Select your car of the year 1967

In the year 1967 the German magazine "Hobby" asked its reader to select their "car of the year". What is interesting is the choice offered, sort of a preselection. They had three categories based on engine size. In the "small" section you will find a lot of cars that people barely remember today. Cars like Autobianchi Primula Coupé, Simca Sportscoupé 1200 S, Sunbeam Imp Californian, NSU Sport-Prinz Coupé, Renault Caravelle, Bond Equipe GT or Matra Jet 5 are rare finds on today's roads and even at oldtimer meetings. I would reckon that people today don't recognize half of the cars on the first picture any more. Only the Alpine 1100 Coupé, VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia, Fiat 124 Sport Coupé and Lancia Fulvia probably are cars many people would remember.
With the bigger cars it's a bit easier. Less known cars here are probably Reliant Scimitar, Glas 3000 V8, Bristol 409, Alfa-Romeo 2600 SZ or Fiat 2300 S Coupé. The kings of the road of 1967 like the Jaguar E-Type, Iso Grifo, Maserati Mistral, Maserati Ghibli, Lamborghini Miura or Mercedes-Benz 280 SL probably are still in the memory of any car interested person having lived in the 60ies or even later.
So, what would my pick today? In the first group Alpine Coupé, Lotus 46 Europe, Honda S800, Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior and Matra Jet 5 would be candidates for the win and if I had to choose one it would be the Matra Jet 5 as it was a very innovative car with a mid mounted engine and fiberglass body and it's extremely rare today. Plus it was successful in racing too. In the large car category my winner would be the Lamborghini Miura, a car that I really adore.
Interesting at the side is the fact that Hobby didn't include the regular Aston Martin DB5 but rather a designer version.

Cars starring in TV Series - best of the best

As announced in my blog post on cars in movies, I assembled also a list on TV Series with cars as stars. Of course almost any TV series will show cars here and then, at least if we forget western TV series like Bonanza or Science Fiction like Star Trek, but in some of these TV programs cars are more important than in others. The Ford Torino in Starsky & Hutch for example plays an important role, as does the SUV that Colt drives in The Fall Guy. Some TV series even did more for car makers in terms of publicity than a lot of their own marketing department. Most people for example know the Ferrari 308 GTS that Magnum drove in Magnum PI. The Aston Martin DBS and the Ferrari Dino 246 GT in The Persuaders are legendary. And many people know the Volvo P1800 sportscar rather from The Saint than from having it seen on the street. By the way in one episode of The Saint Roger Moores drives a TVR Vixen race car. Emma Peal in The Avengers uses a Lotus Elan (S2 and S3 models), John Steed drives a vintage Bentley. And the Harts in Hart to Hart use a range of cars including a Rolls-Royce Corniche, a Dino 246 GT, a Mercedes 450 SL and a Mercedes 280 TE model. The Professionals use and crash various Ford models and The New Avengers drive Jaguar XJS and other 70ies cars. Many people probably remember Miami Vice, showcasing a Ferrari Daytona spider, though being a fake. It was replaced later with a white Ferrari Testarossa and helped to sell the car in the US. So the list could go on, listing Pontiacs (K.I.T.T.), Thunderbirds (Vegas) and others. However two series are special in my eyes.
TopGear is more a car show than a TV Series, however it's not that clear. And finally "Michel Vaillant" was a TV series produced in France, telling the story of the Vaillant family, being both car manufacturers and racers. Interestingly many of the Vaillants looked a lot like Alpines or Matras, but is okay. The race scenes at the Targa Florio and other races are a joy to watch and nothing like this has been produced since.