"1974 was a milestone in motoring history. The launch of the first-ever hatchback. Our very own Volkswagen Golf"
So trumpets VW from the pages of this week's Auto Express. Without doing any research, the following iconic hatchbacks spring to mind.
1938 - Citroen Traction Avant Commerciale (OK, I researched that one)
1961 - Renault 4
1965 - Renault 16
1969 - Austin Maxi
Naff orf VW and do your homework before you deliver me such drivel on my kitchen table.
Any Backroomers with a list of hatchbacks pre-1974 ??
Feel better now.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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i think vw are looking at the first ever "real" hatchback.
built to last and with the users demands in mind. tested beyond the dreams of citroen etc etc.
but i suppose technicly your right!! . but the first hot hatch well that is totaly undisputed.
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Last I knew was the Austin Maxi was a 'real' hatchback, they should thousands of them all round the world. Not a bad car either, my dad had one for a few years and it gave good service and it was really comfortable for a six year old in the back too. I remember the way the bonnet rose on bite, my mum liked that too, she'd just passed her driving test :) She really liked the hatchback for shopping and that other new invention of the time, the fold-up pushchair.
If people started adding caveats it kind of loses it's impact really.
It is a bit arrogant to go for 'first hatch' title.
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Austin A40 ?
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I too have fond memories of the Maxi. My Dad had a 1971 model. The folding rear seat was a huge novelty and it horrifies me now to think of the dangerous way we used to travel with it folded down. There's an interesting history of the Maxi at www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?ado14indexf.htm
A couple of other hatchbacks that predated the Golf:
- Renault 6
- Citroen Dyane (any other Citroens?).
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A40 Farina saloon had a bottom-hinged boot opening below the rear window. The Countryman had a hatch, but it was an estate-type derivative.
A40 anoraks click here
195.112.53.254/a40pic.html
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Nothing to do with this partiular advert, but there are 2 other VW ads that are wrong!
1. Ad a while back to the TDi - along the lines of don't forget it's diesel, and showing a Golf being fuelled. Close inspection shows it to be a GTi not GTD...
2. A more recent one for the new Golf with some petrol engine - look closely, and this one is a GTD!
D'uh!!
Oh, and if the best things are left unchanged, why are we on a MkV Golf????
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Hillman Imp... like A40, had small rear tailgate window
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Perhaps they mean it was Volkswagen's first hatchback?
Oh no, that was the Scirocco which was launched just before the Golf.
Gareth
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I thought the Polo came out before the golf?
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My brothers first car was a Austin Maxi 1500, i remember going sideways around a roundabout in it, god they where the days.
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No, I believe the Polo was after the Golf. However the Audi 50 (Polo) may have been before it?
Gareth
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\"My brothers first car was a Austin Maxi 1500, i remember going sideways around a roundabout in it, god they where the days.\"
yes usually after the front wheel dropped off
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Wasn't the Fiat 127 the first of the modern hatch backs or did it have the shape without the hatch to start off with?
The car I have the fondest memories of was a green 127 903cc job with a Weber carb conversion, it suprised the hell out of my mate when we "had a do" with his mothers 1600GT Capri.
Bill
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I dont know about the latest Golf advert, but I really Like the Polo advert. the one with the miniature Girl. I think shes kinda cute, a good fit maybe?
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Must admit I tend to switch brain off while ads are on but isn't there an ad where a Corsa or something ends up in a skip? and another is impaled on a telegraph pole? What do those ads say about the cars that would encourage me to buy one? Perhaps I should watch more closely.
As for hatchbacks wasn't the Renault 5 pre VW Golf?
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Must admit I tend to switch brain off while ads are on but isn't there an ad where a Corsa or something ends up in a skip? and another is impaled on a telegraph pole? What do those ads say about the cars that would encourage me to buy one?
I thought that ad must be intended to encourage the sort of folks who drive as if they want to end up dumped in a skip along with the mangled remains of their car. "Buy one of these, and don't feel guilty -- it's supposed to end up in a skip"
Maybe I just don't understand advertising ...
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And that Polo advert is another VW advert with rubbish in it - car has no controls or anything, and freewheels to the middle of the kitchen floor where it suddenly stops......
Might make you think the Polo is a toy car (the 3-cylinder one I drove not so long back certainly sounded like a toy car!)
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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I dont know about the latest Golf advert, but I really Like the Polo advert. the one with the miniature Girl. I think shes kinda cute, a good fit maybe?
But, at the start of the advert doesn't she run away from all the other little people, leaving them to be eaten by the cat, while she makes her getaway?
I always thought it portrayed Polo drivers as very selfish, out to get their own way at others expense. ;)
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Wasn't the Fiat 127 the first of the modern hatch backs or did it have the shape without the hatch to start off with?
It did indeed. I'm not sure if there was ever a hatchback Fiat 127. Maybe there was fairly late in its life cycle.
On the other hand, there were also Seat and Zastava (Yugo) equivalents. The latter was always a hatchback but I'm not sure about the former.
(Wondering how much of my mis-spent youth reading the Daily Express Guide to World Cars is still showing. You may say I need to get out more but I've only just got in.)
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What about the Reliant Scimitar - I think it was described as a 'touring estate' but it is like an early hatchback. IIRC even the earlier models in the late 60's had the split rear seats and bidet ( rear screen wash & wiper ).
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ooooooo I lusted after one of those as a young lad/youth/young man/ in fact I still do. Scimitar GTE I think it was called.
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There are a few of 'em sat around. I keep seeing them poking out from under plastic sheeting in people's front gardens.
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It was indeed the GTE SA5 IIRC, my elder brother had a number of them which is why I remembered it - I did have a couple of drives of one when I was old enough. They had and still have a healthy following and Princess Anne was a devotee - She had 7 of them.
Talking of lust - although my brother had the Scimitar GTE he lusted after a Jensen Interceptor.
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Jensen Interceptor.
loads of these in formula 1 :-) (come on folks! it's friday!)
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Autotrader
1983 Reliant Scimitar SE6, 1983, A
reg. 36000 miles, restored 2003, Ferrari red, magnolia leather upholstery, many new parts. £4,800. ono.
ooooooooo i am very tempted..............
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"What about the Reliant Scimitar" lovely car, I agree, but I don't think it qualifies as a hatchback; only the rear window opened - like the Hillman Imp/Singer Chamois and others.
Shapely glassfibre body and a big Ford V6 engine. Why didn't it sell millions?
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Because it was made in the UK in the 1970s and only seemed to come in an unpleasant shade of Dijon Mustard or slightly off-white.
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Because it was made in the UK in the 1970s and only seemed to come in an unpleasant shade of Dijon Mustard or slightly off-white.
But it was seriously goregeous :)
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Egregious?
Doesn't that mean unpleasant?
Ah, Gorgeous! I use the same logic when defending my purchase of an Alfa, but nobody listens.
::sniff::
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I agree it was a lovely car but quite a few ended up as a melted pile of glass or due to Reliants pretty useless wiring loom .....
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At least it was never called a Scimitar Reliant!
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