29 best new cars of 1962

Celebrating 60 years

The quantity and quality of newly introduced cars inevitably varies from one year to another. Some years are particularly notable, others very much less so.

1962 – 60 years ago – was especially strong for the automotive industry. Several very famous models, and a few oddities, made their debuts in the period that also saw such similarly wide-ranging world events as Pope John XXIII’s excommunication of Fidel Castro and the release of David Lean’s epic film, Lawrence of Arabia.

We thought this would be an appropriate time to celebrate the wonderfully disparate cars which will reach their 60th anniversaries in the next 12 months, so here goes.

1. Alfa Romeo Giulia

Today’s Giulia has a name which Alfa Romeo has been using on and off for six decades.

The very first was the Giulia TI saloon of 1962. This marked the debut of the long-running Type 105, and it was fitted with a 1.6-litre version of the celebrated Alfa Romeo Twin Cam engine, which itself had an extraordinarily long production life.

Giulias would later become available with the same engine in 1.3-litre form, and (in the mid 1970s) with a 1.8-litre diesel.

2. Austin Freeway

The British Motor Corporation introduced a series of models with bodies styled by Farina in 1958, and updated them in 1961.

Among these were the second-generation Austin Cambridge A55 and its very similar successor, the Cambridge A60.

Like all the BMC Farina models, they were powered by the four-cylinder BMC B-series engine. The Austin Freeway was basically the same car – built, from 1962, by BMC Australia – but it was fitted with a more powerful 2.4-litre six-cylinder version of the same unit.

Austin and Morris cars were sold by the same dealers in Australia but different ones in New Zealand. A Morris Freeway – identical to the Austin in every way except the branding – was therefore marketed in New Zealand only.
 

3. Bentley S3

The S3 was the third generation of a series which had begun with the S1 back in 1955.

Changes included a shorter radiator shell and, more obviously, quad headlights. Those headlights slightly modernised the appearance of what, by 1962, had become rather an old-fashioned looking car.

It had started out with a 4.9-litre straight-six engine, but this had been replaced in 1959 by the L-series V8.

The initial capacity of the L-series was 6.25 litres. It was expanded to 6.75 litres after the S3 went out of production, and still had a place in the Bentley line-up (though now heavily developed and with twin turbochargers) as late as 2020.

4. BMC ADO16

ADO16 was the codename for a car marketed by several BMC brands. It was introduced in 1962 as a Morris, and an MG version came along later the same year.

It was subsequently sold in the UK as an Austin, a Riley, a Vanden Plas and a Wolseley. Other versions were built by, among others, Authi in Spain and Innocenti in Italy.

When the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders began publishing annual registration figures in 1965, this car was at the top of the list. It remained there almost every year until 1971, except in 1967 when it was demoted to second by the Mk2 Ford Cortina.

5. Buick Riviera

Buick started using the Riviera name shortly after the Second World War to denote particular variants in other ranges.

The first use of Riviera as the name of a distinct car came in what is described by American convention as the 1963 model year, though production actually began in 1962.

It was Buick’s first personal luxury car, a term describing moderately sporty coupes with more emphasis on comfort than performance.

Performance wasn’t exactly in short supply, though. The Riviera made its debut with a 6.6-litre version of the second-generation Nailhead V8 engine. A 7.0-litre option was added later.
 

6. Chevrolet Corvette

The second-generation Corvette was dramatically different from its predecessor.

The styling was more aggressive, the Sting Ray (later Stingray) name made its first appearance, the rear suspension was independent, and customers now had the choice of both coupe and convertible bodies.

The very earliest coupes had a split rear window, which was soon abandoned. The 1964 model year Corvettes, some of them built in 1963, had one piece of glass at the back.

7. Daimler 2.5 V8

This car looked almost exactly the same as a Jaguar Mk2 (which is basically what it was, apart from a few design details), but sounded very different.

It sang a different song because it did not have the Jaguar’s famous six-cylinder XK engine. Instead, Daimler fitted its own 2.5-litre V8, which had made its debut three years earlier in the SP250 sports car.

Towards the end of its production, the 2.5 V8 was given a minor facelift, and was renamed V8-250.
 

8. Ford Cortina

Originally known as the Consul Cortina, the first of four (or, depending on who’s counting, five) generations of Cortina first appeared as a two-door saloon fitted with a 1.2-litre version of what is retrospectively known as the pre-crossflow Kent engine.

The Kent had made its debut three years before as a 1.0-litre unit in the Anglia, which became available as a 1.2 two months before the Cortina was launched. Larger engines were brought in later, along with four-door saloon and estate bodies.

The most famous of the early Cortinas was the Lotus, powered by the Kent-derived Lotus Twin Cam engine. This was very successful in racing and rallying, especially when twice Formula One World Champion Jim Clark was driving.

9. Ford Taunus

In the 1970s, the British Cortina and the German Taunus would be essentially the same car, but things were very different back in 1962.

That year’s Taunus, launched two months before the first Cortina, was one of several sold as the 12M, and is now often referred to as the P4 to avoid confusion.

