge before moving into journalism .

Keith recognises the importance of Istel and is hugely interested in how Istel evolved and is keen to hear from ex employees to build articles for AR online . As do we, he wants there to be a permanent record of all the great work we did, in particular how we supported BL .

We see AR online (https://www.aronline.co.uk/) as the perfect vehicle to communicate IISTEL to a much wider audience. We will be providing him with Real Times articles, particular of a technical nature .

This is where we need your help. Keith wants the stories the anecdotes and the personal “ I was there “ type stories. In his words the more techy the better as that is what his audience wants .

So please help by either posting your stories on our facebook group ( Istel ex employees ) or mailing Keith directly kadams@btinternet.com

Here are some of the stories published so far on AROnline

Sometimes the comments section really is the gift that keeps on giving. In the recent blog about flags, one of our readers (bless you, BasiLR88) casually suggested the idea of British Leyland – The Musical. Now, I don’t know about you, but once that seed was planted I couldn’t stop watering it

So without further ado, here’s today’s light-hearted escape: British Leyland – The Musical......more

We acknowledge his original work and copyright of the stories we feature.

Behind the smooth launches of Discovery and Range Rover in the 1980s and ’90s was a team you’ve probably never heard of.

ISTEL’s IT systems kept Solihull running, proving that back-office innovation was every bit as vital as engineering flair.......more

Online takes a closer look at how British Leyland quietly led the digital revolution in car manufacturing. This 1980 magazine article, reproduced here, reveals how the Austin Metro was developed......more

Behind the smooth launches of Discovery and Range Rover in the 1980s and ’90s was a team you’ve probably never heard of.ISTEL’s IT systems kept Solihull running, proving that back-office innovation was every bit as vital as engineering flair.......more

Behind the smooth launches of Discovery and Range Rover in the 1980s and ’90s was a team you’ve probably never heard of.

ISTEL’s IT systems kept Solihull running, proving that back-office innovation was every bit as vital as engineering flair.......more