Yes I miss the days of vomit green and shit brown autos. And who doesnt want a piss yellow hatchback in the front drive, or a menses red estate in the staff car park.
Not alike? I've been a car nut since early childhood in the 70's. Currently own 4 cars and 4 motorbikes. I could not tell apart the smaller hatchbacks here except for the Fiat and Renault. Even the Passat at that camera angle looks similar to a Fiesta of the era. Present day hatchbacks are far more individual.
1973…I was 10 years old then and this is still my favourite era of car styling. Just shows you really are permanently influenced by what is around at that sort of age.
Such an interesting insight to styling of the time, most of the cars look the same but those Mercedes really stand out! Can't can't imagine waking down the street seeing rows of boxes with circular headlights then that absolutely gorgeous Alfa Montreal comes by :o
I had to look that one up in Google Images, and yes, that's a handsome car! (Thanks to Pininfarina.) I grew up in the 70s, but I have no memory of them in real life or in any Top Trumps cards. ;-)
The fiat dealerships must have had to be pretty inventive with excuses to wriggle out of honouring that warranty! They would know that patching one area the tin worm would resurface weeks later somewhere else. It'd be like repairing a sieve.
The oil embargo hit the rotary engine particularly hard; seems that Citroen, like Mazda, AMC and GM were counting on its phenomenal power to size and power to weight ratios to make cars of this era appealing but didn't count on horrific fuel consumption and emissions being so hard to tame. The AMC Pacer might have lived up to its futuristic looks if with the planned rotary engine; instead if became a running joke.
John stairs it doesn’t have a Ferrari engine, the 130 saloon and coupe engines were designed by Aurelio Lampredi, he was an ex Ferrari engineer, he also designed the Fiat twin cam 4 cylinder engine.
each of these cars has its own unique charm and character today's cars are dull repetitive things in comparison ugly even anyone remember when you could tell the make by the engine noise? i used to be good at that!
They were sold as the VW Dasher/Audi FOX on this side of the Atlantic and not being beautiful on the outside, probably didn't get the attention they deserved. The engine must have been an advanced design, since the Dasher was one of the few models that could pass 1975 emissions standards without a catalytic converter. I don't know why VW insisted on going with the "Passat" name instead of Dasher; it sounds like some kind of swamp rat.
That's actually a VERY large assortment to choose from for such a small island nation. I'm actually quite surprised they all can actively sell with that stiff of competition.
The Lancia Beta. Rusted quicker than my SD1. Seven years old and it had holes in the roof. They made them British weather proof by not importing them...
Said last week how much the allegro gets a slagging for its looks,the alfasud isn't a million miles away styling wise,and that's not a hatchback either,which was another reason the allegro gets a slagging
I can see the similarities but the Sud is a better execution of the design. I've got no nostalgic love of the Alfa (or nostalgic hatred of the Allegro; both are cars I've no experience of) but it doesn't look ungainly. And that counts. While both were no doubt equally (un)reliable or rust prone, a good looking car is always remembered more fondly.
The Allegro styling was compromised when the decision was taken to fit the E series power unit, being much taller than the A series up went the bonnet line and the looks got worse. The original sketches show a very sharp, stylish car. Of course the other 'slagging' point was the Quartic steering wheel, pilloried then but no body mentions square steering wheels in certain cars today.
@@gwpee1727 Only it wasn't. From a technical point of view that Allegro was very advanced. It rode better than all of its competitors and the A-Series models were very reliable. They also tried new rust proofing methods which is why they lasted longer than alot of their competitors. Hell people often forget they restyled the Allegro later in its life with quad headlamps and alloys etc. It made it look much better. The problem with Allegro was it shouldve been much better looking. Look up Harris Manns original design for the car. The second major issue was Leylands non-existent quality control. It doesnt matter how good your car is, if it's not put together properly it's not going to wow anyone. And it didn't.
I know it's the beta, but the fact that it sounds so much like "beater" is, well, sadly ironic. As if Italian cars weren't getting enough ridicule already.
