0:00:29 > 0:00:32The Great British sports car.
0:00:35 > 0:00:36A little cheeky.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It was about as much fun as you could have in those days with your trousers on.
0:00:40 > 0:00:41Tantalisingly fast.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45I remember the first time we went at 100 mph down the A5.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52But above all, thrilling.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Shooting up the M1 in my dad's friend's E-type,
0:00:58 > 0:01:03clinging on and seeing the big gauge at 135mph, thinking,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06"This is the most exciting thing I'm ever going to do in my life,
0:01:06 > 0:01:07"and if I die now, so be it."
0:01:11 > 0:01:15This is the story of how the mass-produced British sports car
0:01:15 > 0:01:17democratised speed and glamour.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20It was a very glamorous era. They were beautiful cars.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24How in a lost decade of Fifties hedonism
0:01:24 > 0:01:28they perked up a grey country and sparked a manufacturing frenzy.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33We could not make sports cars fast enough.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Our trousers were on fire.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42A world of Healey 100s, frog-eyed Sprites, Jaguar E-types.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46This was the golden age of the British sports car.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Strangely enough, the story of our mass-produced British sports cars
0:02:00 > 0:02:02starts with these guys.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Well, not these are actual men, but American GIs.
0:02:08 > 0:02:09We didn't always appreciate them.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13But after the war, the cash-strapped motor industry needed their money.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Amongst all the boring family saloons Britain made,
0:02:19 > 0:02:23there was one car which really tickled the GIs' fancy.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34What really focused the British attention on the sports car
0:02:34 > 0:02:38was that American servicemen who'd been stationed over here,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42they'd been stationed in the US Air Force bases in East Anglia
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and so on, they had seen these charming little MG sports cars
0:02:45 > 0:02:49running around, which had been made before the war
0:02:49 > 0:02:51and they thought they were fun.
0:02:51 > 0:02:52And quite a lot of them
0:02:52 > 0:02:56have bought these little MGs and took them back to America.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01And suddenly, quite unexpectedly,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05and with no effort at marketing or promotion,
0:03:05 > 0:03:11the British motor industry found that the British sports car,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13specifically the little MG Midget,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16was a potential dollar earner for export.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21That's right. GIs had spotted MG's two-seater sports car.
0:03:21 > 0:03:26But MG didn't have any new cars to sell. Like everyone else,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29they had spent the last five years servicing the war effort,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32making parts for aircraft and overhauling tanks.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Anything except building sports cars.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39They quickly scrambled into action.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Hoping no-one would really mind in the circumstances,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47they dusted off the pre-war design that the Americans loved,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50added a tweak here and there, and the car was ready.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52It was called the MG TMidget.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Oh, bless.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01This was the sports car that started it all.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06It took America by storm.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09And it still has lots of pre-war hangovers,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11with cycle mudguards and big, spoked wheels,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14but it has a lovely snorty little engine
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and you're sitting there like a racing driver,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20like Lou Vallario with your arm spilling over the door and a big,
0:04:20 > 0:04:24big steering wheel with a horn push pointing straight at your heart.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26And it's great.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28And you just looked cute.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Overnight, the idea of a mass-produced British sports car
0:04:37 > 0:04:39had been invented.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42With the odd upgrade and occasional facelift,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46the MG T series went on to sell nearly 50,000 cars,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49most of them in America, but there was a home market too.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56As matters improved and the world got slightly more peaceful,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59people were able to indulge themselves,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02and obviously one of the great indulgences is a pointless
0:05:02 > 0:05:06sports car that's got two seats and a great big engine,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08and is only good for one thing,
0:05:08 > 0:05:10and that is a hell of a lot of bloody fun.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16The dream didn't come cheap for the Brits.
0:05:16 > 0:05:24In 1947, the average salary was £416, and a new MG T cost £527.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29Which, in case you're wondering, is about £17,000 in today's money.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36But unlike a custom-built Ferrari, these British sports cars
0:05:36 > 0:05:40were within reach of affluent professionals.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Perhaps a suave doctor, or a rakish bank manager.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52Early 1950s Britain offered driving nirvana for these lucky few.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54With a tenth the number of vehicles around,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58it was easy to put your foot down through the twisty roads.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04They were just slightly rakish, I don't know, but you could drive
0:06:04 > 0:06:08around with the hood down and this car was quite interesting,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12because you had the optional extra aero screens fitted
0:06:12 > 0:06:15behind the main windscreens, so you could lower the windscreen
0:06:15 > 0:06:18and you'd got the aero screens, like the racing cars.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26It was everyone a young man's dream, to have a sports car,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30like the MG T, and I'd been a very lucky young man,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33because, ordinarily, I wouldn't have been able to afford it,
0:06:33 > 0:06:38but believe it or not, in 1952 I inherited £2,600,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43which was a lot of money in those days, and not bad now.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47And, of course, shock, horror, I suddenly had the wherewithal
0:06:47 > 0:06:50to buy one of these much sought-after cars by young men.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54With an eye on what his parents might think, John,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57rather than throw all his money away, went for a second-hand MG.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03It was £425, as I recall, which was quite a substantial sum,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07and I caught the bus with a wad of notes
0:07:07 > 0:07:09all the way from West Bromwich to Birmingham,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13and I bought the car there and then for cash and drove it home.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17My parents were like, "What have you done? You had all this money!"
0:07:17 > 0:07:20But nonetheless, we loved it.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Well, it was quite glamourous, really, and I came from a background
0:07:23 > 0:07:26where my mother and father hadn't got a car and I think it was
0:07:26 > 0:07:29one of the first cars I'd ever been in
0:07:29 > 0:07:31and it was well, glamourous, I suppose.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34You felt as if you're getting somewhere in life
0:07:34 > 0:07:36from the background we had both come from.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37Yes, quite modest.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42A new MG was out of reach to most of the middle-classes
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and it was kept deliberately expensive.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47To encourage exports to America,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50the government added on the dreaded purchase tax,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54which made an already pricey sports car even pricier.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59There was purchase tax on anything, like a radio set or a car,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01or whatever.
0:08:01 > 0:08:07And the rating of that tax was raised or lowered
0:08:07 > 0:08:10depending on how they wanted the demand to go.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15At one time, I can tell you, there was a limit of £1,000,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17I believe, for car prices.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Below that the purchase tax on a car that cost £1,000 was 33%,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25and above it was 66%.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Even in these hard times, there was a feeling of optimism in the air.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33For those few with the money,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36finding some fun amongst all the austerity was a must.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Even if it meant taking the extra tax on the chin.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44You've got to say, consumers having to pay that amount of money,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47they wanted these cars really badly then, didn't they?