Unlike the Cortina, it had the then unusual feature of front-wheel drive. Power came from a new V4 engine, available in 1.2- and 1.5-litre forms.

That engine, not to be confused with the larger Essex V4, would later be used in several other Fords, and also by Matra and Saab.

10. Glas 1004

Based in the Bavarian town of Dingolfing, Glas started out building the tiny Goggomobils before it began to use its own name for larger vehicles.

The 1004 was an attractive car available from 1962 as a coupé, though other body styles were later offered. Its 1.0-litre engine was notable for having a rubber timing belt driving its overhead camshaft.

The same engine was enlarged for models known as the 1204 and 1304. Production ended in the late 1960s, by which time Glas had been taken over by BMW.

11. Iso Rivolta

Until 1962, Iso’s reputation in the motor industry was based on its production of the Isetta bubble car.

The Rivolta was a different thing altogether – a luxurious grand tourer powered by a 5.4-litre Chevrolet small block V8.

This produced around 300bhp in the original Rivolta IR 300 and, with a higher compression ratio, over 10% more in the later IR 340. In independent testing, the IR 340 was found to have a top speed of 142mph and a 0-60mph time of 8 secs.
 

12. Jeep Wagoneer

Although it shared its chassis with the Gladiator pick-up truck launched in the same year, the Wagoneer was a sophisticated off-roader, far more modern than the by-then 16-year-old Willys Jeep Station Wagon which it gradually replaced.

The Wagoneer had a remarkably long production life, surviving two of the companies (Kaiser Jeep and AMC) which built it.

Latterly known as the Grand Wagoneer, it was finally discontinued by Chrysler in 1991.
 

13. Jensen C-V8

The C-V8 was a grand tourer with an adventurously styled glassfibre body. Only a few hundred were built in four years, but Jensen managed to introduce two updates in that time.

Power – lots of it – came from a Chrysler B V8, originally in 5.9-litre form but later measuring 6.3 litres.

Jensen was by no means alone in using this substantial motor. In addition to Chrysler’s own brands, it also found its way under the bonnet of models produced by Bristol and Facel Vega.

14. Lotus Elan

The Elan was a very different car than the Elite it replaced. Where the Elite had been based on a glassfibre monocoque, the Elan had a non-structural glassfibre body on a steel backbone chassis, a design feature Lotus would return to several times.

In place of the Elite’s Coventry Climax engine, the Elan was the first car fitted with the Lotus Twin Cam. This started out at 1.5 litres but was soon expanded to 1.6 litres, in which form it became available in the Lotus Cortina.

Offered in a variety of body styles, the Elan remained in production until the mid 1970s. The name was brought back in 1989 for a front-wheel drive, Isuzu-powered roadster which bore no resemblance to the original model.

15. Maserati Sebring

The car which became known as Sebring (after the Sebring International Raceway in Florida), was presented at the 1962 Geneva show as the 3500GTI Coupé S.

It had a 2+2 body designed by Giovanni Michelotti, who was working for Vignale at the time, and was powered by a 3.5-litre straight-six engine – 347 of the cars built in the first series had Lucas fuel injection, while a further four were supplied with Weber carburettors.

The second series – essentially the same as the first after a facelift – was introduced in 1964. In all, just 257 of these were built, most of them with a 3.7-litre version of the same engine, some with the original 3.5 and only 19 with a 4.0 producing 265bhp.
 

16. Mazda P360 Carol

The P360 was both Mazda’s first four-passenger vehicle and the first of its many models to bear the Carol name.

A roomier alternative to the R360 introduced two years earlier, it also had an almost microscopically larger engine measuring 358cc rather than the R360’s 356cc.

Since it was near the upper limit for Japanese kei cars of the time, the capacity wasn’t unusual in itself.

It was, however, exceptionally tiny for a four-cylinder engine of that or any other era. Of units with this layout, only the 356cc motor fitted to the Honda T360 pick-up truck has been smaller.

17. Mitsubishi Colt 600

1962 was the year in which Mitsubishi used the Colt name for the first time.

By modern standards, the Colt 600 was tiny, but it was slightly too long and wide to qualify as a kei car.

Even if that hadn’t been true, it would have been ruled out by its gargantuan engine. The air-cooled two-cylinder unit measured 594cc, well within later limits for the class but 234cc too large for its period.

18. Mitsubishi Minica

The Minica was a two-door saloon related to the Mitsubishi 360 kei truck, which had made its debut in 1961.

In accordance with the kei vehicle regulations of the time, the Minica had a 359cc air-cooled two-cylinder engine. This was replaced by a more modern unit of the same type and size in 1964.

That was just one of several updates made before the second-generation Minica came along in 1969.
 

19. Opel Kadett

Like Ford’s Cortina and Taunus, the Opel Kadett and the Vauxhall Astra would eventually become the same car with different badges and driving controls on opposite sides of the centreline.

This was far from being the case when the first-generation Kadett was launched in 1962, nearly two decades before the Astra name came into use.