Lancia Beta,shame it wasn't that well built,or rust proofed,but a far better car than Fords Cortina for example.It took Ford until 1992 to build a car as good as this,with the Mondeo,twenty years after the Beta.The rise of VW here as well,except for that the ancient Beetle,which was well past its sell by date.
g w pee If the Beta wasn’t rustproofed or well built, why was it better than a Cortina? Just because it drove nicer, on those days when it was actually drivable? I would argue the opposite, there was a reason the Dagenham dustbin sold like hot cakes. Ford knew their market.
@@RoadCone411 The Cortina of mid 1970's era,was mostly sold to Companies as a repmobile.And just because something is popular,doesn't make it good.It was an ordinary car,whereas the Lancia,whatever its build faults,showed the way to go with car design.By mid 1980's nearly all car companies were building cars,of this size,with similar technical spec,as the Lancia Beta,except BMW and Ford with the Sierra.Even the Sierra shared something with the Beta,in that it had independent rear suspension.And as I said before,it took Ford until 1992,to build a car with a technical spec as good as the Lancia,the Mondeo.Lancia came up with a new type of rear suspension design for the Beta,they didn't patent it,which meant other car manufacturers copied it.No one copied anything from the Cortina.
What a sobering reminder about the illogical materialistic choices we make and the importance we seem to place on them. Some of these cars, in their day and relative to the value of today's market would have cost a small fortune.....today...... they're just a pile of scrap!
Ah just about the time when the southern middle class abandoned GB and believed all BS about German cars and the bottomless pit of fords advertising budgets.
@@MrTrull1 The shell was exactly the same length, & it had the same profile, it just had less doors. There was a 3 door 104, there wasn't a 5 door Samba 5-Door though, or a 5-Door LNA, in the UK at least.
The red Beetle lasted the longest, untaxed october 1993. ;) Most of the other cars were untaxed between 1983-85.
Wow. I was just wondering that. Thanks for taking the trouble. 👍
CRS1964 good grief, that’s above and beyond for a youtube comment, thanks!
The Citroen bi-rotor was probably recalled and, sadly, crushed. Such was the failure of the rotary engine.
May they all rest in pieces haha. Well done!
The Beetle's collectible status likely kept it alive.
What a wonderful array of colours. How did we end up buying cars today almost entirely in monochrome?
The only reason I can come up with is that grey and silver hide dirt and dust. It can’t be appearance.
Yes I miss the days of vomit green and shit brown autos. And who doesnt want a piss yellow hatchback in the front drive, or a menses red estate in the staff car park.
@@TheSmurfboard or a phlegm turquoise
Angus Mac į
We’re starting to see more orange and yellow cars now, but sadly most are still grey or silver
What a beautiful cars ! they remind me of the toy cars in childhood like Matchbox, Corgi, and Majorette.
That Opal Kaddet is sweet looking coupe.
There seemed to have been much more choice back then. Like the British selection last week, no two cars look alike.
Thanks for another gem.
Not alike? I've been a car nut since early childhood in the 70's. Currently own 4 cars and 4 motorbikes. I could not tell apart the smaller hatchbacks here except for the Fiat and Renault. Even the Passat at that camera angle looks similar to a Fiesta of the era. Present day hatchbacks are far more individual.
(Yes exaggerating a bit on not actually being able to tell them apart but the bits that set them apart are just details on a theme.)
1973…I was 10 years old then and this is still my favourite era of car styling. Just shows you really are permanently influenced by what is around at that sort of age.
Now that's just 1970s motoring heaven. What a great selection.
The stereo is of course standard!
Such an interesting insight to styling of the time, most of the cars look the same but those Mercedes really stand out! Can't can't imagine waking down the street seeing rows of boxes with circular headlights then that absolutely gorgeous Alfa Montreal comes by :o
Opel Kadett coupe was my dream car when I was 10 years old in 1973!
it's a nice car
I just love these Thames car programs.
