AUGUST 1979
UNION STREET, ABERDEEN
Some things may not change in the Granite City – but the cars certainly do
elcome, international orchestral youths, to north east Scotland, where you can tell that it is summer because everybody is still dressed in winter clothes and there’s a rusty Bedford van bathing in a patch of weak sunlight. This may not look the most temperate of days, but the Granite City had been extending a warm welcome to young people from all over the world since 1973 for this event. It still runs, as the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
That’s King Edward VII keeping an eye on the Union Bridge traffic – rather appropriately, because he was a motoring enthusiast. Sadly, there are no Daimlers – his favoured marque – amid the masses.
Approaching the camera, we have a boy-racered-up 1974 Ford Cortina 2000E MkIII, its factory black vinyl roof being ‘complemented’ by four spotlights and the obligatory lettered windscreen sun-strip. After the fake wood found inside earlier Cortina MkIIIs such as the GXL, the plush 2000E returned to real wood in the cabin – specifically teak. Other bonuses were a comprehensive dashboard, deep pile carpets and Savannah nylon upholstery. Classy.
Alongside the Cortina is a more restrained 1978 Escort MkII, possibly an L with the square headlamps newly adopted for that model. Beyond is an Austin 1300 MkIII and early Marina saloon, along with an Alexander-bodied Aberdeen Corporation bus.
Heading in the opposite direction is a four-door Opel Ascona B, its owner having opted for GM’s continental Europe arm rather than the closely-related Vauxhall Cavalier. But we’re firmly in Luton territory next, with the 1975 Bedford CF. The CF was a rare case of a ‘ Vauxhall’
Walso sold as an Opel – in some countries outside of the UK it was badged as the rather unfortunatelynamed Opel Blitz. The CF was the last purely Vauxhall-designed vehicle in production when dropped in 1979. This one is already showing a fair bit of corrosion , despite being just four years old. It can be tough up north…
Understandably in much better nick – it’s only a year old – is the bright orange Ford Capri MkIII. Being a 1600 or 2000 GL, it’s hardly the summit of Capri desirability, but its vibrant shade and facelifted model status would have turned many heads. It’s trickier to tell the difference between a MkII and MkIII from the rear than from the front, where the newer incarnation’s quad headlamps and smoother bodywork give the game away. The wraparound bumpers are the big rear clue.
A six-cylinder Rover SD1, Vauxhall Cavalier L MkI and Ford Cortina MkIV complete the identifiable cars before we’re back into bus territory again with another Alexander-bodied single decker, this time in the service of Northern Bluebird.
We wonder what King Edward VII might make of the cars passing beneath his statue today? If we had to hazard a guess, it would be almost certainly that they’re nowhere close to being as colourful or as interesting than they were 40 years ago.