The 1970s Executive Car Story

In 1970 there was a battle for the British executive car market, with 16 different models available across Europe. It’s a fight that was even more intense by the end of the decade, and it’s something I remember well. This is the sort of car my father was purchasing, and I often went along with him to “kick the tyres” so to speak. I’m not going to talk about ultra luxury cars like Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin or Jaguar, although Mercedes has snuck in there, mainly because they were used for more regular transportation in Germany. I’m thinking more the premium mass market that was occupied by Rover in the UK and BMW in Germany, and I’m going to stick with large 4 door mostly saloons, no 2-door mid-life crisis cars!

Links to videos on some of the cars I talk about here:

#bigcar

[BigCar]

I include all the cars I missed from this video.
Errata: Volvo made 6-cylinder engines before the Second World War.

[Milano]

Really big fan of this format of covering a market segment over a specific time period, I hope you’ll continue to do more of these!

[jb]

In Australia, Holden grafted the opel senator front onto rekord body and significantly re-engineered the chassis to accept local 6 & V8's which became the Holden Commodore. This vehicle was stronger than anything out of Europe- it had to be in order to cope with poor outback roads.

[couttsy]

The Opel Rekord and Ford Granada each had a huge influence on the design of the two top-selling Australian cars going into the 1980s and even beyond.

The Opel Rekord was a loose template for the nascent VB Holden Commodore released at the end of 1978, still using the pushrod inline sixes and V8s from previous Holdens, whilst the design of the Granada was draped over the existing Ford Falcon floorpan to create the XD Falcon, released in early 1979.

These two dominant models in Australia signified the shift away from the previously American-dominated design and handling models and instead providing more European-influenced vehicles.

RIP The Australian Car Industry 😪

[Balv]

The first new car my father bought was an Opel Rekord station wagon in 1964. Then he bought an Austin 1800, 2x VW K70, Dodge Dart, before he bought his first Audi 100 in 1974. After that he only drove Audis, about 15 total, petrol, diesel, Quattro etc. His brother was a keen Saab fan, with 99 EMS, 99 turbo, 900 turbo etc. Great video that brings back many memories of my growing up with a family with a great interest in cars.

[simonlb]

To me, it seems ironic that one of the main things customers were looking for in that market segment in those days - reliability - is also the one thing that seems to have been forgotten, or is not considered as important these days.

[jeremymoyse]

Finally someone talks about the Citroen CX being launched and shows the original "drum-speeds" rather than the later more conventional ones. I had an estate (Safari?) and boy was it wierd ... a real experience but scary on traffic jammed roundabouts if you forget the self-centering steering.
Loved this video... so many memeories

[toddbonin]

You are one of the best narrators on YouTube. Your diction is perfect and your voice is very pleasant.

I’m in love with European cars from the 50s and 60s … so many to choose from. Great episode and great channel!!!

[williamfence]

As a new driver in the mid eighties I could only afford 70's cars and after my fathers experience with BL motors ( unreliable ) I opted for a fiat 132 with the 2.0l engine ( insurance wasn't what is now thankfully ) . You could watch it rust but you could also go sideways with rear wheel drive in the wet . Good times !

[TheLifeEvents]

Wow what memories! My Dad had a Triumph 2000 in Nairobi in the 60s, which was a great car. The big Ford Zodiac on the D plate at 6:09 reminds me of Childhood. I was 10 years old at School in Nairobi in 66, and Ford East Africa had just got these in. They brought 3 to school reg. KHS 006; KHS 007 & KHS 008. Can you imagine the excitement of the 007 reg!
Great Channel, love it. Thanks

[wearetomorrowspast.]

My Primary Head-Teacher Mr. Hughes had a Rover P5 in the early 70's. Brown & Cream if I remember correctly. I used to just stare at it from the playground on breaks
I have a 1 Series Beemer sitting in the drive-way that has all the bells and whistles that the P5 didn't have. It has no soul.
That P5 was designed with love, built with love and my BMW was built to make money.
Cheers Mr. Hughes, you taught me to appreciate beauty. I hope my grammar was OK.

[LotCARS]

I’m sad this class has all but evaporated.. my Dad had almost all of them at some stage. Great memories, but the Granada will always be my favourite.

[TheSaabClinicUK]

My 2nd car at 18 was a Renault 30 TX 2.7 V6i manual. For the time it was an amazing car. Super comfortable and the UN1 manual box was bliss. Was not bad on fuel either. I was the envy of many at college with my 155bhp Luxobarge as they called it. From what i remember it was really reliable, never had any issues. I just changed oil and plugs. My Dad had a R20 TX 2.2. They were basically the same car as the R30 but with a 4cyl engine and slightly less options.

[johnmarsh]

The real reason people didn't keep cars for 10 years in the 1970s was that after about 6 or 7 years, the front wings were flapping, the headlights falling out and the sills had either fallen off or were reconstituted with newspaper and filler. The two greatest "innovations" that meant people could keep cars for 10 years + were the plastic wheelarch liner and wax cavity injection. In the 1980s you could kick a hole in most cars in the scrapyard. Today perfectly solid cars populate the scrappies, condemned because some megga expensive electronic widget has failed and costs more than the car's value to replace. Sad.

[jexjexjex]

On a different note - It's good to see LEGO 853 and 8860 taking pride of place on your shelving in the background.

[BRInteractive]

The W123 was a very popular choice among taxi drivers in Greece as well, and the same should said of the Audi 80 B2, and Datsun/Nissan Bluebird (more specifically, the 910, U11, and T12).

[connclissmann]

Many thanks for this look back. Your dad had great taste by sticking to the Audi 100 and then 200. My father also briefly owned an NSU Ro 80. The car my father owned longest was an Opel Caravan registered in 1959 and lasted over 15 years.

[MrDuncl]

That was a trip down memory lane.
In the 1960s a schoolmates Father had a BMW saloon which seemed very exotic back then.
In the 1970s my best friends mother had a Mercedes, then a Citroen DS23 estate which I went in twice a week. The school headmaster had a Rover P6 while his secretary had a Lotus Eclat How did that happen ?
Finally a mention for the Austin 18-22. The first time I saw one was while waiting for the school coach. I guess it was a company car as it was being driven like one with no regards for running in, more testing the performance. It really did look impressively futuristic back then.

Regarding reliability, there were also problems with rust, which would eventually finish off the Lancia brand in the U.K. As people said you can bolt on new parts except for the body. Did anyone ever have a 1970s Ford that didn't need the suspension mounts welding before it reached ten years old ?

p.s. A Lancia in the U.K. video would be good. Were they really as bad as the urban myths made out ?

[mow]

In 1973 my dad bought a VW 412 saloon. I always thought it was executive level. Now not sure. He went onto an Audi 200, then five in a row BMW 5 series. He changed every 2 years. He was born in 1922 so I guess he changed often out of habit. My mother always complained he was wasting money but he just ignored her.

[benmarshall]

Great video. Clearly I love your usual format of deep diving on one cars story, but I really enjoyed this switch up in format to more covering a whole segment of history.