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00:00One day, you're a free spirit.
00:30Making your own decisions, speeding where you please, you drive a two-seater sports car, you can put your pedal to the metal.
00:38And then suddenly, life changes beyond recognition.
00:47Decisions are now driven by the toddler tyrant.
00:52Who, let's be honest, can't even use the loo.
00:54When you become a dad, you're faced with this choice.
01:01Either you completely accept that you're a dad, because you will start to do dad things.
01:06You will check radiators, you'll make a noise when you sit down.
01:09And you will also need a car that's reasonably practical.
01:12Or you could still cling to having the Porsche that makes you feel young, even though you're also covered in babysitting.
01:18But just what constitutes a reasonably practical, sensible family car?
01:23It's got to be probably a five-door of some description.
01:28Readily accessible rear seats for those wretched baby seats, which I can never fix.
01:34It's got to be frugal, it's safe, it's quick enough, but sadly, really rather boring.
01:45Designers have strived to make these family cars desirable as the modern family and its demands have evolved through the decades.
01:53Some companies have gone to the war, but others have struck gold.
01:57A family car is much more demanding in many ways.
02:01If you want to accommodate style as well, we could just design a very ordinary square box and be done with it.
02:07But it wouldn't appeal to people at all.
02:08People are very conscious of design and style.
02:12Saloon to estate.
02:15Hot hatch to Chelsea tractor.
02:17Choosing a family car is a major decision.
02:20It's one of the last spaces where families get to be a family.
02:25Closely confined in this house on wheels.
02:31The car's part of the family, isn't it?
02:32It's almost like an indulged pet that you're proud of and you want to show off.
02:37Those photos in the family album, every new car, everyone has to stand either side of it.
02:43And the badge of the car has to be on display.
02:48So climb in and buckle up for the story of the family car.
02:55The design innovations, the road trips and, of course, the arguments.
03:01I want to stop for an ice cream.
03:03I want to stop in in a bit.
03:05But what are you doing?
03:06Because, for better or worse, the family car is where every family really comes together.
03:11Isn't it?
03:18Really?
03:21Really?
03:28It's the 27th of October, 1948, and a gleaming Earl's Court is full of the newest and shiniest vehicles to come of the British production line.
03:37The International Motor Exhibition at Earl's Court was opened by the Duke of Gloucester.
03:42The fact that over 17,000 people attended on the first day proves how car-hungry the post-war public is.
03:50This post-war public were about to witness an automotive spectacle the likes of which they'd never seen before.
03:56It was the Morris Minor, and it was going to open up a new world of family motoring.
04:04And here's something to goggle at.
04:05A brand new model announced only on the eve of the opening of the show.
04:09Here we see modern lines blended with sturdy performance at very low cost.
04:13Up to this point, cars had been the preserve of the wealthy, but thanks to the Morris, the car went from being a luxury item to a family staple.
04:29The Morris Minor cost only £358, 10 shillings and 7 pence.
04:34The Minor was promoted as big car motoring at small car costs, even if it seems Lilliputian in contrast to the huge family cars of today.
04:52My pal John says that their minor is jolly comfortable, and that it matters as a room for them and their luggage.
05:00Bill Anderson tells me the minor is the best car he ever had.
05:03Marvellous on corners, bags of power, miles and miles per gallon too.
05:07Gosh, everyone's got a minor.
05:09Not everyone, silly, but only made just over a million.
05:13Let's have the million from first, eh?
05:15Wow!
05:15The Morris Minor was the first British car to achieve a million sales.
05:26And it marked the start of a new generation of economical, small family cars for dad, mum and their 2.4 kids.
05:37Part of the Morris Minor's appeal was its simple, no-nonsense design.
05:42It was a three-box car with a compartment for people, compartment for the engine and a boot in the back.
05:50And it was shaped like three boxes.
05:53It wasn't a particularly efficient package because the boot in it was quite round, so you couldn't get a lot of stuff in it.
05:58But quite a tall roof, you can get people with hats into it, which mattered in those days.
06:04But cars were really rudimentary.
06:05There were metal boxes of mechanics hanging at the bottom of them.
06:09Motoring journalist Zog Ziegler recalls how safety was also a foreign concept.
06:17These cars were very, very flimsy.
06:20They ran on tyres that wide.
06:22The brakes were so poor you'd have to make an appointment to stop.
06:25The seats were so shiny that if you went round a corner, you'd slide across the whole bench.
06:34Nothing held you in place.
06:37It was all part of the excitement, part of being in this motoring club.
06:42You can't imagine how exciting it was.
06:46The Morris Minor did have indicators, although well into the 50s, drivers were still sticking their arm out of the window to signal.
06:52But this vehicle and its rivals, the Hillman Lynx and the Ford Consul, were the great liberators of the early 50s, offering freedom and an escape from everyday worries.
07:06This family, knowing all too well what it means, waiting for a bus.
07:11These were the halcyon days when families didn't use their cars just to get from A to B.
07:16They went driving for fun.
07:19Well, just imagine, to suddenly have this thing, the family car, they could go on picnics.
07:28And families did, they took the car out purely to sit on Beachy Head with a thermos of tea.
07:35I like a cup of tea.
07:36Lovely.
07:37And look at the view, because they could, in the pouring rain, they'd sit there in the car with the children at the back, eating their little sandwiches, just to go to Beachy Head because they had the car.
07:49So I think that was liberating.
07:51Once peaceful beauty spots were now overrun with family motorists.
08:02The car made a whole new set of leisure pursuits possible.
08:07The Sunday drive.
08:09The picnic.
08:10Which was often an elaborate affair, complete with tartan rug, camping stove teapot and a full set of joiner.
08:20Had a picnic lunch and then Dad went off to sleep.
08:25Typical of the male animal, that.
08:27Gorges itself into a stupor with food and then lies down beside the remains.
08:33In the 50s, that one car was there for life's milestones.
08:42Got a house and a car and a wedding ring.
08:47We set off in it after our wedding.
08:50We used it to drive our firstborn safely home.
08:56You used to buy a car many, many years ago and it lasts you five, six years.
09:01My father's car lasts seven or eight years at a time, so he had a big job to do.
09:05A car, they say, is more than just a hunk of metal to take us from A to B.
09:11It's a projection in steel of the sort of person we believe ourselves to be.
09:17It's a piece of machinery on which we lavish our time, our money, our energy.