0:08:47 > 0:08:51They would pay any price for these lovely new, exciting, fast cars.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53And if it meant paying 50%
0:08:53 > 0:08:56to the government for the privilege to drive them, then so be it.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03But hold on!
0:09:07 > 0:09:12The MG T was about to get blown out of the water, as another famous
0:09:12 > 0:09:13brand muscled in on the act.
0:09:13 > 0:09:19In 1948, Jaguar unveiled their XK 120 to a swooning audience,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23and instantly made the MG look a bit prehistoric.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Clark Gable is pictured getting out of one,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29and suddenly the world just stands back and sighs with admiration.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33It was the poster boy of the mass-produced sports car.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Our rich cousins over the pond could just afford one,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41but in post-war Britain, there was fat chance.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45The XK 120 cost £1,263.
0:09:45 > 0:09:51Weighing in at an eye-watering £36,000 in contemporary money.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57It had 120mph top speed and film-star looks,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00but was more than twice the cost of an MG T.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Even our rakish bank manager would balk at that.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Whoever could combine the beauty of the XK 120, with the driving
0:10:09 > 0:10:12thrill of the MG at a lower price, would take the British sports car
0:10:12 > 0:10:14into the modern age.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Step up, Leonard Lord, autocrat of the Austin Motor Company.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27He too wanted to cash in on America's love affair
0:10:27 > 0:10:30with the sports car.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31Lord had plans for Austin.
0:10:34 > 0:10:40Austin were then making fairly puddingy, soggy,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44middle-of-the-road saloon cars which were driven by bank managers
0:10:44 > 0:10:46or whatever they might be of the day.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Tax inspectors, perhaps.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52They were all called after British counties
0:10:52 > 0:10:57such as the Austin A70 Hampshire, the Austin A40 Devon,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00which was succeeded by the A40 Somerset.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04And they had all this running gear which was basically
0:11:04 > 0:11:07the sort of things that you put under a soggy saloon,
0:11:07 > 0:11:12and they decided to put that soggy saloon running gear
0:11:12 > 0:11:14under what they thought was a car
0:11:14 > 0:11:21that was as sexy and svelte and exciting as the latest Cadillac.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23They were trying to produce a miniature American car.
0:11:23 > 0:11:29The car that Lord announced to great fanfare was the Austin A90 Atlantic.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35An Americanised sports car.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40In their effort to capture a share of export markets,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42British car manufacturers leave nothing to chance,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46and on continental roads, new models that have never been seen
0:11:46 > 0:11:49by the general public in England are here shown undergoing
0:11:49 > 0:11:52practical tests before the production line gets moving in earnest.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56It was an unmitigated disaster.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02It cost quite a lot of money to make and by the time they'd got it
0:12:02 > 0:12:05to America, the Americans were very good, and were then,
0:12:05 > 0:12:11at mass-producing big, comfortable cars for very little money.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13And so by the time the Austin Atlantic got to America
0:12:13 > 0:12:16it had less room in it than an American car,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18it went slower than an American car,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21because with all these bits of chrome on it
0:12:21 > 0:12:25it was quite heavy for the Austin A70 Hampshire engine.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29And it was quite expensive, so it had no appeal to the Americans whatever.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33A few were sold as a curiosity.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37It had gadgets on it, but gadgets made by Brits,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41so you would have, like, an electric roof, press a button
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and very, very slowly the hood would come up, you know,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48if it actually made it over the whole car you'd be glad,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51but usually what would happen is, the electric motor would burn out,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54so it was a kind of disaster.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57It was a very misguided attempt to sell them something that
0:12:57 > 0:13:02we thought they wanted, instead of something that they actually wanted.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Poor old Leonard Lord was left looking pretty sheepish.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10The Atlantic had missed the point completely,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13a sporty car was supposed to be fun to drive.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17The Americans had enough slow and flabby cars of their own.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21They wanted the British approach that Jaguar and MG did so well.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27The Atlantic also failed on the style stakes,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29it was as ugly as old sin.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Style now mattered, even in Britain.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41The nation's attention had been focused on modern design
0:13:41 > 0:13:47at exhibitions such as Britain Can Make It and the Festival of Britain.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51The space-age styling of the '50s was a celebration of progress,
0:13:51 > 0:13:52it looked to the future.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57The public wanted their sports cars to do the same.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Only a car that offered futuristic looks,
0:14:00 > 0:14:05100 mph performance, and the promise of pleasure would do.
0:14:09 > 0:14:15In 1952, out of the ashes of Leonard Lord's Atlantic failure,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18came a sports car that would be a runaway success.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Working out of an old RAF hangar,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26a tiny carmaker called Healey had some big ideas.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28At the helm was Donald Healey,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and he wanted to create sports car alchemy.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Way back in the 1930s Donald Healey had won the Monte Carlo Rally.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38In the 1930s he had been technical director of Triumph
0:14:38 > 0:14:40when it was still an independent company.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43But during and after the war, he set out to make his own cars,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45in his own company,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49which he did for some years at a scruffy little factory in Warwick.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54And it was only in the early '50s he took a deep breath and thought,
0:14:54 > 0:14:59OK, he could see the potential of sending cars to the United States.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Healy had heard about Austin's American misadventure
0:15:06 > 0:15:07with the A90 Atlantic.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11He knew that Leonard Lord had piles of leftover Atlantic parts
0:15:11 > 0:15:14stacked up in his factories, and was desperate to find a use for them.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Donald Healey had a bold vision.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23He would take the best bits of the field Atlantic and use them
0:15:23 > 0:15:26to make a real sports car for the 1952 motor show.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Using their racing expertise,
0:15:29 > 0:15:34his small band of engineers teased 100 mph performance
0:15:34 > 0:15:39out of the engine, and created a car that drove like a dream.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42But Donald Healey wasn't satisfied,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46he hated the look of the car's front end, with its oversized grill.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50With no time to change it before the motor show,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54he ordered to be displayed with its nose hidden behind a large pillar.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57That didn't stop Leonard Lord from spotting it.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Leonard Lord went to the opening day of the motor show,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06peered behind the pillar, saw the Healy 100 using his engine,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10thought it was brilliant and said to Donald Healey,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13"I will make this car for you."
0:16:13 > 0:16:16In an amazing turn of fortune,
0:16:16 > 0:16:21Lord agreed on the spot to mass-produce Healey's car.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25In return it would be renamed the Austin Healey 100.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Hello!
