Average Cars From The 70's & 80's

Adams1

Out of curiosity, I asked my old man what his first car was when he came here. He said it was a Talbot, and laughed pretty good. No idea why, just did. Lol.

I did some Googling but couldn't really find much info on the "average" cars people would drive here in Britain in the 70's and 80's. If you type in "70's (or 80's) cars" mostly iconic sports cars pop up.

So old folk of MSE... With the average car today being a Vauxhall Astra and Ford Mondeo... What was the most notable cars used in 70's and 80's?

PasturesNew

Typical first cars in the late 70s would be pretty battered and beaten up and you'd find: Ford Capri, minis, Austin A40, Austin A30, Ford Anglia, Ford Cortina Mk 2, Ford Escort and Morris Marinas.

[Deleted User]

Austin Metros, Ford Escorts, Cortinas, etc...

Not me but what older family drove.

Trebor16

1970's would have been Ford Cortina Mk 3 from 1971/2 to 1976 ish. Replaced by the Mk 4 Cortina which was produced until 1982. There was a facelifted model which is referred to as the Mk 5 but it is stretching it to describe it as a new car. It still used the 1.3, 1.6 and 2 litre pinto engines from the Mk 4, which in turn were used in the Mk 3.

The Ford Escort Mk 1 was made from about 1966 to 1974 ish when it was replaced by the Mk 2. The Mk 2 used pretty much the same engines as the Mk1. The Mk 2 was replaced by the Mk3 in 1980. The Mk 3 was a big change as it went from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive and also had a completely new range of engines.

British Leyland had a big variety of cars amongst which you would have found the Morris Marina, Austin Maxi, Austin Princess, Triumph Dolomite, to name but a few.

Vauxhall still had cars like the Viva (and derivatives like the Firenze) Victor and the Chevette. Mid 70's they started to rationalise with Opel models so the first Cavaliers were seen (which were essentially the same as the Opel Ascona) and also the Carlton (Opel Rekord).

Chrysler group cars would have seen models like the Hillman Hunter, Avenger and from 1976 the Chrysler Alpine. Chrysler pulled out of the UK in about 1977 and the UK operation was taken over by Talbot who were later absorbed by Peugeot.

Foreign cars were not as common but were gaining popularity. Renault had models like the 12, 16, 4, 5 and 6, which were all front wheel drive cars. Nissans were known as Datsuns and had models like the Sunny and Bluebird. Toyota had the Corolla.

That is not exhaustive by any means, but it is a starting point.

Flyboy152

Adams1 wrote: »

Out of curiosity, I asked my old man what his first car was when he came here. He said it was a Talbot, and laughed pretty good. No idea why, just did. Lol.

I did some Googling but couldn't really find much info on the "average" cars people would drive here in Britain in the 70's and 80's. If you type in "70's (or 80's) cars" mostly iconic sports cars pop up.

So old folk of MSE... With the average car today being a Vauxhall Astra and Ford Mondeo... What was the most notable cars used in 70's and 80's?

Nothing much has changed really. The equivalent being Vauxhall Vivas and Ford Cortinas.

Of course there were also the Escorts, Minis, Maxis, Allegros and Marinas. Then the upper ranges were Wolsleys, Morris Oxfords, Jaguars and Daimlers.

peterod1

I recall there being down my street in the 70's amongst others a Hillman Imp, Austin Princess, Morris Marina, Hillman Hunter, a Lada ?, 2CV and a rather exotic 3 wheel Bond Bug

alastairq

VW beetles were commonplace....

Cortina in it's various marks were the common car of the day...rep-mobiles...

Lada was popular round here....

It was only 5 years before the 1970's that every other car on the roads seemed to be the Austin/Morris 1100/1300?

!980's?

Ford started the Fiesta too.....very popular...

Nissan/Datsun were coming on strong with the Cherry/Sunny...

Then Vauxhall started the Astra line....Chevette less common I think, but still seen frequently...

Escorts were perennials.....but the 80's saw, to my eyes out on the roads all day and night, the Japanese makes...toyota, DAtsun, were the most obvious.

By the early 1990's..Cortinas seemed to disappear completely....one day there, next day gone?

regprentice

List of all british car companies ever including the dates they died :A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_cars

They say you cant buy a 'bad' car anymore, this certainly wasnt true in the 70's when manufacturing was often limited to small companies and quality and consistency were poor. since the early 80s there have been massive improvements in quality and consistency of manufacturing production which mean that todays engines are virtually indestructible compared to those of the 1970's. As an example - during the 70's my wifes family had two seperate cars where the engine caught fire climbing a steep hill :eek:

You dont see many older british cars knocking about (with the exception of jags and the occasional well looked after motor) simply because they were badly designed, poorly built, made of low quality materials and , in a word, crap.

Interesting similar thread on another forum here http://forums.mg-rover.org/archive/index.php/t-181881.html

thescouselander

I member some pretty rubbish cars which my family owned when I was younger:


Triumph Dolomite
Morris Marina
Ford Cortina
Chrisler (Hillman?) Avanger
Vauxhall Chevette
Austin (subsequently Rover) Montego


Not sure anyone you be impressed with them by todays standards. I remember they broke down regularly too.

photome

I learnt to drive in the 70s in a hillman avenger, first car was a mini, second was a mk3 cortina

birkee

Your Father laughed because the Sunbeam Talbot was a disaster.

The Rootes group had a long strike, where cars were stored on airfields in their raw metal state.
When the strike ended, and they got them painted up, you could have one of their cars from brand new, and have rust coming through on ALL panels within 12 months.
Worst affected was the Avenger.
Get a dinged front wing, and you had to remove it, this made the front panels fall apart, so you removed those, and this made the other wing fall apart.......So a wing dent on an Avenger meant a completely new front end.
(Have you ever seen a car that blooms into rust on the roof, within 12 months of purchase?)