OK, so you’re no doubt familiar with the old cliche about feeling older when policemen start to look younger. But what about the 90s selection of cars ? Can you tell a Ford Probe from a Mondeo ? Can you even distinguish them from a Rover ?
It seem so different from the 70s when an Austin A40 looked like an A40 and a Hillman Hunter looked like, well … a Hillman Hunter !
Remember the Cortina when the Mark III brought a sporty look to the family wheels, only to return to the “wife and two kids” look by 1979 on 
release of the Mark IV. The demise of the Mark III was bad news to the makers of furry dice, although the model did get the recognition it deserved taking a lead role as DCI Gene Hunt’s motor in the TV series Life On Mars.
How many of us liked the look of the Austin Allegro saloon but had reservations about the estate version (let’s face it, it looked like a sporty hearse, didn’t it ??)
What about the foreign cars that disappeared into auto-oblivion after the close of the decade ? Own up – who had a Simca, or a Daf ? The flash medallion wearers amongst us may even have owned a Jensen Interceptor (not easy to get spares for at the local scrap joint). Then there was that solid German workhorse the Wartburg. Not noted for its’ street credibility, it did save a guy I know from a hoard of drunken nightclub revellers who thought it would be a good idea to overturn the car whilst the occupant was sat minding his own business in the driving seat. Three of them gave up afeter five minutes leaving the remaining agressor clutching at his groin mumbling something about a hernia !
Despite owning something with electric windows these days, I still wonder what became of the orange Austin 1100 with the registration plate ERN 1E that looked so cool in the seafront at Morecambe in the early 70s.