0:16:30 > 0:16:34This was the sports car that set the standard for a new generation.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39# It's wonderful
0:16:39 > 0:16:43# It's marvellous
0:16:43 > 0:16:46# You should care for me... #
0:16:51 > 0:16:55It really took Donald Healey to bring it all together
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and add a bit of sex appeal, and also come up with something that
0:16:58 > 0:17:04he knew everyone would want, and that would be a car that would do 100 mph.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08In those days, that was a kind of magic figure and I think he thought
0:17:08 > 0:17:10that if he could produce a car that could do that,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12and demonstrate it to people,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14then he would have an export winner on his hands.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20It looked beautiful, it did 110 mph, the Americans loved it,
0:17:20 > 0:17:21it immediately started to sell.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Contrary to Donald Healey's fears,
0:17:25 > 0:17:29the 100's styling was the very thing that people fell in love with.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36What really matters to the ordinary man in the street
0:17:36 > 0:17:39lusting after a new toy, is what it looks like.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43If you actually look at the construction of the Healey,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48it wasn't that different from the later types of MG Midget,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51the TD and the TF, which were then being made,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53but of course it looked like a modern car,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56it had a full-width all-enveloping body,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00whereas the MG Midget still had separate mudguards.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Even for the diehard MG fan it was too much to resist.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07There is not a straight line on it.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11It's curved in every dimension, from above, from the side,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14from the back, the front,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17even the windscreen is a one-piece curved screen, which was unheard of.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22It just looked so... What's the... Not necessarily...
0:18:22 > 0:18:24I don't know how to explain it, it just looked so...
0:18:24 > 0:18:27- You used to say it was like a beautiful woman.- I did.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31It is. You can stroke her curves.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39There was only one thing John could do to satisfy his longing,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42head straight off to the dealer.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48This is the dream car really, it looked so nice,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51it was new and smooth and...
0:18:51 > 0:18:54And I...
0:18:54 > 0:19:01The catalogue list price was 1,063, 12 shillings and sixpence.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06That was the catalogue price. I could see that I was...
0:19:06 > 0:19:08Well, this car, this car, I want it.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10HE LAUGHS
0:19:10 > 0:19:13And they struck a deal with me. I've got the receipt for it.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Still got the receipt.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24The British sports car was no longer just a fun way to get around.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27The Healey projected just the right image
0:19:27 > 0:19:30for the aspirational middle class.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34- It was just glamorous, wasn't it? It really was.- Yeah, yeah.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39It certainly felt a cut above, shall we say.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Like they said, you didn't get somewhere, you arrived.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43I suppose looking back
0:19:43 > 0:19:46you were treated a bit differently, weren't you?
0:19:46 > 0:19:50- When you arrived in a car like that? - Yes, there was...yes.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53Bit like arriving in a Rolls-Royce now.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56It was thought, mistakenly, that we were people of substance.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Little did they know.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03The Healey had cost John equivalent of nearly £21,000.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07It would require a few...compromises.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13We got married in June 1956 and we went on our honeymoon in the Healey.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Actually, I lost my cap, it blew off because we had the hood down.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19We came home to a house we had just bought
0:20:19 > 0:20:24with the rest of the money, and we had this lovely car in the garage
0:20:24 > 0:20:26- and no furniture in the house. - THEY LAUGH
0:20:30 > 0:20:33The Austin Healey had all the right ingredients.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Now other manufacturers knew what to aim for.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39The sports car scene was about to explode.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45By 1955, Standard Triumph had got in on the act
0:20:45 > 0:20:49with its manly and rugged TR series.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55A cheeky-looking 100 mph car that cost less than the Healey.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09It was noisy but great fun so I said, "I'll have one of those",
0:21:09 > 0:21:12it turned up in about five or six weeks,
0:21:12 > 0:21:17it was black and blue interior, and it had a heater.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20In fact, when building the TR2, the first thing they put in
0:21:20 > 0:21:23was a heater and built everything else round it.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25So if you needed to repair the heater at all,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29you had to take the car apart, more or less. It was ridiculous.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35But it was a 100 mph car and there was no speed limit then,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38apart from the 30 mph in towns
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and so you could bat along at whatever speed you liked.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50MG also rejoined the sports car world with the MGA,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53their first new car since the war.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58With sweet modern looks, it was one of Elvis' favourites.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01That's to say, quite girly.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09The golden age of the British sports car had arrived.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16By the mid-'50s, let's say 1955, when the MGA was launched,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19you then had three quite accomplished, exciting and desirable
0:22:19 > 0:22:23British sports cars in the mid-range.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27You'd start with the MG, which was suddenly a very good-looking car,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30you'd have the TR above it, then you'd have the Healey 100 above that,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33so suddenly there was quite a good choice,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36and they were all really good-looking vehicles.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40They've all got this ability to lean on your arm out,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45very important that with your flat cap, you've got your arm dangling
0:22:45 > 0:22:48out of the side of the car, the leather patch of your blazer visible.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Very important indeed. They all facilitated that.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Once MG launched the MGA,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03we had three basic motor cars to argue about in the pub.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10There has always been a love/hate relationship between Triumph and MG.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15I mean, Moses said unto the Lord "come forth"
0:23:15 > 0:23:19but he could only come fifth because he was driving an MGB.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24And Healey drivers had it in for Triumphs.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28The TR2, the styling was ghastly compared...
0:23:28 > 0:23:30HE LAUGHS
0:23:30 > 0:23:33You might be seeing some nice gentlemen with the TR2.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38And you know, that was actually... it had a tractor engine in it.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Actually, the engine wasn't bad. It was the best part of the car.
0:23:42 > 0:23:49It was cheaply made, really, and it just didn't look right.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53I didn't like the Healey because it has this leaning back look to it,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55I didn't fancy that really.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Doesn't bother some people but I didn't like that.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03People became Triumph men, or people became MG men or whatever,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08and to see or hear of people jumping ship from one model to another,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11from one brand to another, there weren't many of them about.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14This is what all the advertising people played on,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17once they'd got their claws into people,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20they made jolly sure that they could keep them.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27To keep their customers' fanatical loyalty going strong,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31the manufacturers all tried to hog the publicity limelight.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Each brand wanted to look the fastest,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37the coolest and the most contemporary out there.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40It was time to pull out the big guns.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43And what better way to show your thrusting modernity
0:24:43 > 0:24:45than by becoming a record breaker?
