Dear Mr. Big Car!! I never skip a vid since the first one; you have set a standard for Automobil History Jounalism!! Thanks ever so much for your contributions on TH-cam!! I wish you and Mrs. Big Car a Very Merry Christmas and a Superb New Years Eve!!! Kindest of Regards from the Netherlands, yours truly, Henk.
The NSU Ro80 was an exceptional car for its beautiful looks. The way the lights and grille are integrated and the overall proportions are at least a decade ahead of their time, and it would still look modern in 1990.
Landcrabs, the MKI at least, were relatively popular in Oz. I've owned a few and still have a '69 model (late MK I) in the shed. If you weren't mechanically minded you soon learnt to be! Merry Christmas from Monbulk, Australia.
My dad had a landcrab for a couple of weeks while his Austin 1300 was being repaired. The electric fuel pump was mounted near the left rear of the car. It rained the week we had it and every time he went through a puddle sombody had to get out and thump the pump a couple of times !!
My dad had two NSU RO80's. The first one suffered from the well known engine problem but he traded it in for another one in what was a very good deal and that one ran beautifully. It was a car way ahead of its time and it still looks modern today. Later on my mum had a Renault 16 TS and that too was a brilliant car, great to look at and also to drive. Thank God neither of them owned a Landcrab! Imagine being a teenager and having to look at that everyday!!😅
@@rafthejaf8789 My Dad had an 1800 when I was a tiny lad. I remember it being enormous inside and a good riding Car, nu yes, even at that age, I thought it was deadly drab inside.
Merry Christmas and thanks for the vid! My dad had a Peugeot 504. I have a childhood memory of us being driven to a family holiday and the brakes were seizing. My dad burned his fingers trying to get the white hot wheel cover off, saying some rather naughty words in the process!
Did you experience trouble with brakes in your Peugeot 504!? Was that a 504 GL? Here in Sri Lanka in South Asia, my late uncle had a 504 GL sedan car which we felt as very comfortable and powerful with its 2000 c.c. (2 Lt.) engine.
@@neepheid No problem! It's okay. Yes, I know how a 8 year old child would feel about a car! When we were small, we don't know or care about cars' engines or types. What we cared was their outlooks like their colours, car interiors, sizes of cars etc. 504 was a nice car whether it was petrol or diesel. Thank you for replying me!
I don't think they give this award anymore since every awarded engine was a disaster.But It's not just PureTech. All modern engines are overpowered while running on too thin 'resource conserving' oils, and are overcomplicated with things like electric locks on water pumps. If a modern engine lives up to 300k km or 150k miles, it's already one of the best, while in the 90s and 00's that would have been a disaster.
@@marcvanartevelde5586 This year a reworked version with a timingchain engine were installed in Stellantis models. The new failure stats (original one had an insane high failure rate in the first 60.000km of use) are not in yet due to less sales (gues why 🤦♂) then previous years. If the reliability problem isn't solved it will hurt Stellantis big time. Law suits, forced recals by goverments, warenty replacement engines it already costs Stellantis alot of money. Volvo, BMW and Ford also bought those engines making it one of the most used engines in Europe!
@@obelic71 Chain will definitely help, but the other problem is that best engine-protection wise multipurpose oil needs viscosity of 0W40 or 5W40 and full-SAPS composition. However engines running on such oil are unable to meet Euro 6d norm and Euro 7 is coming next year, so cars get low-SAPS 0W20 which gives much worse protection and is prone to leaking through piston rings and burning in the engine. The result is high consumption of expensive oil and accelerated engine wear. If that wasn't enough, to meet Euro 7 they will be going further down to 0W16 and 0W8. Use of such low viscosities is most likely to result in gigantic oil consumption and high risk breaking oil film under acceleration or in high temperature.
A very Merry Christmas @4am local in Canada, I've greatly enjoyed both watching on TH-cam and listening on Spotify this year. Thank you from a fellow car geek for the excellent content.
Feliz Natal a todos! Sr. Grande Carro, um feliz Natal para você e sua família. Eu ia escrever em inglês, mas hoje em dia temos o Google tradutor para isso hahaha.
Great idea for a series. Even from this decade several of the cars are familiar from models my parents or friends families owned. Maybe I'm less interested these days but the award doesn't feel like it caries the prestige that it one did.
