The Way We Were
We look back on the heat, fashion disasters and Rover SD1s. First though we’re in the car park at Wimbledon, where a new Swedish champion is about to be crowned
Summer of ‘76 remembered
‘The Datsun 1200 Coupé on the edge of the frame would have been regarded as faintly exotic’
The overriding impression of this picture of Wimbledon is not so much the heat but the impact of Japanese cars on British roads in 1976. This would have been unthinkable had the photograph been taken only ten years earlier but by the mid-1970s Datsun, which had only been established in the UK since 1968, was one of the most familiar overseas car marques and its Cherry was our second-best selling import.
The 120A Coupé nearest to camera possessed a definite sense of style for just £1795.96, its ‘ breadvan’ lines are a marked contrast to the Dolomite with Michelotti coachwork.
To the left of the Triumph is the car that Datsun, with justifiable pride, described as: ‘Britain’s best-selling imported car’ – the 120Y Sunny. For just £1429.75 you too could own a small two-door saloon with radio and tinted glass as standard – plus an appearance that was reminiscent of a scaled-down 1972 Plymouth.
To the left of the Sunny is one of its strongest rivals, the Ford Escort MkII and at that time a fleet manager was still likely to buy British. The entry level Popular was so Spartan that the sales brochure listed ‘face level ventilation’ as a luxury feature but the wheel trims on the Escort in the picture denote a more exalted trim level, perhaps a GL.
Progressing down the line, we have a form of motoring life that was coming to the end of its production run – a Hillman Hunter. When the Rootes Arrow range made its debut in 1966 it was the logical alternative to the new Ford Cortina MkII, and ten years later older examples could still be widely seen as mini-cabs and reliable secondhand transport.
But by now Ford was building the fourth-generation Cortina while the now Chrysler-badged Hunter looked as with-it as a Herman’s Hermits LP.
As for the coupé on the end of the row, the looks of the first-generation Celica both bely its Carina floorplan and denote the model that Toyota saw as a Mustang rival in the USA. On this side of the Atlantic, it vied with the Capri in the ‘Medallion Man’ stakes, although we would not like to say which car would win this much vaunted competition.
Moving to the right, there is a second Arrow in estate guise – and who would have guessed that four decades later such a vehicle would be one of the stars of The Festival of The Unexceptional?
The Mini was such an accepted aspect of the motoring landscape that it would have been unusual to find a car park without one, while the Fiat 128 marked a watershed in mass-motoring. To quote the great LJK Setright: ‘In the numerous new standards it set, the Fiat 128 was quite exceptional. Like so many noteworthy Fiats, it was also utterly commonplace. That is part of the paradox which has made Fiat from time to time one of the greatest names in the industry.’
And before we take our leave from south-west London there is time to note the ubiquitous ADO16, the Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback, the Triumph Toledo (ideal transport for headmistresses and retired majors) and the Jaguar XJ.
The Datsun 1200 Coupé towards the edge of the frame would have been regarded as faintly exotic when it was new but now, according to the marque guru Eddie Rattley, it is phenomenally rare. It is such details that, in addition to making me feel exceptionally old, reinforce the shock of how distant this era now seems – a time when Ford Cortina MkIIIs still roamed the earth…