0:24:49 > 0:24:54MG and Austin Healey would both go over for two or three weeks
0:24:54 > 0:24:59to the Salt Flats in Utah in the States to do long-distance events,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02you know, three hours round and round in a circle, 24 hours and so on.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09They'd take a specially streamlined one over to Utah
0:25:09 > 0:25:14and they'd try and set all kinds of speed records for engine size.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18So it wasn't that they were trying to produce the fastest car on earth,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21but they'd be producing the fastest car up to 1,500CC
0:25:21 > 0:25:25and whatever that was, 0.7mph would then be something
0:25:25 > 0:25:28they could use in all their advertising
0:25:28 > 0:25:30and really crow about it.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36'Abbingdon on the River Thames, the MG car factory.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40'From these drawing boards over the years have come one model
0:25:40 > 0:25:43'after another of a world famous family of sports cars.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46'Right now, the draughtsmen are working on a very special job,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50'that of designing the fastest 1.5L car in the world.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53'A car tailor-made to fit one of the fastest drivers in the world,
0:25:53 > 0:25:54'Stirling Moss.'
0:25:54 > 0:25:57The MG car company decided they wanted to go for this world record,
0:25:57 > 0:26:02class G I think it is, and of course they had this fantastic-looking car.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06It was about the height of my knee, and beautiful streamlined,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09I'd lie backwards like this and the steering wheel was like that.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15'Moss climbs into the driving seat to see how it feels.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18'Everything must be perfect for a fault that would only be
0:26:18 > 0:26:21'a minor discomfort at a mile a minute could be disastrous
0:26:21 > 0:26:23'at four miles a minute.'
0:26:23 > 0:26:27The point about that of course being that almost the whole motor car
0:26:27 > 0:26:30was special, but it did have the basics of a standard MG engine
0:26:30 > 0:26:31and things like it.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34And most important, it had the big MG badge up front,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36and that's really all that mattered.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Stirling, typical Stirling, I admire the man for so much,
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Stirling would apparently arrive the day before these events,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44look at the car, say, "Is this it? All right",
0:26:44 > 0:26:47jump in, and within one, two or three runs,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49he would set the record and then fly home.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51He was such a pro.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52'Stirling Moss is ready.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54'Record breaking's a new departure for him,
0:26:54 > 0:26:56'except of course Grand Prix lap records,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59'which he breaks with almost monotonous regularity.'
0:26:59 > 0:27:04I remember taking top gear at about 200, which is fairly interesting.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08You don't really steer it,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11you sort of wish it goes that way, a little bit this way.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15That was a bit scary.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19Speed records squeezed out of custom-made death-traps
0:27:19 > 0:27:23were perfect to make the brand look heroic.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26But the thing that really sold the sports car was the dream
0:27:26 > 0:27:29that you too could imitate your hero on the racetrack.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Prestigious races like Le Mans were the ideal place
0:27:37 > 0:27:41for manufacturers to show off their cars and gain precious publicity.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46I can't stress too much how important success in motor sport was
0:27:46 > 0:27:48to the image of the British sports car.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Particularly in the '50s and '60s.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Not only did each of the manufacturers have a works team,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57a factory-backed team, they would pick and choose
0:27:57 > 0:28:00their events carefully so that somehow or other they hoped they
0:28:00 > 0:28:03could gain success even if they weren't going to win outright.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06So it meant for instance that Triumph would go to Le Mans,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09even though they were only going to finish ninth, tenth or eleventh,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11and Ferrari would win,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13they could still have something to advertise at the end of it.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17'Right from the start, the giants battled for the lead,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20'whilst the Triumph settled down to lap steadily,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23'according to their pre-arranged plan.'
0:28:26 > 0:28:28The phrase, we've all heard the phrase,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30"win on Sunday, sell on Monday",
0:28:30 > 0:28:33effectively that's an American invention,
0:28:33 > 0:28:35the phrase, but it applied.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39So if MG had done something wonderful on a Sunday,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42you would be amazed how often an advert would appear
0:28:42 > 0:28:44in the Daily Express the day after,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47or in Auto Sport the week after,
0:28:47 > 0:28:51making sure that the world knew about this.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56They were all fighting for the same market, they were all
0:28:56 > 0:29:00fighting for the same people, and if as an example MG could say,
0:29:00 > 0:29:05"We went to Le Mans and we won the class in the 24 hour race"
0:29:05 > 0:29:09and the opposition weren't able to say it, tick, that's a plus point.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15But while Le Mans races used customised versions
0:29:15 > 0:29:19of everyday sports cars, 1950s rallying offered the chance
0:29:19 > 0:29:22to see them compete straight out of the showroom.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25The cars racing in the thrilling European events
0:29:25 > 0:29:28were the very models that you could buy from the dealers down the road.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30This was publicity gold.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40'Still leading the way and unpenalised with their TR3.'
0:29:40 > 0:29:43We were running, in those days, standard cars.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46I was lucky enough to sit with a guy who won the first
0:29:46 > 0:29:49British Rally Championship in 1958.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51He used his own TR3.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56On one event, before one event, he had some problems with it,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59we borrowed sales-demonstrator from the Triumph dealer
0:29:59 > 0:30:00in Stoke-on-Trent.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03The only tuning he did, he checked the tyre pressures.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05I put a bit of cardboard on the dashboard
0:30:05 > 0:30:08so that my map light wouldn't reflect on the screen.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11That was the only work we did, and on the Monday morning,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13I took it back to the dealers, it went onto the sales floor.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17If the wins weren't coming in,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20the manufacturers had another trick up their sleeves.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22'By the way, the age of chivalry is not dead,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26'the ladies must not receive male assistance from their team-mates.'
0:30:26 > 0:30:29Yes, women came to the rescue.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32All-women teams raced the same events as the men, but battled
0:30:32 > 0:30:37for the ladies' prize, the award for the highest placed women.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Having far less competition meant a much better chance
0:30:40 > 0:30:42of bringing in some silverware.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45They could pop their little win in the papers
0:30:45 > 0:30:47and get some kudos for the manufacturer.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53'At the Earls Court motor show less than four months later,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56'the hard-top MG, as used on the Alpine Rally,
0:30:56 > 0:30:58'made its first public appearance on the stand.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01'Having proved its worth in the rigorous test
0:31:01 > 0:31:04'of international competition of the highest order,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07'the car becomes available to the discerning motorist.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11'Graceful of line, small and pretty, and at the same time...'
0:31:11 > 0:31:12Oh, for goodness sake!
