22 big car anniversaries in 2022

Time machines

Queen Elizabeth II isn’t the only institution celebrating a significant anniversary this year. As it turns out, there are quite a few major motoring names that are partying like it’s 1962… or 1972, or 1982.

Here we list 22 manufacturers and models that have got out the bunting and party hats this year.

1. AC Cobra (60th anniversary)

Given its success, it’s fair to say the Cobra was an Ace idea. No, really.

You see, the Cobra began life as the AC Ace, a beautifully proportioned two-seat British sports car manufactured by AC Cars of Thames Ditton in Surrey. However, AC had a problem, because the engine in the Ace was getting long in the tooth, and was soon to be discontinued.

As fortune would have it, US racer Carroll Shelby was a fan of the Ace, but wanted it modified to accept a V8 engine. Ford duly provided a couple of 3.6-litre V8 motors, which AC set about fitting into a modified Ace, and so the Cobra was born, along with a beautiful partnership.

AC Cobra (cont.)

By the time Shelby received the first mechanicals, the engine had grown to 4.7 litres.

Over the course of time, modification continued aplenty, including a major change to rack-and-pinion steering, and various increases in engine size, culminating in the fearsome Cobra 427, which had a 7.0-litre V8 up front.

2. Audi 80 (50th anniversary)

These days, platform sharing is quite normal. Witness cars such as the Audi A1, Seat Arona, Seat Ibiza, Škoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo (all different but fundamentally similar underneath).

Back in the early 1970s, it wasn’t quite such a thing.

So, when Audi launched the 80 in 1972, the car was not only a success that set the company on the path to being the executive-class behemoth it is today, but it also provided the basis for the near-identical Volkswagen Passat.

Audi 80 (cont.)

The car represented the Audi brand completely leaving behind its Auto Union roots, so featured brand new 1.3- and 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engines, and was available as either a two- or four-door saloon, or an estate car.

Indeed, the design was such a success that it was named the European Car of the Year in 1973, beating competition from the new Renault 5, among others.

3. BMW M (50th anniversary)

M has to be one of the quickest letters in the English language. Well, it is when preceded by BMW anyway.

Fifty years ago, the BMW brand wanted to get serious about racing, so established the M division, which had a grand total of 35 staff.

The first car the division produced was the 3.0 CSL, which was a bold statement of intent.

BMW M (cont.)

It proved quite the machine, taking Toine Hezemans to the European Touring Car Championship title in 1973, and also winning its class in the Le Mans 24 Hours that same year.

The 3.0 CSL also won the ETCC five years in a row, from 1975 to 1979.

Since then, the M division has grown exponentially, and has come up with some classics along the way, including the M1 supercar, the M3 and the M5 supersaloon.

4. Citroën BX (40th anniversary)

In the early 1980s, it’s fair to say the Citroën GS was quite old, having been around since 1970. Citroën needed something to give it a proper presence in the family arena, and the angular BX was certainly that.

Not only did the Bertone-designed BX look futuristic, it was futuristic, with a plastic bonnet, tailgate and bumpers, and disc brakes front and rear.

The Peugeot-sourced engines were thoroughly modern, and indeed the diesel version was so well received that it was the best-selling diesel in Britain from 1987 until 1990.

Citroën BX (cont.)

In 1986, the car was facelifted to be less idiosyncratic, and therefore make it more popular with the traditional marketplace.

So, the funky dashboard was ditched and replaced with a more conventional affair, featuring normal dials and switchgear.

The BX even spawned a warm version, called the GT; this gradually evolved into the GTi, which had the engine from the 205 GTI 1.9.

Later, the BX GTi 16v was launched, becoming the first-ever mass-produced French car with 16 valves.

5. Ferrari (75th anniversary)

Ferrari is in the middle of a momentous year, because 2022 marks 75 years since the company produced its first Ferrari-badged machine.

However, founder Enzo Ferrari wasn’t that interested at first in selling road cars. He was all about racing, and only sold cars to fund the operations of the racing side of his business.

Well, funding his racing exploits has resulted in some incredible road cars for everyone else (who can afford it) to enjoy.

For a start, that first Ferrari-badged car was the 125 S, which had a 1.5-litre V12 engine up front.

Ferrari (cont.)

And of course, there have been numerous standout vehicles since, such as 250GTO, 365GTB/4, 288GTO, F40 (which was the very last car Enzo Ferrari personally oversaw before he died), F50, Enzo and LaFerrari.

We’ll gloss over the fact that the team also has a slightly more disappointing anniversary this year: it is 15 years since the last Ferrari driver won the Formula One championship.

6. Ferrari 250GTO (60th anniversary)

The 250GTO actually got off to quite a troubled start, because while designer Giotto Bizzarrini was responsible for the initial concept and design, Enzo Ferrari sacked him and the rest of the designers, so Mauro Forghieri and Scaglietti got together to finish off the job.