I had an uncle who owned both the Rover P6 and the Peugeot 504 Station wagon when he was stationed in Scotland and brought them both back and drove them here in South Carolina and Texas!!!
Did you have medium sized European cars like Rover and Peugeot 504 in Texas, USA!!?? That's a surprise for me!! 😮 My late uncle had a Peugeot 504 GL (2 litre) sedan car in the 70's - 80's here in Sri Lanka in South Asia where we live. We felt that it was so comfortable and powerful.
@@worldtraveler930 Wow! You had BMW 5 series and Cadillacs!!?? 😮 That's great! Cadillacs are considered as the most luxurious cars of the world apart from Rolls Royce!!! 👍 👌 My respects! You are so lucky to own them!!! Who needs Rovers and Peugeots when you have BMW's and Cadillacs!!!?? Thank you for replying me!
Merry Christmas to you and yours and all the fans of your videos. Great memories. My first car was what I believe was a renamed Austin 1100 for the USA as an Austin America.
Great video! There is not a single car in this lineup, that I wouldnt love to own today☺️ But the RO80 really is a childhood dream! Interersting to see the production life of cars back then (and development time), compared to the moder EVs that are "burped out" every year.
@@truthboomertruthbomber5125 I own a Ro80 and use it as my daily driver. It has its original engine and is totally reliable. There are more out there than you think.
As a kid, I was not a car enthusiast, more an art and design freak. (Still the same 6 decades later) I fell in love with the Rover P6 design, and some of its quirky mechanical features. The crazy front suspension is one in point. I aspired to own one when I was old enough, but when the time came opted for the American styling of Ford and Vauxhall. I still think the body shape is so graceful and sexy.
The Rover had a crazy front suspension. In the mid 80s I was at a party and one of the partygoers rode up in a 2000. Most of the men and some of the women were engineers of various persuasions so I dragged all of them out to look under the hood.
The front suspension was designed around the prospect of a gas turbine engine. The gas turbine never materialized but the 3.5 liter Buick V8 did. Without the front suspension being designed as it was the V8 would have never fitted in the engine bay.
2:09 - At the advertising agency: "How should we market the car?" "How about showing it being driven along a coastline, while passing people who are working on their fishing gear. That'll sell it!" It seems so random. But the 60's were different times. Maybe it made sense back then.
Far less silly than an advert from that era which suggested that if you walked through a similar scene smoking a pipe filled with a certain brand of tobacco pretty girls would start to follow you like the Pied Piper.
@ happy new year - to you and all of your supporting team! I enjoy hearing your channel and remembering the historical cars. You do a very famous presentation video by video and I try to follow all at least 2x Thank you for this entertainment
I like the COTY idea, except for one factor and that is the affordability of some of the placings. Runner up for 1964 was the Mercedes-Benz 600... For 99.99999% of the population, just getting a ride in that car is about as remote as getting a flip in the Space Shuttle. I am an absolute car nut and have only seen 3 in 60 years. Same logic applies to the 1966 runner-up (Rolls-Royce) and the 1974 and 1978 winners (Mercedes-Benz W116 450 SE and Porsche 928). These aren't family cars that the average, or even rich, neighbour could buy. You had to be fabulously rich to have been able to purchase one of these cars. Then 3 years after the Mighty Mercedes won, the humble Ford Escort took first place. SPOT ON!!! Many, many, many of our neighbours, friends and family drove that car... For YEARS. I feel that the cost of the car should have been factored into the equation on something like a logarithmic scale. That would have been much more representative of the real world car purchasing public.
All the best to thee and thine from me and mine here in Australia. I love watching your videos and learning about the cars I grew up with- some that I lusted after then, and now- and a lot of cars that just didn't make it from Britain or Europe to the other side of the planet. The Rover was an option my parents considered in 1975, but we ended up getting a Lancia Beta.
Happy (belated) Christmas to you!! Thank you for such great content in 2024 (and always) - looking forward to your ECoTY series, and whatever you come up with in 2025!
4:48 - those NSU rotary engines were solid, it was just the first years where manufacturing faults made them scrape up the inside of the combustion chamber. Models from the 70s onwards or those with a replacement engine will last quite a long time. Sadly, those cars like many 60s/70s cars are heavy plagued with rust issues. And the later "heat regulated" carburators are a nightmare to work on...