0:31:12 > 0:31:15Winning women's prizes was all very well,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17but Austin Healey got the best press ever
0:31:17 > 0:31:22when they recruited a woman who could beat the men hands down.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Her name was Pat Moss.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30We never thought of ourselves as women, as a woman's crew,
0:31:30 > 0:31:33we just thought of ourselves as rallyists,
0:31:33 > 0:31:35and Pat was one of the very best.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39My sister wasn't really interested in being the fastest lady,
0:31:39 > 0:31:40they wanted to win outright.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43She was of that mould.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48Pat Moss owned her own Triumph TR2, a car she nicknamed Fruity,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50after the sound of the exhaust.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54But she needed sponsorship to compete in rallying.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57She approached Triumph to say,
0:31:57 > 0:32:01"I would like to do this major rally, could you support me?"
0:32:01 > 0:32:04And they offered to lend her a car but no money, and she said,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07"Well, I've got the car, it's the money, I haven't got the budget."
0:32:07 > 0:32:11So Triumph lost Pat Moss.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15In the PR game, Triumph had royally dropped the ball.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19They'd lost the Moss name, a female driver, and a winner.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22Pat would prove to be publicity dynamite.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27I think they thought she was just another lady driver.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31And she turned out to be a lot better than that.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Paired up with a new generation of Austin Healey,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39they were about to take the rally world by storm.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43When we first started with the Healey, I think it was a Tulip Rally,
0:32:43 > 0:32:48and they were real pigs to drive.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50With the press watching,
0:32:50 > 0:32:56they entered the hardest rally in the world, the Liege-Rome-Liege.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Not for them the ladies' prize,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01they were going all out to win the whole event.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04It was a tall order given the demands of the race.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Four days, four nights.
0:33:07 > 0:33:12One hour break, not per day, one hour for the four days.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17Dust, carts without any lights on in the old Yugoslavia, but you see,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21I'm getting excited taking about it now, it was absurd but marvellous.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26Forget about speed records and poncy French races, if anything could
0:33:26 > 0:33:30sell the raw thrill of the sports car, this rugged rally was it.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33And there was a woman at the wheel.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37We came out of Yugoslavia covered in dust and dirt,
0:33:37 > 0:33:43and washed at a fountain in the first place in Italy that we came to,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46and then we had to get on with it.
0:33:46 > 0:33:53On the long, long drive back to Liege she was so tired and she saw
0:33:53 > 0:33:59the telegraph poles, she thought they were men walking across the road.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04And I saw flaming cars in front of us and told her to dodge them.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09We were desperate, desperate, but we made it.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11Pat and Ann didn't just make it,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14they'd beaten all the best men in the world.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16Never mind, chaps.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20There are a lot of people, I'm one of them, who feel that Pat's win
0:34:20 > 0:34:24on the Liege in an Austin Healey 3000 with Ann
0:34:24 > 0:34:27was one of the greatest motor sport events,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31certainly one of the greatest wins, of all time.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35If anything was going to sell sports cars, this was it.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38The atmosphere around a win was electric,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42and for Pat and Ann victories meant glamming it up for the cameras.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Almost as much fun as winning the race.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Especially with the Healeys. It was a very glamorous era.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51We were very proud to be part of it.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55And they were beautiful cars, there was always a team
0:34:55 > 0:35:00of three or four them in the rallies, and we always...
0:35:00 > 0:35:04at the end of a rally, they always expected the girls to dress up,
0:35:04 > 0:35:08and have our hair done and be as glamorous as we could.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12There were lots of photos taken with these beautiful cars.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15It was great fun, it was a glamorous time.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18Monte Carlo is a glamorous place.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26Part of the appeal of all the motor sport publicity was Europe.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33The continent represented glamour, and the era's idea of the exotic,
0:35:33 > 0:35:35and by the end of the decade,
0:35:35 > 0:35:39thanks to rising disposable income, it was within reach of the middle classes.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43Those who could afford a sports car could now afford
0:35:43 > 0:35:46to emulate their icons, and go for a jaunt through Europe.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49I remember the first time
0:35:49 > 0:35:52when we first used to go to the continent in the car.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55We used to drive down the A5,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59and round Marble Arch, I wouldn't dream of doing that now.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03- It was a lot of fun.- It was, yes.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07The continental wind blowing in your hair. It was really good.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11For a British sports car, the sweeping roads
0:36:11 > 0:36:14and mountain passes were a natural habitat.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Oh, there's always one!
0:36:21 > 0:36:23Finally, you could drop that top, and not risk a soggy bottom.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28If you have a top-down, not friendly on the hairdo,
0:36:28 > 0:36:31though we went all the way to Spain in the 3A with the top down,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35my wife reluctantly accepted this diktat,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40and put a scarf round her hair, and got on with it!
0:36:42 > 0:36:46The British sports car was becoming the height of cool.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48From Monte Carlo to the streets of Rome,
0:36:48 > 0:36:50everyone wanted to be seen in one,
0:36:50 > 0:36:56and they were becoming the must-have accessory in the chicest films.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00When Fellini released La Dolce Vita, it wasn't an Italian car
0:37:00 > 0:37:04being driven by the lead character, but a Triumph TR3A.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07A British car in an Italian film, for goodness sake.
0:37:07 > 0:37:13Think how awfully unhappy Fiat must been about that.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17It was so nice to see that British sports cars appeared
0:37:17 > 0:37:19in films all around the world.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23To Catch A Thief, we've all seen the film, what was in the film?
0:37:23 > 0:37:25A Sunbeam Alpine.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27I mean, we all remember Grace Kelly, but it was a Sunbeam Alpine.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31Now, that car, the film was set in the South of France,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34surely it could been a French car, that it was a British car.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36BRAKES SQUEAL
0:37:36 > 0:37:37Nice.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42By the late '50s, sports cars were still a hefty expense.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49In 1957 the average house price was £2,000.
0:37:49 > 0:37:55The cheapest of the big brand sports cars was an MGA, and that cost £840.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01But people on a tighter budget also wanted in
0:38:01 > 0:38:03on some louche driving action.
0:38:03 > 0:38:08For them, joining the gang meant buying a second-hand car.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13Or for the more adventurous, donning a workman's overall, and building your own.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17You could buy a chassis,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20and you could put a fibreglass body on, a Ford 100-E engine.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22If you couldn't afford the four, 500 quid
0:38:22 > 0:38:25for a second-hand sports car, or £800 for a new,
0:38:25 > 0:38:26you built your own.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29That's how much people wanted sports cars then.