Fiat 130 and Alfa Montreal stood out as the most stylish here.
On the downside they probably cost 4 times what everything else did. These were only for the very rich.
Fiat 130 Coupe. One of the best looking cars of the 70s!
I had to look that one up in Google Images, and yes, that's a handsome car! (Thanks to Pininfarina.) I grew up in the 70s, but I have no memory of them in real life or in any Top Trumps cards. ;-)
Also during my research, I discovered that "Berlina" just means sedan or saloon in English... There was me thinking it meant something exotic, haha.
@@RustyPetterson Yeah, they only made about 4,500 of them, and very few of them made it to the UK I'm sure.
Only 500 RHD models were made !
Such a shame, they're such good looking machines
Such beautiful soulfull little cars.
Oof the yellow Daf is nice.
Love all of these.
I'll have two please... Alfasud and Alfetta 😍
I had them all.. still have a 82 Giulietta!
I loved my 1976 Citroen GS which was bought on 1982.
High quality production..well preserved. Nice cars..wished it came here to the U.S
Oh, Alfasud....❤️
Those mercs look better than todays mercs!
Fiat 2 year anti rust guarantee! More like 2 week. My 131 sport disintegrated in front of me
The fiat dealerships must have had to be pretty inventive with excuses to wriggle out of honouring that warranty! They would know that patching one area the tin worm would resurface weeks later somewhere else. It'd be like repairing a sieve.
But what a car! Lucky lad!
kek
Fiat was far ahead of its time with cars that were completely biodegradable. :)
The nearer you lived to the coast the worse it got. I think it was because of the salt in the environment.
Twin Rotary Citroen.... innovative!
GS birotor! They only made like 500 of those I think and tried to buy them all back so they didn't have to make spare parts when it didn't sell well.
The oil embargo hit the rotary engine particularly hard; seems that Citroen, like Mazda, AMC and GM were counting on its phenomenal power to size and power to weight ratios to make cars of this era appealing but didn't count on horrific fuel consumption and emissions being so hard to tame. The AMC Pacer might have lived up to its futuristic looks if with the planned rotary engine; instead if became a running joke.
this is fascinating
Got to love the Fiat 130 coupe not only beautiful but had a Ferrari engine to boot.
John stairs it doesn’t have a Ferrari engine, the 130 saloon and coupe engines were designed by Aurelio Lampredi, he was an ex Ferrari engineer, he also designed the Fiat twin cam 4 cylinder engine.
Great to be reminded of the cars of my yoof 👍
each of these cars has its own unique charm and character today's cars are dull repetitive things in comparison ugly even anyone remember when you could tell the make by the engine noise? i used to be good at that!
Land Rover's TD5 engine - not that long ago.
Yes, same here - could spot the Renault 1100/1400 engines a mile off, like Vauxhall 1300s and BMC engines too.
Like the Alfasud
When Mercedes built good cars
Those early VW Passats were very refined cruisers and lovely to drive.
They were sold as the VW Dasher/Audi FOX on this side of the Atlantic and not being beautiful on the outside, probably didn't get the attention they deserved. The engine must have been an advanced design, since the Dasher was one of the few models that could pass 1975 emissions standards without a catalytic converter. I don't know why VW insisted on going with the "Passat" name instead of Dasher; it sounds like some kind of swamp rat.
@@pcno2832 Dasher: the fastest reindeer in a bunch ;)
I could see the Montreal in the background and I started panicking as the time was ebbing away. I thought the video would stop short of showing it.
I felt the same about the 130 Coupe
Beautiful cars!
I'd take the Merc W116. Had the stroke/8 Merc but surprisingly not a lot of room in the back for a car of it's size.
The Mercedes 450SL looked as though it belonged in the 1990's not the 1970's!
Jon Mitchell - It also came as the super-rare 6.9.
