Cars

Something of a classic car. Indeed, was a lot of people's first car.It had the same engine as a MINI so it was easy to repair and you could get loads of spares.This cars claim to fame? It is the ...

An earlier and larger version of the Maxi, known in the trade as 'the land crab!' I worked for a BMC distributor when it was introduced, and the first one we sold drove straight into the forecourt wall when the ...

My mum had an Allegro for a bit. I remember it was an appalling shade of orange and had a square steering wheel. Just one of the many reasons why BL went down the pan. ...

The Austin Maxi was the rival to the Renault 16 from across the channel. One of the first family hatchbacks, available in any number of quease-inducing colours, Maxis were part of the street furniture of almost every urban road in ...

The Austin Metro, aka Austin miniMetro was a small three- and five-door hatchback intended to replace the ailing and out of fashion Austin Mini with a more modern angular body.To cut costs, Austin/Leyland management decided not to further advance it's ...

Lovely car built in the uk for the American market. Sold there as a Nash Metropolitan. 1500 cc engine with two colour paintwork and a spare wheel mounted on the boot. My dad had one when I was a kid ...

For the yuppie who didn't fancy a Porsche or a Mercedes the car of choice was the BMW 325i. The MTech sport and convertibles were the cars of choice for the boys in red braces. A few went further still ...

The Chrysler 180 and 2 Litre was a classic short run car, brought out by Chrysler just before the disastrous takeover by Talbot. They stuck a wedge-shaped body on it and it became the Talbot Tagora! Basically a big Avenger, with ...

The mighty little Citroen AX GT was my first car - a 1990 H reg AXGT in red 3dr of course not the dull 5dr with no style that was the job of the MK2 Golf Gti which looked great ...

This was 4-door hatchback 'Supermini' that was launched by Citroen in 1978 as a replacement for the Ami. Early versions were available as the Club and Special variants, which had the 2-stroke 625cc air-cooled engine of the 2CV and were ...

When I was growing up in the 1980s, the sight of the gullwing DeLorean sports car just summed up the whole world of possibilities waiting for me... Finished in stainless steel and as low as a car could go, this set ...

The Italian answer to the Triumph TR7, this little sports car was manufactured by Fiat from 1972-82, and by Bertone from '82-'89. Famous for their removable hard-top, they had mid-mounted transverse engines with rear wheel drive, and were available in ...

The Ford Capri was the car you always promised yourself! Well that's what Ford said in their advertising campaign anyway. So in 1987 when I passed my test (after one lesson I might add), I bought myself a Mk1 1.6 ...

A medium sized saloon car (initially called the Consul Classic) to replace the Consul, it featured unique syling with a reverse-rake rear window (a la 105E Anglia). There was also a coupe version called the Classic Capri, predating the better ...

My father had one of these cars. It was yellow on the body and black on the roof. But that was in the beginning of the 70s.I believe it first hit the car scene in 1951. It used a ...

Introduced as a replacement for the Classic. Styled with a very pointy nose (not sure how it would fare in pedestrian-impact tests nowadays!), it was one of the first Fords to feature the V4 engine used in the Transit and ...

I had a top-of-the-range, 2 litre, Ghia, 'R' reg, automatic, metallic-blue one with asun-roof! What woman could resist this babe magnet (Ford obviously knew what it was doing with the Capri, too, and later the Escort) especially with a grubby ...

The Ford Escort is the most successful rally car ever and one of Britain's best selling cars. Starting from the Mark 1 and progressing up to Mark 6 before being deleted to make way for the Focus, this car came ...

Ford's forgotten 1980s model, the Orion was first launched in '83 and was not dissimilar in appearance to the mk.3 Escort, but for the fact that it had a chunkier radiator grille and a higher, more spacious boot. It was ...

Introduced by the Rootes Group in the early seventies to compete in the mid-size saloon range it featured very distinctive fastback styling. It was originally available as a 1200cc or 1500cc engine, later supplemented by tuned 1500 GT version. Later ...

Introduced to go head-to-head with the ubiquitous Mini, it differed from it's rival by being rear-engined. It was, arguably, better equipped, being fitted with wind-up windows, rather than the Mini's sliders, and a lift-up rear window giving access to storage ...

The Honda Prelude was originally launched in 1978, although sales were first confined to the US and Japan, so the Mk.1 and 2 versions are extremely rare in Britain and Europe. It was a powerful 2-door sports saloon, with an ...

The original Mk.1 Cortina, heavily modified by Lotus engineers at Ford's Advanced Vehicle facility at Boreham in Essex featured an A-frame located rear axle, which didn't quite work, as it tore up the centre mounting point. However, the 1558cc twin ...

I remember seeing one of these round my village in a horrible green colour. ...

The MG Montego was the sporty version of the Austin Montego saloon and best known for its electronic instrument panel that would talk to you in a digitised voice if something wasn't right. I used to refer to it as ...

Innovative car embodying the spirit of the 60s ...

Evil turbocharged Japanese sports car with equally evil bodystyling. A definite 80's classic. ...

Manufactured during the 70s, there were three models of Morris Marina. There was the 1.3, 1.8 and the TC. I had the 1.8 model, as it used to get more miles per gallon than the 1.3. The TC model was ...

The Rover P6 was produced in various guises and trim levels from 1963 to 1976. Engines ranged from 2000cc to the mighty 3.5 litre V8s. Popular with the police, there aren't many British TV cop shows from that era, such as ...

Remember these Big Monsters? The Rover SD1 was my favourite car in the early 80's. I drove my Dad mad trying to convince him to get one! The Rover SD1 was a very thirsty car though and came in the (underpowered) ...

These were about in the early 1980's and were the last offerings under the Triumph marque, although they were basically Honda Ballade's with a Triumph badge on. The design was about as boring and unimaginative as you could get and ...

This was a very underrated car. It was well built and solid and very easy to work on with it's forward lifting bonnet. It's cost new on the road in 1972 was £830. ...

Triumph Stag ...

This small sportscar was manufactured in the UK by The Triumph Motor Company, which was part of British Leyland during the 70's & 80's. It was originally intended to carry the Dolomite engine transversly amidships, hence the pronounced wedge ...

This was the first new car I bought. White with white alloys , it had just come out with the 2 ltr engine giving 130BHP over the previous 1.8 Ltr's 115BHP.It was the quickest of the hot hatches at the ...

I remember Victors and Ventoras from the days of travelling to school, on foot, with my mates, without the need of a 4x4! 10 years later I bought a Vauxhall Victor FD, then as years passed I had quite a ...

The Vauxall Viva was a small family car that we had for a short time. It was made between 1963 and 1979, though we just had a second hand one in the early 1980's (I don't think my dad has ...

The original hot hatch! ...

The Beetle is perhaps the best-selling car of all-time. Truly, a recognizable shape that has stood the test of time.The Volkswagen Beetle first came on the scene in 1947, but they were known by a different name. KdF, short for ...

Campers have been the vehicle of choice for globe trotters, festival-goers, surfers and rock stars for six decades. The owners of vintage VW camper vans are a dedicated bunch, lavishing care, attention and money on their beloved wheels. They are the first ...