It was planned when Mazda was riding high on Rotary success in the early 1970s. That decade was the golden age of “personal coupes,” be they Toyota Celicas or Lincoln MkIVs, so it made perfect…
Posts tagged Cars of the 1970s
Glorious Swan Song:
Iso Lele
It ended up being the company’s last new production car, although nobody could have known that when the Iso Lele debuted in 1969. Meant to replace the original Iso GT, the Iso Rivolta IR300 that…
Lincoln Continental Mark III: The Magic Number
It was one of Lee Iacocca’s greatest successes. It was exactly what its target audience wanted, it was extremely profitable, and it created the template for an era of unprecedented sales success for Lincoln. Introduced…
Three-Wheelin’: Reliant Robin Mk1
In time all Reliant 3-wheelers, including the earlier Regal and later Rialto, came to be commonly called “Reliant Robins,” (or worse – “Robin Reliants”) so familiar were they in the fabric of U.K. life. In…
Saab Sportster Evolution: Sonett III
There were four distinct Saab Sonetts over the years, although the last one – the one we’re talking about here – was labeled “Sonett III.” The original Sonett, supposedly named for the phrase “Så nätt…
The First 3-Series: BMW E21
It has beautiful, classic BMW lines by Paul Bracq. It has excellent handling, loads of room, and it’s fun to drive like a proper BMW. It’s even historic – the first car to wear the…
Postmodern Italian: Fiat Ritmo/Strada
Long forgotten by most in America, the Fiat Strada – called the Fiat Ritmo in Europe – was delightfully strange and very familiar at the same time. Sometimes accused of being a copy of the…
The First Peugeot-born Citroën: LN/LNA
No doubt President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, having eked out an election win over labor favorite Francois Mitterrand only months earlier, breathed a sigh of relief on December 4, 1974. Ailing Citroën, for months in very…
Disco Nights: 1979 Coupe DeVille D’Marchand
“Regional” and “Seasonal” special models were once a Detroit staple, particularly from the 1950s into the 1970s with models as obscure as the fifties Dodge Coronet “Texan” (Texas only) to AMC’s Rebel “Mariner” (Pacific Northwest),…
De Tomaso and Dearborn: Pantera
Enzo Ferrari’s refusal to sell his company to Ford in 1963 led directly to the creation of the GT40 and Ford’s famous LeMans efforts. There were roadgoing GT40s, sort of, but they weren’t something an…
Rotary Madness: Mazda RX-3 Wagon
Mazda’s first U.S. dealers, in Oregon and Washington, opened in April of 1970, and a regional office in Seattle soon followed, with a small HQ in Compton, California not too far behind. Toyo Kogyo sold…
Airborne Armor: Land Rover 1/2-ton Lightweight
It’s a Land Rover alright, but of a very particular kind – it’s called the “half ton lightweight,” although it’s actually not as light as the name or materials used would imply. The story of…