[music] Well, I thought I covered all the executive
cars from the 1970s in my last video, but as always you’re very knowledgeable, and
you spotted a few cars that I missed! If you haven’t seen that video, I’d recommend you watch
that first, and there’s a link above. I also said I wasn’t going to talk about Jaguar because it
was a little too premium in my opinion, but hey, while we’re talking about other cars why not
throw that into the mix as well? This is all the cars I missed
from the 1970s Executive Car Story. [music] NSU were a West German executive car maker,
and they released the innovative RO 80 in 1967. Like Citroën they produced a highly aerodynamic car with an impressive 0.36 drag coefficient. And like
Citroën, it was a highly innovative vehicle – the Cybertruck of its day. It had disc brakes on all
four wheels, and used a semi-automatic gearbox at a time when synchromesh wasn’t a given on
some cars. But the most innovative feature was its 113hp (85 kW) Wankel rotary engine.
Unsurprisingly it won Car of the Year in 1968. But all this innovation was NSU’s undoing. The
rotary engine was thirsty and unreliable, and most of the company’s limited resources went into
fixing the problems. Customers rejected the RO 80 leaving NSU on the rocks. They were purchased by
the Volkswagen Audi group in 1969 who continued to sell the RO 80 under the NSU badge, maybe so it
didn’t damage the Volkswagen or Audi brands. Sales didn’t improve in its native Germany, and were
almost non-existent in the UK. Production ended in 1977 but as can be seen from this photo, they were
still being registered in the UK as late as 1978. When NSU was acquired by Volkswagen, they
had a new car almost ready for production. It was slightly smaller than the RO 80, but still
large enough to be in the executive car category, in fact it would go up against the Audi 100.
VW also had their own large car – the 411 that had launched just two years previously. So, both
Volkswagen and Audi had new cars that were also sold in this space, so it was a little surplus
to requirements. Given all this, the launch, which happened around the time of the acquisition
got a little messy. The big reveal was announced, then it was cancelled. In the end the NSU K70 was
launched in 1969 and would go on sale in 1970, but not as an NSU, it would have a
Volkswagen badge and would be their first front engined, front wheel drive car.
Rather than a rotary engine and semi-automatic gearbox, the K70 wisely stuck with a conventional
four cylinder engine and transmission from NSU’s parts bin. It would become Volkswagen’s
largest car, and the top of their range, even when the Passat replaced the 411 in
1973 but production of the K70 ended in 1975. In my last video I talked about Ford’s and GM’s
cars, but missed out on Chrysler, the “Peggy Schuyler” of the American automotive “big three”. ♫ "Work, work, Angelica, work, work, Eliza, and Peggy!" ♫ Chrysler had purchased a controlling stake
in the British Rootes Group in 1967. Rootes’ largest car was the Sceptre
and by 1970 the third generation had been on sale for three years. The Sceptre was
a top of the line version of the Hillman Hunter, and was also a little cramped compared to
other executive cars on sale. There would be an estate version in 1974 but sales were never
that impressive and when it ended production in 1976 the Humber name was retired with it.
Chrysler also owned Simca in France who had the 1501. Like the Sceptre, it was a little
small, but also lacked executive power with just a 1.5L engine. What Chrysler needed
was a true executive car that they could sell across Europe. Both Rootes and Simca were
separately working on different versions of what that car might be. Chrysler shut down the
French proposal and both companies worked on refining the British design that would launch
as the Chrysler 180 in 1970. Designed by Roy Axe who would go on to oversee the design of the
Rover 800 executive saloon twenty years later, it followed the American-inspired design language
of the time, and looked like a larger version of the Hillman Avenger that launched that same year.
The 1.8L Chrysler 180 was produced in France and available to buy in the UK in 1971, with a
2.0L version in 1973. The press reaction wasn’t terrible, but it was damned by faint praise.
