September 1975 CAR magazine giant test bonanza!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Just got my Sept' 1975 CAR. Not one but two Giants tests:BMW 518Citroen CX2000Wolseley 2200 Wedge-and-MGB GT 1800 (rubber)Toyota Celica GT Twin CamLancia Beta 1600 Coupe.Who can guess the correct 1-2-3 outcomes for both tests? Actually, it's not hard. But which would you have? I'd have all of them except the MGB..........

[garethj]

BMW 518Citroen CX2000Wolseley 2200 Wedge

Citroen first, Wolseley second, BMW third?

MGB GT 1800 (rubber)Toyota Celica GT Twin CamLancia Beta 1600 Coupe.

MGB first, Lancia second, Toyota third?

[wuvvum]

I've had all of them except the B and the Sleeker - although my wedge was a Princess 2200HL rather than a Wolseley.

[r.welfare]

I vote: CX-518-Wedge, and Beta-Celica-BGT. Seems to tally with the Good-Bad-Ugly ratings for 'em in the July '77 issue I have to hand.

[scruff]

Sept 75 - was this around the time they had the massive fallout with Fiat over an advert CAR ran in the national press? Those were the days...

[seth]

YEah, teh B will definitely be last in that group. Especially a wallow-y '75.

[Mr H Sceptre]

1. Beemer 2. CX 3. Wedge1. Beta 2. Celica 3. Sherpa CoupeProbably got them all completely wrong......

[Mr Lobster]

Test 1 - 1-CX 2-BMW 3-WolseleyTest 2 - 1-Beta 2-Celica 3-MG About fits with Cars view of the world back then that Euro stuff was good, Brits were crap and they hadn't quite got into full on BMW love by then.

[Guest]

Sept 75 - was this around the time they had the massive fallout with Fiat over an advert CAR ran in the national press? Those were the days...

Explain please.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I vote: CX-518-Wedge, and Beta-Celica-BGT. Seems to tally with the Good-Bad-Ugly ratings for 'em in the July '77 issue I have to hand.

Spot on Sir. Ironically, the same issue announces that the Wolseley and Austin/Morris models were to be replaced by the Princess - te 2200HLS with the big trapezoidal lamps was far better looking. I never liked the Wolseley/Morris snout.Thing is, the Citroen and BMW were both around £3500 and the 2200HL was massively cheaper at £2600 - the Wolseley was £2995.I did a DVLA check on all the cars - the Citroen was the first to keel over in 1981, the Wedge in '83 and the BMW in 1991. The MGB was last taxed in 2005 and the Beta isn't even on the records - undoubtedly culled in the 1983 Beta mass scrappage debacle.

[scruff]

Sept 75 - was this around the time they had the massive fallout with Fiat over an advert CAR ran in the national press? Those were the days...

Explain please.

CAR ran a test of the Fiat 126 and thought it was rubbish - in the same issue they had a test of the new Volvo and a story on the Darien Gap adventure with two Range Rovers which was big news at the time so must have been earlier than '75... anywayJust before this issue went to press, Saatchi & Saatchi designed an ad for them which said something like "THE NEW FIAT IS RUBBISH, VOLVOS ARE BORING AND THE MOTORING STORY OF THE DECADE TURNS OUT TO BE A FARCE. READ IT ALL IN CAR". It went in the nationals and Fiat went ballastic and I think Volvo did too, pulling their advertising for some time and threatening court action.

[r.welfare]

I'd heard the Volvo part of that story - there's allusion to it in one of the letters in the March '75 issue. Something to do with Volvo not lending them any cars since the "Volvo: The Car As Domestic Appliance" cover story in '72 or '73.Personally I love the George Bishop columns in this era of CAR. Fruitcake genius.

[Guest]

I'd heard the Volvo part of that story - there's allusion to it in one of the letters in the March '75 issue. Something to do with Volvo not lending them any cars since the "Volvo: The Car As Domestic Appliance" cover story in '72 or '73.Personally I love the George Bishop columns in this era of CAR. Fruitcake genius.

That one where there's a Volvo 140 on a washing machine box and a pulled up cardboard tab that says 'Rip Off'?CAR seemed VERY acerbic from the issues I've read back then. They don't bear any resemblance to the toothless lifestyle mag you can buy now.On a similar tack, when TG couldn't get a Challenger lent to them, was it really because Chrysler wouldn't lend them a car?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Personally I love the George Bishop columns in this era of CAR. Fruitcake genius.