As collaborative efforts go, it’s quite the result, with the 250GTO regularly appearing near the top of ‘most beautiful car’ lists.

Ferrari 250GTO (cont.)

It was designed as a racing machine, and so had the Colombo 3.0-litre V12 engine up front (the 250 in the car’s name refers to the cc of each cylinder).

There was next to nothing in the interior, so the car weighed as little as 880kg.

Add in the 296bhp produced by the engine and it was rapid, and certainly a match for its rivals of the time, the Shelby Cobra and Jaguar E-type.

7. Fiat X1/9 (50th anniversary)

Talk about looking sharp. The Fiat X1/9 was an angular bolt from the blue when it appeared in 1972, because the only curves on the thing were the wheels.

It was, in essence, a mini supercar, because it had two doors, just two seats, pop-up headlights and an engine mounted amidships, just behind the cabin occupants.

When the car was launched, that engine was a 1.3-litre unit, but this was later expanded to a 1.5 that offered performance that was more befitting of such a purposeful-looking machine.

Fiat X1/9 (cont.)

It went round corners well, it sounded great, and you could even take the roof off some versions.

Unfortunately, the X1/9’s heyday was short, because something called the ‘VW Golf GTI’ was launched a few years later, and hot hatches went on to take over the world.

Still, the X1/9 sold in large enough numbers to make it viable until 1989.

8. Fiat 126 (50th anniversary)

As ‘tough acts to follow’ go, the Fiat 500 is quite the biggie, but that was the task that faced the Fiat 126 when it was launched in 1972.

Still, Fiat is rather adept at building small, funky cars, and the 126 was no exception, to the extent that the car was produced until the year 2000.

The 126 was slightly larger than the original 500, permitting more interior space. That was good, because you were going to be spending quite a bit of time in there (at just 594cc, the original twin-cylinder engine wasn’t going to get the car anywhere quickly.

Fiat 126 (cont.)

The engine was enlarged to 652cc in 1977, which helped a bit. Then the engine was increased in size once more, to 704cc and a mighty 26bhp, in the ‘restyling’ models of 1987.

The car was also produced under licence in Poland, where it was known as a Polski Fiat 126p.

9. Ford Cortina (60th anniversary)

The Ford Cortina was the backbone of Ford’s range in the 1960s.

It was designed as a car that would appeal to the burgeoning family-car market and, towards the end of the car’s life in the early 1980s, it was also a stalwart of the company-car world.

Basically, if you were a salesman, you would be seen ploughing up and down the motorways of the land in a Cortina (or, horror of horrors, a Vauxhall Cavalier), flogging your wares.

When launched in 1962, the car was up against ageing machinery such as the Morris Oxford Farina, and it immediately made other cars look utterly out of date.

Ford Cortina (cont.)

The car’s cachet was enhanced by a high-performance version called the Ford Cortina Lotus, which featured a punchy 1.6-litre twin-cam engine, and which was regularly seen being piloted (usually on three wheels) by a certain J Clark from the Scottish Borders.

The Cortina name became exceptionally popular through five generations until it was axed in 1982 in favour of the super-slippery Ford Sierra.

10. Ford Sierra (40th anniversary)

The Ford Sierra was not a raging success at first.

In fact, dealers were worryingly keen to get stocks of the outgoing Ford Cortina instead of stocking the new car.

However, once all the furore about the aerodynamic shape had died down the Sierra took off, to the extent that it was outsold by only the company’s Escort in its first full year of sales.

Visually, it was a big step, because Ford had ditched the traditional boot opening in favour of a huge hatchback rear end.

Ford Sierra (cont.)

However, the company hadn’t been nearly as progressive with the car’s engines and gearboxes, which were largely carried over from the old Cortina, and which were already a decade old. And as for the original diesel engine, it was based on a Peugeot motor that had been designed in the 1950s.

Still, the car eventually spawned a four-door version, called the Sapphire in the UK, and eventually a pick-up version called the P100 was introduced for the working market.

The car lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the groundbreaking Mondeo.

11. Honda Civic (50th anniversary)

Perfect timing. Honda could not have launched at a more opportune moment, because it appeared in 1972, and was just gathering sales momentum as the 1973 oil crisis hit.

Suddenly gas-guzzling was out, and thriftiness was the word of the moment (sound familiar?).

The car had a 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine, and featured vinyl seats, wood trim and an AM/FM radio. Better still, that engine could use either leaded or unleaded fuel, which gave drivers more options during the crisis.

Honda Civic (cont.)

Over the years, the Civic has become steadily larger and has had numerous different ‘looks’.

For example, the van styling of the Mk3 heralded a more angular appearance, that was then softened throughout the 1990s.