09:22Which we cause it and sometimes even fall in love with.
09:26Like a first love, some people never forget their first car.
09:32Brother and sister, Chris and Amy, have been part of a Morris family for three generations now.
09:39Every one of their beloved Morris's has its own name.
09:42Well, this is Bluey.
09:48She's so-called because officially the colour is smoke grey.
09:52But she's been re-sprayed at some point and she's a bit more Bluey.
09:56My car's called Phoebe and she's quite an unusual colour.
10:00Sage green.
10:02She's quite special.
10:02Chris and Amy's whole upbringing has been Morris Minor Maintenance.
10:10Due to the simple design, the family are adept at keeping them on the road.
10:14It was always mum's job to sit in the driver's seat and pump the pedal to bleed the brakes.
10:19And as soon as I was big enough to reach the pedals, I took over that role from my mum.
10:26Anything that goes wrong, it tells you what's wrong.
10:28There's only certain things that can be wrong if the engine won't run, it either hasn't got fuel or it hasn't got a spark.
10:34It's not that some sensor isn't working or anything, there aren't any sensors.
10:37And I love the sounds they make.
10:38I don't want a radio, I want to listen to the gurgling as you go around corners and change gears.
10:43You can't go anywhere in a hurry and you don't want to.
10:46You're on holiday any time you're using a classic car.
10:50Phoebe and Bluey are as much a part of their family as their partners.
10:55It's a case of love me, love my Morris.
10:58I'd had Bluey for only about six months before we started going out.
11:03But even then, she being the car, had got under my skin and I knew that she was a keeper.
11:10Fortunately, the same applied to Lil, my wife, and she turned out to be a keeper as well.
11:17It's not even a joke.
11:18When I married my husband, the colour scheme was dictated by my car.
11:24She was essentially an honorary bridesmaid.
11:25She matched the other bridesmaids.
11:28She just couldn't get in the church.
11:29Coincidentally, my sister-in-law and I are both expecting babies in the same month.
11:34So, we're going to suddenly have extra minors in our minors.
11:41They're going to be classic car fans as well and we're creating the next generation.
11:45But families were already dreaming bigger.
11:57We were getting a taste for space.
12:02Families started to take driving holidays heading to places like Devon and Cornwall
12:07and the family car needed extra room for luggage.
12:13But we could also now afford to buy bigger.
12:17The introduction of easier hire purchase in 1957 meant that a car could cost as little as £4 a week.
12:26Families were ready for the estate.
12:30Estate cars attract much interest, like this Ford Squire or the bigger Humberhawk.
12:35Modern estate cars more and more combine the advantages of a family saloon and a serviceable van.
12:44The modern family estate was a marriage of two cultures.
12:49The American station wagon and the British shooting brake,
12:53a car which traditionally took gentlemen on the hunt, with guns and game in the back.
13:00You could see the American influences and a lot of those sort of brands,
13:04Vauxhall, Standard, Morris, Austin, they built estate cars, but they weren't very practical.
13:13It's not like you just had one door that hinged up.
13:16They'd often have split doors, so you'd have to put the bottom bit flat
13:20and then the glass bit would open separately.
13:23But they were load luggers.
13:24And Dad, with his sensible hat and with a little bit more money to spend, would have an estate car.
13:32In Europe, they caught on, interestingly enough, as a lifestyle car.
13:36And people were using estate cars or wagons because they were making a statement
13:40that they have something else in their life.
13:43It might be horse riding, it might be golf, it might be scuba diving.
13:46They can put all their stuff into the back of the car.
13:48And so the whole idea of an estate car or a wagon in Europe is much more exotic
13:53than it became in America, where in America it was mum's car to carry the kids in.
14:01The logical trend was for family cars to keep getting bigger.
14:06But one manufacturer tried to convince us they should get smaller following the Suez Crisis.
14:12In September 1956, British troops went into action in Egypt
14:18when Colonel Nasser cut the oil pipeline to the west.
14:23Petrol rationing was introduced and family motorists were beginning to panic.
14:29They didn't want to lose their newfound freedoms.
14:33I think the increase is exorbitant.
14:36The price is going to make motoring much more difficult than what it is now.
14:39And also, it's going to even restrict it with the people on Russian.
14:43Do you think it's going to hit you?
14:44It's going to hit us very, very hard.
14:48Enter designer Alec Issigonis, the man behind the Morris Minor.
14:54But could he create a new car for the family market?
14:57And one that was small and ran on minimal fuel?
15:01The British Motor Corporation took this problem as a challenge.
15:04They realised that what such a family needed was a fast, safe, low-priced car that was fun to drive.
15:11Tiny, economical two-seaters such as the Messerschmitt and the Isetta bubble car were popular in Europe.
15:17Although awful to drive, they could achieve more than 40 miles per gallon.
15:24Issigonis' stroke of genius was to create a family-sized successor to the bubble car.
15:29But could it really accommodate a family of four?
15:33You don't believe it, do you?
15:35Ah, but wait.
15:36Wait until you step inside the Morris Mini Minor.
15:39There's so much room for four people and so much parcel space.
15:43Everything stows away so neatly and easily.
15:45Four happy people in a big, big little car.
15:48Issigonis christened his creation the Morris Mini Minor.
15:52Within a few years, it became simply known as the Mini.
15:55I'm old enough to remember when at my prep school, the headmaster's wife turned up in a turquoise Mini.
16:15The Alex Issigonis Mini.
16:17And I was already pretty keen on cars then.
16:20And I was amazed by that thing.
16:22I was amazed by it.
16:23And it reinvented the car in many ways.
16:27It had a transverse engine at the front, which meant it could be really short.
16:31You didn't have the drivetrain because the front wheels were driven.
16:34It was so compact.
16:36It was cute that it had great big pockets in the doors.
16:39You could put bottles of milk in standing up.
16:42The Mini was a design miracle.
16:45A TARDIS.
16:46Look what Austin have done to achieve an overall length of 10 feet.
16:49The engine is swung sideways.
16:52Then there's front wheel drive, and that means no transmission shaft or back axle.
16:55Look at the extra passenger space this gives you.
16:58And look at these luggage spaces.
17:00Under the rear seats, because there's no rear axle.
17:03And in this full-width door cupboard.
17:05Never has there been so much room inside a car that takes so little parking space.
17:09But despite the engineering, families took some convincing.
