It has been quite a year
Amid all the 2020 doom and gloom there was still cause for the odd classic car celebration. The Range Rover and Citroën SM hit their half centuries, while Alvis and Mazda turned 100 – and it has been much the same in 2021.
There have been a great number of significant landmark automotive birthdays in 2021 and, even better, this year we’ve been able to get together and celebrate them.
So grab a glass and raise a toast as we look back at 2021’s biggest classic car birthdays.
1. Aston Martin Vanquish: 20 years
The Vanquish was the first of a new breed of thoroughly modern Astons based around a brand-new, bonded-aluminium chassis.
Aston built over 2500 cars, one of which ended up in the hands of James Bond for a preposterous chase in the ice in The World is Not Enough.
Production ended in 2007, but in 2020 the car’s designer, Ian Callum, created an upgraded version called the Callum Vanquish, though at around £500k, you might need to hold the world to ransom to afford one.
2. Renault 4: 60 years
Renault’s answer to rival Citroën’s 2CV was a more modern machine, capable of tackling longer distances as well as trundling down farm tracks.
It was a massive hit, and not just in France, shifting over 8m units in a 33-year production run.
3. Alfa Romeo 8C: 90 years
Alfa’s straight-eight 8C engine powered a huge range of exotic cars during the 1930s, from functional single-seat Grand Prix cars to elegant GTs.
The 8C-2300 pictured here took first place at Le Mans in 1934.
4. Pegaso Z-102: 70 years
Proving that Italy didn’t have the monopoly on rapid and rakish Continental sports cars in the 1950s, the stunning Spanish-built Z-102 was incredibly sophisticated for the time.
It featured a five-speed transaxle and a four-cam alloy V8 that developed up to 360bhp in optional supercharged form.
5. Ford Consul: 70 years
A regular sight on post-war UK roads, the Consul was the bottom rung on Ford’s Consul-Zephyr-Zodiac ladder starting in 1951, before the badge was used on an entirely new (and clearly Detroit-influenced) car, the Consul Classic a decade later.
The original’s grizzly claim to fame is that Eddie Cochrane was in the back of a Consul taxi when he died in a 1960 crash.
6. Alpine A110: 60 years
Jean Rédélé’s Dieppe-based Alpine outfit did an incredible job of making a slinky sports car from the oily bits of Renault’s three-box R8.
The rear-engined A110 proved itself as an excellent rally weapon, taking first place on the ’71 Monte and winning the inaugural World Rally Championship in 1973.
Renault saved Alpine from bankruptcy that year and if we fast-forward, it recently launched a retro-styled A110 – the Alpine name entered Formula One from this year, too, and scored its first Grand Prix victory when Esteban Ocon won in Hungary on 1 August 2021.
7. Lotus Elise: 25 years
This is a big one.
The car that saved Lotus – and is still saving Lotus a quarter of a century later – was exactly the kind of light, innovative machine Colin Chapman would have loved.
The glassfibre body covered a bonded and extruded aluminium chassis that helped the Elise tip the scales at just 725kg, making even the bog-standard 118bhp Rover K-series engine feel punchy enough.
And now, the Elise is bowing out.
8. BMW New Class: 60 years
BMW might have been making cars since the 1920s, but the Neue Klasse is ground zero for the BMW brand we know and love.
Crisp Michelotti bodywork clothing a unitary chassis kitted out with disc brakes and a modern M10 ohc engine helped establish BMW’s reputation as the go-to badge for family drivers in a hurry.
9. MG Midget: 60 years
This wasn’t the first time MG had used the Midget name, and the car wasn’t even that new – it was essentially a badge-engineered Mk2 Austin-Healey Sprite.
But the Midget was a huge success and enjoyed a near 20-year run.
They’re all fun, but 1275cc chrome bumper cars built between 1966 and 1974 deliver the best blend of style, performance and scope for future upgrades.
10. Ferrari 550 Maranello: 25 years
Having slavishly followed the fashion for mid-engined supercars for two decades, Ferrari returned to its front-engined V12 roots for the 550 Maranello under guidance from new boss Luca di Montezemolo.
They’re nothing special to look at by classic Ferrari standards, but very special to drive.
11. Morris Marina: 50 years
BMC had spent much of the 1960s pushing forward-thinking front-wheel drive cars with sophisticated hydraulic suspension, but when it came to replacing the ancient Minor, it stuck with a traditional live rear axle set-up and outdated Minor-style front suspension.