It didn’t help that reviewers put it up against cars like the all-conquering but much smaller Ford
Cortina, rather than more natural competition like the Zodiac. Chrysler’s marketing team also fell
flat. They failed to make much of an advertising push, something of a problem as the Chrysler
name wasn’t familiar in European markets. The car itself lacked some of the prestige features
found on the competition like central locking and electric windows. It was a car to easily overlook
when comparison shopping, and when you did, it was forgettable. The 180 settled down to just
2,000 sales per year – hardly something that would recoup the investment cost.
It sold even worse in France. Production moved to Spain where it had modest
success with the option of a diesel engine. Chrysler had attempted to import luxury cars
produced in Australia. The Chrysler Valiant was shown at the 1966
British Motor Show, but it was expensive – about the same as an entry level Jaguar and didn’t
meet with much interest. Chrysler persevered though. By 1970 they were offering the VG version,
and the next year the newer VH Valiant was introduced, but they were still expensive
compared to the competition, especially given their level of trim, and like the 180, Chrysler
didn’t market them very well. They were selling enough of them in the UK
though that the new Valiant made its appearance for the 1974 model year. The Valiant had a thirsty range of engines,
topping out at a 5L V8, and sales even before the oil crisis weren’t great, so imports
ended in 1975. Chrysler were also attempting to go the other
way – exporting British cars to Australia. A version of the Chrysler 180 made it to Australia
as the Chrysler Centura in 1975. Another car from the previous video, the Vauxhall
Viceroy also came to Australia as the 1978 Holden Commodore. Although Ford didn’t bring the Granada to
Australian shores, the second generation car was used as a template for the 1979 Ford Falcon. Japanese cars were making a strong push into
export markets in 1970. Unlike its competitors in Detroit, they weren’t
making many design compromises for each local market – they pretty much shipped the same
car all around the world and sold it as-is. This meant the style took some getting used
to – they had a different look both inside and out. However, by 1970 Japan was producing some
large executive cars for the local market, and these were brought to the UK. Some notable cars that are a little too small
for this list are the Mitsubishi Sigma Galant that was certainly being sold in the UK in
the late 1970s. Mazda introduced the “Luce” luxury saloon
and estate that had first been produced in 1966, and by 1973 the updated version was
being called the Mazda 929. Another update arrived in 1977, and each generation
of this car had included the Wankel rotary engine like the NSU RO 80, but Mazda were
having a bit more success with it. Nissan launched the third generation Cedric
in 1971, and this was sold in the UK as the Datsun 240C. In some countries it was well appointed with
electric windows and mirrors, an automatic gearbox and air conditioning,
but not the British version. The best Datsun’s brochure could call out
was the radio with auto seek and electric aerial, plus metallic paint. But you can tell it was the 1970s – it included
four ashtrays and 2 cigar lighters, one in the front and one in the back – perfect
for the kids to play with! It did have a reasonably powerful 2.4L 130hp
(97 kW) engine that would soon be updated to a 2.6L, but it didn’t sell well in the UK. Customers there were just getting their heads
around Japanese cars, and they would start to be known, fairly or unfairly, as cheap
rust buckets. It’s hard to sell a high-end executive saloon
under those conditions. By 1974 Datsun were still selling the saloon
but were focusing on the estate. It traded less on luxury and more on practicality,
seating 7 people. The 260C would be updated in 1975 with the
fourth generation model that continued the American styling both inside and out. It now got power steering and braking, and
an optional automatic gearbox. The estate had a unique feature – an electrically
operated rear side window to load things into the boot from the side. Another update appeared in 1979 and it was
now sold as the 280C as it had a larger 2.8L 6-cylinder engine, but although Brits experimented
with the Datsun Cherry, Sunny and Bluebird, very few of its large saloons or estates were sold. The Datsun 260C’s main competitor in Japan
was the Toyota Crown which also made it to the UK around 1971, maybe not by aeroplane! Like the Datsun it was available as both a