They were all good - LJKS, Bishop, Steady Barker, Mel Nichols etc. CAR was pretty fearless back then and promoted the offbeam choices - Renaults 4-16, Pugs, Citroens and Alfas - anything that wasn't a dreary British turd basically.It was good into the nineties - anyone else remember Russell Bulgin doing 500 miles in a day in the then new Astra Mark 3 1.4? He was living the life of a sales rep, pounding the motorways and eating motorway services food.It's not been very good for about 10 years now.

[Guest]

Personally I love the George Bishop columns in this era of CAR. Fruitcake genius.

They were all good - LJKS, Bishop, Steady Barker, Mel Nichols etc. CAR was pretty fearless back then and promoted the offbeam choices - Renaults 4-16, Pugs, Citroens and Alfas - anything that wasn't a dreary British turd basically.It was good into the nineties - anyone else remember Russell Bulgin doing 500 miles in a day in the then new Astra Mark 3 1.4? He was living the life of a sales rep, pounding the motorways and eating motorway services food.It's not been very good for about 10 years now.

I remember when it had a really good balance around 1995 \ 1996, then it all went to shit after they hired a new art department.I remember they did a hot hatch test with all the greats from history, and slagged the 306 GTI 6 off 'because the interior's plasticky'. Fucking hell, NEVER!Yes, a 306 is utterly comparable with a Mk5 Golf GTI that costs £18,000 more. Still have the Pug over one of those overrated toss wagons any day.

[Pete-M]

I cancelled my CAR subscription in about 2006 but I'd kept it going more out of bloody minded hoping it would get better rather than anything. When Jason Barlow became editor it went utterly shite. All 'new format' and 'arty'. I was initially going to drop it when James May stopped writing for them.For me, my favourite CAR period was the early 90s with a beardy Goodwin, Llewellin, Bulgin, May, George and Matt Bishop, LJKS, Horrell, Ruppert, Green and Bremner. Ian Frasers odd bits were rather good as well."Pistons at Dawn" with the 3.0S Capri vs the RX7 and the "Shite Car Cup" are the features that jump immediately to mind. May's "England Made Me" - 'A small Fiat would be nice' then buying a P6 2000 Auto. Bulgin harping on endlessly about shutlines and grey shoes, Bremner buying countless old rusty sheds, Horrell and his Pug 106, George Bishop obviously barking mad and not really giving a toss any more, complaining about the cam on his 6 series, LJKS going on about high styrene tyre compounds and the like.I've still got all the early 90's ones. Still read them more often than I perhaps should..

[trigger]

I have every issue CAR right next to me at the moment from 1983-2009, They do seem to go quite arty farty towards the end, Yet to read and of the later ones, Been to busy scanning them all onto flickr for that!.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Most memorable for me was December 1987;"SETRIGHT DECIDES", four car test with Bentley Eight, Benz 560SEL, Jaguar XJ12 Series 3 and the new BMW 750iL. Back then these were the worlds finest and most expensive saloons, quarter of a million quid the lot.Now you'd buy a clean quartet for £15 grand, maybe less.

[Pete-M]

Most memorable for me was December 1987;"SETRIGHT DECIDES", four car test with Bentley Eight, Benz 560SEL, Jaguar XJ12 Series 3 and the new BMW 750iL. Back then these were the worlds finest and most expensive saloons, quarter of a million quid the lot.Now you'd buy a clean quartet for £15 grand, maybe less.

You'd be lucky to get a clean set of those for £15k.Bentley would be £8k in good enough condition to bother with.750iL is maybe £1500 nowXJ12 Series 3's are now a good few grand in decent nick.560 SELs are at least £3k for a nice one.I had a 500 SEL and have kept a close eye on 560 SELs prices ever since.. Unfortunately, they're on the rise for good ones, and bad ones get fragged. Ace cars though. Spectacularly uneconomical on a charge.

[trigger]

Just been having a quick flick through that December 87 issue, I haven't got the foggest what Setright is on about in it.

