The Way We Were

1976, Wigan, Lancashire

‘H unt the Shunt’ may have won the Formula One world title in his first season with McLaren, but it’s doubtful whether he was the driver of this Rover P5B.

It is also quite unlikely that the battery shop across the road will be able to solve all the driver’s problems – there appears to be more than a scratch to the front of this 3.5-Litre. It was the last incarnation of the P5 made from 1967 to 1973, bringing to an end a run that started life in 1958 as a 3-Litre.

Known as the P5B, the car seen here getting personal with a building on Wigan Lane in, er, Wigan – now an Indian restaurant and barber’s shop – would have carried a Buickdesigned V8 and a new four-light arrangement at the front with the addition of fog lamps. At the time, diners would have been more likely to opt for a meal at the Turnkey on nearby King Street, though now you’d be spoiled for choice if a curry is what you’re after.

The battery shop is now a tanning salon but there is still a newsagent nearby, likewise an off licence.

This queue is showing no sign of clearing, but the driver of the Vauxhall Firenza will be happy to be getting past the accident. First produced in 1971, this particular Firenza was three years old when this picture was taken, but it’s whereabouts are now in doubt. The black coupé hasn’t been on the road since 1983, records show.

With Mabs Cross Primary School – still there today – clearly visible in the distance, the scene has attracted a group of young onlookers sporting flares and long hair who – understandably for 1976, are oblivious to the classic line-up behind them, which would have attract a good deal of attention had they been there 43 years later.

The first identifiable car after the police car – which we think is a Triumph 2000 – is an Austin Allegro. Given away by its bloated bonnet, the Allegro was nicknamed ‘the flying pig’ because of hopes that it would revive British Leyland’s fortunes at its launch in 1973. As we look at the traffic here, workers at Longbridge almost 100 miles away in Birmingham were waiting to hear if Allegro production would be moved to Belgium.

Next in line is another BL masterpiece – a Triumph Toledo – which started life in 1970 as a 1296cc two-door with drum brakes all round. The Toledo had been replaced by the Dolomite earlier this year after a production run of 119,182 cars, making it one of Triumph’s most successful small saloons.

Switching designers from Giovanni Michelotti to Alec Issigonis, we turn to the Mini behind the Toledo. It needs no introduction, though with the lack of a visible registration plate it is impossible to tell whether this particular one is sitting somewhere cherished and quietly appreciating in value, or – more likely – suffered an ignominious fate years ago. We can guess it is most likely a MkIII, with the MkIV having only just been released – and production at this time was being reduced by BL in readiness for the Metro’s launch.

Before the participants of this static display disappear into obscurity behind our onlookers’ heads, a Ford Cortina MkI is the last car that we can identify, just in front of the school. At least ten years old here, it already stands out in this crowd and later iterations would help it to become Britain’s best-selling car in the 1970s. It’s hard to tell if this is a MkIa, which had elliptical front sidelights, or a MkIb with a redesigned front grille.

These days, Wigan Lane is still used, but relatively quiet thanks to Central Park Way, which runs parallel to it, and was named after the nearby rugby ground, which was demolished in 2000 to make way for a Tesco supermarket.