THE LABELLING GAME

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31663, 26 April 1968, Page 11

THE LABELLING GAME

T REMEMBER the time when x most cars carried a name, by which we affectionately called them, rather like favourite breeds of dog. “How’s the Hornet?” “Oh, fine, and what about the Mayflower and your brother’s Rugby?” ran the general trend of motoring chat But today it would more probably be on these lines. “Just bought a GTC and sold the 3.8 ‘S”—great improvement on that TS of yours, and Roger’s GLS. I hear they are changing the SEL?”

Alas, the era of numbers has engulfed us, so that Europe is now submerged under a deluge of symbols that mean less and less to the ordinary motorist although they may well be understood by the ear makers and their technicians. This was brought home vividly at the Geneva Motor Show, where Vauxhall launched their Viva GT and Renault the 16TS. As I observed at the time, the new Viva, fast and comfortable as it may be, is by no means a true gran turismo car. Nor is the Cortina GT, or the Escort GT. But one after another, the European constructors follow each other into this degrading aphabetic farce, until we are now at the point where GT is applied to anything from a $l3OO Ford to a $12,000 Ferrari. Where will it end?

The pity is that the cars which really merit GT or other distinguishing labels become devalued in the process. Today, we find nudging the GTs TS (tourisme speciale), S (sport), R (rallye), GS (grand sport), L (luxe), GL (grand luxe), LS (luxe speciale), GLS (grande luxe speciale), SC (single carburettor), TC (twin carburettor), GS (gran sport), G (grande), SL (sport light), and a score of other combinations.

I have traced this process in a roundabout route, as so often happens in motoring developments. What began in Europe with genuine distinctions between types of sports car, in particular the Ferrari, was picked up by Detroit’s publicity men, who saw the young, super, sporty appeal

(By GBOFFRty CMAHLtg In "The Timet") (Reprinted by arrangement)

in such letters as GT and GT Super-de-Luxe. Once the trend took flight in America, exploited by the stock-car racers and others ready to match their “Instant" GTs against Ferraris, Porsches Or Lamborghinis, Europe had to reply and the chase was taken up by every other manufacturer.

APPEAL The excuse is the need for appeal to youth. So every constructor now feels obliged to offer a “poor man’s Ferrari”, adorned by two or three chromium-plated letters, black plastic upholstery and a simulated wood steering wheel. Sometimes, the evolution marks worth-while technical progress as with Renault's

TS version of the 16 saloon or the Fiat 850 Sport. But more often these so-called new models seem to be the result of a labelling contest between the technicians and marketing specialists, under the eternal influence of Detroit.

They marry this eld engine to that bodywork and produce a faster, more powerful offspring. Or we find a matt black dashboard combined with a twin-carburettor engine, vinyl roof and a metal side-flash. Add on a pair of rectangular headlights, racy wheel trims and the inevitable GT badge, and you have a “revolutionary breakthrough”. If there is one worth-while appeal to British manufacturers in 1968 it is this: call a spade a spade, and not a 2 + 2 GTL Shovel Mk. XXXIV.