British and European Car Spotters Guide - 1960

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1960 British and European Car Spotters Guide


GSM started up in Capetown, South Africa, building cars named Deltas. In 1960, the project was transferred to Kent where production got under way on the Ford 105E-engined ladder-frame chassis car. The car, available in open or closed form, sold as a kit at the staggering price of £1250. The whole project was less successful in England, and the owners returned to South Africa to build 1500cc two-plus-twos.

The Rochdale Olympic



The Rochdale company of Rochdale began in the early days of the specialist cars, 1948, by building bodies for racing cars. Throughout the 1950s, the company concentrated on producing glassfibre bodies for customers to fit on their own chassis. Immensely successful at this they produced over eight hundred shells-the decision was made to build complete cars, or at least whole cars in various pieces for the buyer to fix together. The Rochdale Olympic was introduced in 1960, a true monocoque glassfibre car, which utilised a Riley 1.5-litre engine. As Lotus had found with their Elite, the monocoque design made the car extremely taut and gave the bulbous little vehicle fine handling. A Phase II Olympic was built in 1963 with the addition of an opening rear door. The power unit for the later car was a Ford Cortina GT which gave the car a respectable top speed of 115 mph. In all, about four hundred and fifty Rochdales had been built by the time production stopped in 1968.

As the Ford and Austin had proved sound bases for kit cars in the 1950s, the arrival of the Mini on the scene sounded the advent of a new breed of car. With an engine and front sub-frame that could be unbolted with little trouble, people thought it would be easy to put it on the front or back of a different chassis. Chris Lawrence, who was later to build the early Monicas, produced some cars known as Deep Sandersons through the early part of the 1960s. His 301 had a Mini engine mounted in the rear of a low glass fibre-bodied car. Although only a few actual road cars were built, the machines fared well in competition, reaching enormous speeds from their tuned Cooper S engines: at Le Mans in 1964, one car reached a speed of 146 mph on a mere 1275cc.

Other Mini-based sports cars to appear were the similar Mini Marcos and Mini Jem, small closed two-seaters with the engine sub-frame bolted to the front of the chassis. The height of the engine did not help in making the cars very pretty but it did not sop them from being successful, the Jem being the neater of the two. The Ogle company produced the SX1000 which used the Mini engine in conjunction with the standard BMC floorpan. Because it was an Ogle, the finished product was made to a very high standard. The Ogle inspired many other similar designs like the Camber GT, the Irish Timeire and the Viking Minisport.
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1960 AC Greyhound
UK

AC Greyhound

  Also see: AC Road Tests and Reviews | AC Cars Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Alfa Romeo 1900
Italy

Alfa Romeo 1900

  Also see: AC Road Tests and Reviews | AC Cars Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Audi 72
Germany

Audi 72

  Also see: Audi Road Tests and Reviews | Audi Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Audi 72
Germany

Audi 72

  Also see: Audi Road Tests and Reviews | Audi Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Austin Seven Mini
UK

Austin Seven Mini

  Also see: Austin Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Austin Seven Countryman
UK

Austin Seven Countryman

  Also see: Austin Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Autobianchi Primula
Italy

Autobianchi Primula

   
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Autobianchi Stellina
Italy

Autobianchi Stellina

   
  Page Under Construction
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1960 BMW 1500
Germany

BMW 1500

  Also see: BMW Road Tests and Reviews | BMW Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 BMW 2000 CS Coupe
Germany

BMW 2000 CS Coupe

  Also see: BMW Road Tests and Reviews | BMW Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 BMW 3200
Germany

BMW 3200

  Also see: BMW Road Tests and Reviews | BMW Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 BMW 3200
Germany

Borgward 230

  Also see: Borgward Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 BMW 3200
Germany

Borgward 230

  Also see: Borgward Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Bristol 406
UK

Bristol 406

  Also see: Bristol Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Bristol Zagato GT
UK

Bristol Zagato GT

  Also see: Bristol Road Tests and Reviews
 

The Bristol Zagato Grand Tourer was designed to cater for those who desired an even faster car than the standard type 406 saloon. Lighter, smaller and equipped with a tuned version of the 406 Bristol engine, the Zagato was very much a car for the enthusiast. The lightweight two-door coachwork was built to the requirements of Anthony Crook Motors Limited by Zagato of Milan, Italy, a company noted for their high performance cars. The emphasis was placed on providing extra speed without impairing reliability or flexibility and whilst still retaining reasonable rear seat accommodation a feature normally lacking in Grand Touring saloons.

