34 great new cars of 1961

Happy 60th birthday

1961 was famously the launch year of the Jaguar E-type, celebrated ever since as one of the world’s most beautiful cars.

There was, however, a lot more going on in the motoring world 60 years ago. Ford brought out a new Thunderbird, Volkswagen moved a step forward from the Beetle, Renault introduced the car that saved the company, and several related British manufacturers fired out essentially the same vehicle in many different forms.

Read on to find out more about these and other models which first appeared in ’61.

1. Austin A60 Cambridge

The last Austin Cambridge was also the second with a body designed by Battista Farina. It was therefore one of what are known as the BMC Farina models, of which we’ll be hearing more later.

The most common engine was the 1.6-litre version of the B-series, which had first appeared two years earlier under the bonnet of the much sportier MGA.

The Cambridge was also available with a 1.5-litre diesel, and came with a choice of four-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmissions.

2. Austin A110 Westminster

The Westminster bore some resemblance to the Cambridge, which was no surprise as Farina had designed this one, too.

It was, however, significantly larger, and was powered by a 2.9-litre six-cylinder C-series engine.

This was the sixth and last Austin to bear the Westminster name. It was replaced in 1968 by the much less successful rear-wheel-drive Austin 3-Litre.

3. Austin-Healey Sprite

The appearance which gave the first Sprite the nicknames ‘Frogeye’ and ‘Bugeye’ was abandoned for the second-generation model. The original car’s 948cc A-series engine was joined by a 1098cc version in 1962.

This Sprite and the two which followed it were accompanied by badge-engineered versions called the MG Midget.

The Midget went into a final generation in 1974, but there was no Sprite equivalent because the Austin-Healey brand had been discontinued.

4. Bristol 407

The 407 was the first model introduced by Bristol after it had been separated from the Bristol Aeroplane Company. From the outside, it looked very similar to the earlier 405 and 406 sports saloons.

Underneath, however, things were very different. The 2.2-litre six-cylinder engine of the previous cars had been replaced by a modified 5.1-litre Chrysler V8.

This was the start of a trend which almost outlasted the company. With the single exception of the 2016 Bullet, all Bristols from the 407 onwards used Chrysler V8 engines.

5. Buick Skylark

Buick used the Skylark name for a Roadmaster convertible in the 1950s and then for a luxury version of the Special. It was used independently for the first time in 1961, for the 1962 model year.

Still closely related to the Special, the first Skylark was offered as a convertible coupe or a pillarless hardtop. Both versions used the 3.5-litre Buick engine which would later be transformed into the Rover V8.

6. Chevrolet Chevy II

The ’61 Chevy II was the first of five generations of a car which gradually became known as the Nova. It was a simple model in the compact car class with an astonishingly short development time of well under two years.

Customers initially had the choice of 2.5-litre four-cylinder or 3.2-litre six-cylinder engines. A V8 was not at first considered necessary, though when one arrived it made the relatively light Chevy II impressively quick.

7. Citroën Ami

Notable for its startling appearance, the Ami was in effect an upmarket version of the 2CV, with a larger 602cc twin-cylinder engine which was not available in the 2CV in 1961.

The later Ami Super had a 1015cc four-cylinder engine. A one-off version created in Glasgow in the 1990s, with a 1.3-litre version of the same unit, was known as the Ami Super Duper.

The Ami always looked odd, but Citroën softened the blow somewhat when it replaced the original reverse-raked rear window with a more conventional one.

8. Fiat 1300/1500

Although they were sold with different names, Fiat’s 1300 and 1500 were really the same car with 1.3- and 1.5-litre versions of the same four-cylinder engine.

They were sold with saloon and estate body styles, both featuring a very distinctive four-headlight arrangement at the front, and also as attractive coupé and cabriolet versions with one headlight on each side.

9. Ford Consul Classic

Although completely unrelated to the Citroën Ami, the Consul Classic looked almost equally strange, again thanks partly to a reverse-raked rear window. This was not used for the two-door coupé version, which was named Consul Capri.

By 1960s Ford standards, both cars were majestically unpopular, and they were quickly abandoned. Their appearance was presumably considered to be a factor, since no subsequent Ford sold in the UK has ever looked remotely like either of them.

10. Ford Thames 307E

Ford of Britain used the Thames name only for commercial vehicles. The 307E was the van version of the Anglia saloon which had been launched two years before, in 1959 – 307E, and the 308E used for left-hand-drive models, were internal designations.

The vans were sold as the Thames 5cwt and Thames 7cwt (or 250 and 350 [kilograms] in export markets) according to their maximum load weights. The 7cwt versions also had exterior chrome.

Ford changed its naming policy in 1965. From then on, the vehicles were known as Anglia vans.

11. Ford Thunderbird

The third-generation Thunderbird had a far sleeker appearance than the almost baroque model it replaced, which had been nicknamed ‘Square Bird’. The ’61 car’s front end inspired that of Ford of Britain’s Corsair saloon, launched two years later.

