1976 MOTOR SHOW

It was the end of an era as the 61st International Motor Show marked the last time the event would be held at Earls Court before heading to Birmingham’s NEC

Senior CCW contributor David has reported for numerous national papers and magazines in his career, including Record Mirror and Sounds. ‘Partially-clothed models were a regular sight at the Earls Court motor shows’ TVR’S IDEA OF MOTOR SHOW PR

If there was an ‘end of term’ feeling about Earls Court’s 1976 International Motor Show, no-one was really letting on because it was very much business as usual. The show had been held at Earls Court since 1937, but from October 1978 onwards the event organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders was to take place at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. Its Earls Court finale took place on October 20-30, 1976, but our featured image was reportedly taken on a preview day, which explains why it’s not crammed with members of the public and there’s obviously still work going on, judging by the ladder and the chap on the roof of the Vauxhall stand! Vauxhall was definitely bigging it up in 1976 and the show signs inform us: ‘ You’ll like what’s happening at Vauxhall.’

Car companies still invested big-time in print back then and the Vauxhall All Model Motor Show Catalogue bore the proud quote ‘Range of the Year’. Certainly, it provided a wide range from which to choose. The Chevette was still big news, with the E saloon, L estate, GL and GLS hatchbacks in 1976. For Viva fans there was the E and the 1300 GLS, while the Magnum contribution included saloon and estate options. There was also the Cavalier L and GLS Coupé, together with the VX1800 and 2300, plus the VX2300 GLS. Included with the Vauxhall brochure was a VATinclusive price list of vehicles, effective from October 30.

Lotus was still rightly very proud of its Esprit, which had been launched at the Paris Motor Show the previous October, and while the high-spec car took centre stage in London, there was no hint that it could convert into a submarine. That distinction would follow a few months later in the 1977 James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, starring the late Roger Moore.

Partially-clothed models were a regular sight at the motor show, but TVR fired great controversy with its 1971 appearance at Earls Court when two totally naked women were draped across its exhibits; the marque was more modest with the 1976 display, featuring a 2500M. In 1976 even Škoda had a couple of bikini-clad girls to draw attention to its S111 coupé.

Leyland Cars had a huge display of the cars within its range of marques, including examples of Austin Allegro and Princess, MGB GT and Midget, Jaguar XJ- S, Rover SD1, Triumph TR7, Dolomite, Spitfire and Stag. There were no fewer than five Minis on the Leyland stand, however, as the report in the November 1976 edition of Motorsport magazine pointed out: ‘Among the nice new cars at the Paris Salon and Earls Court there was still no new Leyland Mini. It’s nice of the British Leyland workers to give their permission for one to be produced eventually...’ The magazine added: ‘Ford are much nearer to big sales in the economy-car field with the still-mysterious, BMC/Issigonis-crib Fiesta, whose feared rival seems to be Renault’s 5 GTL.’ Also featured by Ford was the Escort estate (£15491920), Ford Escort Popular (from £1299), RS 2000 (£3000 approx.) and Granada Ghia Coupé (£4225).

From the French manufacturers, Citroën offered its CX2000/2220 (from £3446-3775), while Peugeot pushed its 604 (£4600).

There was great interest in Aston Martin’s futuristic wedgeshaped Lagonda Series 2, even if the prototype was only capable of movement when rolling down a hill. Another head-turner was AC Cars’ 3000 ME prototype chassis ME108, which featured in the company’s promotional material and contemporary press coverage.

Among the racing cars on display was an Embassy Hill F1 example in honour of Graham Hill, who had died in a light aircraft crash the previous November. A Panther Lima was also on display and 87 orders were taken with a £500 deposit paid for each.

If you couldn’t wait to get to the show to see what cars were on display and pick up all the latest brochures, catalogues and price lists, several publications produced their own preview publications.

One such special was the 32-page Daily Express Motor Show Review,

edited by Basil Cardew and priced at 40p. This included an alphabetical listing of the cars to appear at the show and sometimes the juxtaposition could be entertaining. For example, you could go from the Ferrari 365 GT/4 2+2 priced at £14,584 to the next listing of a Fiat 126 from £1075. Or how about the Porsche Turbo at £14,749 compared to the Reliant Kitten at around £1400? Well, the latter did offer better economy!