• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Worst car of the 1960's

A long time replying but I think the next line on the Renault Dauphine Ad was
"The built in heater couldn`t be neater........The Renault Dauphine. Ah......and...see how she holds the road,simply to get the attention dum dum dum dum The Renault Dauphine
 
Seen on a Pennsylvania number plate in 2001 ... On a quiet night you can hear a Ford rust

Maurice :friendly_wink:
 
I remember the advert for the Renault Dauphine on TV too. It used to be a jingle singing 'A penny farthing a mile, and you travel in style...dum dum Renault Dauphine.
 
Due to my age I don't really remember the 60s so well.But can remember from the 70s on.
Anything that came out of BL,even a new Morris Marina from 1977 was useless.Add to that a new Hillman Hunter in 1974,useless again.
Wasn't until we got Vauxhalls in the 1980s did things improve.Every time I went back to Rover things went downhill again...I did hear that pre BL cars before 1968 were good though.
 
Last edited:
It's funny how we view cars differently, I had a Morris Marina 1.3 coupe 1976, I took this car around Europe, France, Switzerland, Italy, back though Austria, Germany, Belgium, never missed a beat and sweet as nut, sold it 18 mth's later with 36000 miles, for £500 less than I bought it. I had a Hillman Estate 1.6 which was a complete dog.
paul
 
Interesting reading, I have just read the AOL motoring page on-line and it lists the ten worst cars of the 1960's. I would love to state that I knew each of the makes of car, but unfortunately I can only recall half of them?

Is there anyone that owned one of these problem cars???? :redface:

They are:

1) Simca 1000 (1965)
2) Humber Snipe (1967)
3) Vauhall Ventura (1968)
4) Hino Contessa (1966)
5) Peel Trident (1964)
6) Renault Dauphine (1965)
7) MGA Twin Cam (1960)
8) VW 411 (1968)
9) Saab Sonett II (1966)
10) Ford Tanus 12M (1962)

keith
Glad to see my 1966 Singer Vogue isn't on the list
 
Yeah. I thought that the Morris Marina was not a bad little car. Traditional north south arrangement of drive line...which the transverse engine was supposed to spell the death nell of. I suppose it did more or less eventually but at that point seemed to have hit a bit of a bump...hence the Marina I think. Anyway it was not a speed and (corner on your earhole) kind of car but decent enough. Rented one on a visit for two weeks and we loved it....once I remembered to stay away from the curb.
 
First pic is a Peel Trident, Second pic is a Hino Contessa. Should'nt No 10 on cregoe kids list read Ford Taurus?
red_trident.jpgdownload.jpg
 
Thanks Terry, this forum never ceases to astound me, I always thought the "Taunus", was a German Ford Cortina?.paul
 
The rear engined Simca 1000 was a terrible car, mine just rusted away. You also needed a couple of concrete blocks in the boot to keep the front end on the road, it would swing around in cross winds and was very unstable. It did however have a Porche gear box with syncromesh on first gear, not very common at that time

My grandfather sold Simca's at Small Heath (Walkers) all I heard from my father was how well they handled. Perhaps they filled the boot for test drives?
 
In 1976 I worked for "Chrysler", Military sales Division, as a Regional Manager Europe, my company car was a "Simca Matra", a mid engine sports car, this always caused a great interest where ever I parked in UK and Europe. Chrysler had just purchased Simca, Talbot ,and Hillman Cars. I have never seen or heard of any since the 70's, I wonder what they would be worth today. Paul
 
Just goes to show how cars have improved since then in terms of reliability and safety, nevertheless I old like some 1960's cars.
 
I am certainly no motoring expert and members may disagree with me but I have owned assorted cars since 1961 (but all British made) and think the modern car is superior in all departments. No rust (very common years ago), engines will easily exceed 100,000 miles without problems, tyres seem to last much longer, no grease points, they seem to be more reliable, cannot remember when I last had a breakdown or car failed to start, car has one full service a year. Eric
 
I would have to agree Eric. Only once in 20 years have I needed to add oil between services. In the 1960s I used to take a can with me if going on holiday to Cornwall.

Someone I worked with in 1960 claimed his Crests had no rust underneath. Then he said that each month he put it up on jacks and resprayed oil into the box sections and all remote places.

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
In my latest car nags me. A women who speaks from behind my dashboard told me the other morning 'You must press the clutch to start'. Sorry Miss I thought ....:unconscious:
 
Talking of cars of the 60's I have a 1966 Singer Vogue, I tell you, when I first had it it brought back memories of my first cars, no power steering, no servo brakes, talk about thinking ahead you have to start standing on the brakes well before you intend to stop !! It spends the the winter tucked away in the garage waiting for warmer times. Will be off to our shows around Cornwall and Devon in the summer.
 
Back
Top