Ford, Triumph, Volvo, Rover, Audi, Datsun, Wolseley and Vauxhall: barge poll

By Martin Buckley

| 9 Feb 2026

Classic & Sports Car – Ford, Triumph, Volvo, Rover, Audi, Datsun, Wolseley and Vauxhall: barge poll

The 1970s was an era of increased homogeny, yet in the world of large luxury saloon cars there was more choice than ever.

This was a period of transition, the last hurrah for the traditional luxobarge before the status and snob value of Teutonic, engineering-led rationalism – in the shape of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and their legion of imitators – had begun to muscle out the cosily familiar big-car offerings of the 1960s.

The era of heavyweights such as the Rover P5 had come to a quiet end; names such as Viscount, Westminster and Zodiac no longer offered the resonance that had afforded them such respect in the avenues of suburbia and the office car park.

In the 1970s, Britain’s aspirant luxury saloons faced exotic rivals from the Continent and beyond

It would be wrong to blame the demise of the barge entirely on the European trend towards smaller, neater luxury cars, with their efficiency and ‘executive’ vibe.

The move towards compact saloons began in the UK with the Rover and Triumph 2000s, cars that conjured images of crisp-shirted young managers thrusting along the new motorways, leaving the barges of the past wallowing in their slipstream.

By the early ’70s, bigger-engined versions of these models had to some extent appeased traditional customers who could no longer own the large-bodied 3-litre Vauxhalls, Fords and Austins of the 1950s and ’60s.

Those caravan-towing bargefolk who remained loyal to the ‘value’ brands, however, could now buy their big cars in a new, trimmer form – styled to look European rather than mini-American.

Some of the finest executive expresses and luxobarges of the 1970s

Ford’s 1972 German-engineered and built Granada was created in this new, more rational idiom.

Foreign cars were enjoying increasing success, and many moved upmarket to fill the vacuum with new, six-cylinder models that sold on the basis of value for money – if they were Japanese – or of being somehow inherently ‘better’ simply because they weren’t British.

The Volvo 164 is a perfect example of the snob appeal of owning a foreign car in the UK in the early 1970s, at a time when they were not much in evidence on our roads.

Let’s sample eight options. This cross-section from the classic barge genre – £2-3000 status cars when they were new – caters for every taste and mood for the buyer who, in the increasingly small-car-biased 1970s, still required serious power and luxury in a modestly affordable saloon.

The 1970s was the decade of velour upholstery and vinyl roofs

Vauxhall Ventora

Safety legislation outlawed production of the Cresta and Viscount in 1972, but their 3.3-litre straight-six lived on in the FE Victor bodyshell as the Ventora, a name that was first used on a six-cylinder version of the FD Victor in 1968.

‘Fully equipped’ and costing £230 more than the VX4/90, the Vauxhall Ventora was something of a curiosity because it was thirstier but no faster than its four-cylinder sibling.

It appealed to customers who put a high value on smoothness, quietness and effortless torque – its 174lb ft peaked at a mere 2400rpm.

I seem to remember that lots of Ventoras ended up pulling caravans.

The Vauxhall Ventora’s deep glasshouse eats into the doors

I would have deemed it worth the extra money because I have always liked this friendly engine, and in automatic form – as in Darren Kitchener’s nicely restored FE – it has an easy time.

Changes in the GM Strasbourg gearbox are almost imperceptible and there is a very pleasing surge to the acceleration, although it is running out of breath by 4000rpm.

The sheer weight of that ‘six’ rather dictates the dominant understeer of the Vauxhall Ventora.

Still, there’s enough torque to kick out the back end, and to some extent the power steering – not unreasonably geared at 2¾ turns from lock to lock – masks the tendency to plough on.

The Vauxhall Ventora’s engine has a long crankshaft, with only four main bearings

The Vauxhall Ventora is handsome and the RoStyle wheels, vinyl roof and quad lights give it an air of suburban one-upmanship.

The synthetic luxury continues inside, with token wood veneer and all the instruments you would ever need in a fascia that slopes self-consciously away.

The centre console, that status symbol of the 1970s, flows between over-styled front seats and the Ventora, more than any of the other cars here, seems like a piece of social history, a postcard from a time when our needs were more modest.

In the lost world of 1970s expectations, it’s the sort of car a First Division footballer – or even their manager – would have thought themself lucky to have.

The Vauxhall Ventora’s cabin is a fake-wood paradise

Wolseley Six

This was the ultimate ‘Landcrab’, designed to appease those buyers who would have bought an Austin Westminster or 3 Litre.