[reallyloud]

Its the only magazine I subscribe to, occasionally there is something that genuinely interests me, but at least it is generally well written and researched. I agree though it started losing its flavour around the mid 90's - I remember the VW lemon cover vividly - the mk3 Golf GTI was a stinker and they were the only magazine to admit this. I always found Setright difficult to grasp, even after reading his column 23 times and I never understood his love for Bristol cars, but his passion for technology and design always impressed me. George Bishop and Gavin Green too were always great value. The photography and locations were amazing - there was a photoshoot in the 80's on board the Ark Royal, and often contained a sideways glace at older cars - they banger raced a Renault 18 over a series and concluded that they should have bought a Cortina to race instead. There's a good compilation book on sale at the moment, with some articles from the 60's and 70's.

[Spottedlaurel]

They definitely weren't very keen on Japanese cars of the 1970s and early 1980s, amazing that the Celica made it to 2nd (only because it was up against the MGB I think).Ian Fraser was on a classic car run I went on earlier this year, he had a nice old Lancia. I was going to harrass him, but sadly didn't see him again during the day - he probably sussed me as having the Laurel and was avoiding me...Like others here, I greatly enjoyed reading Car through the '80s and into the '90s, I probably got to 1995 or so before finding it less and less to my taste.

[scruff]

My fave era was the 80s, when editors were Mel Michols then Steve Cropley and then Gavin Green's first stint. Great cars, great writing, not-giving-a-shit about being PC... marvellous. I think Lancia pulled their advertising too and at one stage every issue had a furious letter from some manufacturer PR bloke or another - often BL/Austin Rover. You can picture the writers properly living the dream though; Bremner's Docklands pad, flying into the Geneva show on private jets, the swanky Earls Court office and later tales of barn sharing to store varied old shitters. Believe me it is not like that now...Was the Ark Royal shoot for one of the Top Tens?? Seem to remember it with a Quattro, 2cv, Uno?, Ferrari 308, Rangie and some others.

[brammy777]

I got CAR for a short while back in the early noughties.But it got slightly boring, as did Top gear Magazine, with writers attempting to create articles which were slightly beyond them.But anyway, having read the 70s and 80s CAR book, i decided it was high time to invest in some older issues of it.So i have an issue from 1980 and 2 from '82 on their way as we speak!

[pogweasel]

When I were a lad, our school library had only 2 car-related mags on the shelves, one was 'Kit Car', full of dreadful GRP pinto-engined toss, the other was CAR, hence I would spend much of my time immersed in the world of Setright, Bulgin etc, bloody marvellous, and much better than getting beaten up in the common room or playground.

[scruff]

I got CAR for a short while back in the early noughties.But it got slightly boring, as did Top gear Magazine, with writers attempting to create articles which were slightly beyond them.But anyway, having read the 70s and 80s CAR book, i decided it was high time to invest in some older issues of it.So i have an issue from 1980 and 2 from '82 on their way as we speak!

Yeah, funny thing is though of all the classic era writers who are still alive, most seem to be spread between Top Gear mag and Autocar - Mel Nichols and Cropley are big cheeses at Haymarket. Bulgin was a legend. I've got a 1983 Motor in the throne room at the moment, he was motorsport correspondant for them in those days, brill.

[brammy777]

I most definitely got into car magazines far too late, if only id traded my Beano for CAR back in 94 like a clever child... ah well.Dont get me wrong, CAR is still good at times, better than EVO and all those related supercar magazines.

[andrew e]

Bulgin did some good pieces for triple C in the mid 80's don't forget. The high water mark was the late 80's I reckon. As for now? Stick your head in Bauer's faceless offices and you can see why there is no passion, horrible place.

 

I would like a Llewellin lorry story compilation from his Truck mag articles - get the road to Muckle Fugga its fantastic. James Rupperts recent book is cracking too, highly reccomended.

 

Best bits of car? (and Supercar classics)

 

Bob Freeman end of. Any man who can sketch freehand elipses is (was alas) a GOD.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Bulgin was a good writer, but an absolutely awful bloke - probably the rudest Guy I've ever spoken to. I don't think he was well loved at CAR either.I once sat next to LJKS at the NEC Motor Show on press day around 4-5 years ago. He smelt of death but I regret no speaking to him. A mate of mine photographed him in his flat for some article or other and found him to be utterly charming. He was an absolutely lunatic driver though, a madman.

[scruff]

Stick your head in Bauer's faceless offices and you can see why there is no passion, horrible place.

Come and say hello next time you are there...!