It is cause they not really changed the look until 90's. Mercs traditions were real back then
Good times dad had the 450sel in1978 I loved it sliding door to door on the leather seats while he buried his foot on the pedal
That Audi 80
Im an American, I have no idea what half of these cars are hah! but I love seeing them and learning about them
All original beautiful and cars, these cars make history of european brands.
love that volvo
I was expecting start of "Benny Hill" after the "Thames" cut scene.
As a boy in the 70s I remember the alfas and Lancias well they crumbled away rapidly in the British climate but were stylish and fast at the time.
Alfetta was the best mid sport sedan in '70.
Back in the good old days when cars came without a car radio or left side rear view mirror as standard.
They look like little toys. 👍
jamessomying If you’re watching this on your phone ? That’s why they look small .
Yes Dougal. These are faaar away!
@@TheHorsebox2 First thing I thought was father Ted with the toy cow and the cows in the field. 😂
Sean harding
Moooo. 🐃
@@jamessomying 😂😂
That's actually a VERY large assortment to choose from for such a small island nation. I'm actually quite surprised they all can actively sell with that stiff of competition.
Most Italian cars look great in whatever decade their in,it's the same with many German cars too, it's like the designers have forward vision thinking
Thought i saw an Alfasud there!
The Lancia Beta. Rusted quicker than my SD1. Seven years old and it had holes in the roof. They made them British weather proof by not importing them...
Opel kadett c 😍😍
Have soft spot for the fiat 127, my dad had 3. One to drive the other 2 for parts .
Said last week how much the allegro gets a slagging for its looks,the alfasud isn't a million miles away styling wise,and that's not a hatchback either,which was another reason the allegro gets a slagging
I can see the similarities but the Sud is a better execution of the design. I've got no nostalgic love of the Alfa (or nostalgic hatred of the Allegro; both are cars I've no experience of) but it doesn't look ungainly. And that counts. While both were no doubt equally (un)reliable or rust prone, a good looking car is always remembered more fondly.
Admittedly the Alfasud doesn’t look great here in terms of the angle and colour, but it was a far better-looking car than the Allegro.
The Alfa was a far better car from a technical point of view.It set new standards for a front wheel drive car,the Allegro didn't.
The Allegro styling was compromised when the decision was taken to fit the E series power unit, being much taller than the A series up went the bonnet line and the looks got worse. The original sketches show a very sharp, stylish car. Of course the other 'slagging' point was the Quartic steering wheel, pilloried then but no body mentions square steering wheels in certain cars today.
@@gwpee1727 Only it wasn't. From a technical point of view that Allegro was very advanced. It rode better than all of its competitors and the A-Series models were very reliable. They also tried new rust proofing methods which is why they lasted longer than alot of their competitors. Hell people often forget they restyled the Allegro later in its life with quad headlamps and alloys etc. It made it look much better.
The problem with Allegro was it shouldve been much better looking. Look up Harris Manns original design for the car. The second major issue was Leylands non-existent quality control. It doesnt matter how good your car is, if it's not put together properly it's not going to wow anyone. And it didn't.
1973 was a real high point for cars. Shame that they skipped BMW, as the 2002tii and 3.0 CS were some of BMW's best and prettiest ever.
I was expecting the Lancia to fall apart from rust at any moment.
2:05 adorable look there
Just imagine how many of these cars would still exist if it wasn't for corrosion.
Where can I watch the entire series?
One deathtrap after another with matchstick-thin A-pillars. :-)
"The Audi 'a hundred' "
I forgot you could still buy a vw beetle back in the 70s
All nice cars
Mercedes-Benz the best!
I know it's the beta, but the fact that it sounds so much like "beater" is, well, sadly ironic. As if Italian cars weren't getting enough ridicule already.
great
The Fiats had a 2 yr anti rust warranty! A bit optimistic perhaps.
With the first 05 seconds of the video i was waiting for Benny Hill.