It took the Alec Issigonis concept of a transverse-engined, front-driven and hydrolastically suspended saloon to its fullest extent, with the new option of six-cylinder, 2.2-litre power from a stretched version of the overhead-cam Austin Maxi engine.

The Wolseley appears the most at odds with our contemporary conception of how a big saloon car should look, like an artefact from an old episode of TV sitcom Terry and June.

The Wolseley Six was a badge-engineered version of BMC’s 1800/2200 ‘Landcrab’

The traditional grille gives the BMC 1800 a more attractive countenance, but generally this bodyshell – admirably stiff and strong – resisted attempts at beautification.

The short nose and tail of the Wolseley Six leave a huge amount of room inside, with those in the rear seats faring particularly well: the legroom puts most modern big saloons to shame, especially in relation to the relatively modest outer dimensions.

The low fascia and Mini-like angle of the large steering wheel in Reg Cook’s car feel unfamiliar, and that wood veneer looks rather at odds with Issigonis’ austere conception of a practical people-hauler.

The Wolseley Six’s transverse ‘six’ fills the engine bay

The engine of the Wolseley Six is smooth but sounds pedestrian, with a lot of whine from the drivetrain, but the gearchange is better than the ‘stirring a bucket of bricks’ imagery the earlier 1800 inspires.

Heavy steering spoiled lesser versions of the ADO17, but in the Six it feels super-light and low-geared if lacking in feel, and thus it masks the basically sound capabilities of a front-drive chassis that hangs on well.

The Wolseley badge means little to most people today, but in the early 1970s it still equalled refined fittings and affordable luxury.

The Six, a staid and essentially municipal car, was perfect for a government official who had not yet risen to the level of a Rover P5.

The Wolseley Six’s timber and cloth trim

Triumph 2.5 PI

Handsome and lusty, the Triumph 2.5 PI has something of the character of a bargain BMW and, like the Rover, it shows how sound the better products of the reviled British Leyland empire were.

The Mk2 was one of those rare styling updates that really freshened the look of Giovanni Michelotti’s still nicely proportioned six-light shape and extended its life into the late ’70s, and the mechanically fuel-injected version is the ultimate development of the theme.

The Lucas system’s not entirely deserved poor reputation meant a reversion to carbs for the 2500S.

The Triumph 2.5 PI handles deftly for such a big car

Charles Harrison has a fleet of straight-six Triumphs, and the PI was recently used on a trip to the Black Forest without a hitch.

Outwardly, this Triumph appears strikingly compact in a world in which even modest family saloons – never mind executive cars – are so bloated, yet it is very adequately roomy inside and flooded with light.

The wooden fascia, with its segmented cluster of warning lights, was one of the best-planned you would have found in almost any circa 1970 car, although ultimately the PI lacks the detail interior refinement of the Rover.

The Triumph 2.5 PI’s injected straight-six sounds glorious

On the move, the Triumph 2.5 PI is as dynamic and driver-pleasing in character as the Wolseley (for instance) is pedestrian, with eager and punchy thrust from a straight-six engine whose howl suggests something much more exotic.

With overdrive on third and top, there are six ratios with which to play tunes, and third gear could take you from 20 to 100mph.

One cannot especially delight in the Triumph’s harsh and notchy gearchange as you would an Alfa Romeo’s, but then you don’t have to use it all that much.

It is better to focus on the fact that the PI’s power-assisted steering rack is more direct than that of most of its ilk and that you can set your cornering attitude to neat or lurid on demand – it's a fun element that few if any of the other barges here can offer.

The Triumph 2.5 PI’s clean, stylish dashboard

Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia

Strictly speaking, our Ford Granada should have been a 3000GXL, or maybe a Consul GT, because the 3.0 Ghia option, with its cloth trim and fresh fascia, was a late development in the story of the fondly remembered Mk1 Granada.

Launched in the spring of 1972, it was an important car because it gave Ford a flagship that was fit to be compared with almost anything, rather than a large car that was purchased merely because it offered good value.

Many much more expensive cars struggled to match the Granada’s high standards when it first appeared.

The Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia has a vinyl roof and alloy wheels

The MkIV Zodiac had been one of Ford GB’s more public mistakes, being big and clumsy and not especially reliable at first.

With the Granada, and its cheaper Consul stalemates, Ford sought to re-establish its big-car reputation with a more internationally acceptable design that would be sold across Europe and thus complete the process of rationalisation with the German Ford range that had begun with the Escort.

