FROM THE ARCHIVES

As 2025 gets into its stride, we look back at some notable new model launches from half a century ago

PAUL WAGER

The first-generation 3-Series first saw the light in 1975 as a replacement for the ‘02 models, making them seem suddenly very old-fashioned. At the time BMW was just a small, niche player in the UK market Making the Ferrari look like exceptionally poor value was Jaguar's replacement for the E-Type. The XJ-S retailed for £10,570 against the £11,360 of the Ferrari but its V12 packed half as much engine again To many eyes one of the prettiest Ferraris of the modern age, the 308 first appeared half a century ago, the earliest examples bodied in fibreglass The first of Oliver Winterbottom's wedgy Lotus designs, the Elite was announced in 1974 but first went on sale in January 1975. It was the first model in Lotus founder Colin Chapman's drive to…

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Classics World (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025

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