Factoid: There’s nothing particularly notable about this 1976 Triumph 2000/2500 ad aside from the fact the very next issue of Autocar would announce the Rover SD1 3500, though these cars, now rather long-in-the-tooth would continue on until the Rover 2300/2600 models arrived the following year…

Factoid: Building on the image the previous Mk3 Cortina 2000 E estate had created, the Mk4 had a Ghia version which was unbeatable in its class for equipment & the all-important badge snobbery in that sector… (📸: Autocar)

Factoid: A Mk3 Cortina & an Avenger - both GTs - you can’t get more early ‘70s than this, guys… (📸: CAR Magazine)

Factoid: A slice of woodgrained, slotted steering wheeled, vinyl trimmed ‘70s chic for you this evening. Nobody needs reminding what this is… (📸:IG a/c jasonawheel)

Factoid: Rather forgotten today, here’s your quick reminder that the 205 GTI wasn’t the 1st quick supermini Peugeot built - there was this, but try finding a 104 ZS these days…

Factoid: As dynamically brilliant as the MkV Escort was not when it was launched in 1990, by 2000 the Focus’s class-leading status was under no doubt which this ad confidently showed. Btw, I’d suggest the 3dr Zetec shown here looks better now than it did in 2000…

Factoid: Surely they missed a trick not headlining this 2000 ad with the obvious ‘Momma’? Anyways, this ad also shows Fiat’s UK subsidiary was quickly reverting to limited editions for the recently launched 2nd-gen Punto…

Factoid: One way of noting this is an early Austin Metro interior is to look at the radio. Early cars had a central position that drivers’ legs could hit. In late 1982, it was repositioned off-centre. (📸:IG a/c plankhond)

Factoid: Well, of course it’s fast, it’s a 1303 S… (📸:IG a/c jasonawheel)

Factoid: Of course, few Freelander owners were prepared to risk their cars on journeys like this depicted in this 2001 ad though lack of mobile coverage was possibly a bad thing given the car’s so-so reliability…

Factoid: 25yrs ago Autocar was reporting on the newly released E65 BMW 7-Series, a radically different car to its E38 predecessor & controversial looking to say the least but that’s not why I’m focusing on the car…(1)

Factoid: Always gd to stumble upon a launch ad that you might’ve forgotten & it’s one from when the 1971 Series 3 E-Type V12 appeared & handily reminding you it was Jaguar’s 1st engine since the XK. Btw, the ad refers to a Series 3 4.2, but in reality only 3 were made & 1 of those was a prototype…

Factoid: Standard-Triumph exhibiting at Ireland’s Spring Show in May 1961 which for many yrs was a kind of mini Motor Show. These Heralds were locally made along with a Standard Ten ‘Companion’ estate car which was built until the Herald estate arrived (announced in the same issue). (📸: Autocar)

This, amongst other things, is why I happily waste an hour listening to these guys every Monday on the car-related ‘cast…

Factoid: Wipac supplied the Rover SD1 with its driving lamps, but your attention is naturally focused on the lamp aimed at rally drivers & never was a name ‘Hair Raiser’ more aptly applied, don’t you think?

Friday Commitment: I think you’d agree this takes commitment to another level… Jean Sunny, a Simca Ariane, the Danish Roskilde circuit & breaking his two-wheeled distance record in 1961 - 2.8km. Two-wheeled driving is also known as a side wheelie - another ‘useful’ fact for you today… (📸: Autocar)

Factoid: There’s something unintentionally funny about this ‘It’s a great car’ slogan as it gives this ad a defensive tone. The copy is curious too: ‘room for four to air their views’ is a particular favourite’…

Factoid: Another nod to the SD1 & another hat tip to the Rover Vitesse, one of BL’s best ever cars. Reviews referred to its ‘4-door Aston’ character from Day 1 which was ironic given that Aston Martin declined BL’s efforts to use the ‘Rapide’ name for the car. (📸: CAR Magazine)

Factoid: Though it would be launched at that year’s Paris Salon, the Renault 4 was revealed in June & thus celebrates its 65th birthday this month. This, of course, is the R4 version, which is identifiable from the rear side windows which the base (& short-lived) R3 lacked… (📸: Autocar)

Factoid: The MGB’s demise was imminent when the result of Motor’s ‘MG for the 1980s’ contest appeared. Of course, there would be plenty of suggestions over the yrs before the true successor, the MGF arrived in 1995.

Factoid: Among the cars on Motor’s 1974 Show Number cover is the Jensen Interceptor Convertible, a car directed at the US market (hence the federal spec of the car here) with a photo taken at Warwick Racecourse…(1)

Factoid: Props to BMW for doing an ad about the rigidity of its E46 3-Series Convertible (the last of the direct E46 variants to be launched) & even better for making it entertaining (especially the last sentence).

Factoid: A neat model range, built in big volume - Simca in 1967 made nearly 250k cars, rather more than Rootes with its multitude of brands & numerous badge engineered models. The 1100 would consolidate that…

Factoid: A Commer camper van & it reminds me of a comment from an Autocar test which noted its engine at 70mph was ‘screaming away in a most distressing fashion’. Not one for the brochure, I think… (📸:IG a/c jasonawheel)

Factoid: Car manufacturers try various ways to persuade buyers to hand over their hard earned & here’s what Chrysler UK did for 1975 by claiming ‘The Chrysler Man Can’ a rather clunky version of ‘The Candy Man’, a song made famous by Sammy Davis Jr. in 1972…(1) youtu.be/946oUtYCXPs?...

