25 classics that turned 50 in 2020

This year’s half-century heroes

The Range Rover, the world’s most famous luxury off-roader, and in Classic guise, now a bona fide classic, celebrated its 50th birthday this year.

But it’s far from the only classic to hit its half-century in 2020. Some, like the Plymouth Superbird and Monteverdi Hai, burned brightly and briefly, while others, including the Range Rover and Suzuki Jimny, are still on sale today, albeit in very different forms.

We’ve curated a list of 25 half-century heroes – it’s not exhaustive, but we reckon it represents the most interesting metal launched in 1970 or for the 1970 model year.

Think we’ve missed a crucial birthday? Let us know.

1. Citroën SM

Citroën’s spectacular sci-fi coupé was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 1970 and by September the Robert Opron design was turning heads on the streets of France.

The Maserati V6 wasn’t hugely powerful, but when it came to technical innovations it left rival GTs standing. There were swivelling headlights, self-levelling suspension, speed-sensitive power steering and even lightweight carbon-reinforced resin wheels.

2. Volkswagen K70

While the innovative Citroën SM managed third place in the 1971 European Car of the Year competition (the GS took first), second spot went to the K70, which was developed by NSU and sold as a VW after NSU was absorbed into the Wolfsburg empire.

Largely forgotten now, the K70 was important because it was Volkswagen’s first water-cooled, front-wheel-drive car.

3. Toyota Celica

Toyota’s long-lived coupé was designed primarily for the lucrative US market and influenced by the Ford Mustang – not the bloated 1971 Mustang Ford had released months earlier in September 1970, but the ’64 original.

With four-cylinder power and sexy coke-bottle styling it was light, affordable and looked great, particularly when Toyota added a fastback option in 1973.

4. Ferrari 512S Modulo

The first year of the new decade was great for concept cars, too. Bertone showed the Lancia Stratos Zero, which would inspire the rally-winning Stratos production car, while arch-rival Pininfarina dreamed up the Ferrari V12-powered 512S Modulo.

Multi-millionaire Ferrari fan, James Glickenhaus, bought the Modulo in 2014 and had it restored to fully driveable condition.

5. Triumph Toledo

Triumph’s most famous 1970 introduction is the open-top Stag, but its most curious must be the humble Toledo.

Why? Because having already introduced a modern, front-wheel-drive family car in the shape of the 1300, Triumph decided to re-engineer it as the cheaper-to-make (and buy) rear-wheel-drive Toledo for 1970.

Even stranger, the front-wheel-drive car carried on as a more upmarket offering with a bigger 1500cc engine, and itself was soon sharing showroom space with the even posher, rear-drive Dolomite.

6. Datsun Cherry 100A

While Triumph was reverting to rear-wheel drive to attract budget-conscious buyers, Nissan was just starting its front-wheel-drive journey.

The little Cherry 100A was a crucial weapon in Nissan’s assault on the UK market, though years later it regretted using the Datsun, rather than Nissan, brand to sell its cars and spent millions making the switch.

7. De Tomaso Pantera

An appealing fusion of Italian style and Detroit substance, the Pantera was designed by Ghia’s Tom Tjaarda and powered by a small-block Ford Cleveland V8.

It was De Tomaso’s most popular model – far more popular than the Deauville saloon introduced the same year – finding over 7000 buyers in an unusually long 21-year career.

8. Monteverdi Hai 450

Somewhat less successful than the Pantera, though even more powerful, was the Monteverdi Hai 450.

Like the Pantera, it featured a Detroit V8 – in this case the mighty Chrysler 426 Hemi. Two prototypes were built, including the 1970 Geneva Salon car, but sadly the project went no further.

9. Ford Cortina Mk3

Ford’s fleet-car favourite came over all curvy for 1970, inspired by Blue Oval cars across the Atlantic, and twinned (almost) with the German Ford Taunus.

There was no Lotus version of the Mk3, but there was a brand-new 2.0-litre ohc engine, the Pinto, and South African and Australian cars got the option of six-cylinder power.

10. Plymouth Superbird

Evolved from Dodge’s ’69 Charger Daytona, the Superbird’s outrageous wing was even taller, and its beaky nose cone even longer.

Together the pair captured the 1970 NASCAR Championship for Chrysler, but Plymouth dealers struggled to shift the road cars and some were converted back into regular Road Runners. Unsurprisingly, they’re rather more popular today.

11. Bond Bug

Every bit as eye-catching as the Superbird, though rather less spritely, the Bond Bug was based on Reliant’s three-wheeled Regal.

Tom Karen of Ogle Design dreamed up the distinctive wedge-shaped glassfibre body and almost 2300 were sold before production ended in 1974.

That’s not the end of the Bug story though – Karen’s team used a Bug to create Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder for the 1977 film Star Wars, adding angled mirrors to the bodywork to disguise the wheels.

12. Opel Manta

The Manta was based on the Ascona family saloon that also appeared in 1970, and would later carry Walter Röhrl to European Rally Championship victory.

Opel’s answer to the Capri featured a less rakish roofline, but did offer sexy round tail-lights and modern ohc engines – unless you ordered the weedy pushrod 1.2.