In 1960 in the U.S., Motor Trend picked the Chevy Corvair. Decades later it was controversial as rear engined cars handle differently. It was a good choice as it was a great car and very very different engineering. Rear engined, flat six, air cooled and four wheel independent suspension. Fun car to drive. I own a '65 convertible.
Hi it's 15:43 in the North of England as I type this, took a break to do some washing up and decided that it was a good time to watch your first installment of 'car of the year'. Excellent. Thank you and I wish you and Mrs Big Car a very merry Christmas. 👍🏻🎄 PS - another not white Christmas in the UK, near Manchester! 😄
Nice! Looking forward to the rest of the series. 😁 One of the attractions of _Top Gear_ UK for me was seeing European cars that we never got here in the US -- and your videos have taught me a lot more about quite a few of them.
My late mom owned a Rover 2000 when our family still lived in Hong Kong. Back in 1966, a Rover 2000 was actually not that common in Hong Kong, and to see another one in Hong Kong back then was a bit unusual. The more common car in Hong Kong back then was the Morris Minor 1000 with "trafficator" semiphore-style turn signals. And a lot of them were used for people to learn to drive a car in Hong Kong (they would hang a "Learn" placard on the back of the car).
Good content!! Very good retro look of those beautiful cars of the 70's and 80's!! 🚗 🚘 😊❤ Austin, Rover, Peugeot, Renault etc. I have a very good memory of seeing these cars on our roads back in those days when i was young, here in Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 in South Asia where i live. Those were the happy time! 😊 I wish i could see more of these beautiful cars in detail, because they are shown here too briefly in this video. I kindly request you to show each of these cars for at least 10 minutes. I am a man who have watched some of your videos. A big thank you to Big Cars!! 😊 🎉🎉🎉
Over the years I’ve owned three of these COTY. The Austin 1800, Renault 16 and the Peugeot 504. Fond memories of all of them to be honest, but the 504 was my favorite. Have stuck with Peugeot ever since. Seasons greetings from Australia!
according to the background i'm obviously at the "big coffee" channel. that price appears to me as a general advertising for european automotive industry, fearing foreign imports. at one point domestic car magazines started to make their own "car of the year" price, wich dropped the "affordable or innovative" part for "sporty and stylish"
Thank you @BigCar2 for another great video ... I've heard of cars referred to as Lemons before, but Peach? I must have been living under a rock, because that's a new one on me =)
The initiative for the car of the year award came from the Dutch AutoVisie magazine's chief editor, a man called Fred van der Vlugt. When he went down to Rover to give them the first award he was not to meet with a very warm welcome, the Rover bosses did not have a clue what to do with this Dutchman handing out an award to them no one ever heard of.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you. I continue to really enjoy your videos and look forward to more - including on your re-branded 2nd channel - in 2025
Great video. Interesting to compare the sales figures of the winning cars , in particular the Rover P6 , sales of which had not been impressive over a lengthy 14 year span . Festive greetings and thanks for posting .
Great first episode and a great series idea - looking forward to the 70s tomorrow Happy Christmas everyone! My dad bought a new Renault 16TS in early 72 (K suffix, right hand drive, UK spec) with (likely dealer mounted) wing mirrors which lasted into the early 80s before oxidation termination - lovely car with interesting mechanicals and flexible use of space
I was going to write a protest that I remember many Austin/Morris 1800s on the roads, but it's the 1100 , known here as Morris Marina I'm thinking of. My uncle and aunt had a Simca 1307
Pennsylvania, USA here. Renault 16 and Peugeot 504 were fairly popular here until they weren't. They made sense to me but in the 60s Americans couldn't leave their comfort zone of big, heavy behemoths.
I haven't actually seen one on the roads in the UK for many years, but do recall, perhaps about ten years or back, a Peugeot 504 for sale on eBay, to which someone had fitted an XUD turbo diesel.
Merry Christmas to you and yours! I wanted to see how you'd break this down. Love some of the cars you featured here, and some I haven't seen in years. My father owned a Peugeot 504 when we lived in the UK between 1977 and 1982.
That the British even got to participate in this was a wonder in itself. The Fiat 124 is the third most produced car after the Ford T and the VW Beetle. The Renault 16 was totally brilliant and is the template for just about anything today. Then we have the king of Africa, the Peugeot 504.
