It turns out that creating a shortlist for the best cars of the 1960s is a tricky task; the decade provided us with so many of the seminal models that established what we still find desirable today. This is one of those lists which will be more controversial for what we left out than what we included but there is no slight intended. Let us know of any glaring omissions though and maybe we’ll write a Part Two.
The seven best road cars of the 1960s
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Jaguar E-type (1961)
The decade definitely got off to a strong start with the car Enzo Ferrari described as ‘the most beautiful ever made’ upon seeing it at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show. Building on the successes of the C-type (straight-six power, disc brakes) and D-type (aerodynamics, lightweight construction techniques), the E-type was nevertheless very much a road car first and foremost.
It just happened to be the fastest production model in the world when it debuted at a price significantly lower than the Ferraris and Aston Martins it comprehensively outpaced. The E-type’s impact, at least in Britain, belies the fact that a little over 72,000 were built in 13 years, 85 per cent of which were exported, tiny numbers by today’s standards. The fact that, according to the How Many Left website, nearly as many are still registered for road use in the UK shows the car’s enduring appeal.
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Renault R4 (1961)
The E-type’s 13-year production run is impressive for a sports car but pales into insignificance next to the three decades plus racked up by the Renault’s answer to the Citroen 2CV. Like the Tin Snail, the Renault R4 was intended as an Everyman car but with its roots in the post-war recovery rather than the turbulent ‘30s. A more modern proposition all-round, the R4 nevertheless aped many of the 2CV’s features such as the soft, long travel suspension, utilitarian body-on-frame construction, removable ‘deckchair’ seats, front-wheel drive and rack and pinion steering.
However, the Renault R4 also benefitted from a four-cylinder engine with a sealed-for-life cooling system, maintenance-free torsion bar suspension, autoroute-ready performance and a much more practical and roomy body with a hatchback. Production ran until 1994 by which time more than eight million had been made, making it the third best-selling car of all time behind the Model T and Beetle. A Renault R4 even manged to finish third in the 1980 Paris-Dakar rally.
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Lotus Elan (1962)
Researching this entry unearthed my undoubted favourite fact of the week; the Lotus Elan was designed by the man later responsible for the Black & Decker Workmate – Ron Hickman. The Elan was a step on from the incredibly lightweight but fragile Elite, using a steel backbone chassis in place of the previous glassfibre monocoque. The chassis, shaped like a double-ended tuning fork carried the drivetrain and suspension, with the Elan’s fibreglass body dropping over it. This same technique was used by Lotus for the next three decades.
The Elan used Lotus’ twin cam conversion of the Ford Kent pushrod engine (later bought by the Blue Oval and used in the legendary Lotus Cortina) producing a little over 100PS (74kW) which was plenty in the 680kg Elan. All round independent suspension, disc brakes and rack and pinion steering completed the package and created what is still regarded as one of the finest and purest small sports cars of all time. No less than Gordon Murray is reputed to have said that his one regret with the McLaren F1 was that he couldn’t give it steering as good as the Elan’s.
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Pontiac GTO (1963)
Not the GTO you were expecting in this list? Well then, surely, the American car choice here would be the Ford Mustang, the fastest selling sports car of all time when it was revealed in 1964? The pony car certainly started a legend as well as a new category, but even for the ‘60s the Mustang had antiquated underpinnings. We picked the Pontiac GTO partly as we admire John Z DeLorean’s sheer cheek in nicking Ferrari’s moniker, and because it is often credited as being the first muscle car.
DeLorean, Bill Collins and Russ Gee were itching to get around GM’s no competition rule, wanting to see their products light them up on America’s dragstrips on a Saturday night. The men discovered a loophole allowing them to offer the 6.4-litre V8 from Pontiac’s full-sized cars in the smaller Le Mans. Ticking every possible option package on the ‘GTO’ trim level got the owner a four-on-the-floor manual transmission, limited-slip differential, uprated cooling and beefed up suspension and brakes. Car & Driver famously published a fictional comparison between Pontiac’s and Ferrari’s cars with the American car taking the honours.
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Porsche 911 (1963)
It’s oddly difficult to think of the 911 as an actual classic car. Its core identity has remained so steadfast over the years that it has become somehow ageless. It is almost a shock to realise that it will be celebrating its 60th birthday next year. Initially presented at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show as a larger and more upmarket replacement for the Beetle-based Porsche 356, it initially carried the 901 moniker and 82 cars were built with this designation until Peugeot objected, claiming ownership of three-digit car names with a middle zero.
So, 911 it was from November 1964 onwards and the formula which continues to this day was established; a 2+2 layout, rear-mounted flat-six engine, initially in 2.0-litre capacity and air-cooled. Variants that followed included the Targa, lightweight racing-focused models, semi-automatics and of course the famed 911 Turbo. The one millionth Porsche 911 rolled off the production line in May 2011.
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Lancia Fulvia HF (1965)
The ‘60s was a wonderful era for pretty little coupes from all sorts of manufacturers and there were contenders here from Renault, Fiat and Alfa Romeo but we decided that the Fulvia’s delicate styling and rallying record swings it for us. Having pioneered the V4 engine in series production with the Lambda and various subsequent models, Lancia’s latest and last such powerplant made its way into the Fulvia. With an incredibly narrow 13-degree angle between the cylinder banks it was able to use one cylinder head for both.
With front-wheel drive, all-round independent suspension and disc brakes, and a chassis 150mm shorter than the Berlina (saloon), the Fulvia was light, agile and grippy. It was the car with which Lancia officially returned to motorsport after leaving F1 in 1955. It won the Italian Rally Championship every year from 1965 to 1973 (with the exception of 1970), and the 1972 International Championship for Manufacturers, the forerunner of the World Rally Championship (WRC). Points scored by the Fulvia in the early rounds of the 1974 WRC contributed to Lancia’s overall victory after the Stratos debuted later in the season.
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Lamborghini Miura (1966)
There was no way we could conclude this list without including the first true supercar, and one that competes with the E-type we started with for ‘most beautiful car ever’ status. The Matra Djet may have pioneered the mid-rear engine layout, but with a 1.1-litre engine it was no supercar. Lamborghini went to the opposite extreme, mounting a 350PS 3.9-litre V12 transversely between the cabin and rear axle.
Styled by Marcello Gandini at Bertone and bodied in a mixture of steel and aluminium, the Miura was a sensation when the P400 prototype debuted at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show. The car was named after a famous Spanish breeder of fighting bulls to reflect the company’s new badge. In production until 1973, just 764 examples were built and famous owners included Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Eddie Van Halen.
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