17:14Cars were becoming a status symbol, and the Mini seemed a bit cheap.
17:19That car was not successful when it first came out, because people associated it with a lack of money.
17:26They felt it was pandering to those who couldn't really afford something more luxurious.
17:30So by the nature of people wanting to aspire to something better, it wasn't that successful.
17:36Until film stars and rock stars and footballers started to drive it,
17:40and then by association it became a very cool car.
17:46People do the wildest things to Minis.
17:49And here come the kinks with all day and all of the night.
17:55I'm not content to be with you in the daytime.
18:02Girl, I want to be with you all of the time.
18:06It took the patronage of Peter Sellers and the Beatles to give the Mini a dash of glamour and celebrity,
18:13and that was what appealed to the new baby boomer generation of families.
18:17But according to car journalist Richard Porter, once families had enthusiastically adopted the Mini,
18:24they sometimes took things to the extreme.
18:26There's a surprising amount of room in a Mini, but I don't think the designers ever thought they would get nine children in it,
18:31which is essentially what happened.
18:33And your parents would probably say, oh, get Philip from your class to come along,
18:38because I've seen that he's been eating a lot of marathon bars and he's quite fat.
18:41So he would be the sort of rudimentary 1960s version of an airbag.
18:45Even today, with modern seatbelt legislation and so much choice,
18:57it's surprising how many families see the Mini as a viable family car.
19:02It is a bit like giving birth, getting you out of this car.
19:04It's not easy to cram everyone in,
19:06but it is easy to park and cheap to run in today's overcrowded cities.
19:12Maybe Isagonis was ahead of his time.
19:16Jane Worthington never upsized her car when she had a family.
19:21Like many others, she's formed a very personal attachment to this brand.
19:25Betty Boo was my first Mini, then we had Bianca.
19:30The one that's being rebuilt at the minute is just Michelle, because it is a shell.
19:34Then we had Terrence, who is orange.
19:36We had Rosie, Darren's Mini.
19:38Mine's called Flossie, she's pink all over, pink wheels, pink insides.
19:42I went to live in New Zealand for a bit, so I bought a Mini out there, and he was called Rangie.
19:47Mine's Merida, because she's got a bit of an attitude.
19:50And this one is Willie.
19:53He wasn't in the best condition when I got him, so it was Willie Won't He.
19:56I didn't know whether he'd get me back home when I bought him.
20:01More so than any other car, the Mini seems to have a personality,
20:05which resonates with families.
20:08Jane has had a Mini with her every step of the way.
20:13I met my husband because I had a Mini,
20:15so I bought a Mini as my first car,
20:18and I thought, I need some kind of boyfriend that will help me do this car up.
20:22So I went to a Mini club, that's where I met him.
20:24We had a stretch limo Mini as the wedding car.
20:27We had a cake that was like a car park,
20:31with Minis on ramps going up the car.
20:34That was because it was all of our little Minis that were painted,
20:37so we had those going round the cake.
20:39We had Minis as centrepieces.
20:41There was a bit of a theme going on, really.
20:43And then we named our children after our Minis,
20:46and the designer of the Mini.
20:47There were a few teasing problems when the kids arrived.
20:52It was a pain when we had the car seats, an absolute pain,
20:55because we had a roll cage.
20:57So to get the actual car seat in,
20:59we had to have the sunroof fully back
21:00and throw the car seat into the car
21:03and then insert the child sort of through the sunroof.
21:07Yeah, it was really, really awkward.
21:09But Jane finds it easier to keep everyone in line in a small car.
21:13I was going to say, get in.
21:15When your kids are kicking off in the back,
21:17all you have to do is turn around and smack like that,
21:20and then you can get hold of the kids and make them be quiet.
21:23Whereas if you're in a bigger car, you just can't do it.
21:26You have to put up with the whinge.
21:27I just couldn't imagine having any other car, really.
21:36The Mini was designed as a city runaround.
21:40It wasn't really intended for long journeys.
21:42I saw you riding round.
21:44But the 1960s saw a motorway boom.
21:49With the M1 under construction.
21:51Long-distance, high-speed driving was becoming more common.
21:57More conventional family cars, such as the Morris Minor,
22:01could barely top 60 miles per hour.
22:05But in 1962, the Ford Cortina roared in,
22:10boasting a top speed of 75 miles an hour.
22:14It cost 573 pounds for the standard saloon.
22:24But it looked big and had a fashionable air about it.
22:30I think it's easy to overlook the genius of the name Cortina,
22:34because we take it for granted now.
22:36I think if you're of a certain age, you remember the Ford Cortina.
22:38It sounds normal.
22:39It sounds like margarine or something.
22:41But actually, if you boil it down and you think about it in context,
22:45in the context of when that car first came out,
22:47Cortina sounded incredibly exotic.
22:50It was somewhere abroad.
22:52You know, they could have called it the Ford Addis Ababa or something like that.
22:55It sounded incredibly exotic, incredibly foreign,
22:57but at the same time not too foreign, perhaps.
22:59Something to aspire to.
23:01I think it's a ski resort.
23:02The Italian ski resort of Cortina had been used for the Winter Olympics of 1956,
23:11and it was still very much in the public's imagination.
23:14A sprinkle of European glitter combined with solid engineering
23:20made the Cortina the middle-class family car of the 60s.
23:24Although in Italian, Cortina means curtain.
23:30Ford also did something very clever.
23:33They cottoned on to the fact that owning a car was a way families could show
23:37they'd moved up in the world, especially in identikit suburbia.
23:41The Cortina designers appealed to the British obsession with one-upmanship
23:49by creating a Cortina pecking order to impress the neighbours.
23:55The hierarchy within the range of the Cortina was incredibly well thought out.
24:01I mean, they had rooms full of people to calculate this stuff,
24:04so the L had steel wheels and black rubbing strips down the side,
24:08and that meant that, well, yes, OK, you've got a new car, well done.
24:14If you got up to the GL, well, the rubbing strip had a chrome insert,
24:18and the wheels maybe had some kind of different design, a little bit more stylish.
24:22It was all about badge kudos.
24:24The more chrome letters you could have on your boot, the cooler your dad was.
24:29And then there were engine sizes, and people would flaunt that.
24:321,600, 2,000 cc's.
24:35It was all about that, that's how you could maybe stand out.
