The Way We Were
It’s lovely weather for messing about in boats. How many car owners have abandoned land for water here, we wonder?
Summer 1975, Devon
We often incidentally feature classic transport other than cars in The Way We Weres – bicycles, motorcycles, buses, boats, trains and planes etc. Appreciation of old cars generally extends to other historic machines – if you like Jaguar E-types, you probably also quite enjoy Avro Vulcans and Deltic diesels. And if you’re fond of BMC Farinas, then you’re probably Nick Larkin and you’ll go bonkers over Bristols – buses, of course.
But railway fans are going to be disappointed this time. Because, in this sunny 1975 view of Kingswear, south Devon, you can just see a steam train over on the right, disappearing down the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway alongside the River Dart. At this time in the heritage line’s history, it would probably have been Great Western Railway ‘Manor’ Class loco No 7827 ‘Lydham Manor’. But as we can’t be sure, let’s not spend any more time on it and focus on the reason we’re here – look at all those boats! No, Sorry, we mean cars.
Over on the left is something that would have been practically a classic even in 1975. It’s a Vauxhall Cresta PA, specifically a post-1959 example after the original three-piece rear screen had made way for a onepiece wraparound item. Cresta PAs and Victor Fs, along with their Ford Consul MkII rivals, enjoyed a resurgence during the 1970s thanks to the decade’s 1950s revival. Sadly, 953 DTT doesn’t seem to have been one plucked for preservation; it’s no longer known to the DVLA.
Neither is its neighbour, VXF 246M, a 1973 Triumph Toledo – the successor to the 1300 of the 1960s that switched from front- to rear-wheel drive. Resolutely FWD is the Renault 12 next door, of a similar vintage to the Triumph, but in a glorious shade of brown. Regarded as a large family car, it had ample space under its bonnet for its 1289cc engine to be fitted longitudinally, unlike its companion next door, the 1967 Austin Minivan, which squeezed its A-series in transversely, with very little room to spare, as anybody who has ever tried to change the bottom bypass hose will testify to.
It’s back to Triumph again with the 1970 2000 or 2500 MkII. Annoyingly, one of the fence wires is obscuring its grille badge, but wheel trims rather than factory five-spoke alloys suggests a lower spec variant. The red Fiat 124 definitely isn’t a humbler version, though; the four headlamps denote a post-1970 Special or Special T. If it’s the latter, it sports Fiat’s sparkling twin-cam engine, which would be fun on the twisting Devonshire roads.
Facing the River Dart, there’s a 1973 Hillman Hunter Deluxe estate, a Morris Minor offering similar load-lugging capabilities combined with the allure of halftimbering, and a red Datsun 160B. What’s next though really stands out, even in a Britain that was now wholeheartedly embracing imported cars. It’s a Lancia Fulvia Coupé, the handsome sportier two-door Fulvia offshoot on a shortened floorpan, styled by Piero Castagnero. We suspect the owner of the Bedford Beagle HA estate keeping it company may be a little jealous…
The blue VW Beetle is a 1968-1972 example, based on the design of the rear lights. It looks like its owner loves it enough to have added an aluminium vent trim underneath the back window. A Peugeot 504, Morris Marina coupé and Minivan – its bright orange shade suggesting a 1970s example – complete the row.
This scene is a lot more crowded (albeit neatly) with boats these days, thanks to Darthaven Marina (possibly one of Star Wars’ less successful characters) having installed mooring piers here. The watercraft even occupy where this car park was, road vehicles having been moved further upriver to rest.