THE MIDDLE LANE

The greatest car year ever? Tough call, says TGTV script writer Sam Philip... has 2021 got a chance?

On 12 February 1809, in a grand house in Shrewsbury, England, a baby was born. His name was Charles Robert Darwin, and he would grow up to become – well, you know the story: natural selection, On the Origin of Species, yer nan was a Bonobo ape. Big science stuff.

On the same day, in a log cabin in Hodgenville, Kentucky, another baby was born. His name was Abraham Lincoln, and he would grow up to become – well, you know the story: four score and seven, all men are created equal, get out there and smash up some Confederates. Big politics stuff.

How mad is that? Two of the undisputed big dogs of history, born on opposite sides of the Atlantic on the very same Sunday. Odder still, the significance of that day in 1809 wouldn’t – couldn’t – have been apparent at the time. Not until many decades later could anyone have looked back and thought, huh, decent day for humankind, that one.

So – in the words of that other great historical thinker, C Bradshaw – I got to thinking: what’s the car equivalent? For balance, I reckon we’re permitted a year rather than a specific date, what with cars stubbornly refusing to be neatly born on a single day. Thus, you could make a solid case for 1948 (Land

“MAYBE IN HALF A CENTURY WE’LL HERALD 2021 AS ANOTHER ANNUS MIRABILIS FOR CARS”

Rover, Jaguar XK120, Citroen 2CV) or maybe 1984 (Mercedes W124, Renault Espace, Ferrari 288 GTO, Toyota MR2).

But I’d vote for 1964, which saw the arrival of not only the Vanden Plas Princess and Bedford Beagle, but also – ready for this? – the Ford Mustang and Porsche 911. (Yes, some people will tell you the 911 first appeared in 1963, but that was a prototype badged ‘901’, and production didn’t begin until the following year, so ignore them.)

Sixty four! What a year! Two performance car icons that would literally define the shape of fast cars for the next half-century and more, emerging from the womb within a few months of each other. What are the odds? I guess maybe quite high: it was the Sixties, after all. Innovative, groundbreaking cars were rocking up left, right and centre. Maybe it was inevitable that two classmates would go on to achieve immortality. Even so, let’s chalk up ’64 as a good vintage.

Of course, as with Chaz ’n’ Abe’s shared DOB, that year’s historical significance wouldn’t become apparent for decades. At launch, though both Ford and Porsche presumably had an inkling they weren’t about to serve up a pair of sales stinkers, they literally couldn’t have known they were in the business of changing car history. Hindsight provides new eyes. Who knows, maybe in half a century we’ll herald 2021 as another annus mirabilis for cars, saluting the Hyundai Bayon and Merc EQB as trailblazers for generations to come. Maybe not. As Darwin himself said, “The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us.” And people say he was just about the monkey nans.