Then the eighth-generation car went completely off the wall with space-age styling, and was hugely popular; it spawned a four-door version that had hybrid power.

The current car is undeniably more of a family car than a small hatchback.

12. Lancia Stratos (50th anniversary)

In the 1980s, Audi came along with the quattro and swept all in the world of rallying aside, but it wasn’t the first manufacturer to do so.

You see, in 1972, Lancia needed to replace its old Fulvia, so came along with its own purpose-built rally car and swept all before it. The stunning Lancia Stratos was that car.

For a start, it was the first car that had been designed purely to win in rallying; everyone else was using modified road cars.

Lancia Stratos (cont.)

The Stratos looked like nothing else out there, because it was tiny, with a sharp aerodynamic profile, and it was almost as wide as it was long.

Oh, and there was the not-inconsiderable matter of a 2.4-litre Ferrari V6 behind the occupants.

The Stratos was a success, winning not only the Targa Florio in 1974, but also triumphing in the World Rally Championship in 1974, ’75 and ’76. Indeed, it was only denied further success by the fact that parent company Fiat wanted to focus its efforts on the road-car-based 131. Shame.

13. Lotus Elan (60th anniversary)

Lotus boss Colin Chapman was a man with a laser focus on what made a car good to drive (namely that it be light).

The Lotus Elan he produced in 1962 was the perfect embodiment of his, and was hailed as a superb driving machine because of this.

And in a triumph of packaging, it was also claimed to be roomy enough for a driver more than six feet tall.

Lotus Elan (cont.)

The boot was big enough for a fair amount of luggage, too.

And as a driving machine it was without peer, helped notably by the inclusion of rack-and-pinion steering.

Indeed, McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray said one of his great regrets was being unable to give the F1 the delicacy of steering exhibited by an Elan.

14. Mercedes-Benz S-Class (50th anniversary)

Yes, Mercedes had large luxury saloons before 1972, but the model that was released that year – the 116-series – was the first official S-Class.

Since then, the car has been synonymous with not only luxury but also pioneering technology and safety equipment. If there’s a safety system on a lower-range Mercedes, there’s a very good chance that it was first seen on the S-Class.

For example, padding around the doors, a padded steering wheel and a shaped front-seat headrest all first appeared on the S-Class. The second-generation car of 1980 was the first production car to feature a driver’s airbag as standard.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class (cont.)

Later versions introduced radar cruise control, air suspension and the world’s first pre-crash safety system.

Aside from all this safety kit, the S-Class is the limousine of choice for many of the world’s dignitaries because it’s brisk, quiet, exceptionally comfortable and understated. If you want to buy a car that you’ll rarely drive yourself, the S-Class makes a fine choice.

15. MGB (60th anniversary)

You wouldn’t look at an MGB these days and think: “What a paragon of safety”. But back in the early 1960s the car was just that. Why? Well, it was one of the first cars in the world to feature engineered crumple zones, designed to fold up in a crash and absorb any impact energy.

The unibody layout was the result of some genuinely forward thinking, although it clad mechanical bits that were decidedly last-generation. The brakes and suspension were from the MGA – and the engine first saw service in 1947.

MGB (cont.)

Still, “old hat” also translates into “well proven”, and the MGB certainly lasted the course, because it lived on until 1980.

In the mid-1970s, US safety regulations meant that the chrome bumper had to be replaced with large rubber items.

The rules also meant that the MGB’s headlights were too low, but instead of redesigning the car MG simply raised the suspension. This meant it complied with the rules but had quite a negative effect on the car’s handling.

16. McLaren F1 (30th anniversary)

Back in the early 1990s, Formula One designer Gordon Murray was keen to build the world’s best supercar. He showed his ideas to McLaren team boss Ron Dennis, who was persuaded to back the project, and so things got under way.

Initially, Murray tried to persuade Honda to build an engine for the car, but it refused, so a 6.1-litre V12 from BMW was used.

Lightness and weight distribution were key, so the car featured a carbonfibre-reinforced polymer chassis, with magnesium and aluminium used for the bits where the suspension was attached.

McLaren F1 (cont.)

Unusually, Murray also chose a three-seat configuration, with the driver mounted in the middle of the car and the rear two seats behind and to each side. This was to optimise the position of the weight of driver and passengers.

The car uses ground-effect aerodynamics to keep it planted at speed – which is good because it achieved the highest top speed of any road car (at the time) of 241mph.

And of course it went racing, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1995.

17. Nissan Micra (40th anniversary)

The Nissan Micra marked the beginning of the end. That’s because it was a new model that was marketed as a Nissan, as the company bade farewell to the old Datsun name in the UK.

It was small and angular, and was actually originally intended to be a Fiat, but the Italian company rejected the design in favour of one that eventually became the first Uno instead.