In 1972 I moved to the US as a student, and had to have a car. A friend had a 1966 Rover P6 for sale at USD 600 ,which was within my budget. I bought it and loved it : leather bucket seats,wood fascia, floor mounted gearshift . Technically it was very advanced : it had independent suspension and disk brakes on all four wheels - the rear ones mounted on the differential. It rode beautifully. But to have it serviced I had to go to a mechanic who handled Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, and, yes , Rover. He was always impeccably dressed in a white overall,no oil or grease stains on it. He treated the cars like ladies . "SHE needs a tuneup". His bills were pretty expensive. However , the car had a serious flaw : the Lucas electrical system. If it was damp and cold, SHE wouldn't start. And in Boston it can get wet and cold! Finally I sold it to the mechanic, bought a used 1967 Ford Falcon who never game me any problem. When I left the US I sold the Falcon to some classmates who enjoyed it for two more years.
Happy Xmas to you and your family, and thank you for all the effort you have made, keeping us entertained during 2024!!
merry CHRISTmas
I have recently acquired a Landcrab, and I love it.
@@colrhodes377 this Yank thinks they’re kind of cool
It is 8pm on Christmas Day here in Melbourne, Australia. I hope you and Mrs Big Car have a good Christmas 🎄
Merry Christmas, fellow Melburnian!
You too?
Merry Christmas from Ireland! 🎉
Im from Melbourne too ! Mornington Peninsula 😊merry Christmas 🎉
Merry Christmas from St. Kilda 🙂
Dear Mr. Big Car!!
I never skip a vid since the first one; you have set a standard for Automobil History Jounalism!!
Thanks ever so much for your contributions on TH-cam!!
I wish you and Mrs. Big Car a Very Merry Christmas and a Superb New Years Eve!!!
Kindest of Regards from the Netherlands, yours truly, Henk.
The NSU Ro80 was an exceptional car for its beautiful looks. The way the lights and grille are integrated and the overall proportions are at least a decade ahead of their time, and it would still look modern in 1990.
Watching at 11.45 pm in Vietnam. A great way to end a wonderful Christmas day.
Landcrabs, the MKI at least, were relatively popular in Oz. I've owned a few and still have a '69 model (late MK I) in the shed. If you weren't mechanically minded you soon learnt to be!
Merry Christmas from Monbulk, Australia.
It seems everybody hates the looks, but I get the impression that it was a roomy and practical vehicle.
My dad had a landcrab for a couple of weeks while his Austin 1300 was being repaired. The electric fuel pump was mounted near the left rear of the car. It rained the week we had it and every time he went through a puddle sombody had to get out and thump the pump a couple of times !!
Always wanted a wolseley 6 version.
It's 4v AM in Maine USA! Merry Christmas to all!
NJ here. Why are we up? Waiting for Santa?? 😀 Merry Christmas all!
Merry Christmas from Germany to you all!
u 2 from Scotland
My father was in the car industry in the 1960-70’s and told me about a well known jury member who could be “convinced” to vote for your brand.
MEERY CHRISTMAS FROM AUSTRALIA
MERRY
0900am in grey old England. Great Video. Merry Christmas to everyone except little putin.
5:30 The Peugeot Coupé was a real beauty and became the "Queen of Africa" in all those grueling Rally events!
My dad had two NSU RO80's. The first one suffered from the well known engine problem but he traded it in for another one in what was a very good deal and that one ran beautifully. It was a car way ahead of its time and it still looks modern today. Later on my mum had a Renault 16 TS and that too was a brilliant car, great to look at and also to drive. Thank God neither of them owned a Landcrab! Imagine being a teenager and having to look at that everyday!!😅
@@rafthejaf8789 My Dad had an 1800 when I was a tiny lad. I remember it being enormous inside and a good riding Car, nu yes, even at that age, I thought it was deadly drab inside.
Hey, why does the kid at 0:20 have a beer there? 🍺
nice
. The 60s were so free.
Merry Christmas, I stopped watching TV a couple of years ago, I'm a happier person these days, and my bank account is happier too.
Amen
Merry Christmas and thanks for the vid! My dad had a Peugeot 504. I have a childhood memory of us being driven to a family holiday and the brakes were seizing. My dad burned his fingers trying to get the white hot wheel cover off, saying some rather naughty words in the process!
