Re: Forgotten cars of the last 35 years

Thanks for the Corolla T-18. This came from an era when Datsun didn´t style their cars. There is a Nissan Micra from the same period which is like something folded out of foamboard by Julian Opie. Even Wikipedia has little to say on the car.

About the biking: you´re quite right that you need a bike to match your fellow bikers and were I to try a more advanced design I´d probably be quite pleased with it. But I am not displeased as I am so I think I´ll let sleeping dogs lie. If I was to be less of a fundamentalist I´d probably say that a bike costing around €500 or so would offer a huge improvement for a modest extra outlay. After that the law of diminishing returns sets in with a vengeance and the bike becomes something that nees high security which mine definitely doesn´t.

Re: Forgotten cars of the last 35 years

By an extraordinary coincidence I picked up the Jan 2004 edition of CAR last night and re-read the review of the Idea. Apparently it had a fidgety ride and some poor plastics and a thing called the Veranda Pod (the centrally mounted speedo). The writer´s view was that the typical Fiat discount wóuld convince buyers to shell out. Well, I haven´t seen so many of these cars in the 7 years since 2004. So, it´s already one of the forgotten cars of the last 35 years and it´s still in production, according to Wikipedia. There was a Lancia version of this called the Musa which had a much better grille design and a nicer interior colourway.

Re: Forgotten cars of the last 35 years

The Mazda 1000/1200 was sold from 1968 to 1972. I´ve seen one of these cars in Denmark, and it had been given a proper respray and restoration. The owner said there was not ten examples left in the country. In some markets it was sold as a Kia and is the start of the line that became the Mazda 323 and then 3.

Re: Forgotten cars of the last 35 years

In 1979 I drove a 4 door Hertz Granada in the US. My memory is of metallic green inside and out, even the steering wheel, a wheezy 6 cylinder auto, and clunky controls that looked as though they were made for troll's fingers. Objectively the worst car I have ever driven, but at the time I actually quite enjoyed it. Forgive me if you've read this before.

Re: Forgotten cars of the last 35 years

Anouther car that almost been forgotten is the original XJ40 based Jaguar XJR and its coupe brother, the XJ-S based XJ-RS, they were built by a joint company set up by Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw in the late 1980's and early 1990s called JaguarSport, there was even a super rare convertible version for the US.