Exploring the World’s Cult Classic Cars
It remains one of the most spectacular cars ever made, an almost impossibly stylish supercar that also went like a bat out of hell. The “Gullwing” doors of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL imbued an added sense of the outrageous to a car born of impeccable racing pedigree.
The greatest small sports saloon of its time, the BMW 02 series set the Munich company on the road to the 3-series. We look at its history.
It was the best of cars, it was the worst of cars… It was the age of British Leyland, when industrial strife and poor build quality could bring down the best-laid plans of our finest designers and engineers. The Rover SD1 was a triumph of supercar-esque styling, safety and speed, but flaking paint, poor reliability and assorted BL-related troubles dampened
The Austin Metro arrived amid a patriotic fervour in 1980, and played a huge part in reviving British Leyland. But was it a good car?
Long before the Mini was a twinkle in Sir Alec Issigonis’s eye, Austin had already produced a small family car that captured the hearts of the nation. The A30, and its almost identical successor the A35, was dubbed the Steel Teddy Bear thanks to its rounded, cuddly appearance.
The Beetle was a tough act to follow, but when Volkswagen launched the Golf in 1974, boy did they get it right. It couldn’t have been more different to its antiquated predecessor - front-engined, front-wheel drive, and a hatchback, ‘folded paper’ design penned by Giorgetto Guigiaro.
Bold, beautiful, brilliant, and a breakthrough in fast GT motoring, the Jaguar E-Type had it all - including a relatively affordable price. Its ease of use, stunning design, and race-bred handling combined with a potential 150mph redefined the public’s expectations of sports car motoring.
The car given that unenviable task was the XJ-S, and Browns Lane chose a radical departure from the curvy, bulbous styling of the E-Type. It upset the traditionalists, but the XJ-S ultimately proved a success, remaining in production for 21 years and selling more than its illustrious predecessor.
It was the little family car that morphed into arguably the best hot hatch of the golden era of pocket rockets. The Peugeot 205GTI was declared “car of the decade” by CAR magazine in 1990, and the greatest car ever tested by What Car? in 2020.
Does the Austin Allegro deserve its reputation as one of the worst cars ever made? We looked over contemporary road tests to find out.