Did you experience trouble with brakes in your Peugeot 504!? Was that a 504 GL?
Here in Sri Lanka in South Asia, my late uncle had a 504 GL sedan car which we felt as very comfortable and powerful with its 2000 c.c. (2 Lt.) engine.
@@janath9118 No idea, sorry, I was like 8 years old or something! It was white and had a diesel engine, that's as much as I recall!
@@neepheid No problem! It's okay. Yes, I know how a 8 year old child would feel about a car! When we were small, we don't know or care about cars' engines or types. What we cared was their outlooks like their colours, car interiors, sizes of cars etc. 504 was a nice car whether it was petrol or diesel. Thank you for replying me!
Merry Christmas and thank you for a great video!!!
I never understood Engine of the year awards. They should be given after at least 5 years and 150k km. We all know the Engine of the year - Ecoboom.
Stellantis 1.2 puretech is arguably even worse.
I don't think they give this award anymore since every awarded engine was a disaster.But It's not just PureTech. All modern engines are overpowered while running on too thin 'resource conserving' oils, and are overcomplicated with things like electric locks on water pumps. If a modern engine lives up to 300k km or 150k miles, it's already one of the best, while in the 90s and 00's that would have been a disaster.
@@marcvanartevelde5586 This year a reworked version with a timingchain engine were installed in Stellantis models.
The new failure stats (original one had an insane high failure rate in the first 60.000km of use) are not in yet due to less sales (gues why 🤦♂) then previous years.
If the reliability problem isn't solved it will hurt Stellantis big time.
Law suits, forced recals by goverments, warenty replacement engines it already costs Stellantis alot of money.
Volvo, BMW and Ford also bought those engines making it one of the most used engines in Europe!
All of that sounds abysmal. I think I’ll just keep driving my small fleet of 1990s Toyotas.
@@obelic71 Chain will definitely help, but the other problem is that best engine-protection wise multipurpose oil needs viscosity of 0W40 or 5W40 and full-SAPS composition. However engines running on such oil are unable to meet Euro 6d norm and Euro 7 is coming next year, so cars get low-SAPS 0W20 which gives much worse protection and is prone to leaking through piston rings and burning in the engine. The result is high consumption of expensive oil and accelerated engine wear. If that wasn't enough, to meet Euro 7 they will be going further down to 0W16 and 0W8. Use of such low viscosities is most likely to result in gigantic oil consumption and high risk breaking oil film under acceleration or in high temperature.
A very Merry Christmas @4am local in Canada, I've greatly enjoyed both watching on TH-cam and listening on Spotify this year. Thank you from a fellow car geek for the excellent content.
Feliz Natal a todos! Sr. Grande Carro, um feliz Natal para você e sua família.
Eu ia escrever em inglês, mas hoje em dia temos o Google tradutor para isso hahaha.
Great idea for a series. Even from this decade several of the cars are familiar from models my parents or friends families owned. Maybe I'm less interested these days but the award doesn't feel like it caries the prestige that it one did.
This would be even better if each car had its own 15 minute video.
That would be a good few months worth of quality content to look forward to.
Yeah, that would take more time than I have! There's 61 cars on the list.
@@BigCar2Bah Humbug!
Oh well, the idea is there for the future!
@Largeone1968 You are right! I agree with your opinion.
@@BigCar2 I wonder how many of those 61 you already did videos on
Remember reading an article here in Scandinavia in the 1970s, someone bought one P6 and lost a back door, it was not fastened to the body!
Big Car = Big Videos, that's guaranteed.
Merry Xmas from Italy..
I had an uncle who owned both the Rover P6 and the Peugeot 504 Station wagon when he was stationed in Scotland and brought them both back and drove them here in South Carolina and Texas!!!
Did you have medium sized European cars like Rover and Peugeot 504 in Texas, USA!!?? That's a surprise for me!! 😮
My late uncle had a Peugeot 504 GL (2 litre) sedan car in the 70's - 80's here in Sri Lanka in South Asia where we live. We felt that it was so comfortable and powerful.
Actually it was my uncle who had the Rover and Peugeot. My family had the 5 Series BMW and Cadillacs!!! 🤠👍
@@worldtraveler930 Wow! You had BMW 5 series and Cadillacs!!?? 😮 That's great! Cadillacs are considered as the most luxurious cars of the world apart from Rolls Royce!!! 👍 👌 My respects! You are so lucky to own them!!!