24:38But then if you went up to the GLS, or even Heaven forfend the gear,
24:42you've got a vinyl roof and alloy wheels,
24:44and the whole close would be peeking out from the curtains and going,
24:47well, the Wilsons are doing terribly well, aren't they?
24:50Well, I'm the one who's laughing, just like a hyena,
24:54cos I won't take nagging in me passion wagon, that's me funky Ford Cortina.
24:58As Cortinas go, Mark Taylor's estate is the daddy.
25:08I'm driving a 1972 Ford Mark III Cortina.
25:14It's an XL version, which back in the day was the top of the range
25:18for the estate version of the Mark III,
25:22and XL stands for Extra Luxury.
25:26My father had Mark III Cortina.
25:29In fact, my father had all the Cortinas.
25:32The Cortina was the perfect vehicle for a new holiday fashion,
25:36the foreign road trip.
25:38We went down through France into Spain as a kid,
25:43in my dad's Cortina.
25:44Oh, it was a huge adventure as a child.
25:47My dad, my mum, and my sister.
25:50And he built a little bench to go in the back seat there,
25:54so me and my sister, we could go to sleep in the back.
25:58I will always have a Cortina in my life.
26:00More and more families were starting to take holidays abroad.
26:12Average paid summer leave in 1969 was 2.3 weeks,
26:16but this increased throughout the 70s.
26:19And for many families, the two-week summer break
26:22now no longer meant Bognor, but Brittany or Biritz.
26:27Cross-Channel ferries saw a boom in customers.
26:30Five million of us sailed from Dover in 1970.
26:35By 1980, this had risen to over 10 million.
26:41Even though just getting to the ferry
26:45could be an epic journey in itself.
26:47The family road trip is an experience we all share.
27:01And the further into the 70s we got,
27:03the further families were willing to travel.
27:06We set off, map in hand, with the cart rammed to the brim.
27:11There was a fairly complex routine in the earlier years
27:16when it was all four of us in the one car.
27:18Me and Amy would get in the back of the car and sit in,
27:20and then mum and dad would pile stuff on top of us,
27:21so you could just see our heads on a pile of luggage in the back.
27:24It's amazing what you can fit in the cars,
27:27considering there's a lot of curves
27:29and you can't fit anything as conventional as a suitcase in,
27:32but you can squeeze a shoe down a gap.
27:35We got very frustrated going through passport control
27:38at the Channel Tunnel that they said,
27:39oh, can everyone get out of the car?
27:41It's like, oh, it's like a 10-minute expedition.
27:43We trapped ourselves for hours in that small box on wheels.
27:51But it was here that the essence of being a family was laid bare.
27:58For author Ben Hatch, these journeys helped define his childhood.
28:03Most of my best family memories are of being in the back of a car.
28:09Some of the worst as well, but some of the greatest moments
28:12are when you're all together there as a family,
28:14you're setting off on your holiday.
28:15It's a really sort of special moment.
28:17You're having a little family sing-song or something in the car.
28:20It is a bonding experience, I believe.
28:26Of course, there was moments 10 minutes in
28:28when mum and dad pulled over,
28:29threatened to smack everyone in the back seat
28:30and then turn around and drive home,
28:32but battle-hardened parents developed clever tactics
28:35to make the journey bearable.
28:38My sister and I would have full-on fistfights in the back
28:45sometimes when things got too boring.
28:47So Dan devised this magical way
28:49of keeping us shut up in the back seat.
28:51If we saw an ambulance on the journey,
28:55my sister and I, we had to hold our collars
28:58until we saw a four-legged animal.
29:01So on an autobahn or on a motorway,
29:03you wouldn't see a four-legged animal for some time.
29:05And also, while we were thus doing, holding our collars,
29:08we weren't allowed to speak.
29:10And I remember sitting in the back of the car.
29:12I always got car sick,
29:14so I always used to end up in pyjamas
29:16because I'd always have been sick.
29:18And, yeah, we used to have to do I Spy
29:20and it just used to go on forever.
29:23Now it's the letter A!
29:26All right, all right, all right.
29:28Is that what you were, I Spy, the letter A?
29:30Yeah.
29:31It's a bit tricky, that.
29:32We devised a game called I Don't Spy,
29:35where the thing that you're not spying
29:37could be anything in the known universe,
29:39so the game could last for up to three hours
29:42with them trying to guess objects
29:44that they couldn't actually see.
29:46Why have I ended up with A again?
29:48Ape.
29:49Hold on, I'll say Ape.
29:51Nobody's had Ape.
29:52Ape.
29:53Do you remember those I Spy books
29:54where you tick off cars that you saw
29:56and there'd be sort of like a hundred ticks
29:58next to the Vauxhall Cavalier one
30:00and then you'd be desperately hoping
30:02that you saw something incredibly rare
30:04and unusual like a Wartburg
30:05because that was sort of 20 points
30:07in your I Spy book.
30:09I remember Travel Scrabble
30:11where you push the letters
30:12into little holes on the board.
30:14Imagine all the fun.
30:15The advent of the in-car cassette player
30:18opened up a whole new world of possibilities
30:21for family entertainment.
30:28I remember a brilliant holiday we had in the car.
30:36It was probably the longest distance we'd done.
30:37We got the ferry to Denmark.
30:40My dad's told that Solara,
30:42GLS with a vinyl roof,
30:44it was lovely
30:45and as a family
30:47we couldn't agree on what to listen to
30:49in the car
30:50and the only mutually agreeable
30:52piece of in-car entertainment
30:54was the best of ABBA.
31:11And to this day I'm a huge ABBA fan
31:13and so's my younger brother
31:15because we just listened to ABBA on loop.
31:19It's something that's worth remembering now.
31:22The kids of today don't know how good they've got it.
31:28Ben Hatch took the road trip to the extreme
31:31when he embarked on an 8,000 mile odyssey
31:34with his young family.
31:35It was sort of an insane idea that we had
31:40based on the fact that our son had just been born
31:44and our daughter was three
31:45and we had a little bit of time to ourselves.
31:47The wife was off with maternity leave
31:51and we thought,
31:52why don't we make a whole kind of adventure of it.
31:56It all fell apart in the first day
31:59when I think my daughter wet herself in the Elgar Museum
32:03and then I lost the key to the roof box
32:06that contained all our son's nappy changing facilities
32:09which meant we had to change him
32:11on the bonnet of the car
32:13using three lemon fresh wipes from KFC.