It shares its Essex V6 with the old Zodiac/Executive, but the Granada is in a different world of assured cornering power and pleasingly direct steering.

It has a soft ride yet doesn’t wallow, and it feels so grown-up and capable that it was clearly designed with the Jaguar XJ6 as a benchmark.

The Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia’s punchy Essex V6

The Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia is livelier than a Zodiac, too, with an earthy V6 throb as it winds out on loafing torque via the C3 auto ’box.

Bullishly handsome in an angular sort of way, its front end gets more identity from the Ghia grille treatment, but the GXL also has plenty of kitsch appeal as a throwback to the aspirations of the early ’70s.

The Ghia looks almost excessively tasteful with its broad cloth seats and restrained wood trim.

This example, belonging to Mark Marsdon (he bought it via eBay the first time he ever went online) is a genuine back-up car from The Sweeney.

The Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia’s roomy and rational cabin

Datsun Skyline 240K GT

Datsun introduced the 2.4-litre Skylines in 1973 to plug the gap between the Laurel and the 260C, but there had been Skylines in Japan for years, the name having its origins within Prince Motors before Nissan’s 1966 takeover.

It offered great value for money, but the market didn’t buy into the idea of big Japanese cars in the way it did the smaller ones, so 240Ks were always rare in the UK.

This Datsun Skyline 240K GT belongs to David Silk, a Rolls-Royce engineer at Goodwood who got his apprentices to respray it in non-original white.

The Datsun Skyline 240K GT’s styling shows clear Stateside influence

If you were being generous, the Datsun Skyline 240K GT could be described as a four-door 240Z.

It has that car’s straight-six engine, albeit in 130bhp form thanks to milder valve timing and single rather than twin carburettors. It looks a neatly planned installation in the roomy engine bay.

The point about ’70s Japanese cars was that they came with everything you could expect for the price, and the 240K GT lives up to this
with seven instruments on its pseudo-sporty dashboard.

Injection-moulded plastics are used unremittingly in the cabin, but there are surprisingly few of the florid embossed finishes that were a trademark of ’70s Japanese cars. Thick rear quarters and low-set seating make the cabin slightly oppressive.

The Datsun Skyline 240K GT’s big ‘six’ is shared with the 240Z

More to the point, the Datsun has an overhead camshaft and an independent rear end by semi-trailing arms, but these tend to raise expectations of a car that lacks something in personality.

Neither is there anything especially ‘GT’ about the 240K, which has adequate rather than urgent pace that is shackled by a perfectly smooth automatic ’box when you feel that it deserves a manual.

With its high, curvaceous waistline and big, circular tail-lights, it is styled like a late-’60s US car, yet it has an appeal of its own – the brittle, fleeting charm of cheap friction toys you got at the market as a kid, where the picture on the box always looked better than the car inside.

Brittle plastics inside, but the Datsun Skyline 240K GT still looks stylish

Audi 100 LS

Audi was still a relatively young marque in the early ’70s, the name revived after decades dormant within the DKW/Auto Union group.

When Volkswagen bought Mercedes’ share in 1965, it inherited the Super 90, powered by a four-stroke, Benz-designed engine.

The 100 was essentially a longer, lower and wider version of the 90, using most of the same mechanical ingredients in a more handsome, five-seater body.

That this 1.7-litre, four-cylinder car – this one is part of Audi UK’s historic collection – can apparently stand comparison with six-cylinder rivals of up to 3 litres demonstrates the quality of the design.

The Audi 100’s angular shape has aged well

The shape already showed the direction in which Audi was heading.

Neither as majestic as a Mercedes-Benz nor as aggressive as a BMW, the Audi 100 LS looks clean, neat, sensible and grown-up.

It has aged more gracefully than almost any of the others here and is much less obviously an ‘old car’.

And if the over-styled, pretentious cabins of some of the more jumped-up barges present are an instant turn-off, then the calculated simplicity of the Audi’s interior, with its general air of Teutonic harmony, no ugly materials or tacky finishes, will have instant appeal.

The Audi 100 LS has the smallest engine here; it needs to be worked hard

Behind the wheel, the Audi 100 LS doesn’t have quite the immediate satisfaction of the Rover or the Triumph, it has to be said.

The tappety, rather harsh ‘four’ needs to be revved quite hard to extract its performance via a fairly accurate four-speed manual transmission, and the experience isn’t helped by the sharp clutch.