0:38:29 > 0:38:30They were terrible, really.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33And the results were terrible, and if anyone saw you driving
0:38:33 > 0:38:36the result, they probably thought you were terrible.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39But what they tapped into was that there wasn't really
0:38:39 > 0:38:43a very small, very economical sports car that you could buy,
0:38:43 > 0:38:46that wasn't one of these plastic horrors.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Yet in 1958 a new budget choice would emerge, and suddenly
0:38:51 > 0:38:55anyone who could afford a car could also afford a sports car.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Leonard Lord and Donald Healey had been busy.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07Their aim was to create a new model that came in at a similar price
0:39:07 > 0:39:10to an ordinary saloon, but creating a sports car dream
0:39:10 > 0:39:13at a cut-price called for some blue sky thinking.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17They came up with all kinds of wild ideas.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20One of his ideas was that the backend and the front-end
0:39:20 > 0:39:24would be identical, and only the middle bit would be different.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26So you could just make one section, shove it on the front,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30or shove it on the back. Didn't really work in practice.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40'I'm John Bolster, motoring correspondent and ex-racing driver.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42'I'm quite often asked to try out new cars,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45'and this day I've been invited to Silverstone
0:39:45 > 0:39:47'to see to see something extra special.'
0:39:47 > 0:39:52What John here had come to see was the Austin Healey Frog Eyed Sprite.
0:39:55 > 0:39:56So cute!
0:39:59 > 0:40:02This was the sports car that brought the dream to a wider public.
0:40:05 > 0:40:10The Sprite got its nickname, "Frog Eyed,"
0:40:10 > 0:40:14from those front headlights, which made it look somewhat amphibian.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23It was a real pocket-sized sports car,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25that didn't need assembling in your garage.
0:40:27 > 0:40:33The sprite cost £679, a tiny bit more than a Morris Minor,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36but a whole lot more desirable.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42If you talk about the democratisation of the sports car in England,
0:40:42 > 0:40:48you have to look at the Austin Healey Frog Eyed Sprite.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50Now this really brought sports car motoring to the masses,
0:40:50 > 0:40:55like probably no other car. It was, I think, £649,
0:40:55 > 0:40:57it would do 83 miles an hour.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03It was a proper innovation, on many, many levels.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05And it was so clever, you know, the front section,
0:41:05 > 0:41:08you would have the wings and the bonnet all lifting
0:41:08 > 0:41:11as one piece, so you didn't have to have
0:41:11 > 0:41:14complex separate bonnet and then front section,
0:41:14 > 0:41:18and at the back, to save money, didn't bother to put a boot lid in.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22So if you had a suitcase, you would have to tuck it in,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25behind the seat, underneath the back,
0:41:25 > 0:41:26but as a two-seater sports car,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29that's the kind of compromise you'd be happy to make.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34And in Speedwell blue, which was a lovely, kind of baby blue,
0:41:34 > 0:41:36it was a pretty, pretty little car.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39And automotive historians always say that the most successful cars
0:41:39 > 0:41:41are the cars that have these humanoid faces.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44It quickly got this nickname as the Frog Eyed Sprite,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47because of these two headlights sitting on top of the bonnet.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52Again, it was another brilliant little cost-saving device.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Donald Healey had wanted to have flip-up headlights,
0:41:55 > 0:41:57which obviously involved quite a bit of technology
0:41:57 > 0:42:00and faffing around under the bonnet to make them work.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02And when the accountants looked at it, and just said,
0:42:02 > 0:42:04"That's too expensive," he just thought,
0:42:04 > 0:42:06"Let's put them on top of the bonnet."
0:42:06 > 0:42:11You know, at a stroke, creating one of the most distinctive looking cars on the road,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14and a feature that everyone loves about it.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16You look at the front of the Frog Eyed Sprite,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19and you see these two wonderful eyes, and this little grin,
0:42:19 > 0:42:21and you want to give it a saucer of milk.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24It's just a beautiful, pretty little car,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26that was cheap and was accessible, and you look at the ads,
0:42:26 > 0:42:28and there is suburban Britain,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32with the girls with their Puchong skirts,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35and the blokes, the lotharios, with their ties and sports jackets,
0:42:35 > 0:42:37with patches on the elbows,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41loving this little Frog Eyed Sprite, because it was sweet,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43and again, it gave that hint of sexuality,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47that hint of speed, that hint of power, but it was accessible,
0:42:47 > 0:42:52cheap to run, non-threatening, and just a lovely, charming,
0:42:52 > 0:42:54matey little sports car.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Healy's stripped-down design had captured the essence
0:42:57 > 0:42:59of sports car magic, and brought with it
0:42:59 > 0:43:03a whole new generation of drivers, eager to join in.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Here was a car that didn't cost very much, and it worked.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12And what it offered was not that much in the way of performance,
0:43:12 > 0:43:15but a lot of excitement, because the doors are that thin,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18the steering wheel's here, the windscreen's that big,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22you really feel like you're doing 100 even when you're doing 40,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24so it had everything.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29They're tiny little things with 998CCs but so much fun.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31They weighed as much as a packet of cigarettes.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33The power went to the rear wheels.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36We had a four-speed gearbox and a steering wheel and three pedals
0:43:36 > 0:43:41and it was fun. You could kick the rear end out,
0:43:41 > 0:43:43you could have proper sports car fun in it.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46They were dreadful. I mean, dreadfully reliable,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50they rusted to bits. You only had to show them a damp chamois
0:43:50 > 0:43:52and the ferrous oxide would peek through.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54It would also, I remember,
0:43:54 > 0:43:59a friend of mine had one and when we drove on wet roads,
0:43:59 > 0:44:01the water would come through the floor
0:44:01 > 0:44:04round the pedals where the pedals went through the floor.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07Water would gush in so you'd end up with freezing ankles.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10But yeah, it was fun.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12It was about as much fun as you could have in those days
0:44:12 > 0:44:13with your trousers on.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19It was, of course, exactly the sort of car that young men lusted after.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22I was a single man living in Coventry,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26actually working at Jaguar when I knew I could never afford
0:44:26 > 0:44:30an XK150 or an E-Type that I was helping to design.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33But I could afford a Sprite, so I bought one.
0:44:33 > 0:44:37It's the sort of thing I could go to events with.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41It was the sort of thing I could go to hopefully impress a girlfriend.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44She was never going to be impressed by an Austin A35
0:44:44 > 0:44:47or a Morris Minor, I can tell you that.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49But some of them were as impressed as hell by a Sprite.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53The Sprite was also perfectly timed.