32:17You have to have a low grade car really, I think,
32:21if you're driving around with kids.
32:22Otherwise you'd start feeling a bit precious about your car.
32:27Ben turned the highs and lows
32:29of his family's road trip into a travelogue
32:31and on the road for modern parents.
32:34They take it in shifts for the next 100 miles
32:36to cry out for a banana, sweets, cuddles, a treat.
32:41Phoebe is so bored outside Cholliford.
32:44When I look round at traffic lights
32:45I catch her trying to touch her own eyeball
32:48and Charlie is worse.
32:51He's playing temper run on my phone
32:53using his nose to swipe.
32:56We teeter on the edge of madness
32:58down tiny unmarked roads on the way to Kielder.
33:01The lowest moment coming
33:02and I take Phoebe for a wee
33:04in a field of live ordnance in Otterburn.
33:07A few feet from a chirpy sign warning
33:09do not touch military debris
33:12it might explode and kill you.
33:18During the 70s
33:20the traditional four-door saloon
33:21gave way to a design popular in Europe
33:23the hatchback.
33:27With a sloping hatchback boot
33:29which meant you could access
33:30the luggage compartment from the back seat.
33:33My dad was a very practical man
33:35and he liked the idea
33:36of a hatchback
33:37sort of split the difference
33:39between a saloon
33:40not so practical
33:41and an estate
33:42slightly too practical perhaps
33:43for his requirements
33:45so a nice hatchback
33:46and he had two or three of those
33:48in quick succession
33:49because they suited his needs
33:52which were mainly
33:53putting a buggy in the back
33:54and then on a Sunday
33:55taking things to the tip.
34:01British Leyland
34:02Britain's national car manufacturer
34:04unveiled a new contender
34:06for the family market
34:07in 1973.
34:12But during its development
34:14the designers had somehow missed
34:16the crucial hatchback memo.
34:18British Leyland
34:21have got down
34:22to some really radical thinking
34:23about what the family car
34:25should be
34:26for Europe
34:26in the 70s
34:27and the 80s
34:28and here comes the answer
34:30the Allegro
34:31and I must confess
34:32when I first saw it
34:33it's a shape
34:34that didn't greatly grab me.
34:36The Allegro
34:36a family saloon
34:38was the hatchback
34:39that never was.
34:41BL
34:42as they often did
34:43seized this defeat
34:44from the jaws of victory
34:46by not making that car
34:47or a hatchback
34:48it had a tiny little
34:49flap for the boot
34:50on the back
34:50so it wasn't big enough
34:52to get a load of grass cuttings in
34:53which is of course
34:54what your dad wants
34:55from a family car.
34:57The Allegro
34:58became a scapegoat
35:00for everything
35:01that was wrong
35:01with the British family car
35:02in the 70s.
35:06But it wasn't just the design
35:08there was also a supply issue.
35:13So even if families
35:14wanted to buy an Allegro
35:16they couldn't always get one.
35:18Yet a third dispute
35:19is delaying Allegro production.
35:21On this car
35:22Lord Stokes
35:23has based his hopes
35:23for major sales in Europe.
35:25Now with the tracks idle
35:27it seems that Europe
35:28must again
35:28be kept waiting.
35:30All those in favour
35:32please show.
35:36You couldn't buy
35:37a BL car all the time
35:38because there are a lot of strikes
35:39and there were strikes
35:40at Ford as well.
35:40My dad wanted a Cortina
35:41in the 70s
35:42and then ended up
35:43cancelling his order
35:44because Dagenham
35:45was permanently
35:46not making cars
35:47and standing outside
35:48around a brazier
35:49complaining of our stuff.
35:51British Leyland
35:52wanted to break
35:53into the European family market
35:55but instead
35:56Europe broke into ours.
35:58We joined the EEC
35:59in 1973
36:00and the floodgates
36:02to foreign imports
36:03opened.
36:03A sleeping Britain
36:05awoke to find itself
36:06invaded.
36:06The Germans were coming
36:12with their Volkswagens
36:14the Italians
36:14were coming
36:15with their Fiat's.
36:16We weren't just
36:17driving to Europe
36:18on holidays
36:19Europe was coming
36:20to driveways
36:21across Britain.
36:24But would you get
36:25frowned on
36:26by your neighbours
36:27for buying one?
36:28In suburbia initially
36:29I think it was seen
36:30to be disloyal
36:32and one bought British
36:33and you could have
36:35car stickers
36:36you know
36:36I bought British
36:37and then
36:38some clever monkey
36:39would come along
36:40and he'd said
36:41yeah
36:41I bought foreign
36:43and that's why
36:43my car isn't
36:44on the hard shoulder.
36:46Why not
36:46give it a go?
36:47Why not take a chance
36:48on that VW
36:49or that Renault
36:50or something
36:51and risk
36:52the slight sneers
36:53from your neighbours
36:54that you look like
36:54a bit of a traitor
36:55because you'd had enough
36:57of your Maxi
36:58piddling oil
36:59onto your driveway
36:59and at least
37:00you know
37:01if your Fiat
37:02piddled oil
37:02onto the driveway
37:03it was exotic
37:03Italian oil.
37:05The discerning
37:051970s family car
37:07buyer now
37:07had a wish list
37:08as long as your arm.
37:10We need
37:10we need the space.
37:12One would like
37:13all the room
37:14that's necessary
37:15for a family
37:15and a holiday.
37:16Well I go for the look
37:17of it most more
37:18than anything.
37:19Comfort?
37:20Speed?
37:22We want economy
37:22we want reasonable price.
37:24One would also like
37:25all the qualities
37:26of a sports car.
37:27Good safety belts
37:28in a car
37:29for the kids
37:29or your wife
37:30and I suppose
37:32compactness
37:33but so far
37:36they haven't made it.
37:37At the forefront
37:39of the continental
37:40newcomers
37:41was a vehicle
37:41destined
37:43to become
37:43one of the best
37:44selling cars
37:45ever.
37:50It was
37:51a hatchback
37:52and it had
37:52crisp
37:53Italian styling.
37:55It was the
37:56Volkswagen Golf.
38:00the Golf
38:02was
38:03the original Golf
38:04by Gigiaro
38:04the Italian designer
38:06was a phenomena
38:07and it was one
38:08of my favourite cars
38:09when I was growing up
38:10and I was a
38:10young man
38:12and we aspired to it
38:14because it looked great
38:15it was different
38:16it had a hatchback
38:17made it practical
38:17it was a great piece
38:18of design
38:19in its own right.