That said, the Kadett had something in common with the Vauxhall Viva HA which made its debut a year later. Vauxhall abandoned early plans to produce a front-wheel drive car with a transverse engine and instead adopted the XP-714 plan (the forerunner of what we would now call a vehicle platform), which had given rise to the rear-wheel drive Kadett.

Opel also designed the engine, which started out in prototype form at 699cc but was enlarged to 993cc for the production Kadett. Vauxhall revised it heavily and extended it further to 1057cc for the Viva.

20. Peel P50

Produced from 1962, the P50 is well-known for its odd looks and for being about as small as a passenger car possibly could be.

More seriously, it was built by the only car manufacturer ever to be based on the Isle of Man.

It is also credited with having the smallest engine – a 49cc DKW motorcycle unit – ever fitted to a production car.

This depends on how you define the term ‘production car’. The Brütsch Mopetta of the mid-to-late 1950s had a 48cc ILO engine originally designed to help cyclists climb steep hills, but only 14 examples were ever built.

21. Renault 8

The 8 was the first car designed from scratch to be fitted with Renault’s new Cléon-Fonte engine.

This had already appeared earlier in 1962 in the back of the Floride/Caravelle, the front of the Estafette van and the middle of the prototype René Bonnet Djet sports car, which would go into production the following year and later become known as the Matra Djet.

Badged as the Dacia 1100, the 8 would later become the first car built by the Romanian company which has since become a Renault subsidiary, and is now part of the same business unit as Lada.

The Renault 10, launched in 1965, was mechanically identical to the 8 but had a longer nose and tail with different styling.

22. Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III

The Silver Cloud III was almost exactly the same thing as the Bentley S3 mentioned previously, but with slightly different styling.

Like the Bentley, its appearance was significantly altered by the switch to quad headlights.

Unlike the Bentley, it sold very well. Bentley had been ahead in the first generation, but that had now changed. Silver Cloud III sales were very nearly double those of the S3.

23. Simca 1000 Coupé

The Simca 1000 saloon, launched in 1961, had a boxy yet friendly appearance broadly similar to that of the slightly later – and similarly rear-engined – Renault 8 and Hillman Imp.

The 1000 Coupé was very different. It was mechanically similar to the saloon, but it had a beautiful body designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone.

A similar transformation would occur a few years later, when Fiat introduced the Coupé and Spider variants of the 850.

The Simca was powered by the 1.0-litre version of the Poissy engine, which would later be used by other French manufacturers. When it was replaced by a 1.2 from the same family, the 1000 Coupé became the 1200S.

24. Studebaker Avanti

The Avanti was the personal luxury coupe derivative of the Studebaker Lark, and was powered by the 4.7-litre V8 engine fitted to upmarket Larks.

Its extraordinary glassfibre body was designed by Raymond Loewy, and featured a wraparound rear window of the type seen later in the Brasinca Uirapuru and the Jensen Interceptor.

The Avanti was one of the shortest-lived cars on this list. Production lasted for only a year and a half. Studebaker, which had been producing cars since the late 19th century, was in terrible trouble by now, and closed down entirely in 1967.

25. Suzulight Fronte

The Fronte was the passenger version of the slightly earlier Suzulight van.

Both were kei vehicles, powered by the same 360cc two-cylinder two-stroke engine, though after a year of Fronte production this was replaced by a more modern unit of the same size.

The car was succeeded in 1967 by the Fronte 360, which was marketed by Suzuki under its own name.

(Facelifted model pictured.)

26. Trabant 600

The 600 was the middle, and shortest-lived, of the three classic two-stroke Trabant models.

It was largely a restyled version of the original P50, but was fitted with a 600cc engine rather than the earlier 500cc unit.

This engine was also fitted to the most famous Trabant of all, the 601, which was already in production when the 600 was discontinued in 1965.

27. Triumph Spitfire

Despite their very different appearances, the Spitfire was a close relative of the Triumph Herald saloon.

They were based on similar platforms, used an engine which dated back to 1953 and had bodies designed by Giovanni Michelotti.

The engine had started out at 803cc but was never fitted in the Spitfire with a capacity of less than 1147cc. By the time production ended in 1980, it had reached 1.5 litres.

28. Triumph Vitesse

Yet another Michelotti-designed Triumph was also unveiled in 1962.

Based on the Herald, it had a more aggressive front-end appearance, and was initially fitted with a 1.6-litre straight-six engine.

A 2.0-litre version of the same unit was introduced in 1966, and remained with the car until production stopped five years later.

The Vitesse name outlived the Triumph brand by several years. It was used for high-performance derivatives of several Rover models well into the 1990s.

29. Wolseley 24/80

The 24/80 was BMC Australia’s upmarket version of the Austin (and Morris) Freeway mentioned earlier.

They all used the same 2.4-litre straight-six BMC B-series engine, and were mechanically similar to the British Farina models in other respects.

However, the straightforward Freeway was up against rival models from Ford and Holden, while the more desirable 24/80 had less obvious competition.

Reportedly, the 24/80 has survived in greater numbers precisely because people were less inclined to scrap it.