Sports cars at all levels adopted a race-proven, mid-engined layout in the 1970s. Mounting the motor amidships provided extra cornering agility, greater handling precision, and better traction. Moving the engine behind the passengers also meant the nose could be lower, which helped to improve aerodynamic...
In the 1970s, North America simply couldn’t get enough of imported sports cars, and demand especially from the “sunshine states” was a lifeline for many European marques, such as the UK’s MG and Triumph, and Italy’s Alfa Romeo and Fiat. Roadsters like the MGB and...
Fast can be fun, but these cars demonstrated that there were plenty of other ways to get your motoring kicks. From pint-sized sports cars to the quirkiest of lightweight economy cars, they proved that good things really did come in small packages. And they matched...
Hatchbacks were the big trend of the 1970s. Within a few years almost all small cars had adopted the front-engine, front-wheel drive layout and the semi-estate body style with three or five doors to add practicality. Fold-flat rear seats provided even more versatility. The seats...
Henry Ford was the first motor manufacturer to use mass-production techniques, and his Model T was the best selling car of its era. The company he founded has been one of the world’s largest car-makers for decades, with an enviable automotive portfolio as broad as...
Increasingly sophisticated technology made the best saloons and GT cars even better as the 1960s turned into the 1970s. At the top end power usually came from V8 engines, often built in the US, though V6s and VI2s were used as well. All of them...
Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italdesign was the most influential car-design bureau in the world in the 1970s. The Alfa Romeo Alfasud and Volkswagen Golf put a Giugiaro original into the hands of even the humblest motorist. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); ...
Premium saloons were offering all sorts of routes to performance and panache. The old-school method was to drop a big, lazy V8 into a medium-sized body. This was the path taken by Mercedes in Germany and Rover in the UK. Other car-makers went for smaller...
Named for an era when the world was caught up in the excitement of the international space race, the diminutive Cosmo 110S was a sophisticated, two-seater coupe designed to sit at the very top of the Mazda range. At its launch in 1967 it was...
Toyota was at the forefront of the Japanese motor industry’s move into exports in the 1960s, establishing satellite plants around the world. It became a force in rallying but its foray into Formula 1 proved unsuccessful, and it has been rocked by quality scares in...