British Cars and Their Foreign Equivalents

[H18 ENF]

So, how about this for a plan... If I give you a list of Iconic British Cars can you give me their foreign equivalents?

Let's imagine that I was going to road test them side by side what would you suggest. Some of them are quite obvious but some are a little more open to interpretation and I'm just interested to see what the consensus would be...

Triumph Spitfire
Land Rover Defender Mk1
Mini Mk1
E Type Jaguar
Lotus Esprit
Rover SD1
Lotus 7
MGB GT
Ford Escort MkII
Jaguar XJ220
Ford Popular

Interested to hear your thoughts

[RicksAlfas]

Triumph Spitfire = Fiat 124 Spider
Land Rover Series 1 = Alfa Romeo Matta
Mini Mk1 = Fiat 500
E Type Jaguar = Lancia Flaminia Zagato Super Sport
Lotus Esprit = Ferrari 308
Rover SD1 = Citroen CX
Lotus 7 = Donkervoort S7
MGB GT = Alfa Romeo GTV
Ford Escort MkII = Lada Riva
Jaguar XJ220 = Lamborghini Diablo
Ford Popular = Renault R8

[H18 ENF]

RicksAlfas said:

Triumph Spitfire = Fiat 124 Spider
Land Rover Series 1 = Alfa Romeo Matta
Mini Mk1 = Fiat 500
E Type Jaguar = Lancia Flaminia Zagato Super Sport
Lotus Esprit = Ferrari 308
Rover SD1 = Citroen CX
Lotus 7 = Donkervoort S7
MGB GT = Alfa Romeo GTV
Ford Escort MkII = Lada Riva
Jaguar XJ220 = Lamborghini Diablo
Ford Popular = Renault R8

Some interesting choices there!

[austinsmirk]

landrover would have to be the USA Jeep models

Ford escort, VW beetle.

[FerdiZ28]

RicksAlfas said:

E Type Jaguar = Lancia Flaminia Zagato Super Sport

Had to look that up. What a fabulous specimen.

[Europa1]

RicksAlfas said:

Triumph Spitfire = Fiat 124 Spider
Land Rover Series 1 = Alfa Romeo Matta
Mini Mk1 = Fiat 500
E Type Jaguar = Lancia Flaminia Zagato Super Sport
Lotus Esprit = Ferrari 308
Rover SD1 = Citroen CX
Lotus 7 = Donkervoort S7
MGB GT = Alfa Romeo GTV
Ford Escort MkII = Lada Riva
Jaguar XJ220 = Lamborghini Diablo
Ford Popular = Renault R8

I think I would switch the Ferrari 308 for a Venturi.

[RizzoTheRat]

H18 ENF said:

Land Rover Defender Mk1

RicksAlfas said:

Land Rover Series 1 = Alfa Romeo Matta

Good correction I'd argue the Jeep CJ rather than the alpha though. the original Landrover prototype was built using quite a few bits of a Willis Jeep, which the CJ was also based on.

[H18 ENF]

A Fair Correction Indeed!

[RicksAlfas]

I thought that was what you meant.


Here's the Matta in a currently topical pose:

[RicksAlfas]

Europa1 said:

I think I would switch the Ferrari 308 for a Venturi.

Yes, good shout.

[EnglishTony]

H18 ENF said:

So, how about this for a plan... If I give you a list of Iconic British Cars can you give me their foreign equivalents?



Triumph Spitfire
Land Rover Defender Mk1
Mini Mk1
E Type Jaguar
Lotus Esprit
Rover SD1
Lotus 7
MGB GT
Ford Escort MkII
Jaguar XJ220
Ford Popular

Interested to hear your thoughts

Spitfire - Fiat 850 Spider. Both cheap sports cars from well known manufacturers. Later Fiat X1/9
Land Rover - UAZ 469. Both answers to the Jeep.
Mini - Trabant 500. Transport for the plebs
E Type - Corvette Stingray. Couldn't think of any other cheapish sportscar from a big manufacturer.
Lotus Esprit - Alpine A310. Both fibreglass two seater.
SDI - 5 Series BMW. Both entries into new territory. Similar price. Different quality.
Lotus 7 - any of the versions built outside the UK. Choose from Spain to Japan but all basically the same thing thus showing it's uniqueness.
MGB GT - Fiat 124 Coupé. Roadster = Spider
Escort Mk 2 - Fiat 131 and Opel Kadett C. Both rallied too.
XJ 220 - Mainstream manufacturer takes deposits and then customers to court? No, nothing comes close.
Ford Popular - which one?

[ChilliWhizz]

No TVR in the iconic British cars list? This is PH you know

[H18 ENF]

ChilliWhizz said:

No TVR in the iconic British cars list? This is PH you know

Ha ha ha!

Feel free to suggest one but I'll need a decent persuasive argument 😉

[Bodo]

For the Land Rover S1, I propose the Unimog. At that time (1948), the Unimog was supposed to have the same purpose - a universal, mostly agricultural machine.

1954:
LR S1 86", 50hp
Unimog 402 83", 25hp

[Jader1973]

RizzoTheRat said:

Good correction I'd argue the Jeep CJ rather than the alpha though. the original Landrover prototype was built using quite a few bits of a Willis Jeep, which the CJ was also based on.

And the McLaren F1 was based on the original LR prototype

[ChilliWhizz]

Hmmm, so, I've owned four of the British Icons in the list, and my mother had a Sptifire when I was learning to drive and for a good while after...I owned these pretty much when they were contemporary cars, so I rather 'connect' with the list

Often regarded today as 'the' iconic TVR is the '90's Griffith (pains me slightly to say that) so I'd suggest that deserves a place in the iconic list...

However, I'd also offer you this..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boH0B7Dn3xc