38:20The Golf
38:23became widely regarded
38:24as the definitive
38:26family hatchback
38:27with boot space
38:29big enough
38:29to fit a buggy
38:30it was sold
38:31as sensible enough
38:32for suburbia
38:33yet also racing.
38:36He's off in that
38:36new car again.
38:40Wouldn't catch me
38:40in a Volkswagen.
38:42What's wrong with the Golf?
38:42It's not exactly big
38:43is it?
38:44Actually
38:45it's bigger than it looks.
38:46He'll never get
38:47that lot in there.
38:48Anyway
38:49I don't like
38:50rear engine cars.
38:51The engine's in the front
38:52it's water cooled.
38:55Back seats
38:56rolled down too.
38:57Yeah
38:57you seem to know
38:58a lot about his car
38:59you've been in his car.
39:04But Volkswagen
39:05upped the ante
39:06further
39:07souping up
39:09the Golf
39:10to appeal
39:10to petrolhead parents
39:12who wanted
39:14to hold on
39:15to a glimmer
39:16of youth.
39:19The Golf GTI
39:20revved in.
39:23The GTI
39:25was a pioneering
39:26hot hatchback
39:27using fuel injection
39:31technology
39:31normally associated
39:32with sports cars.
39:34The Golf GTI
39:36came along
39:36starting this boom
39:37in hot hatchbacks
39:38and here you could have
39:40a practical car
39:41that when you're
39:41on your own
39:42you could drive
39:43like you'd sat
39:44on a wasp.
39:45I mean dads
39:45around the world
39:46were just going
39:46thank you
39:47thank you.
39:48In the day
39:49it went to 60
39:50and under 10 seconds
39:51which was always
39:51a benchmark
39:52which was
39:53a real driver's car
39:55a real driver's car
39:56and you keep up
39:57with the best
39:57sports cars
39:58at the time.
39:58We tend to think of the GTI
40:02as a boy racer car
40:03but VW had their eye
40:05on the family market
40:07even creating
40:08a five door version.
40:11Suddenly you had
40:12all the aspects
40:13of a small family car
40:14the practicality
40:16of a hatchback
40:16which was relatively
40:17new in those days
40:18and the drivability
40:20of a sports car
40:21and this really appealed
40:22to a whole generation
40:23including myself
40:26actually
40:26where
40:27you know
40:27it was one step up
40:28from the Mini
40:29you could actually
40:30get four people
40:31into it comfortably
40:31and it had a lot
40:32of practicality
40:33but it was a cool car
40:35because it went.
40:37Your dad could say
40:38to your mum
40:39it's very practical
40:40it's got five doors
40:41and by the 80s
40:43the stigma of buying
40:44a foreign car
40:44had sort of ebbed away
40:45and so it's a Volkswagen
40:46they're very well made
40:47you know
40:48and he didn't have to mention
40:49the 1.8 litre engine
40:50and that it had over
40:51100 horsepower
40:52and it could do
40:53nought to 60
40:53in whatever time
40:54it was back then
40:55which seemed impressive.
40:57Dad would have
40:58something to look cool in
41:00on his own
41:00something to go to the pub in
41:03and impress his mates
41:05and something fairly rapid
41:06but before he went to the pub
41:08or before he went out
41:09on his own
41:10he'd make sure
41:10that any evidence
41:12of children sitting
41:13in the back
41:13was removed
41:14so baby seats
41:15were a no-no
41:15when Dad went out alone
41:17in his GTI.
41:23the Golf GTI
41:27was the equivalent
41:28of taking your wedding ring off
41:29you could have
41:31a family car one day
41:33sports car the next
41:35but let's not just make this
41:38about your dad
41:39David Challenger
41:40isn't the only speed freak
41:42in his family
41:42his kids love
41:44their GTI as well
41:45even if it nearly broke the bank
41:47we made a huge sacrifice
41:50when we first bought our GTI
41:51it was every single penny
41:52we earned
41:53to buy it
41:54insure it
41:55and fuel it
41:56every single penny
41:58it was £5,000 exactly
42:00that was a lot of money
42:02it was a lot of our earnings
42:03as well that was
42:04but it just done everything
42:06that I needed it to do
42:07it was just something
42:07yeah it was in
42:08something I had to have
42:10you had the power
42:11you had the reliability
42:13and you can get children
42:15in the back
42:15so it was
42:17a perfect family car
42:18me and him's been out
42:20in this a little bit
42:21haven't we
42:22he really likes this car
42:23it's loud
42:24the noise it makes
42:26when it goes
42:27and it's comfy
42:31you like it?
42:34yeah?
42:34yeah
42:35I like the speed of it as well
42:36I like it
42:38because it goes fast
42:39kids like speed obviously
42:40they're only about
42:42120 miles an hour
42:43to be honest
42:44so they're not super quick
42:45but in
42:461984 when this was built
42:48that was pretty rapid
42:50yeah that was pretty rapid
42:51one of the features
42:54is the Pirelli alloys
42:55they were quite a big TTI thing
42:58especially in the early days
43:00the red stripe
43:02around the grille
43:02the red pinstripe
43:04was always an original feature
43:06and obviously for me
43:07you can only have a GTI
43:09in a three-door
43:09that's the rules
43:11you have to have a three-door GTI
43:12it's safe because
43:14the kids can't open the door
43:15to wind the windows down
43:16and stuff like that
43:17so it's good
43:18the GTI was what became known
43:23as a halo car
43:25it basically gave the golf brand
43:28a bit of swagger
43:30what's happened to the family car
43:32is it's become more and more interesting
43:34because if you take a standard car
43:36and people think
43:37well I don't really want to give up
43:38my sense of independence
43:40my sense of character
43:41that I might have had
43:42in a previous car
43:44sports car
43:45or something
43:45a little bit quicker
43:47it was important
43:48it was important
43:49for the car industry
43:49to create these halo cars
43:51like GTIs
43:52and what that does
43:54it gives people permission
43:56to drive something ordinary
43:58because the halo car
43:59of that same family set
44:00is actually very very exciting
44:02and that's why
44:04these sports hot hatchbacks
44:06and sports derivatives
44:08of saloon cars evolved
44:10you know
44:11the association was that
44:12we're not boring
44:13we might have 2.3 kids
44:15but we're not boring
44:15and I think that's very important
44:17for people
44:18the family car of the 80s
44:22now seemed to have it all
44:24sports car power
44:25practicality
44:27and space
44:27for a family of four
44:28but there was one crucial thing
44:31missing from the back seat
44:33of many family cars
44:34and that was seatbelts
44:39in spite of the increase
44:44in the number of cars
44:45the number of people killed
44:46within all categories
44:48and ages
44:48is decreasing
44:49with one exception
44:50children as car passengers
44:52you've just arrived
44:54with your three children
44:55and I see the little one
44:56standing up in the middle
44:57she looks as though
44:57she's got a good view
44:58but aren't you worried
44:59about her safety
45:00standing there?