13. Lamborghini Jarama

The Miura and Countach so comprehensively dominate discussion about Lamborghini’s late 1960s and early 1970s timeline it’s easy to forget there was so much more going on at Sant’Agata.

First of the 1970 Lambos was the Jarama, a front-engined 2+2 that appeared at the Geneva Motor Show to replace the Islero GT. Six months later, Lamborghini revealed another 2+2, the handsome mid-engined Urraco concept, which became a production reality in 1972.

14. Ford Escort RS1600

Fast Ford fans got a double helping of Escort excitement in 1970. Those with deep pockets could treat themselves to the 16-valve RS1600, which took over where the Lotus-engined Twin Cam left off, and gave us our first taste of the mighty Cosworth BDA engine.

And for drivers who loved the idea of the RS1600 but couldn’t stretch that far, the Mexico featured the same strengthened bodyshell but mated to a simpler 85bhp 1.6-litre Kent engine.

15. Alfa Romeo Montreal

Three years after Alfa showed a pretty Bertone-designed concept at the Montreal Expo, it was taking the covers off the production Montreal.

But rather than being watered down for production, this one was fortified, swapping the concept’s simple 1.6-litre twin-cam for a 2.6-litre V8 developed from the V8 in the 33 Stradale supercar.

16. Suzuki Jimny

Suzuki’s quest to build a tiny off-road vehicle that would meet Japanese kei microcar rules took a leap forward when it bought the Hope Motor Company in 1967.

Suzuki gave Hope’s ON360 mini 4x4 a new body, replaced the Mitsubishi engine with its own 25bhp two-stroke, and called the result the LJ10, or Jimny. Fifty years on there’s still a Jimny in Suzuki’s price list.

17. Marcos Mantis M70

Marcos announced the Mantis 2+2 in October 1970, and less than two years later the firm had gone bust. We’re not suggesting it’s all the M70’s fault, but creating arguably the world’s ugliest car probably wasn't great for business.

It seems early-’70s sports-car fans agreed: Marcos sold fewer than 50 of the 2.5-litre Triumph-engined machines before the factory’s doors closed.

18. Citroën GS

We kicked this list off with the incredible Citroën SM, but the GS, also launched in 1970, is arguably even more important.

Judges for the ’71 European Car of the Year competition obviously thought so, awarding the hydraulically suspended, flat-four-powered Escort alternative first place.

19. Lotus Seven S4

Sometimes it’s best not to meddle, as Lotus discovered when it tried to titivate the 13-year-old Seven in 1970. The idea was to create a slightly more usable, more luxurious Seven, but the new square-edged bodywork was much uglier than the design it replaced.

When Caterham bought the rights to the Seven in the early 1970s it soon reverted to the S3 shape – and has been making them like that ever since.

20. Dodge Challenger

Dodge was conspicuously slow to respond to Ford’s phenomenally successful Mustang. While fellow Chrysler brand, Plymouth, came out with the Barracuda in 1964, Dodge didn’t get its own pony car until 1970.

When it did finally arrive (twinned with a new Barracuda), it did at least make a proper entrance thanks to a massive list of trim and engines, as well as some zany colour codes. Panther Pink, Plum Crazy or Top Banana?

21. VAZ-201

Recognise the car but not the name? If you’re reading this in the UK you’ll remember it as the Lada 1200, though it was actually built by AutoVAZ.

The 201 was based on Fiat’s 1966 124, but while the Italian car was replaced in 1974, its Russian spin-off finally gave up in 1988, two years before the Soviet Union did the same.

22. Ford Pinto

Ford’s famously flammable subcompact was just one of several cars launched by Detroit in 1970 to fend off economical Japanese and European imports.

But while the AMC Gremlin got called ‘ugly’ and the Chevy Vega got a reputation for unreliability, the Pinto will be forever remembered for its tendency to burst into flames when hit from behind.

23. Austin Kimberley

Leyland Australia tried and failed to take on local heroes, Ford and Holden, with this boxy reboot of the British 1800. Kiwis knew it as the Morris Kimberley, as pictured here.

But instead of the 1800cc B-series ‘four’ used on British Landcrabs, the Kimberley (and its less plush Tasman brother) got an E-series straight-six – still mounted transversely and driving the front wheels.

Brit cars would get the same option in 1972, just as the short-lived Kimberley was being pensioned off.

24. Hillman Avenger

Though largely forgotten now, the Avenger was a big deal in 1970s Britain, beating the Morris Marina to market, spawning hot Tiger derivatives, and even being recast as the rear-wheel-drive Sunbeam hatchback that would, in Lotus form, capture the World Rally Championship title in 1981.

25. Range Rover

We finish our list of 25 with the biggest of the year’s 50th anniversaries. The original Range Rover, now known as Range Rover Classic, appeared in 1970 and was still on sale in 1996, two years after its replacement had arrived.

Already collectable, these cars have only become more desirable with this year’s focus on the 50th anniversary, meaning a mint early car could set you back as much as a brand-new one. We know where we’d spend our £50k!