Front-wheel drive should make the Audi feel a relatively modern experience, and it does have a sense of stability and security, but the heavy steering requires four turns between its locks for a 32ft (9.7m) turning circle, adding to the feeling that you have to put rather more effort into driving the 100 LS than you really want to.

The Audi 100 LS has a simple, sensible cabin

Volvo 164

Volvo produced long-lasting, rugged, four-cylinder cars for sensible types, so the appearance of the seemingly rather suave 164 in 1968 would have likely been somewhat perplexing for the traditional Volvo buyer.

Six thirsty cylinders, leather seats and power-assisted steering would have been an affront to the established customer base’s more puritan sensibilities, but from Volvo’s point of view it was a way to tap into a wealthier market using a car that had all of the marque’s usual virtues, plus some refinement and luxury.

Not that the 164 was a revolutionary vehicle.

The Volvo 164 was the Swedish marque’s flagship

By stretching the nose of the 144 to accept the seven-bearing, oversquare, six-cylinder version of the B20 engine, the Swedes had in effect created an Austin Westminster for the 1970s. In other words, a classic barge.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I always thought the pre-impact-bumper 144s were rather handsome, and the 164, with its large, square front grille, looks strong and distinguished on those now remarkably skinny-looking 165-section tyres.

To drive, it is a big, sensible car that doesn’t tempt you to do anything rash behind its big, sensible wheel.

The Volvo 164’s ‘six’ was also used by Marcos

Being an early, non-injected version, Volvo Owners’ Club 164 registrar Roger Sampson’s car offers performance that is smoothly adequate rather than inspiring, with a remote but powerful thrum from an engine that was never used in any other Volvo; subsequent prestige models were powered by the joint-venture ‘Douvrin’ V6.

The ribbon speedometer and column shifter for the Borg-Warner automatic give a flavour of the ’60s, but the latter blunts the effortless cruising ability that would have made the four-speed manual plus overdrive, with its pleasing change, a more versatile option.

The Volvo’s seats are comfortable and hold you well as the body roll builds, and understeer takes the fun out of enthusiastic cornering activity.

The Volvo 164’s rational cabin is trimmed with leather

Rover 3500S

Although the P6 was almost a decade old by the time the manual ‘S’ version of the 3500 appeared in 1971, the Rover maintained an air of superiority over its generally more superficial rivals.

That two contenders here are from the same British Leyland corporate stable shows how confused was the big-car line-up of the soon to be state-owned giant.

Personally, I like the original chrome-grille 3500 – or Three Thousand Five as it was called at first – and always thought the post-1970 jazzy wheeltrims, plastic grilles and fake bonnet bulges were a little beneath the car’s dignity.

The Rover 3500S has a boot-mounted spare wheel, an odd yet popular P6 option

Even with the big V8, the Rover 3500S is really more what used to be called a ‘sports saloon’ than a barge, and it fitted neatly into the vacuum left by the small-bodied S-type and 420 Jaguars.

It rides softly and roll builds quickly, but the optional power steering makes the Rover feel much wore wieldy than the unassisted versions.

I can’t help thinking the automatic ’box better suits the car’s character, but with a five-speed from an SD1 (a popular conversion), the 3500S has a long and quite economical gait.

From the inside, the Rover 3500S feels relatively narrow and close-coupled, and it is a strict four-seater with those pleasing (and much-imitated) individually sculpted rear seats.

The Rover 3500S has a Buick-derived V8

The Rover’s doors shut beautifully, plus it has highly effective face-level ventilation and ergonomically crafted light and wiper controls that feel different to the touch and glow a soft green at night.

It says everything about this car that it is the only one here that is used every day by its owner, Neil Castle, who calculated that it would be cheaper to run than a modern.

Even without the silky pulling power and refinement of three and a half litres and eight cylinders – which really put the 3500 in another league from its smaller-engined rivals – the Rover would be a marvellously planned car that just makes you ask: where did it all go wrong?

The Rover 3500S has a clean dashboard and bright trim

The verdict

In a classic-car culture focused on ‘fun’ sports cars and all that goes with that particular fantasy, it is fascinating to get a close-up view of the big saloons that make up our relatively recent automotive past.

They represent real variety plus the mores and attitudes of a society that seems like another world.

Today, these cars’ attempts at conveying authority, luxury and status appear almost touchingly naïve.

They get relatively little attention and in some cases face extinction; I seriously wondered when, if ever, I would see some of these classic cars in the metal again.

