Just a few months later, it would be swept aside by the radically aerodynamic, lozenge-shaped Sierra, but in early 1982 the Ford Cortina MkV was still a market-dominating machine in the U.K. Indeed, even after…
Posts tagged Cars of the 1980s
Dacia 1300: The Original Romanian Renault
Something different today! Like many Eastern Bloc cars, the Dacia 1300 had an unnaturally long life. Changing economic and political circumstances, and some clever updating and modifying, meant that what began as a licensed 1969…
Subaru Turbo RX: Before They Were Stars
It’s 25+ years since the world got to know the Subaru WRX thanks to the exploits of Carlos Sainz and the late, great Colin McRae, to say nothing of Gran Turismo and Sega Rally Championship….
Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler: The Original Wrangler Pickup
The Jeep CJ-8 is most famous for being the first “Wrangler pickup,” even though there are two significant flaws in that designation. First, the CJ-8 was built long before the Wrangler name debuted (in 1987),…
Honda Civic Wagon Mk1: Van Or Wagovan
Is it a wagon, or a minivan, or a hatch? All three, maybe? One of Honda’s most important but least heralded 1980s moments came when the Mk3 Civic arrived in the fall of 1983. This…
Mercury Lynx: The Stray Cat
Oil prices cratered in the mid-1980s, but the effects of two successive gas crises freaked Americans out enough for them to line up for Ford’s first American Escort all through the decade. That anxiety helped…
Honda Accord Mk2: Marysville Made
The second-generation Honda Accord never gets as much attention as the first, and while it isn’t as significant a car on a global scale, it was the next step in Honda’s climb up the sales…
Saab 90: The Least Famous Swede
What do you get when you mate the front half of a Saab 99 with the back half of a 900? The Saab 90. In 1983, Saab decided to do exactly this to create a…
Lotus Excel: Hethel’s Best Kept Secret
It seems fair to say that the Lotus Excel is Hethel’s most underrated car. Nobody ever talks much about it, the company never again built anything like it after it was gone, and it dwelled…
1987-89 Mercury Tracer: Hecho En Mexico
Sometimes a car is less significant for what it is than what it represents, and the original Mercury Tracer definitely falls into this category. Although it had a Ford sibling, the Asia-Pacific market Laser, both…
Rover Montego Estate: The End Of The BAe Era
When BMW bought the Rover in early 1994—a moment that has lived in infamy for many parties ever since—its German bosses were surprised to learn that the former Austin Maestro and Montego were still in…
Ford Escort Mark II: Project Brenda
By the summer of 1980, Ford of Europe’s Escort Mark II was starting to feel old, and the automotive world was abuzz with news of its much-anticipated front-drive successor, “Project Erika.” However, while it was…