The Micra was small, light and efficient – base-spec cars weighed as little as 630kg and had long gearing to help with fuel economy.

Nissan Micra (cont.)

UK buyers loved the simplicity and the thriftiness, and it became one of the most popular imported vehicles of the era.

The second-generation car was small, too, but over time the Micra has (as with the best of us) grown a bit bigger and heavier over the intervening years, and these days it’s a much larger and luxurious car than its predecessors.

18. Porsche 944 (40th anniversary)

A long and convoluted development process for a VW/Porsche sports car eventually ended up in the Porsche 924, which received decent reviews but was panned by Porsche aficionados for the fact it had an Audi-sourced engine.

Porsche decided to use the 924 as the basis for its own sports car, and began work on the 944.

The car first appeared as a competition car, the 924 GTP Le Mans, which competed in the 24-hour race in 1981. And the good news was that the VW engine was no more.

Porsche 944 (cont.)

It had been replaced by a Porsche-developed 2.5-litre four-cylinder motor, that had to be installed in the car from below and which was canted over at an angle of 45 degrees to fit under the low bonnet.

Then in 1986, Porsche launched the 944 turbo, which offered more of everything (power, handling, stopping power and cachet).

The more purposeful styling, greater performance and neat handling meant that the 944 was a hit, becoming Porsche’s biggest seller ever, until the Boxster came along.

19. Renault 5 (50th anniversary)

Talk about a breath of fresh air.

The Renault 5 marked something completely new and modern when it was launched in 1972.

And it had very few rivals, because in the UK there was only the Hillman Imp and the Mini to go up against it. Indeed, Ford and Vauxhall wouldn’t launch their contenders, the Fiesta and Chevette respectively, for a few years to come.

So, the 5 had an open field of play, and it made the most of it.

Renault 5 (cont.)

It was a thoroughly modern-looking, chic design, with plenty of internal space and the benefit of the (then revolutionary) hatchback layout.

Under the skin, the oily bits were slightly less modern, having been lifted from the Renault 4 and 8 of the period, but these were dependable and economical.

It was a contender for the European Car of the Year 1973, but was pipped by the Audi 80. Still, buyers lapped it up.

20. Renault 8 (60th anniversary)

If the Renault 5 was an entirely modern-looking hatch for the 1970s, then the Renault 8 was a rather more prosaic-looking three-box saloon that was entirely à la mode in the 1960s.

It was unusual in that the engine was mounted in the rear.

The motor was an all-new 1.0-litre four-cylinder unit that developed a mighty 43bhp, but Renault clearly thought it as quite potent because it chose to fit the car with disc brakes all round. The car also featured a cooling system that was intended to be sealed for the car’s life.

Renault 8 (cont.)

In 1963 the car was offered with an automatic transmission that allowed the driver to select forward or reverse gears using buttons on the dashboard, which was all very forward-thinking.

The company also released a Renault 8 Gordini in 1964, which featured a 1.1-litre engine tuned to 89bhp, a close-ratio gearbox and uprated suspension.

21. Triumph Spitfire (60th anniversary)

In 1962, if you wanted your new two-seat sports car to have a certain appeal, calling it ‘Spitfire’ was probably quite a good place to start.

However, the Spitfire almost disappeared without trace before it ever saw the light of day, because the Triumph brand was in the financial mire, and the project had been consigned to the back burner.

Then the brand was taken over by Leyland, and the executives found the Spitfire prototype under a cover in the factory. They approved it for production, and so the Spitfire’s story continued.

Triumph Spitfire (cont.)

The Spitfire had decent pace from its 63bhp 1.1-litre engine but the handling was known for sudden oversteer, although later modifications to the suspension calmed this trait.

Indeed, customers also loved the fact it had wind-up windows and exterior door locks.

It proved popular throughout its life, and production only ceased in 1980.

22. Vauxhall Nova (40th anniversary)

Horses for courses, or more accurately, Corsas for courses.

That’s because in 1982, GM’s new small hatchback was called the Corsa everywhere except in the United Kingdom, where it was called the Vauxhall Nova. This was because UK execs decided ‘Corsa’ sounded too much like ‘coarser’, which would not be a selling point.

It was a small, angular hatchback that was intended to replace the Vauxhall Chevette, which was getting on in years.

Vauxhall Nova (cont.)

The car featured small engines that were punchy and economical for the time, even though they were fuelled by carburettors.

However, in 1987, Vauxhall released the Nova GTE, which had a fuel-injected 1.6-litre engine and 98bhp. A less-powerful 82bhp 1.4-litre injected model was also launched as the Nova SRi.

By 1993, the Nova was very long in the tooth, and so it was replaced by the Vauxhall Corsa. The Nova name was no more.