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1960 Citroen DS 19
UK

Citroen DS 19

  Also see: Citroen Road Tests and Reviews | Citroen Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 DKW 1000 S Coupe
Germany

DKW 1000 S Coupe

  Also see: Auto Union DKW Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 DKW 1000 SP
Germany

DKW 1000 SP

  Also see: Auto Union DKW Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Facel Vega Excellence
UK

Facel Vega Excellence

   
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Facel Vega Excellence
UK

Facel Vega Excellence

   
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Facel Vega Excellence
Italy

Ferrari 400 Superamerica

  Also see: Ferrari Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Facel Vega Excellence
Italy

Fiat 125

  Also see: Fiat Road Tests and Reviews | Fiat Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Ford Consul Capri
UK

Ford Consul Capri

  Also see: Ford UK Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Hillman Husky
UK

Hillman Husky

  Also see: Hillman Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Hillman Husky
UK

Hillman Husky

  Also see: Hillman Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Hillman Minx Series IIIa
UK

Hillman Minx Series IIIa

  Also see: Hillman Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Jaguar Mark II 2.4
UK

Jaguar Mark II 2.4

  Also see: Jaguar Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Jaguar Mark II 2.4
UK

Jaguar Mark II 2.4

  Also see: Jaguar Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Jaguar Mark II 4.2
UK

Jaguar Mark II 3.4

  Also see: Jaguar Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Jensen 541 S
UK

Jensen 541 S

  Also see: Jensen Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Lamborghini GT 350
Italy

Lamborghini GT 350

  Also see: Lamborghini Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Lancia Flavia
Italy

Lancia Flavia

  Also see: Lancia Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Maserati Quattroporte
Italy

Maserati Quattroporte

  Also see: Maserati Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Maserati Quattroporte
Italy

Maserati Quattroporte

  Also see: Maserati Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Cabriolet
Germany

Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Cabriolet

  Also see: Mercedes-Benz Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing
Germany

Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing

  Also see: Mercedes-Benz SL Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing
Germany

Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing

  Also see: Mercedes-Benz SL Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Monteverdi 375 S
Switzerland

Monteverdi 375 S

  Also see: Monteverdi Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Moretti 127
Italy

Moretti 127

   
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Rover 2000
UK

Rover 2000

  Also see: Rover Road Tests and Reviews | Rover Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Rover 80
UK

Rover 80

  Also see: Rover Road Tests and Reviews | Rover Brochures
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Simca Ariane
France

Simca Ariane

  Also see: Simca Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Simca Ariane 4
France

Simca Ariane 4

  Also see: Simca Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Simca Aronde Oceane and Plein Ciel
France

Simca Aronde Oceane and Plein Ciel

  Also see: Simca Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Simca Castel
France

Simca Castel

  Also see: Simca Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Simca Montlhery
France

Simca Montlhery

  Also see: Simca Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Singer Gazelle
UK

Singer Gazelle

  Also see: Singer Road Tests and Reviews
  Launched in 1956, the Gazelle was an reasonably attractive car, typical of the new look British built cars of the mid 1950's.
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1960 Singer Vogue
UK

Singer Vogue

  Also see: Singer Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1960 Singer Vogue
UK

Singer Vogue

  Also see: Singer Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1960 Triumph Herald
UK

Triumph Herald

  Also see: Triumph Road Tests and Reviews
  Page Under Construction
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1960 Triumph Herald Coupe
UK

Triumph Herald Coupe

  Also see: Triumph Road Tests and Reviews
 
The first Herald went on sale to the general public in April 1959 as a Coupé - although these have long since become very rare and are most sought after! The Coupé was never really intended to be a proper 4 seater, the rear seat being available only as an option. But the similarities with other British sports cars was soon evident, such as the four speed gearbox, 948 cc engine fitted with twin SU H1 carbys and an output of 42 bhp. Some features of the new car were considered quite novel at the time, such as independent rear suspension, an incredibly tight turning circle (25 ft.), a collapsible and adjustable steering column, and a greatly reduced maintenance schedule through use of nylon and rubber bushes that virtually eliminated grease fittings on the chassis.
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1960 Triumph Herald
UK

Triumph Herald Sedan

  Also see: Triumph Road Tests and Reviews
 
The Triumph Herald Coupé was soon joined by a Saloon version, which allowed far more room for a full rear seat. The Saloon was originally powered by a single Solex-carbureted, 38.5 bhp gross/34.5 bhp net version of the same 948 cc engine, though later the twin-carb engine would be offered as well. By March 1960, these two models were joined by a Convertible, which also offered a top that folded almost completely out of sight, a full (though a bit cramped) rear seat and the twin-carb engine. 1960 also saw the introduction of the Herald S, a stripped-down saloon that never caught on. Bigger news the following year was the introduction of the 1200 series, incorporating the same Coupé, Saloon and Convertible body styles with a larger engine and somewhat more relaxed final drive. Soon added to the range was an Estate Wagon and the short- lived Courier van, a "commercial" version of the Estate wagon much like the once-common sedan delivery versions of American station wagons.
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1960 Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet
Germany

Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet

  Also see: Volvo Road Tests and Reviews
   
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Volvo 122
Sweden

Volvo 122

  Also see: Volvo Road Tests and Reviews
   
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Volvo 123 GT
Sweden

Volvo 123 GT

  Also see: Volvo Road Tests and Reviews
   
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1960 British and European Car Spotters Guide
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