The 1970s saw some ground-breaking new metal in British showrooms - the Renault 5 established the new 'supermini' class, the Volkswagen Golf gave the average family car a hatchback and top quality, the Ford Capri made sporty cars available to everyone and, despite all of this, that old favourite the Ford Cortina continued to rule the sales charts.
Yet it was a funny old time to be a driver, the 1970s. Britain started to experience a love/hate relationship with the four-wheeled machine that, previously, symbolised nothing but speed and freedom. The economic rollercoaster sent fuel prices soaring, while the country's roads could barely handle all the cars jostling to use them. And those cars themselves...it seemed British manufacturers, beset by striking workers and falling quality standards, were stalling as Japan's Datsuns, Hondas and Toyotas cruised off with contented customers.
Britain's new Rover 3500 was exciting and the Jaguar XJ12 an awesome engineering achievement, but the solid quality of BMWs and Mercs made more sense.
Giles Chapman documents the whole turbulent decade in this fascinating and entertaining book through the cars that dominated our motoring lives and explaining how the much-maligned Morris Marina and Reliant Robin actually helped drivers out of a jam.