45:02yes I am
45:02as a matter of fact
45:03but it's only because
45:04you brought it to my attention
45:05yes
45:06hello that's a lovely
45:07bonnie baby you've got
45:08in the back there
45:09is that carry cot she's in
45:11strapped into the car?
45:12no it's just
45:12well it's sort of just
45:14sat in behind the chair
45:16really
45:16it's not tied in right
45:17and she's loose in it
45:19well yeah
45:19we used to lie down anyway
45:21yes
45:21do you know
45:23that the most dangerous
45:24place for a small child
45:25to sit is in the front
45:26isn't it yes
45:27especially on mum's lap
45:28yes
45:29does that worry you
45:30today with her
45:30well it does
45:31but I'll put my seatbelt
45:32on as well
45:33you know
45:33yes
45:34do you put that
45:34round her?
45:35no I'll put it
45:36round me
45:36you put it round you
45:37tight but
45:38what would happen to her
45:39then if you had a crash?
45:41well
45:41well I hold her really tight
45:43you know
45:44although family attitudes
45:51to safety left much
45:53to be desired
45:54safety belts for kids
45:56were not enforced in law
45:57until 1989
45:59if you were one of the
46:03safety conscious few
46:04with big enough pockets
46:05there was a dream car
46:07waiting for you
46:08the Volvo 240
46:11Sweden's most famous
46:13export after ABBA
46:14Volvo were way ahead
46:17of the pack
46:18on safety engineering
46:19and developed a prototype
46:21rear-facing child seat
46:22as early as 1964
46:24children in a car
46:26should have the same
46:26protection as adults
46:28the safest protection
46:29consists of the rearwards
46:31facing child seat
46:32developed by Volvo
46:33Volvo were even
46:34introducing cars
46:35which the centre armrest
46:37would convert into a baby seat
46:39baby seats were unheard of
46:41when I was a child
46:42now we have
46:45you know
46:45safety belts
46:46were pretty much unheard
46:47unheard of
46:48the Volvo was a tank
46:51its bumpers dwarfed those of other cars
46:54and it had a huge luggage space
46:56but its conservative image only appealed to a certain corner of the family market
47:03Mr. and Mrs. Sensible
47:05their whole advertising strategy was based around safety
47:13and it's funny how everyone thought that made Volvos boring
47:17you know a Volvo was sort of what you got if you were a little bit worthy and a bit
47:21a bit too practical
47:22almost other dads would go
47:24well I mean I like a bit of space in the boot
47:27but steady on
47:28don't need a Volvo 240
47:30I'm not an antiques dealer
47:31parents didn't willfully choose unsafe cars
47:35but safety culture had long been fixated on the front seat
47:39everyone apart from Volvo
47:43seemed less concerned with what was going on in the bag
47:46I don't think anyone ever goes
47:48I'd like your unsafest car please
47:50I've got one that's got a dagger in the middle of the steering wheel
47:53is there anything
47:54I don't know if there's one that perhaps
47:56you know there's a few landmines in the back seat
47:58because I like to keep my children on their toes
48:00and nobody ever thinks like that
48:02Volvo were way ahead of their time
48:04it's bizarre that not every parent in the country had a Volvo
48:08because why would you put your children at risk?
48:13Safety conscious dad aspired to his Volvo
48:16and petrolhead parents aspired to their GTI
48:22but what was Yummi Mummy dreaming of?
48:27Go shopping
48:28go visiting
48:29go to work
48:30go to school
48:31straight from the Gymkhana
48:33came another family car
48:35which like the GTI
48:36cultivated the envy factor
48:38its parent was the Land Rover
48:41which harked back to the shooting break
48:43of the pre-war era
48:45with its country estate heritage
48:47The Land Rover
48:53is like the type of man
48:54Britain's countryside has bred for centuries past
48:57strong and skilful
48:58yet on social occasions
49:00smart enough to hold his own
49:01with dignity and self-respect
49:03So just how did Range Rover
49:07which started life as a functional vehicle
49:09for farm and field
49:10kickstart the Chelsea tractor craze
49:13off-roading 4x4s
49:15used for the city school run
49:17The Range Rover was to replace
49:19Farmer Giles' old beaten up Land Rover
49:24and this was more luxurious
49:25more go anywhere
49:26in the sense that you could take it into town
49:28and on the motorway at some speed
49:30but it just had rubber mats on the floor
49:32and plastic seats
49:33so Farmer Giles could slosh a bucket of water through it
49:36with all the doors open
49:37and get all the cow poo out
49:40and then take his wife to the theatre
49:41The original Range Rover was very bare inside
49:45I mean it was designed to be hosed out
49:47and it was outside companies
49:48who quite quickly cottoned on to the fact
49:51that this car actually appealed
49:52to urbanites with lots of money
49:55and started offering leather seats
49:57they could convert it to five doors
49:59which it wasn't at that point
50:00so you could even be chauffeured in it
50:01if you wanted to be
50:02and then belatedly
50:04Land Rover themselves
50:05sort of in their brilliant Brummie way
50:07went ah
50:07people seem to be making money
50:09out of the Range Rover
50:10maybe that should be us
50:12from the mid-1980s
50:16middle-class families
50:17were aspiring to Range Rovers
50:19when parked on a suburban street
50:22next to say a Ford Focus
50:23it said
50:24we're an active family
50:26who go off the beaten track
50:27at weekends
50:28it was basically a projection
50:31of what the family wanted to be
50:33although not many could afford it
50:35the secret of that car's success
50:37is first of all
50:38because it's just a very very human thing
50:40we like sitting up high
50:41and particularly if you've made the success of yourself
50:44and you've got some money
50:45you like to look down on people
50:47it's a simple fact
50:48and there's nothing that lets you look down on people
50:50quite as much as a Range Rover
50:52I mean I remember also thinking
50:55you know
50:55it's quite nice up here
50:57peering into people's bathrooms
50:59as I drove by
51:00and also
51:01and I speak from personal experience
51:03and having a really ruined back
51:05since I became a dad
51:06trying to load a child
51:08particularly a wiggly
51:09angry crying child
51:11into a car like that
51:13rather than like that
51:14down
51:15is so much easier
51:16you just want something high up
51:18they make good sense
