The sixties were happy years. Or at least they were in terms of birth rates, since there was an explosion of births – a baby boom – which led to people born in that period being recognized today as boomers. Those born in the 60s and those born in the 70s, the so-called generation of his first loves and his first adventures.
“For people who will love it.” That was the slogan with which the chevron brand presented a model that, indeed, soon became very popular among young people… and not so young, since the hardness of the Dyane 6 and its almost all-terrain cushioning meant that it also had great presence in the rural world. In fact, the model was born as a replacement for the 2CV and was manufactured on the same assembly line with most of the same tooling.
The model was designed by Panhard and was presented in 1967 with a 425 cc, 21 HP twin-cylinder engine that would soon evolve to a 602 cc, 32 HP engine, the most successful in the long history of a model that was in production. until 1983.
The story goes that Henry Ford II himself commissioned his engineers to manufacture a small utility vehicle after being impressed by the agility of a Fiat 127 during a walk through Rome. Whether the story is true or not, what is true is that when the first model appeared in 1976 it became a symbol of new times and an object of desire for a new generation of drivers for whom having a “Forfi” represented settling permanently in the modernity.
That first model had a 957 cc, 40 HP Kent engine, with a four-speed manual transmission. After almost five decades in business and sales of more than 22 million units, the oval brand announced the cessation of production last summer.
The first Corsa arrived in our country in 1982, although it had been developed in 1978 and quickly almost managed to snatch the Fiesta’s status as the favorite car of the “posh” uptown residents. The little German brought freshness to a market in which there were good models in the segment, but few new features, since practically no new competitor had arrived in that segment for several years. Furthermore, he took advantage of the desire that existed among Spanish drivers of German cars. The similarity of its first lines with the Peugeot 205 is no coincidence; The brand took the French model as a reference and rival to beat. That first Corsa was available with a choice of two engines; one 993 cc and 45 HP and another 1,196 cc and 55 HP DIN.
When the first 205 appeared in 1983, a great myth about Peugeot fell (for the better). Until then, the French manufacturer had a reputation as a serious builder, only of large sedans, and suddenly it launched itself into the ring with a youthful compact that was a hit as soon as it hit the streets. The influence that the eighties 205 has had on later compacts is only comparable to that of its nemesis Renault 5 in the 70s.
The first units marketed in Spain had a Simca/Talbot Poissy engine of 1,124 cc and 65 HP – although more voluminous and heavier – later they were fitted with the same PSA-TU9 engine as the French Peugeots of 45 HP and 50 HP depending on the version, but more compact and lighter. When production ended on January 31, 1999, Peugeot had manufactured 5,278,000 units, with production peaks of almost 2,500 cars per day.
Although the house of the rhombus has some really important cars in its history, it will almost certainly never have another as popular and remembered as the R5. Launched on the market in 1972 as an urban utility vehicle, it was largely based on the Renault 4, which took advantage – for example – of its optimal interior layout.
Its designer -Michel Boué- needed only two days to shape one of the most famous compacts of all time. His genius lay in the use of the monocoque for the bodywork. Renault sold almost 6,000,000 units of a model that went from the 40 HP of the 36 HP Billancourt engine in the initial run to participating in the World Rally Championship with explosive 170 HP versions. In our country, however, its journey began with the TL model with a 956 cc and 47 HP engine.
It has been unfair to the Panda; It almost never appears on the list of the most notable Seats when, in reality, it was the model that for many marked the true transition between the “old” Seat and the “new” Seat. New in the sense that it finally dared to launch a model aimed at the most youthful and carefree public, leaving behind old utilitarian prejudices.
The Panda was a Fiat design by Giugiaro launched in 1980 that the Spanish brand hesitated to bring because it saw it as too much of a “toy” for its rather conservative audience. And yet that was precisely what made the Panda quickly place itself on the list of youth cars.
In addition, it was indestructible and had surprising habitability for its size. When Seat and Fiat broke up their joint venture, the model was marketed – with some minor changes – as Marbella. SEAT offered it in two finishes: Panda 35, with the 843 cc engine of 33 HP originating from the 850 the first and the 903 cc with the 127 engine and 45 HP.
A Panda adapted for the occasion was, by the way, the model chosen to serve as the Popemobile on the first great visit of the Pontiff John Paul II to our country.
Although presented in 1974 and designed by Giugiaro, the Golf did not arrive in Spain until 1982 with the second version of the model knocking on the door. Curiously, the model was not initially well received in its native country to the point that VW was forced to buy back units. With the consequent improvement in finishes, the car became a European phenomenon and in Spain, for a decade, the car that every boomer yearned for to the point of making fun of the posh people who drove a Golf. And it really was also a model in the high price range compared to its competitors from Renault or Peugeot.
Beyond the joke, the truth is that it was a wonderful car, with little consumption and excellent on the road thanks to a front-wheel drive of unusual finesse and agility at that time. In 2015, the Golf became the best-selling European car of all time with 32,590,025 units sold and is currently close to 38 million. In those first models, the most basic engine was a 50 HP 1.1 gasoline engine and there was also a 70 HP 1.5.