The Wolseley Six’s stately badge

Sports cars seem to get endlessly rebuilt, but 1970s barges are locked in a cycle of attrition as interest in them wanes and spares become, for many, difficult to find.

Feeling privileged to have them all in the same place at the same time, I find choosing a favourite difficult.

The Rover, Triumph and Audi stand out as having best weathered the test of time, but they lack the kitsch appeal that makes the Vauxhall, Ford, Datsun and, to an extent, the Volvo such essential barge material.

And yet the Wolseley, a product of the coldly analytical mind of a man who avowedly disliked big cars, has a strange allure.

Images: Tony Baker

This was first in our January 2012 magazine; all information was correct at the date of original publication

Factfiles

Vauxhall Ventora

Sold/number built 1972-’76/7291
Engine ohv 3294cc ‘six’, single Zenith carburettor
Max power 124bhp @ 4600rpm
Max torque 174lb ft @ 2400rpm
Transmission three-speed auto, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by wishbones, anti-roll bar rear live axle, trailing arms, Panhard rod; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Weight 2860lb (1297kg)
0-60mph 12.8 secs
Top speed 104mph
Mpg 20
Price new £1799

Wolseley Six

Sold/number built 1972-’75/25,214
Engine ohc 2227cc ‘six’, twin SU carburettors
Max power 110bhp @ 5250rpm
Max torque 126lb ft @ 3500rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, FWD
Suspension independent, at front by double wishbones rear trailing arms; hydrolastic spring/damper units f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Weight 2617lb (1187kg)
0-60mph 12.7 secs
Top speed 102mph
Mpg 26
Price new £1719.58

Triumph 2.5 PI Mk2

Sold/number built 1969-’75/49,742
Engine ohv 2498cc ‘six’, Lucas fuel injection
Max power 132bhp @ 5500rpm
Max torque 153lb ft @ 2000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, optional overdrive, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by MacPherson struts rear semi-trailing arms, coils, telescopic dampers; anti-roll bar f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Weight 2688lb (1219kg)
0-60mph 11 secs
Top speed 108mph
Mpg 24
Price new £2189

Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia

Sold/number built 1972-’77/846,609 (all Mk1s)
Engine ohv 2994cc V6, Weber carburettor
Max power 138bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 132lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission three-speed auto, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by wishbones, anti-roll bar rear semi-trailing arms; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Weight 3025lb (1372kg)
0-60mph 10 secs
Top speed 110mph
Mpg 24.5
Price new £2204 (GXL)

Datsun Skyline 240K GT

Sold/number built 1972-’77/700,155
Engine ohc 2393cc ‘six’, Hitachi carburettor
Max power 111bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 132lb ft @ 3600rpm
Transmission three-speed auto, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by MacPherson struts rear semi-trailing arms, coils, telescopic dampers; anti-roll bar f/r
Steering power-assisted recirculating ball
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Weight 2579lb (1170kg)
0-60mph 11 secs
Top speed 112mph
Mpg 26
Price new £1997

Audi 100 LS

Sold/number built 1968-’76/796,787 (all 100s)
Engine ohv 1760cc ‘four’, Solex carburettor
Max power 100bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 100lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, FWD
Suspension: front independent, by double wishbones rear beam axle, trailing arms, Panhard rod; coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar f/r
Steering rack and pinion
Brakes discs front, drums rear, with servo
Weight 2407lb (1092kg)
0-60mph 12.7 secs
Top speed 104.2mph
Mpg 29.7
Price new £1938

Volvo 164

Sold/number built 1968-’75/155,068
Engine ohv 2978cc ‘six’, twin Zenith carburettors
Max power 145bhp @ 5500rpm
Max torque 163lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission three-speed automatic, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by double wishbones, anti-roll bar rear live axle, radius arms, transverse link; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering recirculating ball
Brakes discs, with servo
Weight 3135lb (1422kg)
0-60mph 12.8 secs
Top speed 107mph
Mpg 19.5
Price new £3450

Rover 3500S

Sold/number built 1970-’77/19,896
Engine ohv 3528cc V8, twin SU carburettors
Max power 150bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 204lb ft @ 2700rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by double wishbones, anti-roll bar rear de Dion axle, Watt linkage; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering recirculating ball
Brakes discs, with servo
Weight 3002lb (1362kg)
0-60mph 10.2 secs
Top speed 122mph
Mpg 22.3
Price new £2444.11