The Thunderbird was fitted with the 6.4-litre version of Ford’s LE V8. The most noteworthy piece of equipment was the Swing Away steering wheel, which slid 18 inches towards the centre of the cockpit when the transmission was in Park. Entering and exiting the car was therefore easier for drivers than might otherwise have been the case.

12. Hillman Super Minx

Hillman’s Super Minx was technically related to the regular Minx, but was larger and had very different styling.

It was available in saloon, convertible and estate body styles, and with a manual or optional automatic transmission. The only engine was a four-cylinder petrol unit which started out at 1592cc, but was enlarged to 1725cc in late 1965, shortly before production ended.

The almost identical Singer Vogue went on sale earlier in 1961. Both were followed by another variant, the Humber Sceptre, in 1963.

13. Holden EK

The EK was in production for little over a year, and was basically a facelift of the similarly short-lived FB.

Powered only by a 2.3-litre six-cylinder engine, it was sold as a saloon, an estate, a panel van and, as pictured above, a pick-up truck known as the Holden Utility.

14. Jaguar E-type

Well, we couldn’t miss it out, could we?

As sold in its debut year, the E-type was fitted a 3.8-litre version of Jaguar’s famous XK engine. It is now accepted that this was not powerful enough to push the standard car to 150mph, even though something which looked and sounded like an E-type was recorded at that speed.

In later years the car gained larger engines including a V12, and went through (or perhaps suffered from) several styling changes. The older versions remain the more highly prized.

15. Lagonda Rapide

This powerful grand tourer revived both the briefly discontinued Lagonda marque and the Rapide model name last used in 1937.

The car was based on the Aston Martin DB4 Coupé, but was 16 inches longer and had a 4.0-litre version of the six-cylinder engine employed in 3.7-litre form in the Aston.

Only 55 examples were built. Most had a three-speed automatic transmission, but seven customers opted for a manual gearbox instead.

16. Mercedes-Benz W110

The W110 was an entry-level version of Mercedes’ slightly earlier W111 saloon with a different front end.

From 1961, it was sold in 190c and 190Dc forms, with 1.9-litre petrol and (adventurously for the time) 2.0-litre diesel engines respectively.

17. Mercedes-Benz W112

Like the W110, this was a variant of the W111, but altered in almost exactly the opposite way. Sold as the 300SE, it was a luxury car with a three-litre six-cylinder engine, well out of the reach of W110 buyers.

It was available as a saloon, in standard and later long-wheelbase forms; the extended cars were eventually given the name 300SEL. Mercedes-Benz also offered the car as a coupé and a convertible.

18. MG Magnette

The last Magnette of the classic era was one of the many BMC Farina models, technically identical to the Austin A60 Cambridge mentioned previously and sharing its 1.6-litre engine.

Along with the Riley 4/72, the MG was an unusual member of this family in that it retained the large tailfins of the previous generation. The fins of the Austin, Morris and Wolseley variants were considerably smaller than before.

In May 1968, the Magnette became the first BMC Farina model of this generation to go out of production.

19. MG Midget

MG’s entry-level sports car of 1961 was a rebadged version of the second-generation (and first non-‘Frogeye’) Austin-Healey Sprite. The collective term for all versions from this year onwards, at least until the Sprite was discontinued in 1971, is Spridgets.

The Midget outlived the Sprite by nearly a decade. In its final form, produced from 1974 to 1980, it no longer had an A-series engine of any size (they had ranged from 948cc to 1275cc), but was instead fitted with a 1.5-litre Triumph unit.

20. Morris Oxford

The Morris version of the 1961 BMC Farina models was the last of the marque’s cars to be given the Oxford name, which had been used almost constantly since 1913.

Few of the Farina cars made it to the end of the decade. The Morris, like the Wolseley 16/60, was unusual in that it remained in production until 1971, when it was replaced by the Marina.

21. Pontiac Grand Prix

Pontiac was still selling a car called the Grand Prix shortly before GM shut down the brand in 2010. Its oldest ancestor first appeared in 1961 as a sporty variant of the Pontiac Catalina coupe.

To begin with, it was available only with a 6.4-litre V8 engine in various power outputs, but a 7.0-litre version was soon added.

The Grand Prix was substantially restyled in 1962. The original horizontally-mounted twin headlights gave way to a vertical arrangement which lasted for the next four years.

22. Renault 4

Renault’s first front-wheel-drive car almost single-handedly saved the company from the crisis which befell it in 1960, caused partly by a collapse in exports to the US and partly by the rapidly increasing availability of foreign models in France.

Similar in concept to the Citroën 2CV (to Citroën’s irritation), the 4 was a good car, marketed imaginatively. It was such a big hit that Renault was able to build a million examples in just four and a half years.

It remained so popular in so many countries that Renault was able to keep it in production until as late as 1992.

