In the 1970s, David Rostance was photographing life in the UK. Inevitably, his pictures of Birmingham, The Black Country, London and Wolverhampton included cars. He took the above picture of the Ford Cortina Mk.1 parked on the roadside on 5th February 1978. It could be seen a allegory of the state of the British car industry in the 1970s when a once booming sector crashed.
The Strand, London – cars and a bus decked out to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee making their way towards Trafalgar Square on 6th June 1977.
British Cars in the 1970s
The 1970s was a great time for supercars, superminis and much in between. In the UK, the post-war automotive industry was full of growth, innovation and financial success. UK car production peaked at 1.92 million vehicles in 1972.
And then things went wrong. Let down by poor management, conflict with the trade unions and an abject failure to adopt more modern working methods, the industry fell into rapid decline.
Strikes led to badly built, unreliable cars that were difficult to sell in the UK or abroad. (Although the likes of the Range Rover, Lotus Esprit Turbo and Caterham Super Seven were rare success stories.)
British car manufacturers faced increasingly tough competition from European, American and Japanese car makers. Even in Britain, where memories of the war ran deep, car buyers aspired to owning German motors made by Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
Unmarked Police Car, Wolverhampton, March 11 1978
Trafalgar Square on 3rd April 1976.
A battered Ford Cortina Mk. II makes a three point turn outside the Painter’s Arms, Avenue Road, Coseley, Dudley on 5th April 1975
Tulse Hill station, London on 16th March 1975.
Court Road, Wolverhampton, August 12 1979
Conwy, 12 August 1978
Collision in Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton, 10 July 1977
Cars and buses in Park Lane London, 3rd April 1976
Blossom Street, York, September 7 1975
Firemen’s Picket, Wolverhampton, November 20, 1977
Kinsley, West Yorkshire, 25 May 1975
Oxley Viaduct, Wolverhampton, 1 June 1975
Raglan Street, Wolverhampton on 2nd January 1977
Stafford Street, Wolverhampton on 14th May 1979.
Micklegate Bar, York, September 7 1975
Rhyl railway station. 10th July 1977.
Coronation Road, Southville, Bristol, July 31 1976
A 1976 Ford Cortina Mk. III negotiates a flash flood following a heavy rain storm on 12th August 1979.
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