by Yasmin | Sep 14, 2012 | 1980s, Cars
Talbot was originally the British marque used to sell imported French Clément-Bayard cars. Founded in 1903, this business venture was financed byCharles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard. Starting in 1905, the company sold imported cars under theClément-Talbot marque and began assembling French-made parts at a new factory located in Barlby Road, Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington, London, selling them under the name Talbot. Domestically-designed cars followed from 1906. By 1910, 50 to 60 cars a month were being made. A Talbot was the first car to cover 100 mph (160 km/h), in 1913.
Info gleaned from Wikipedia
by Yasmin | Sep 7, 2012 | 1980s, Cars
The Ford Laser was a restyled version of the Familia/323 models produced by Mazda in Japan from 1980 onwards. (Ford had acquired a 25% stake in Mazda in 1979.)
In Australia and New Zealand where Ford was seen as a ‘local’ brand, the Laser outsold its Mazda twin, but in neighbouring Asian countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, as well as Japan itself, the reverse was the case. However, pooling resources with Mazda allowed Ford to maintain a foothold in the region. This was also the case in South America, Africa, and the Caribbean, where the Laser was also sold, in many cases being locally assembled.
Info gleaned from Wikipedia
by Yasmin | Sep 6, 2012 | 1980s, Cars
Mazda began as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd, founded in Japan in 1920. Toyo Cork Kogyo renamed itself to Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1927. Toyo Kogyo moved from manufacturing machine tools to vehicles with the introduction of the Mazda-Go in 1931. Toyo Kogyo produced weapons for the Japanese military throughout the Second World War, most notably the series 30 through 35 Type 99 rifle. The company formally adopted the Mazda name in 1984, though every automobile sold from the beginning bore that name. The Mazda R360 was introduced in 1960, followed by the Mazda engines in 1962.
Beginning in the 1960s, Mazda put a major engineering effort into development of the Wankel rotary engine as a way of differentiating itself from other Japanese auto companies. Beginning with the limited-production Cosmo Sport of 1967 and continuing to the present day with the RX-8, Mazda has become the sole manufacturer of Wankel-type engines mainly by way of attrition (NSU and Citroën both gave up on the design during the 1970s, and prototype Corvette efforts by General Motors never made it to production.)
Info gleaned from Wikipedia
by Yasmin | Sep 5, 2012 | 1980s, Cars
The Mazda Familia, also marketed as the Mazda 323 and the Mazda Protegé, is a small family car that was manufactured by Mazdabetween 1964 and 2003. The Familia line was replaced by the Mazda3/Axela for 2004.
It was marketed as the Familia in Japan. In the export, earlier models were sold with nameplates including: 800, 1000, 1200, and 1300. InNorth America, the 1200 was replaced by the GLC, with newer models becoming 323 and Protegé. In Europe, all models after 1977 were called 323. In South Africa, it was marketed as the Étude, and in Colombia the 8th generation was called Allegro.
The Familia was also rebranded as the Ford Laser and Ford Meteor in Asia, Oceania, some Latin American countries and, from 1991, as the Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer in North America.
Familias were manufactured in Hiroshima, Japan as well as Taiwan, Malaysia, South Africa, Colombia, and New Zealand.
Info gleaned from Wikipedia
by Yasmin | Aug 27, 2012 | 1990s, Cars
The Opel Vectra is a large family car that was engineered and produced by Opel. In the United Kingdom, the car was sold under the Vauxhall marque as the Vauxhall Cavalier and later as the Vauxhall Vectra, from 1995 onwards. It has also been sold byHolden in Australasia as Holden Vectra, and Chevrolet in Latin America as Chevrolet Vectra.
The Vectra was introduced in 1988 as a replacement to the Opel Ascona and itself was replaced in 2008 by the Opel Insignia, the nameplate spanning 20 years and three generations of car. The Vectra was never close to being a class-leader, hailed as little more than a humdrum, white goods family car, dropping the name was a savvy decision by Opel who wanted to banish the Vectra’s dowdy image when launching its replacement, the Insignia. The Vectra was forced to live in the shadow of the critically acclaimed all-rounder that is the Ford Mondeo, which continues to outclass even the Vectra’s replacement.
Info gleaned from Wikipedia
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