0:44:53 > 0:44:59The arrival of easier consumer credit meant that it was within reach of younger owners.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02It came about at a time when credit was starting to be available
0:45:02 > 0:45:08so it was one of the new cars of 1958 that would actually be
0:45:08 > 0:45:11affordable to those who didn't actually have the ready cash.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15It came along at the right time.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19It was very much in that Macmillan, "You've never had it so good", period,
0:45:19 > 0:45:23you know, and certainly from the point of view of sports car choice, you never HAD had it so good.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29Healey had created a car that offered a taste of sports car pleasure.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33But the little Sprite hit the roads at a time
0:45:33 > 0:45:36when driving in Britain was changing.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40VARIOUS HORNS BLARE
0:45:41 > 0:45:45The freedom of the open roads was disappearing.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51The country was doing well and car ownership had gone up
0:45:51 > 0:45:53by a staggering 250%.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55MORE HORNS
0:45:57 > 0:45:59Exasperating, isn't it?
0:45:59 > 0:46:02But you know, it's really no joke, this business of traffic jams.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05As the roads filled up, the sports car paradise
0:46:05 > 0:46:08of the early '50s started to fade away.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12The Government unveiled a new project to tackle the traffic problem.
0:46:12 > 0:46:18It is in keeping with the bold, exciting and scientific age
0:46:18 > 0:46:19in which we live in.
0:46:19 > 0:46:25In 1959, the ribbon was cut on the first motorway.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis took a keen interest
0:46:30 > 0:46:33in this new sports car playground.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37I went down there when they officially opened it.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41I think it was Lennox-Boyd who cut the tape and opened it
0:46:41 > 0:46:43and, of course, we all went straight off down
0:46:43 > 0:46:46and the strange thing was that halfway down, the police
0:46:46 > 0:46:49stopped everybody because a woman coming in from London
0:46:49 > 0:46:53had come up the wrong side and started coming up the wrong way on the motorway.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57The M1 is a kind of Wild West motoring environment.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00You've got this road with no speed restrictions,
0:47:00 > 0:47:04with no barrier down the middle, just a strip of grass.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06You've got people pulling over to have picnics.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08You've got people doing U-turns.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12It's just... It doesn't bear thinking about and then you've got
0:47:12 > 0:47:16somebody in an Austin Healey down at the North Circular thinking,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18"Right, let's see what it can do."
0:47:24 > 0:47:28With no speed limits and long, uninterrupted straights,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32the motorway was somewhere sports cars could be taken to their limit.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42Aldous Huxley said speed is the only truly modern sensation.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46In other words, it's the one we as human beings have manufactured.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48The rest of it is from nature.
0:47:48 > 0:47:54And 1950, you've got this general reaching-out for technology.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58We wanted to go into space, we've got jet transport,
0:47:58 > 0:48:03planes and there is a need for speed.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06So constantly, there's this kind of arms race going on.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10The motorway made it easy to reach top speed
0:48:10 > 0:48:15and 100mph no longer seemed quite so special.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19To blow your socks off, a sports car needed to go much faster.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25A new age of speed called for a sports car to match
0:48:25 > 0:48:28and Jaguar had just the thing in mind.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31They would make a car that went faster than everyone else's.
0:48:32 > 0:48:37Taking a gamble, they closed their racing team and started to focus on
0:48:37 > 0:48:42making a new two-seater sports car that could do 150mph.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46The one, the only, Jaguar E-Type.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51Oh, that's lovely.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53This was the sports car
0:48:53 > 0:48:54that had it all.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Designer Malcolm Sayer had made aircraft during the war
0:48:59 > 0:49:02and Le Mans-winning race cars for Jaguar.
0:49:02 > 0:49:08Now his job was to design a sports car with star quality.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13Malcolm Sayer, the aerodynamics... Great man, one of the best designers
0:49:13 > 0:49:16on body shapes, he came up with the idea
0:49:16 > 0:49:19and it was basically the principle of the single-seater fighter.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22You have the cockpit, then you have a subframe
0:49:22 > 0:49:25that bolts on the bulkhead that carries the engine,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28and the prop and all that or whatever.
0:49:28 > 0:49:33And that was... He based it on a single-seater aircraft.
0:49:33 > 0:49:38Norman worked with Sayer to develop the fledgling sports car,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41taking what the designer had learned from aeroplanes.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45I worked with him a lot in wind tunnel and on the test track
0:49:45 > 0:49:50doing cooling and low-drag body stuff, you know, trial and error.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52In those days, it was all hands-on.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55You didn't have computers doing it for you.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57More than anything, the Jaguar team
0:49:57 > 0:50:00wanted a car that could do 150 miles an hour.
0:50:00 > 0:50:06To sell such a beast to the public meant passing some strict road tests.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12It was legislation brought in that you'd got to make sure
0:50:12 > 0:50:14that the car was safe if the tyre burst.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18That was the legislation. So what do we do?
0:50:18 > 0:50:21We've got to burst the tyre at 150mph.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26So I sat with Dunlop and we talked about it.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29And they came up with this crazy idea. One of their blokes said,
0:50:29 > 0:50:34"Norman, if we get a marksman on the side of the road
0:50:34 > 0:50:42"and we put a marker up so you know that he's going to fire the shot into the tyre..."
0:50:42 > 0:50:48I said, "No way! If he misses," I said, "That's the end of me."
0:50:49 > 0:50:52Not that Norman didn't like a challenge.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57With the car almost ready, where better to do the final
0:50:57 > 0:51:00high-speed testing than on the wild frontierland of the new motorway?
0:51:03 > 0:51:06What I did then, we started to get up at five o'clock
0:51:06 > 0:51:09early Sunday morning and go down on the M1
0:51:09 > 0:51:13and I had a stretch of road from...
0:51:13 > 0:51:18Northampton to Newport Pagnell. I used to get on there
0:51:18 > 0:51:22and straight down to Newport Pagnell, over the slip road,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25back up and do this, get as many runs as I could
0:51:25 > 0:51:29by about six o'clock in the morning and this was going well.
0:51:29 > 0:51:30Every Sunday, we were doing this
0:51:30 > 0:51:36and then I had a phone call from the Superintendent of Police
0:51:36 > 0:51:41of Northampton and I knew him quite well, actually,
0:51:41 > 0:51:45and he said, "Norman, I understand you're doing tests on the motorway."
0:51:45 > 0:51:47I said, "No, no, no."
0:51:47 > 0:51:51Jaguar's big moment had arrived.
0:51:51 > 0:51:57In 1961, the time had come to unveil their E-Type creation to the public.
0:51:59 > 0:52:03Quite suddenly, Geneva motor show, March '61. Good grief, what's this?
0:52:03 > 0:52:06The most beautiful car in the world appeared - bang - from Jaguar.