Who needs Rovers and Peugeots when you have BMW's and Cadillacs!!!?? Thank you for replying me!
@janath9118 I think in its heyday starting in around 1964 , the Rover P6 did not really have had a BMW rival until 1972 with the 5 Series ?
@@janath9118 Cadillacs were great cars A LONG LONG time ago. Like decades ago.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and all the fans of your videos. Great memories. My first car was what I believe was a renamed Austin 1100 for the USA as an Austin America.
Thank you for the whole series. Happy New Year ❤️
Great video! There is not a single car in this lineup, that I wouldnt love to own today☺️ But the RO80 really is a childhood dream! Interersting to see the production life of cars back then (and development time), compared to the moder EVs that are "burped out" every year.
I wonder if a V4 could be shoehorned in? Are there even any derelict Ro80s left?
@ Think the wankel is half the joy of the car....
@@truthboomertruthbomber5125 I own a Ro80 and use it as my daily driver. It has its original engine and is totally reliable. There are more out there than you think.
Thanks for teasing us with all the video of the Hillman Imp. Honestly, you could have done a whole video on each of these cars! Merry Christmas.
P6 was a fantastic car. Grew up with one in South Africa
happy X mas everybody , and with a nice video .
u2
Fantastic idea to make a series around the car of year!
I can't take the credit - it was a suggestion from a viewer.
As a kid, I was not a car enthusiast, more an art and design freak. (Still the same 6 decades later) I fell in love with the Rover P6 design, and some of its quirky mechanical features. The crazy front suspension is one in point. I aspired to own one when I was old enough, but when the time came opted for the American styling of Ford and Vauxhall. I still think the body shape is so graceful and sexy.
The Rover had a crazy front suspension. In the mid 80s I was at a party and one of the partygoers rode up in a 2000. Most of the men and some of the women were engineers of various persuasions so I dragged all of them out to look under the hood.
The front suspension was designed around the prospect of a gas turbine engine. The gas turbine never materialized but the 3.5 liter Buick V8 did. Without the front suspension being designed as it was the V8 would have never fitted in the engine bay.
Thank you for all your great video's! I wish you and your family a very merry Christmas!
Love the channel and wishing you great continuing success. And of course, happy holidays and very happy New Year. A fan from Montreal, Canada.
2:09 - At the advertising agency: "How should we market the car?" "How about showing it being driven along a coastline, while passing people who are working on their fishing gear. That'll sell it!" It seems so random. But the 60's were different times. Maybe it made sense back then.
Far less silly than an advert from that era which suggested that if you walked through a similar scene smoking a pipe filled with a certain brand of tobacco pretty girls would start to follow you like the Pied Piper.
Great work! I will now wait impatiently for the 1970s!
Danke!
Thank you Stefan! Happy New year.
@ happy new year - to you and all of your supporting team! I enjoy hearing your channel and remembering the historical cars. You do a very famous presentation video by video and I try to follow all at least 2x
Thank you for this entertainment
What would have been better if you'd go into the cars in more depth with a half length video on each. Years of content. Happy Christmas.
I think every one of these cars warrants a full video to be honest.
I loved the P6, a neighbour had one when I was a kid...Just wish my dad would have bought one!!
All the merry Christmas man! Thank you for this extra gift video. Love what you do
I like the COTY idea, except for one factor and that is the affordability of some of the placings.
Runner up for 1964 was the Mercedes-Benz 600... For 99.99999% of the population, just getting a ride in that car is about as remote as getting a flip in the Space Shuttle. I am an absolute car nut and have only seen 3 in 60 years.
Same logic applies to the 1966 runner-up (Rolls-Royce) and the 1974 and 1978 winners (Mercedes-Benz W116 450 SE and Porsche 928). These aren't family cars that the average, or even rich, neighbour could buy. You had to be fabulously rich to have been able to purchase one of these cars.
Then 3 years after the Mighty Mercedes won, the humble Ford Escort took first place. SPOT ON!!! Many, many, many of our neighbours, friends and family drove that car... For YEARS.
I feel that the cost of the car should have been factored into the equation on something like a logarithmic scale. That would have been much more representative of the real world car purchasing public.
Merry Christmas, thanks for all your entertaining videos this year, I enjoyed every moment.
