One For Classic Car Fans.....

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Mrs M

Guru
Location
Aberdeenshire
Spotted on the A31 just north of Dijon
There were a few more old Citroën on the autoroute heading south, but I was driving so couldn't get a photo. Must have been an event somewhere

One of my favourite cars
 

Ian H

Ancient randonneur
And another one.
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Drago

Legendary Member
The Maxi was derided at the time, but history has been a little kinder to it.

Its drove well enough, did a cracking job on the practicality front with the hatch and interior packaging.

The early HL with 90 odd BHP, subtle trim tweaks, different springs, posh wheels and red badges pre dated the Golf GTi as a hot hatch by over half a decade.

Sure, early models in particular had reliability issues, but little that came outmof a British factory back then was liable to be in any way reliable.

The only downmer was the looks. Why did it have to be so dowdy? Even the last minute facelift to graft a cortina mk2 style front on the car (by Roy Axe, who'd been poached from Ford) wasn't enough to liven up the appearance.

Id happily have one as a weekend show toy.
 

DRM

Guru
Location
West Yorks
Spent a very pleasant afternoon at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon today. Last time I visited was about 10 years ago when it was one building and mainly cars from the BMC group. It’s really changed for the better, the new Jaguar building is really good and the upstairs holds the overflow from their collection which I actually found the most interesting. It was nice to see so many mundane cars which are now completely absent on today’s roads. Also nice to see some fast Vauxhalls, plus a 3.3 Litre Viscount which must now be super-rare.

Here are some random photos of stuff I quite liked.

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I believe that's a Brabham Viva parked next to the Firenza
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
I believe that's a Brabham Viva parked next to the Firenza

It was just a humble GT
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Indeed. They rusted like everything else, they drove tidily but weren't dynamically remarkable, and the packaging was far from being unique by then. I've no issue with them, but dont see why people get moist over what was, aside from the GTi, a fairly humdrum machine in its day.
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
Indeed. They rusted like everything else, they drove tidily but weren't dynamically remarkable, and the packaging was far from being unique by then. I've no issue with them, but dont see why people get moist over what was, aside from the GTi, a fairly humdrum machine in its day.

I have loved Golf’s since I owned my first 1975 Mk 1 Golf N back in 1983, since then we’ve owned 16 of them, mainly fast versions, but you’re right they’re nothing remarkable, not unique, not the fastest and not the best handling, but they just do everything very well.

There have been three cars that have featured constantly through my life, 911’s, BMW 3 series tourings and Golf’s.
 
I have loved Golf’s since I owned my first 1975 Mk 1 Golf N back in 1983, since then we’ve owned 16 of them, mainly fast versions, but you’re right they’re nothing remarkable, not unique, not the fastest and not the best handling, but they just do everything very well.

They're a bit of a Ronseal car - does exactly what it says on the tin.

I think when you stack them up against your typical 70s UK-made small family car, then yeah, they might have been a little bit better. But the Japanese were equally good at "Ronseal Cars".
 
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