23. Riley 4/72

Although there wasn’t much to choose between the ’61 BMC Farina models, the Riley was, like its Wolseley equivalent, one of the more upmarket versions, and would have appealed to customers who might not have considered an Austin or a Morris.

As previously mentioned, it retained the large tailfins of the ’58 Farina generation, as did the MG Magnette. The fins of the other cars in the same family were noticeably smaller.
 

24. Riley Elf

Riley’s upmarket image also extended to its new small car of 1961. The Elf was a variant of the Mini introduced two years before, but there were many differences, most notably an extended luggage compartment giving the car a ‘three-box’ shape.

Equipment levels were higher too, and just to ram home the point fully the Elf also had a fancy radiator grille, lots of exterior chrome and a full-width, walnut veneer dashboard.

The Elf died in 1969, when the Riley brand was abandoned 79 years after its formation as a bicycle manufacturer.

25. Simca 1000

Simca launched its only rear-engined car in the same year that rival Renault introduced its first front-wheel-drive one.

The 1000 had a conventional but cheery-looking four-door body and an engine with – impressively for 1961 – a five-bearing crankshaft.

The car was very popular, and had several sporting derivatives. Over 1.9 million were built until 1978, when both the model and the brand were discontinued by owner Chrysler.

The engine, originally 944cc but extending to 1.6 litres in some cases, survived into the late 1980s.

26. Singer Vogue

Available in both saloon and estate forms, the first-generation Vogue was an upmarket version of the Hillman Super Minx with four rather than two headlights. Updates were very frequent: the Vogue went from Series I to Series IV in just five years.

Production of the British car and the similar Australian Humber Vogue ended in 1966. The same name was then used for an entirely different car, a higher-spec version of the Hillman Hunter in the Rootes Arrow family.

27. Škoda 1202

The most unusual feature of the 1202 was that it was offered only as an estate, a van or a pick-up, but never as a saloon.

It survived until 1973, by which time it was clearly of an earlier generation than Škoda’s saloons. Those were all rear-engined, and therefore not suitable for conversion to any of the 1202’s body styles.

28. Triumph TR4

The TR4 was mechanically similar to earlier Triumph TR models, though one notable change was that the size of the four-cylinder engine, previously 2.0 litres, was increased to 2138cc.

More noticeably, the body of the new car was designed by Michelotti. The same look was carried over to the TR4A (with independent rear suspension instead of a live axle) and the TR5 (with a fuel-injected 2.5-litre straight-six under the bonnet).

29. Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre

In yet another example of badge engineering within the British motor industry, the Vanden Plas Princess Mark II was more or less the same car as the Austin A110 Westminster and the Wolseley 6/110 which we’ll be coming to shortly.

Unlike those cars, however, the Vanden Plas was discontinued after three years to make way for the Princess R. This was largely the same vehicle, but instead of the 2.9-litre BMC C-series engine it was fitted with a 3.9-litre unit supplied by Rolls-Royce.

30. Volkswagen Type 3

Although, like all other VWs of the time, the Type 3 owed a lot to the original Beetle, it was larger and more refined, and looked a great deal more modern.

At launch, the car was available only as a Notchback (saloon) with a 1.5-litre engine. Later, the engine was expanded to 1.6 litres, and two more body styles were introduced: the Fastback (coupé) and the Variant or Squareback (estate).

The Type 3 remained in production until 1973, when it was replaced by the first-generation Passat.

31. Volvo P1800

P1800 was the first name for Volvo’s 1961 sports car, which would later be known as the 1800S, 1800E and finally 1800ES. Early models were produced in the UK by Jensen, though Volvo took over within a couple of years.

In its day, the P1800 was famous for its appearances in the UK TV series The Saint, starring Roger Moore.

New York schoolteacher Irv Gordon bought one of these cars in 1966 and was soon breaking mileage records. By the time of his death in November 2018, he had covered 3.2 million miles.

32. Wolseley 6/110

The sister car to the Austin A110 Westminster and the Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre mentioned previously was almost the largest model Wolseley ever built.

Outliving the Vanden Plas, it continued alongside the Austin until it was replaced by the 18/85, Wolseley’s version of the front-wheel-drive Austin 1800.

33. Wolseley 16/60

Alphabetically the last of the 1961 BMC Farina models, the 16/60 was an upgrade of the 15/60 introduced in 1958.

It shared different traits with different cars in the same family. Like the Riley 4/72 it was one of the more upmarket versions, and like the Morris Oxford it was one of the longest-lived of the series, remaining in production until 1971.

34. Wolseley Hornet

Although Wolseley was generally regarded as an upmarket brand, the Mini-based Hornet saloon was one step below the equivalent Riley Elf.

The Elf’s walnut veneer dashboard was not used here, though the Hornet did have a fancy grille and plenty of exterior chrome.

Like the Elf, it was discontinued in 1969, though not for the same reason. While the Riley brand was shut down, Wolseley soldiered on for a few more years before being retired in 1975.