All the best to thee and thine from me and mine here in Australia.
I love watching your videos and learning about the cars I grew up with- some that I lusted after then, and now- and a lot of cars that just didn't make it from Britain or Europe to the other side of the planet.
The Rover was an option my parents considered in 1975, but we ended up getting a Lancia Beta.
Happy (belated) Christmas to you!! Thank you for such great content in 2024 (and always) - looking forward to your ECoTY series, and whatever you come up with in 2025!
4:48 - those NSU rotary engines were solid, it was just the first years where manufacturing faults made them scrape up the inside of the combustion chamber.
Models from the 70s onwards or those with a replacement engine will last quite a long time.
Sadly, those cars like many 60s/70s cars are heavy plagued with rust issues. And the later "heat regulated" carburators are a nightmare to work on...
The Rover P6 really came into its own with the Buick V8 engine in 1968. A rival to a Mk 2 Jaguar.
In 1960 in the U.S., Motor Trend picked the Chevy Corvair. Decades later it was controversial as rear engined cars handle differently. It was a good choice as it was a great car and very very different engineering. Rear engined, flat six, air cooled and four wheel independent suspension. Fun car to drive. I own a '65 convertible.
Love these videos! Thanx :-)
Hi it's 15:43 in the North of England as I type this, took a break to do some washing up and decided that it was a good time to watch your first installment of 'car of the year'. Excellent. Thank you and I wish you and Mrs Big Car a very merry Christmas. 👍🏻🎄 PS - another not white Christmas in the UK, near Manchester! 😄
Merry Christmas folks! This is a great idea for the channel! Looking forward to all the episodes.
Nice! Looking forward to the rest of the series. 😁
One of the attractions of _Top Gear_ UK for me was seeing European cars that we never got here in the US -- and your videos have taught me a lot more about quite a few of them.
My late mom owned a Rover 2000 when our family still lived in Hong Kong. Back in 1966, a Rover 2000 was actually not that common in Hong Kong, and to see another one in Hong Kong back then was a bit unusual. The more common car in Hong Kong back then was the Morris Minor 1000 with "trafficator" semiphore-style turn signals. And a lot of them were used for people to learn to drive a car in Hong Kong (they would hang a "Learn" placard on the back of the car).
Good content!! Very good retro look of those beautiful cars of the 70's and 80's!! 🚗 🚘 😊❤ Austin, Rover, Peugeot, Renault etc.
I have a very good memory of seeing these cars on our roads back in those days when i was young, here in Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 in South Asia where i live. Those were the happy time! 😊
I wish i could see more of these beautiful cars in detail, because they are shown here too briefly in this video. I kindly request you to show each of these cars for at least 10 minutes.
I am a man who have watched some of your videos.
A big thank you to Big Cars!! 😊 🎉🎉🎉
Over the years I’ve owned three of these COTY. The Austin 1800, Renault 16 and the Peugeot 504. Fond memories of all of them to be honest, but the 504 was my favorite. Have stuck with Peugeot ever since. Seasons greetings from Australia!
according to the background i'm obviously at the "big coffee" channel.
that price appears to me as a general advertising for european automotive industry, fearing foreign imports. at one point domestic car magazines started to make their own "car of the year" price, wich dropped the "affordable or innovative" part for "sporty and stylish"
Thanks so much for all your vids this year BC, I’ve loved them all, a very happy Christmas to you and yours.
Thank you @BigCar2 for another great video ... I've heard of cars referred to as Lemons before, but Peach? I must have been living under a rock, because that's a new one on me =)
The initiative for the car of the year award came from the Dutch AutoVisie magazine's chief editor, a man called Fred van der Vlugt. When he went down to Rover to give them the first award he was not to meet with a very warm welcome, the Rover bosses did not have a clue what to do with this Dutchman handing out an award to them no one ever heard of.
Really churning out the content this month! Thanks! Happy Christmas.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you. I continue to really enjoy your videos and look forward to more - including on your re-branded 2nd channel - in 2025
This is such a pleasant treat on a lovely Christmas morning. Thank you so much, I really enjoyed this. Happy Christmas! Ho-Ho-Ho!
8PM here in Massachusetts, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Love the P6… a client has two - one for road rally - v8 burble !