saloon and an estate with a 2.6L engine that had more power than the 260C but the same
top speed. Also like the Datsun, it was a mecca for smokers,
with front and rear cigarette lighters, and a felt-lined holder for your cigarette box! It offered a few more features than the Datsun
as well – automatic transmission, power steering, central locking, a remote electronic
boot release and an aerial built into the windscreen. The Crown 2600 Special Saloon – the highest
spec included air conditioning, a rare luxury for a UK spec car, as well as a cold box in
the boot. In the days before cassettes caught on, Toyota
offered an 8-track player to go with the AM/FM radio. This being the early 1970s, safety wasn’t
a high priority. Toyota called out head restraints on the front
seats to prevent whiplash, but surprisingly seat belts weren’t a standard feature on
this luxury car. But then if you were doing all that smoking,
a long life may not be high on your priority list! There would be an update in 1974, and another
in 1979, but like the Datsun, the style would remain American which might work in North
America, but didn’t suit European tastes. German cars had styling that Brits wanted,
and Japanese cars continued to be dismissed as downmarket. Japanese cars certainly didn’t have the
credibility for my father. He’d found Audi and was happy with the product
they made and didn’t feel a need to switch. He also never considered Jaguar, probably
because of the high price. By 1970 they’d been rolled into British
Leyland, and really only had two models on sale. There was the E-Type of course, but as far
as executive cars went, there was the 420G, a renamed Mark X but it was in its last year
of production. Jaguar’s main executive saloon now was the
XJ6 that was only two years old, but this was a very large and very expensive luxury
saloon, a lot more than almost all of the cars I’ve talked about so far. Jaguar had until recently made smaller executive
cars – they’d launched the Mark 2 in 1959 that had been replaced with the S-Type four
years later, but sales of the S-Type had disappointed, and in fact the Mark 2 that remained in production
outsold it in some years. There was also a high end version launched
as the Jaguar 420 and the Daimler Sovereign. Given the age of the Mark 2, and the lack
of interest in the S-Type, production of all of these cars had ended by 1969, meaning all
hopes for future Jaguar sales in the 1970s rested on the shoulders of that very large,
very expensive XJ6. Those hopes weren’t misguided. The XJ6 was a good car, with a 2.8L straight
6 allowing it to soak up the miles on the new web of motorways criss-crossing the country. There was an upmarket version sold as the
next generation Daimler Sovereign. High end features like air conditioning and
automatic transmission were available with the usual Jaguar leather seats. It got better in 1972 with a V12 engine, the
only saloon car in the world offering one at the time. That was good enough to get
it to 140mph (225 km/h). A year later the XJ was given a facelift as
the Series 2. At a time when Toyota were making seat belts
an optional extra on their luxury car, it’s interesting that the new Jaguar featured side
impact protection in the doors – something of a rarity at the time. It would take another 6 years for the Series 3
to arrive, and when it did, it was just another facelift. Parent British Leyland had gone bankrupt in
1975, and what little money Jaguar possessed had gone into launching the replacement for
the E-Type, the Jaguar XJ-S. The XJ was now over 10 years old and there
wasn’t much to the Series 3 facelift. It’s easy to see that from the 20 page brochure
they launched. The first 10 pages are spent waxing lyrically
about the new power sunroof. In 1973 Jaguar’s American XJ6 brochure called
it “one of the most highly-engineered, sophisticated luxury sedans ever to come across the seas
to America.”. But with little development, by the end of
the decade it was getting hard to say this with a straight face. Jaguar’s financial starvation meant the XJ stagnated,
and it was being built on outdated equipment. They would try to lean in to this by highlighting
the hand-built nature of the car, but their German rivals were moving ahead. In 1979 this was a concern, but throughout
the 1980s the alarm bells would get louder and louder until something had to give. But that is a story for another day. You may want to take a look at the Princess
or SAAB 900 videos on the right, both cars I talked about in the first video. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in
the next video!