0:52:06 > 0:52:07The E-Type.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12Of course, the crowds of people around the E-Type, they couldn't believe it.
0:52:12 > 0:52:14The press people were there.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18This car is literally a poem in steel and still
0:52:18 > 0:52:23one of the most beautiful cars ever made in the world. Full stop, end of sentence, rule off.
0:52:23 > 0:52:31When Enzo Ferrari first saw the car, he said, "What a beautiful car.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34"We've made nothing better than that."
0:52:34 > 0:52:37He said, "There's only one thing wrong with it, Norman." I said, "What's that?"
0:52:37 > 0:52:39He said, "It hasn't got a Ferrari badge!"
0:52:41 > 0:52:44And it didn't have a Ferrari price tag.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Here was a sports car icon which made even the Italians blush,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51from a factory in Coventry.
0:52:51 > 0:52:57Suddenly, here was a British car that would do 150mph,
0:52:57 > 0:53:01a car that looked as if it was straight out of a spaceship,
0:53:01 > 0:53:03a car that was being sold at an incredible price.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06As I recall, even with the dreaded purchase tax,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09an E-Type cost just about £2,000,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12which was something like half of an Aston Martin price
0:53:12 > 0:53:15or a quarter of a Ferrari price.
0:53:15 > 0:53:16It changed everything.
0:53:18 > 0:53:24A car that you could legitimately say was the nearest you could
0:53:24 > 0:53:28get to buying a racing car and you're a private man living in your
0:53:28 > 0:53:34lovely, lovely '60s house on these new estates in Hemel Hempstead.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38And it's absolutely heart-stoppingly glorious to look at.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44Because the E-Type was so beautiful,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47everyone wanted to be associated with it.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Because it was sold at such a reasonable price,
0:53:50 > 0:53:52an incredible number of people could afford one
0:53:52 > 0:53:54and so it meant that if you were the man
0:53:54 > 0:53:57who had opened a clothing shop in the King's Road,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59you could probably afford an E-Type.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03It was just amazingly - as I believe is an expression -
0:54:03 > 0:54:06it was amazingly accessible and for that reason,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10it set all the standards of being beautiful, of being trendy,
0:54:10 > 0:54:15of being desirable and all the right people wanted to be seen in them.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18They were besieged with orders.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20Frank Sinatra went to the New York Show,
0:54:20 > 0:54:22saw it and said, "I want that car and I want it now."
0:54:22 > 0:54:25And even Frank couldn't have one.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31No car before or since had ever come as close to distilling exactly
0:54:31 > 0:54:33what you want out of a sports car.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37That thing that makes you feel 150% more sexually attractive
0:54:37 > 0:54:42at the wheel in that car than without it.
0:54:42 > 0:54:43And legion of the jokes,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47it was the greatest crumpet-catcher known to man. It's as simple as that.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51There was always that sort of phallic symbolism.
0:54:51 > 0:54:56There were always arguments that, you know, chaps who were
0:54:56 > 0:54:59maybe a little bit deprived in the gentleman's area would need
0:54:59 > 0:55:02a big sports car with a very long bonnet.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07If the bonnet's got a bulge on it, even better.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11That, quite obviously, is exemplified by the E-Type.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15It was a great big chap's thing.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21Predictably, men went crazy to get their hands on one.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Jaguar had found the perfect way to make a man
0:55:23 > 0:55:27feel like he measured up against his peers.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31It might not have been the cheapest but the E-Type was the fastest,
0:55:31 > 0:55:36the best-looking and most desirable of our mass-produced British sports cars.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39It was a complete revelation in mass production.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42You look at it and even now, you think this is a hand-built,
0:55:42 > 0:55:45bespoke car, but these things were rolling off the production line
0:55:45 > 0:55:49faster than you can imagine. The pressure on Jaguar to produce them,
0:55:49 > 0:55:53but they weren't hand-built, they were thrown together,
0:55:53 > 0:55:58in the nicest possible way, but for them to actually offer consumers
0:55:58 > 0:56:05a car that radiated such specialness - it looked, felt and drove better
0:56:05 > 0:56:11than a DB4 and that was a car that was almost three times the price.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15Put it next to a Ferrari 250 GT, which was £10,000,
0:56:15 > 0:56:17and it still looked better.
0:56:17 > 0:56:22This really was a complete production line revelation. That they could do it.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25And everybody was saying, how did they do it for the money?
0:56:25 > 0:56:29And they did it because they cut corners and didn't do rust proofing
0:56:29 > 0:56:31and there were bits and bobs which were less than brilliant,
0:56:31 > 0:56:36but in terms of that vision, of, "Let's make a sports car
0:56:36 > 0:56:41"that makes you literally wet your trousers for 2,000 quid,"
0:56:41 > 0:56:44that was the impulse which made them so successful.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51When you consider we sold it for just over £2,000,
0:56:51 > 0:56:55that included tax, I think we undersold it, really.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58I think we should've charged a bit more for it.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01With the E-Type leading the way,
0:57:01 > 0:57:06British sports cars were on top of the world.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10Britain had redefined the stylish, fun and affordable
0:57:10 > 0:57:12open-topped two-seater.
0:57:15 > 0:57:21We could not make sports cars fast enough. Our trousers were on fire.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25These cars were coming out of Midlands factories literally
0:57:25 > 0:57:29hundreds and hundreds at a time, on Bedford Transporters
0:57:29 > 0:57:33being shipped down to the docks over to America.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35- ANNOUNCER:- The Triumph TR4A
0:57:35 > 0:57:38lets you know what a real sports car is all about.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42Triumph Spitfires battled with MG Sprites and Midgets
0:57:42 > 0:57:45for entry-level wallets. TR4s and Healey 3000s
0:57:45 > 0:57:49sat parked on the drives of those that weren't short of a few bob
0:57:49 > 0:57:51and if the E-Type was just out of reach,
0:57:51 > 0:57:53there was always the MGB,
0:57:53 > 0:57:58the biggest selling sports car of them all. Speed and glamour
0:57:58 > 0:58:00had been democratised.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04You were defined as a member of this lovely, new, suburban,
0:58:04 > 0:58:08successful society if you had a nice sports car
0:58:08 > 0:58:13and if your wife had a pretty MG Midget or an MGB or an Alpine.
0:58:13 > 0:58:19You had all the social forces, the clear roads, the greater disposable income,
0:58:19 > 0:58:23the need for change, the optimism of the '50s and '60s.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29This was the era of the sports car.
0:58:43 > 0:58:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd