In the 1950s, automobiles were not only a means to display one's success but also a reflection of one's character. Buyers of the Citroën DS were known for their avant-garde taste and willingness to take risks, while those who favored the Simca Vedette were drawn to American influences and conservative engineering.
In the history of Citroën, no wagon has offered as much volume as the CX. Combined with its hydraulic suspension, it left a lasting impression on antique dealers and large families.
This fabulous Phantom limousine was bought 94 years ago with the proceeds of crime, and has recently been revived after 30 years in a museum. Now it’s a rich reward for its owner-driver – and sometimes transports the luckiest Dachshunds in the country.
With Ford South Africa planning to introduce the next batch of special-edition derivatives, the XLT is destined to remain the best-selling Ranger double cab in our market. How does this altogether less shouty model fare?
At its local introduction in 1969, the purchase price of the then-new Toyota Hilux was R1 525. Designed and developed by Toyota’s subsidiary Hino Motors in Tokyo, the arrival of the first-generation Hilux with its 57 kW, 1.5-litre, inline four-cylinder engine onto the South African market – was a stark contrast to the Ford F150 alternative of the time.
One of the interesting features of Le Mans is that it is one of the few opportunities private teams had to race against works teams. Today, the vast expense and sophistication of racing at this level mean that such teams are professional, but it was not always so. In the 1970s, Group 5 and 6 sports car racing was dominated by turbocharged 911s, the 934 and 935. These off-the-shelf, relatively uncomplicated racing cars offered well-heeled amateurs with $150,000 to spare the chance to compete at the top level – and where better than at Le Mans?
Designed, originally for life on the farm, Ford’s pickups have become a worldwide style icon, and the coolest of them all are the mid-century survivors.
Citroën’s iconic 2CV embodies French chic. It is a triumph of minimalist design with a large dose of practicality, packaged to make the most of the least.
«At a time when everyone fantasized about seeing a car fly over the earth, the most innovative of French manufacturers created the DS, a prototype halfway between a flying saucer and a car, but available for purchase on the market. Well, do you know what? Some even saw it fly… in the movies.
After the distinctively cheeky character and idiosyncratic mechanicals of the rear-engined aircooled Volkwagens, getting into the firmly-bolstered plaid-clad drivers’ seat of this Golf GTI MkI feels like a total culture shock. Everything is angular, futuristic, hinting at computerised systems and digital precision, created in the same kind of ultra-rational post-oil-crisis idiom that produced things like the Porsche 928 and W126 Mercedes-Benz S-class. Only in-house stylist Herbert Schäfer’s contribution, the gearknob – Schäfer was a keen golfer – hints at any notion of fun. And yet in the Eighties, the Golf GTI would define driving excitement.
It just means ‘People’s Car’, and yet Volkswagen signifies so much more. There’s no shortage of rivals with reliable, cheap utilitarianism at their core, but few have managed to unite counter-culture hippies and surfers with City yuppies and boy racers within their embrace. There’s every chance your first car was a battered Golf – the same thing Prince Michael of Kent uses as a runabout. To investigate this curiously classless appeal, we have gathered six VW icons. There’s the Beetle that began it all, and the Camper that kick-started the ownership cult. The Karmann-Ghia made a glamorous push upmarket, a theme that hit its zenith with the Corrado VR6. And then there’s the Golf GTI, the car that defined the hot hatch. We’ve also included a Lupo GTI, which proved that there was virtue in going back to basics after years of growth. So which will convert us to the cult of VW, and how do you buy your way in? Time to take the wheel and find out.
