Social historians will argue about exactly when Britain’s post-war blues started to lift. In 1957, then prime minister Harold Macmillan announced that we’d “never had it so good”, but the electorate probably wasn’t getting that vibe until about five years later, in 1962. And what a vibe it was, too, with Britons eager to shake off any residual post-war gloom to the accompaniment of The Beatles’ Love Me Do, and the knowledge that change was in the air.
Car makers were also on a roll, with a raft of new products that jettisoned the grey, austere designs of old for good. They now had to appeal to an increasingly youthful, aspirational buyer – as well as the booming American market – and styling reflected that shift. But three models unveiled in 1962 – all homespun two-seaters, but each at a different price point – were to change the face of The Great British Sports Car for more than a decade, and beyond. They were the Triumph Spitfire, MGB and Lotus Elan.
And what better location to bring this trio together than Goodwood Motor Circuit, which would still have been a prime stop-off for these cars’ first owners 60 years ago? Perhaps the most impecunious of them would have been driving the Spitfire, and feeling ever-so-slightly smug at the thought of showing up fellow drivers in their cheap ’n’ cheerful Austin-Healey Sprites. For the Spitfire, despite its relatively low £729 price and humble Herald underpinnings, looked like a glimpse of the future.
Esta historia es de la edición May 2022 de Classic & Sports Car.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición May 2022 de Classic & Sports Car.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Mick WALSH
'Had someone said that this worn-looking titan would win the most famous old-car event, we would have laughed'
ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QF
Rewriting the rulebook on what an SUV can do, and how it can make you feel
FLOATING INTO THE FUTURE
Citroën's DS-replacing CX was at a cutting edge so sharp it still looks fresh today, and it had the drive to match - as five superb survivors reveal
"It's a car for posing in really"
Broadcaster Michael Buerk reflects on more than three decades with his beloved Jaguar E-type S1 3.8 fixed-head coupé
HONDAS DECK THE HALL
The Japanese firm's Los Angeles collection is now on public display for the first time in two decades
ABSOLUTELY buzzing
Honda's Si Civics brought agile, cheap fun to motorists long before the Type R name got anywhere near a hatchback
THE FEMININE TOUCH
In 1955, General Motors styling guru Harley Earl brought 11 talented women into the male-dominated world of automotive design. What was their lasting impact?
Out on a limb
Panther's innovative Solo 2 was something completely different, both for its maker and the sports car market
Restyles with substance
Panther Westwinds blended a passion for pre-war designs with modern-era mechanical usability and remarkably fine coachbuilding
Dead ringers
The Maserati Kyalami and De Tomaso Longchamp share much, having emerged from the same stable, but are poles apart at heart