I used to be quick on the draw about UK car writers and the great big bulls-eye they had on every last American automobile they ever came into contact with. The cars were too big, too “vulgar”, with engines too large and filled with too many gadgets. “Oh, give me a break,” I would think. Then I saw the roads in Scotland and Ireland for myself. I did see a few American vehicles on that trip, and I’ll put it like this: when a 2007 Shelby GT500 looks positively massive on a motorway, it starts to make sense. What was even more surprising was seeing a 2002-ish Dodge Ram parked at an apartment complex in Killarney, Ireland…that’s a large pickup truck in the States, but over there the four-door Dodge might as well have been a limousine. Most of the cars were roughly the size of a Ford Focus or Toyota Corolla, the SUVs about the size of a Ford Escape. Anything bigger or more powerful took front and center stage, like the five-cylinder Focus RS or the aforementioned Shelby. That whole trip, those cars were like spotting a Lamborghini in a small Midwest town…so out of place that anyone who saw it was stunned by the sight.
I’m sure that when “Drive In” presenter Tony Bastable got to see the fleet of new-for-1974 American imports that he would be reporting on, he felt much the same way. The closest vehicle to what most UK drivers would’ve expected to see was the Ford Mustang II with a 2.3L four-cylinder. Size-wise, it’s about right for the UK, but remember, they got the Ford Capri, a much better small sporty car for the time. Then there’s the 1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 with the chrome railroad ties and a “6.5 litre” V8 (yeah, calling bullshit on that one through a megaphone), and finally, four of the largest rides they could’ve found just about anywhere: an AMC Ambassador wagon, a Lincoln Continental Mark IV, a Mercury Marquis and a Cadillac Eldorado. Care to guess why Bastable never left the parking lot he was filming in? Because four of the cars would’ve required some sort of “wide load” notification to the local police.
A one hour ride is like a long journey there. Still now when I speak to a family member there they find it hard to understand how big the U.S. is how much driving we do. Different situation, and many cars sold there especially back then unsuitable for here.
Come on!
We had the Morris Marina – which was basically a new and very ugly body hiding Morris Minor suspension and rusted just for the fun of it. The UK car industry was in crisis with the rise of the Japanese offering quality and reliability and while these cars were deemed “unsuitable” for our roads they were hardly going to be flung around rally stages or driven on narrow country roads – unless it was to a gang boss’s country retreat. Cue Get Carter and wafting along on the way home after a day at the races…