And those inboard rear discs are quite something to see…
And a massive pain in the arse to work on
Great video. Interesting to compare the sales figures of the winning cars , in particular the Rover P6 , sales of which had not been impressive over a lengthy 14 year span . Festive greetings and thanks for posting .
Ah brilliant, thank you very much. My Mum used to be very proud that her old Renault 9 was a car of the year! Merry Christmas to you and your family 🎄
Great first episode and a great series idea - looking forward to the 70s tomorrow
Happy Christmas everyone!
My dad bought a new Renault 16TS in early 72 (K suffix, right hand drive, UK spec) with (likely dealer mounted) wing mirrors which lasted into the early 80s before oxidation termination - lovely car with interesting mechanicals and flexible use of space
I was going to write a protest that I remember many Austin/Morris 1800s on the roads, but it's the 1100 , known here as Morris Marina I'm thinking of.
My uncle and aunt had a Simca 1307
Very nice little format for the hols, BC! Thanks!
Pennsylvania, USA here. Renault 16 and Peugeot 504 were fairly popular here until they weren't. They made sense to me but in the 60s Americans couldn't leave their comfort zone of big, heavy behemoths.
I haven't actually seen one on the roads in the UK for many years, but do recall, perhaps about ten years or back, a Peugeot 504 for sale on eBay, to which someone had fitted an XUD turbo diesel.
Fantastic video, love the Pinin sedans. Happy Holidays!
Very interesting, thanks! I think the P6 was sold as the Rover 2000 in the US (unless I'm confused with a completely different car).
Thanks for all your videos, really appreciate your channel
I had no idea the P6 was built as early as 1964, it looks so ahead of it's time I thought production began around 1970!
Launched in 1963.
Yet another great video, thanks....Oh, Happy Christmas to Yourself & all around you...
Merry Christmas Andy from Cumbria UK
It’s 9 am on Christmas morning here in Albuquerque New Mexico, Christmas wishes to you and your family! 🎄🎅🏻
Merry Christmas to you and yours! I wanted to see how you'd break this down. Love some of the cars you featured here, and some I haven't seen in years. My father owned a Peugeot 504 when we lived in the UK between 1977 and 1982.
That Pug looks a timeless design now.
What a car!! That and the Rover 90 before that. The burble through the exhaust from that V8. A motoring era gone.
Bored? After Christmas?
Hell no. The Boxing Day Test from the MCG between Australia and India is playing..
Crowd 87,000 on the first day!!
Merry Christmas from Finland!
Cheers Fella ,Happy Christmas 👍
Happy Xmas and cool series!!!!
Can't wait for 2025 and more content!
I find the content of your channel to be interesting and informative. Wishing you a great 2025.
Merry Christmas Big Car
Thank you for serving up a portion of Peugeot 504!
Merry Christmas Mr and Mrs Big car xx
Thanks for video and Merry Christmas 🎄.
The 504 was very popular in South Africa, where I grew up, and throughout Africa because of their legendary reliability.
not xmas for another hour here in Hawaii…:)
That the British even got to participate in this was a wonder in itself. The Fiat 124 is the third most produced car after the Ford T and the VW Beetle. The Renault 16 was totally brilliant and is the template for just about anything today. Then we have the king of Africa, the Peugeot 504.
The Peugeot 504 Coupé was a stunner!
In 1972 I moved to the US as a student, and had to have a car. A friend had a 1966 Rover P6 for sale at USD 600 ,which was within my budget. I bought it and loved it : leather bucket seats,wood fascia, floor mounted gearshift . Technically it was very advanced : it had independent suspension and disk brakes on all four wheels - the rear ones mounted on the differential. It rode beautifully. But to have it serviced I had to go to a mechanic who handled Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, and, yes , Rover. He was always impeccably dressed in a white overall,no oil or grease stains on it. He treated the cars like ladies . "SHE needs a tuneup". His bills were pretty expensive. However , the car had a serious flaw : the Lucas electrical system. If it was damp and cold, SHE wouldn't start. And in Boston it can get wet and cold! Finally I sold it to the mechanic, bought a used 1967 Ford Falcon who never game me any problem. When I left the US I sold the Falcon to some classmates who enjoyed it for two more years.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Looked for the 1970’s, will keep my eye open, but just have a great Festive break and release once rested
I had a C-reg P6 from 1982-5, great car.
Great channel so informative merry Christmas to you and your family