Archive Images

Join us on another trip down memory lane as we gather together a collection of wonderfully evocative press pictures from the past.

More great images, this time ranging from R for Rover to S for Swallow.

ROVER

To our warped way of thinking, this looks for all the world like the greatest and most realistic arcade game ever built, like those motorbikes in front of TV screens on which you can race your mates. That is just wishful thinking though, as it actually shows a Rover 213 Vanden Plas car on what we assume are the test rollers at the end of the production line. Introduced in June 1984, the 213 was a lightly reworked Honda Ballade and Rover's first FWD car. The VdP was the top of the line, but there was no automatic option. Sadly, in taking over from the Acclaim, the 213 meant the end of Triumph as a marque.

ROLLS-ROYCE

It's a little disappointing that the photographer didn't get the whole car in this 1959 shot taken in London. Presumably they thought that the occupants – US President Dwight D Eisenhower and UK Prime Minister Harold McMillan – were the main focus rather than the coachbuilt RollsRoyce Silver Cloud drophead coupé by H. J. Mulliner. Didn't they know that it was one of the most desirable – and most expensive – forms of open-top motoring at that time?

RENAULT

This image must date to 1972 and the launch of the new Renault 5. Back then it may have been FWD, but the engine was in a north- south configuration borrowed from the Renault 4. It was only rotated through

90° to become what we now consider the more conventional transverse layout when a visually similar but totally transformed second generation Supercinq was introduced in 1984, now with MacPherson strut front suspension instead of torsion bars. Note the yellow headlamps – yellow lights were mandatory in France on new cars from 1937 and on all others from 1939, a requirement that lasted all the way through until 1993. How many readers remember painting their own headlights or fitting yellow covers in preparation for a holiday abroad? Incidentally, those iconic R5 headlamps are claimed to have been key drivers in the creation of a reimagined Renault Five that was unveiled this January, although that one will have electric power.

SUZUKI

In my youth, Japanese cars had taken over from Fiats in the public perception as the world's biggest rust- buckets. In some ways that was unfair, as most British manufacturers of the day could have given the foreign competition a run for their money in the race to dissolve. Careful design and proper factory rustproofing had come a long way by the time Suzuki launched their Cappuccino in 1991, but even so I can't help giving a little shudder at seeing it posed like this in the middle of a river. Clearly old prejudices die hard, although I'd prefer to think of it as concern that such a delightful little sports car is not being given the respect it deserves!

SWALLOW

This is the Swallow Doretti. The Swallow name may be familiar to you from its Jaguar heritage, but William Lyons sold his sidecar business of this name to Tube Investments during WW2. In 1954, TI launched the Doretti sports car under the Swallow name, with Triumph TR2 running gear housed in a tubular frame, with a steel body and handbuilt aluminium outer panels. Intended for US sales, the Doretti name was derived from the lady who managed the Western US distributorship of Cal Sales – Dorothy Deen. Production only lasted until 1955, by which time 276 had been built. Highly regarded today, at the time it was slower and more expensive than a TR2.

SAAB

This slippery little beauty is the very first Saab, 92.001. It was finished in 1946, and made use of a number of DKW parts scavenged from a scrapyard outside of Linköping. Note the faired in front wheels – these aided the aerodynamics, but in winter could become packed with snow and hamper the steering! The second prototype addressed this with cutouts, as did the finished Saab 92 when production started in December 1949.

STANDARD

An old- school publicity picture here for Standard, with their 1959 Vanguard posed outside a period cottage complete with roses around the door and a well- dressed lady waving hubby off to work. However, we reckon that this is the Luxury Six, so under the bonnet is a very forward-looking six- cylinder engine that would go on to power various sporty Triumphs, and in heavily reworked form the Rover SD1 too.