Non-dodos - ultimate 20th Century UK car survivors.

[moffspeed]

I've been watching the dodo thread with interest and its got me thinking about the opposite end of the survival spectrum - mass produced 20th Century cars that have flourished and endured in the 21st C. What make/model has the highest survival % in 2021 ?

To keep the low volume manufacturer/homologation special stuff out of this let's base "mass-produced" on an arbitrary figure of a minimum 1000 units total either built in the UK or imported to these shores prior to Dec. 31st 2000. If cars had multiple facelifts/marks we are dealing with one specific model ie a Golf GTI Mk1 is a separate entity from a Mk2 etc.

I suspect the winner would be something German, maybe a 911S or something similar. Any thoughts ?

[Dapster]

moffspeed said:

I suspect the winner would be something German, maybe a 911S or something similar. Any thoughts ?

I'd put money on it being one of these





In Germany, as historic cars are given their own "H" plate, the data can actually be tracked

https://www.best-selling-cars.com/germany/2018-ger...

[austinsmirk]

Isn’t the default answer, Land Rover ? And also rolls Royce. Would bet Morgan feature highly also.

[moffspeed]

Good point, Morgan +8 must be in with a good shout. Even at Morgan’s build rate they made enough of them.

Not sure about the Rollers, the main staple was the Silver Shadow in those days - many ended their days as clapped out wedding cars or even banger racing.

[Flying Phil]

I should think the Austin Healey Mk1 "frogeye" Sprite would be a contender. BMC produced 50,000. Lots were exported and there are around 1,000 still on the DVLA register I believe.

[Harry Rule]

Triumph Stag?

Given that these were considered unreliable, even by mid 70s British Leyland standards, they seem to have remarkable survival rate.

[e600]

Some of the 60’s Ferrari’s, or possibly Dinos, made in volumes over 1000 but given their value would always be restorable.
Edited to add maybe AM DB5 for similar reasons above

[Yertis]

I think old Brit sportscars in general have an unexpectedly high survival rate, especially those with a chassis to keep the rust together long enough for them to become classics. I think getting on for half of the UK TR6s are still knocking about, certainly a third or more of them. And over in the US, where most of them were sold, another one or two seem to appear in barns or whatever every week.

[Turbobanana]

Mathematically it's probably something like a Mitsubishi Shogun or Mazda MX5. They sold well enough on their own, but 4 times as many arrived later as grey import Pajeros or Eunos Roadsters.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

K11 Micra. Plenty still on the roads registered from 92-99.

[Shezbo]

Morgan, looks a good shout.....

[eldar]

Daimler C V8, lots of fibreglass, not too much catastrophic rust.

[Turbobanana]

eldar said:

Daimler C V8, lots of fibreglass, not too much catastrophic rust.

Do you mean Daimler Dart (SP250) or Jensen C-V8?

[finlo]

The utterly dreadful Morris minor has to be in with a shout.

[vpr]

Massive percentage of Morgan’s still exist.

Also there are more Lotus Cortinas that survive than were built.

[a8hex]

vpr said:

Also there are more Lotus Cortinas that survive than were built.

Would make another interesting thread, how many models of car now have more "originals" than the manufacture ever made

[popegregory]

I’ll shout Land Rover defender, but the lotus and tvr meets always show a very well maintained representation

[eldar]

Turbobanana said:

eldar said:

Daimler C V8, lots of fibreglass, not too much catastrophic rust.

Do you mean Daimler Dart (SP250) or Jensen C-V8?

You are indeed right, I'd intended the Daimler, but remembered the CV8 was fibreglass as well and invented the Daimler CV8...

So, both, with the SP250 the favourite.

[moffspeed]

I was dubious as to whether the Jensen CV8 made it to a 1000 units in production and a quick search confirmed this - they made just over 1/2 the qualifying figure so it’s a DQ there.

The SP250 (Dart) is well in at 2654 produced along with all 3 Marks of Jensen Interceptor. The Mk1 and Mk2 Interceptors just squeeze in with 1024 and 1126 units respectively.

Edited by moffspeed on Tuesday 4th May 08:36

[moffspeed]

I’ve just stumbled upon a great Jensen website hosted up by Richard Calver. It includes a forensic analysis of all Jensen survival numbers per model. Obviously the data is incomplete as there are cars out there that are beyond SORN and just gather dust in a barn.

A good example of this was when I bought a Victorian lamp post off a gent on the Romney Marsh many years ago. In his storage barn sat a sad looking Peerless whilst his Interceptor had been literally put out to grass in an adjacent field.

Calver's work is copyrighted so no reproduction of tables etc here, just Google and take a look. A final thought, of the 6400-odd Interceptors produced probably 2/3 have been destroyed/scrapped. What happened to all of those wonderful Chrysler V8 engines - did they die with the cars ???

Edited by moffspeed on Tuesday 4th May 10:36