Factoid: The Autocar was published throughout World War II & thus during a period when regular car production had ceased which this 1943 Jensen clearly refers to…

Factoid: The 1st-gen of the Toyota Century debuted at the 1967 Tokyo Motor Show & this design would have an impressive near 30yr production run & its replacement followed a similar style. Btw, the car had automatically dipping headlamps tks to ‘sensing units’ on the tops of the wings… (📸: Autocar)

Factoid: I think we’re all fans here of the Opel/Vauxhall Senator B but did you know this 1989 ad for the latter version featured a track from Enya (Longships, I believe) for that late ‘80s touch of sophistication… youtu.be/HPxasK_UYG0?...

Factoid: MG aficionados will note this Midget comes from that brief period when the rear wheel arches changed from square to round (that occurred in Jan 1972 in case you’re wondering). It would revert back in 1974 & also gain ‘those bumpers’… (📸:IG a/c jasonawheel)

Factoid: The 6/110, the last of the big RWD Wolseleys & in an apt shade - Old English White. Age wise, this is a 1967 car so late in the production run as the last ones were built in March 1968. (📸:IG a/c jasonawheel)

Factoid: Three years on from its launch & Ford were still promoting the Mk3 Granada’s standard fitment of ABS on all models which goes to show what a powerful sales feature they thought it was - & they were right… youtu.be/TXhUgOgfjDQ?...

Factoid: You had to wait for a booted version of the Mk3 Granada (launched in 1989), but that seemed relatively quick when one thinks of the estate version which appeared some 7yrs after the hatchback was launched…

Factoid: The G-Wagen in its original & honest form promoted in the 1979 launch brochure - a world away from the ‘Glitter-Wagen’ it is today… (📸: IG a/c finecarbrochures)

Factoid: Lasting for generations & in all weathers, this old-school, late-model SE-spec Volvo 240, finds similarly hardy specimens in nature… (📸:IG a/c jasonawheel)

Factoid: Proof that even cars made by firms with good reliability records were capable of making a rogue one (less lemon more loganberry in this case, perhaps?). That was Motor’s experience with this Volvo 244 GL which they memorable headlined their tale of woe as ‘Memories are made of myths’…

Factoid: Not the base model (that was the 105 S) the 105 L was part of a 1985 Škoda range brochure which I remember getting a copy when I was a young petrolhead & thus would happily devour any brochure though I didn’t appreciate all the staged shots like this ‘classic’… (📸: IG a/c finecarbrochures)

Factoid: While the body outline suggests the Mk1 Capri, it’s that signature rear window that tells you instantly - amazing to think such an iconic styling feature was a late change in the car’s development… (📸: Autocar)

Factoid: Motor’s Polo long-termer was proving a ‘super little car’ though the same Dec 1976 issue had the 1st UK full road test of a Golf GTi & a reminder it was sold in LHD form (in small numbers) there until 1979.

Factoid: The FSO Polonez needs no reminder but in its early yrs it wasn’t available with a folding rear seat which somewhat undermined the benefit of its hatchback body (📸: Motor)

Going for the ‘All Spice’ market… (📸: IG a/c finecarbrochures)

Factoid: The 3rd-gen Passat dropped the hatchback variant when it was launched in 1988 but this factoid is concerned with the base model CL which apparently lacked a rear armrest for some prime poverty spec paring… (📸: IG a/c finecarbrochures)

Factoid: In a field of its own; this 405 was @stvcr.bsky.social’s CAR Magazine long termer in the late ‘80s & in true rep spec (being a 1.6 GL). Steve unsurprisingly liked this British-built Pug which made up for its modest power with a chassis that was the class of the repmobiles… (📸: CAR Magazine)

Factoid: The SD1 Vitesse’s front sports seats. As James Taylor’s book notes, the design team bought Recaros & retrimmed them, but the actual seats were totally redesigned. The interior was only offered in Flint/Osprey, a colour scheme used for some other AR performance models. (📸: CAR Magazine)

Factoid : Though it got its world debut at Geneva in March 1983, the Austin Maestro’s European launch actually took place in the autumn at Frankfurt. The Vanden Plas wasn’t offered so the MG got all the top model attention. (📸:IG a/c finecarbrochures)

Factoid: We’re getting close to one of the milestone BL anniversaries with the Rover SD1’s half century & what better way to kick it off than a shot of a late-model Vitesse in arguably its best colour -Targa Red… (📸: IG a/c jagalfa)

Factoid: 1980 had seen Jaguar XJ-S production nearly end as just 1,057 cars were made so the car’s stock was at its lowest when this magazine cover appeared but it survived & its ‘glory days’ were all ahead of it…

Factoid: Apr 1974 & BL announced it was axing 3 Allegro models just before its 1st birthday - (1300 Deluxe, 1500 Super Deluxe & 1750 Sport - all 2dr models). BL claimed it was to ‘simplify the production lines at Cowley’ but it was an early sign the Allegro wasn’t selling as BL hoped. (📸: Autocar)

Factoid: The Laurel was a gd example of a Japanese car loaded with equipment to compensate for its so-so dynamics which might explain why it only got independent rear suspension in 1987 which part of refresh the C32-gen model got. The 3rd-gen Maxima would replace it in Europe in 1989. (📸: Autocar)

Factoid: I know the term ‘throwing shade’ wasn’t around in 1967, but here’s Triumph doing precisely that & in style too against its ‘bumpier’, two-tone rivals…

Factoid: A Peugeot 205 GTi wouldn’t be most people’s choice for a ‘mobile office’ though that didn’t stop Wood & Pickett doing it in 1987. Along with the leather trimmed interior you could also get a cellphone & a fax machine installed for an additional £5,325 (£15,847)… (📸: Autocar)