51:19but sitting up high
51:22in something akin to a mini tank
51:23also made families feel safer
51:26the 4x4 shielded our precious children
51:29from the urban jungle
51:31and people like to sit high
51:32because it gives them that command position
51:34of the rest of the road
51:35and in some ways
51:36it makes them feel safer
51:37I think
51:38so this is a modern phenomenon
51:40that really has picked up
51:41from where the family car left off
51:44the Range Rover
51:45married safety
51:46and countryside social status
51:48in a way that the Volvo 240
51:50never could
51:50manufacturers soon realised
51:53that there was a 4x4 shaped gap
51:55in the family market
51:56it spawned so many others
51:59every manufacturer worth his salt
52:01everyone was making
52:03a big 4x4 luxury car
52:06for as you say
52:07the yummy mummy
52:09outside the school gate
52:10who by putting on her hazard lights
52:13can double park
52:15because she's got her hazard lights on
52:17so that's fine
52:17extraordinary
52:18well you must be a mum
52:20with a car like that
52:22I really know your type well
52:24I see you driving
52:25your X5
52:26your Vogue
52:27or your Mercedes GL
52:28oh yeah
52:30someone said safety
52:32was your main concern
52:34and while I know it's a factor
52:36style's the main reason
52:38that you bought
52:39a Chelsea tractor
52:40oh yeah
52:41the 315 school pickup
52:43is now littered
52:44with what car insiders call
52:45the crossover
52:46big vehicles
52:484x4 in style
52:49but with little
52:50off-roading capability
52:52isn't the crossover
52:53a 70s bra
52:54and it's a bit of a damn nuisance
52:56because parking spaces
52:57are still just as small
52:58so you just get a sort of
53:00symphony of
53:00steel
53:02clanking into steel
53:03as
53:03you open your door
53:05in the supermarket car park
53:07morning
53:08what goes on geehring
53:18Can you take her in for me, because I've got to do the playgroup run.
53:33No worries.
53:35We tend to make fun of these big tanks, but they are not just vanity cars.
53:42Families have been getting bigger, both in the physical and the social sense.
53:46More liberal attitudes to divorce and the rise in second marriages meant roomier cars
53:53were needed for a mix of teenagers and younger siblings.
53:58Designers also had to work with an increasingly tight safety parameters.
54:03People ask me now why are cars getting bigger?
54:05Well, it's to do with safety, it's to do with the amount of room we need inside for impact
54:10and for airbags and all the good stuff that's built in to stop people hurting themselves.
54:16Now, cars have to withstand vast impacts, so the designer starts with a great big lump
54:22of steel front and rear for safety and then great big lumps of steel at the side for side
54:28impact safety.
54:29So the designer is so compromised.
54:32Every generation of car, well, Golf, we're up to Mark 7 or Mark 8 now.
54:37Every generation gets flabbier, wider, maybe a bit taller because it can withstand more
54:45and more impact.
54:47People are getting bigger and people are growing by an inch every 15 years or so around the
54:51world on average.
54:52You know, diets are changing and people are getting bigger and also getting quite wide as
54:57well some of them.
54:58So we have to make sure we've got a car which accommodates the certain percentile of person,
55:03which nowadays is quite a large size.
55:07Family cars are now four to six inches wider than they were 25 years ago.
55:13All of these factors present a real challenge to designers who want to create family cars
55:18that are more streamlined.
55:21The first family car I did was previous Jaguar XF and we were halfway through it and I turned
55:26around and told my boss, actually I haven't designed a saloon car before, it looked to me
55:30rather horrified, because up until then I just looked sports cars and so it was quite challenging.
55:36We want the car to look sporty because that is our heritage.
55:40At the same time it has to be practical, it has to have room inside it and one of the essence
55:46of a sports car of course is the shape and the silhouette, it has to look sleek.
55:51But family cars by nature have to be quite practical and boxy really and tall for room.
55:58And so building that style into something of these dimensions in height, because style
56:03tends to be about length, and SUVs, sports utility vehicles tend to be about height, so
56:08you have this contradiction of dimension you have to deal with visually.
56:11And so we try tricks to do that, you know, whether it be in lines, forms, proportions,
56:16the wheel size helps, you know, the larger the wheel the better the car looks.
56:20Don't ask me why, it's just a designer thing, but they do, and it gives a car a sense of
56:25confidence and everything else that a sports car would have.
56:28But yeah, it's a tricky balance and sometimes of course I'm sitting at my desk, I'll be
56:32doodling, I'll doodle a sports car.
56:34That's my default sketch as a sports car.
56:40It's ironic that sports car designers like Ian Callum, who once fed our long lost dreams
56:46of freedom, now have to get family minded.
56:50The family car remains a uniquely challenging vehicle to crack, but if you do, the rewards
56:57are lucrative.
56:59Much more so than for a niche sports car.
57:04Our family car tells the outside world what type of family we want to be.
57:10Whether it's a Mini for the retro-obsessed City family, or a Volvo for the safety minded
57:16doctor's family.
57:17But what happens inside that box is far more important.
57:24The design of the family car mirrors our relationship with our real family.
57:29It's always a compromise, based on the competing demands of each family member, and what mum
57:36and dad want isn't necessarily what the children need.
57:40In this post-modern era where families are disparate, and even in our own homes, we tend to gravitate
57:47to different rooms.
57:50The family car is that one remaining space where we can't escape each other.
58:02We all need to take a road trip once in a while.
58:10We're taking a magical winter road trip with reindeer tomorrow.
58:14A journey on a sleigh with full jingling bells, up aboard with us at eleven.
58:19Next tonight, the carols the Catholic Church Band and the Puritans Outlawed.
58:25Composer Howard Goodall, and patriece about cows.
58:37And the truth of cows.
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