There might be endless jokes at their expense now, but the Marina was hugely popular with Britain’s apathetic car buyers in the 1970s.
12. Alfa Romeo Alfasud: 50 years
As if to underline how lame the Marina was, Alfa Romeo’s landmark Sud burst onto the market in 1971 with inboard disc brakes, an overhead-cam boxer engine and sports-car handling.
If Alfa had fitted a hatchback from launch (it didn’t arrive until 1982), and got a handle on the abysmal build quality and corrosion problems, it would have been unstoppable.
13. Bentley Continental R: 30 years
Bentley had rediscovered its mojo in the 1980s with performance cars like the Mulsanne Turbo and Turbo R, but it wasn’t until the launch of the Continental R that the company finally offered something that didn’t share a body with a Rolls-Royce.
The Conti R delivered 325bhp at launch from its turbocharged 6.75-litre V8, but by 1998 the new sportier short-wheelbase Continental T was packing 420bhp, and could crack 170mph.
14. Maserati Bora: 50 years
This stunning Giugiaro-designed two-seater never gets as many column inches as its 1970s supercar contemporaries, but while it’s not as striking as a Countach, it’s every bit as beautiful as a Ferrari Boxer or De Tomaso Pantera.
Rather less beautiful is Maserati’s boxy Bi-turbo, which also had a landmark birthday in 2021, turning 40.
15. Chrysler Valiant Charger: 50 years
Think Charger and you’ll likely think of the 1968-’70 Detroit B-body made famous in Bullitt and The Dukes of Hazzard.
Unless you’re Australian, that is, in which case you’ll be thinking of the locally-built Chrysler Valiant Charger, which hit its half century in 2021.
16. Bugatti EB110: 30 years
Romano Artioli’s second entry in this list (he was also responsible for the Lotus Elise, which is named after his granddaughter, Elisa), is the Bugatti EB110, which turned 30 in 2021.
With its luxurious interior and quad-turbo V12 driving all four wheels, the EB110 pointed to a future direction for supercars, but it was quickly rendered obsolete by the McLaren F1, and Artioli’s ambitious expansion plans, including the purchase of Lotus, sent the company bust.
17. Fiat 127: 50 years
Every modern supermini has this one to thank.
The Fiat 127’s mix of hatchback practicality and a transversely mounted engine with a gearbox stuck on the end driving the front wheels set a template that’s still followed to this day, so it’s no surprise the 127 bagged top honours in the 1972 European Car of the Year competition.
Happy half century!
18. Suzuki Cappuccino: 30 years
The espresso-sized Suzuki two-seater was not the only kei car cutie to hit 30 in 2021 – the Honda Beat also celebrated three decades of shrunken sports-car fun this year.
Both featured 63bhp, 660cc three-cylinder engines to comply with kei car rules, but while the Suzuki’s was front-mounted and turbocharged, the Honda’s naturally aspirated motor was mounted behind the seats.
19. TVR Griffith: 30 years
The car that changed everything for TVR, the Griff resurrected a classic 1960s TVR name, but there was nothing retro about the swooping glassfibre body mounted on top of the Tuscan racing car’s chassis.
Early cars came in 240bhp 4.0-litre or 280bhp 4.3-litre forms, but by 1993 TVR had gone power crazy, unleashing the 340bhp 5.0-litre Griffith 500.
20. Porsche Boxster: 25 years
If the Griffith was the car that changed everything for TVR, the Boxster is the car that did the same for Porsche.
Better to drive than a 911 (Walter Röhrl himself will tell you as much), only the early 2.5 car’s lack of pace held it back, but go for a 2.7, or better yet, a 3.2 S, and the problem’s solved.
It is hard to believe it is a quarter of a century old.
21. Mini Cooper: 60 years
Like the early Boxster, the 1959 Mini was a brilliant chassis that deserved more of a challenge than the 34bhp its 848cc engine could offer.
That changed in 1961 with the launch of the Mini Cooper. A longer stroke stretched the A-series engine’s capacity to 997cc, and with the help of twin SU carbs and a three-branch manifold, pushed power to 55bhp.
22. Jaguar E-type: 60 years
And finally we come to 2021’s biggest classic car birthday – we are sure you’ve not missed it.
Yes, Jaguar’s C-type turned 70 this year, but all eyes have been on the iconic E-type in 2021 which has been the subject of get-togethers all year, and which celebrated its 60th birthday more sure of its status as the classic car than it has ever been.
So, 2021 has been quite a year – and we are sure 2022 will deliver plenty more reasons to party.