Lancia Beta,shame it wasn't that well built,or rust proofed,but a far better car than Fords Cortina for example.It took Ford until 1992 to build a car as good as this,with the Mondeo,twenty years after the Beta.The rise of VW here as well,except for that the ancient Beetle,which was well past its sell by date.
g w pee If the Beta wasn’t rustproofed or well built, why was it better than a Cortina? Just because it drove nicer, on those days when it was actually drivable? I would argue the opposite, there was a reason the Dagenham dustbin sold like hot cakes. Ford knew their market.
@@RoadCone411 The Cortina of mid 1970's era,was mostly sold to Companies as a repmobile.And just because something is popular,doesn't make it good.It was an ordinary car,whereas the Lancia,whatever its build faults,showed the way to go with car design.By mid 1980's nearly all car companies were building cars,of this size,with similar technical spec,as the Lancia Beta,except BMW and Ford with the Sierra.Even the Sierra shared something with the Beta,in that it had independent rear suspension.And as I said before,it took Ford until 1992,to build a car with a technical spec as good as the Lancia,the Mondeo.Lancia came up with a new type of rear suspension design for the Beta,they didn't patent it,which meant other car manufacturers copied it.No one copied anything from the Cortina.
Audi 80 was the same car than the VW Passat, but the Passat had a hatchback. Until B-post they where the same.
Make mine a Volvo way ahead of the rest 😲😈👌
I haven't seen one of those since ... last Friday at Chievely services (!)
Did I actually see a solid no rusty Alfa sud and fiat .i thought the car came rusty as standard
Step 1. Build a huge time machine . . .
Alfa Romeo Montreal 🤤
Modern cars are white rice
The car that looks new is the Peugeot car!
Mercedes sl 450 still is beautiful
Diferencia abismal de Mercedes , no tenia rivales , hasta hace una decada atras no tenia competencia .
What a sobering reminder about the illogical materialistic choices we make and the importance we seem to place on them. Some of these cars, in their day and relative to the value of today's market would have cost a small fortune.....today...... they're just a pile of scrap!
Not really, no. Most are well regarded by enthusiasts and for good reason.
Ah just about the time when the southern middle class abandoned GB and believed all BS about German cars and the bottomless pit of fords advertising budgets.
Oh shyt thames tv..aint seen that for yrs..lol..
Alfa Romeo!
I feel really old. how about you?
Alfasud for me
Don't remember the Peugeot 104 coupe at all.
When he says coupe, he means the 3-door hatch, as opposed to the 5-door.
It was just a chopped short 3-door. Talbot Samba used the same shell, with modified lights.
@@MrTrull1 The shell was exactly the same length, & it had the same profile, it just had less doors. There was a 3 door 104, there wasn't a 5 door Samba 5-Door though, or a 5-Door LNA, in the UK at least.
MrPabsUk Yeah, I was only referring to the 3-door re the Samba.
@@MrPabsUk the 3 door 104 was considerably shorter than the 5 door, the Samba was longer than the 3 door 104 and shorter than the 5 door.
No Zastava 101...
Goot
where is USA car?
In the U.S.
@@twoeightythreez where they belong.
The title literally says it's about European cars.
Hence why theres nothing British, American or Japanese. Can you not read?
@@SpitfireFortyFour Yeah FFS.
The Citroen is quite advanced compared to Alot of them. And last Alfa I especially like except the horrible colors.
Brum brum
A pretty grim time for car styling.
No Lada, no cars!
Not one ford. In the U.K. of all places
Mercs look best.
2 year rust guarantee. Fiat . I'd give it 2 months .
Now u got ridiculous Brussels regulations from 2022 on new vechiles
They look embarrassing Infront of american cars from the 70s. That is like being mr bean on the road haha
The Renault 12 was really ugly.
Ugly but very reliable, like a Peugeot 504
The 12 was a great car. I had several over the years, indeed my first rally car was a 12.
My Dad owned one.
@john piper Yes! & it was a good car. He regretted getting rid of it & got a Renault 16, which was crap.
Yuk!!! All of them