Right now, fewer than three hundred DeLorean DMC-12 cars
remain on Britain’s roads, out of a total of 8,583 made in Belfast from 1981 to
1983. However, with its gull-wing doors and stainless steel finish, and its place
in popular culture as the mobile time machine in the “Back to the Future”
films, the car inspires businesses and fan clubs to carry on servicing it,
import them from the United States, with a US company beginning to make new cars
using leftover parts from Belfast.
Meanwhile, the Austin Ambassador (1982-84), an update of the
wedge-shaped Princess range of 1975 that used parts borrowed from other cars, was
made as a stop-gap until the Austin Montego was ready. According to howmanyleft.co.uk,
out of 43,427 cars sold in the UK, there are SEVENTEEN left, including those
registered as off the road.
SEVENTEEN?!
The Ambassador holds a strong place in my childhood, filled
with images of “Back to the Future”. With rakish lines that still feel modern, the
future was meant to look like this but, unfortunately, the DeLorean did the
better job. We had a second-hand, silver 1.7 litre model, looking to me like a
family-sized time machine, with a spongy red interior, ripe for being thrown up
on by a small child.
We had our Ambassador until it was scrapped, due to familiar
complaints of rust and poor build quality from British Leyland, the byword for
industrial disputes in the 1970s and 80s. Even when they still worked, they
weren’t made desirable enough – manual gearboxes only went up to four gears,
and higher-equipped models still didn’t come with a rev counter, so people who
could afford not to listen to their engine had to carry on as before.
The last Ambassador, given to the British Motor Industry
Heritage Trust, was sold at auction in 2003, to make space for other cars. It
was later bought out of storage by a club of enthusiasts, determined to make a symbol
of a bad time in the British car industry worth remembering, on its own terms.
Why care? Ask the blobfish. As the general mascot of the
Ugly Animal Preservation Society, and winner of a 2013 contest for the ugliest
animal on Earth 2013, this endangered species depends on humanity harnessing
the power of irony to save it. Turning the blobfish’s ugliness into an
advantage highlights how we tend to save only the cutest species, even if the
reproductive powers of some, like the Giant Panda, make that job very difficult.
It is not morally acceptable to pick and choose which
animals should be saved - you do it because you should, and because you don’t
want to be the one that has to say there are none left. Likewise, for those
that still enjoy remembering what the British car industry used to make, the Austin
Ambassador deserves to be preserved as much as the DeLorean – in fact, with the
Ambassador being the much rarer car, doesn’t that make it more desirable now?
No comments:
Post a Comment