The great cars that made the sixties swing

home record players would be spinning a Beatles vinyl, vibrant fashion was in and Concorde would fly for the first time.

A shift in the motoring landscape also occurred and the world was introduced to some incredible, and unforgettable, cars.

It may have already been on the go for a decade, but it would be rude not to mention it on our list simply because of its hippie status during the 1960s. The Samba was peak flower power, and as the counterculture movement gained traction, the Samba was seen as a freedom gateway rather than just a van.

The VW was easy to convert to a campervan, giving people the ability to live life on the open roads. Hippies would drive their Sambas to festivals and gather in neighbourhoods to promote peace and love.

Although it was launched in 1959, the Mini found its identity in the 1960s. In 1957, post-war England needed an affordable car due to soaring fuel prices from the Suez Crisis. Designer Alec Issigonis was brought in to design the Mini, and the challenge was: build a small fuel-efficient car that’s capable of transporting four adults.

In his design, Issigonis pushed the Mini’s four wheels to the corners and turned the engine to the side, which meant house fly cornering and more cabin space. Soon enough, the Mini’s popularity rocketed — everyone from rock stars to hipsters, from milkmen to royalty, had one.

The MKII had all the MK1 sparkle with a bit more fizz: it was better looking, and the 3.8-litre made it top of the super saloon category. A max speed of 125mph turned it into one of the quickest cars of the era, which caused popularity among bank robbers and getaway drivers.

Its 150mph top speed and bodacious styling made the E-Type a goliath hit with the rich and famous. It rapidly cemented its iconic status through the 1960s – it's even rumoured that Enzo Ferrari called it “the most beautiful car ever made”. At launch, the E-Type Roadster cost around £2,097 (about £59,000 today) in 2024 while the coupe demanded roughly £2,196 (£61,000 today). In total, three E-Type series were made with production ending in 1974.

Carroll Shelby — former flight instructor, experienced racing driver and chicken farmer — was flying high in his racing career until a heart condition caught wind. Before each race, he had to pop a nitro-glycerine pill. Eventually, he gave up racing. His condition was not the only reason to stop tearing up the tarmac, but also his dream of building a car. British builder, AC, was building the ACE: a well-balanced car that lacked American oomph.

After a chat with AC, Shelby approached Chevrolet for a V8 for the ACE, but received a rejection. He then consulted Ford and was supplied a couple of V8 engines, which led to the birth of the Cobra.

The Elite wasn’t a runaway success by Lotus standards and Colin Chapman wanted a road car that was easier to construct and with less fragile components. The result was an open-top sports car with fibreglass bodywork. Being an open-top car, extra thought had to go into torsional stiffness, so a folded-steel backbone chassis was implemented to stiffen the shell while maintaining a low-weight stature.

Throughout the years, and like many cars of the era, the Elan’s chassis rotted, and many survivors have since had theirs replaced.

For many, the 250 GTO is regarded as one of Ferrari’s most beautiful creations; one even sold at auction in 2018 for $48m. It was designed by Giotto Bizzarrini, the man behind the Bizzarrini 5300GT, and Ferrari made just 36 cars. The 250 GTO would go on to win the International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1962, 1963 and 1964. It was also victorious at the Sebring 12-hour LeMans, Targa Florio and Spa 1000km. 

MG was looking to replace its popular MGA, which had found over 100,000 homes from 1955 to 1962, which meant the successor, the MGB, had to hit the ground running when released. It did just that, and during its 18-year production run, it became the world’s best-selling sports car. In total, it cost around £950 when new (roughly £25,401 in 2024) and many were exported overseas.

The MGB fit in well with British culture, and the arrival of the GT in 1965 created an even further positive shift in British sports motoring. 

Originally nicknaming it the “Bomb” when it was in its project stage, the Triumph chaps thought they could do a bit better than Donald Healey’s Sprite, which had a very small boot and puny weather protection. Project Bomb used the backbone chassis, although shortened, and running gear from a Triumph Herald. At the time, car sales slumped due to the 1956 Suez Crisis and Triumph was in financial trouble — as a result, the incomplete project was parked up in the factory.

Triumph was then bought by Leyland, and when an executive visited the factory, they took great interest in the project. Work continued, the Bomb moniker was dropped and replaced by the Spitfire name and a sports car with a raspy exhaust was born. 

When the covers were lifted off the Jaguar E-Type, its bold styling shook Britain. The same thing happened in the USA when Chevrolet released the C2 Corvette. It left its predecessor behind in both acceleration and looks, and due to popular demand, the factory opted to move to double shifts, but even that wasn’t enough to keep up. 

Production commenced in September 1963, and while the original sales forecast was 5000 units for the first year, the result was 32,450. The GTO package was available as an option for the Pontiac LeMans and was offered in coupe, convertible and hardtop bodies. The package beefed up the engine, which meant 325bhp, alongside various other components and GTO badging.

It was simply cool in the 1960s, and despite the slow steering and questionable brakes, it had plenty of twist. The 1965 Tempest guise covered the quarter mile in under 15sec.

Shaken, not stirred – need we say anymore? The DB5 is often billed as the “most famous car in the world”. It was stunning in every way, but when mated with browning machine guns, battering rams, smoke screens and other gadgets for James Bond Goldfinger, people fell head over heels.

The DB4 sold well, but Aston Martin needed something new to keep up with strong competition. The DB5 was soon born, and many flocked to see it. Celebrities threw their cash at Aston Martin to get one of the 1022 cars on offer. Overall, there were 887 coupes, 123 convertibles and 12 bespoke shooting brakes made.

After months of negotiation, Ford was ready to purchase Ferrari. At the last minute, Enzo Ferrari pulled out and legend goes that Henry Ford II told Ford’s product manager, Don Frey, to head to Le Mans and hit ‘em where it hurts.

As a result, two cars were presented to Ford’s executives: a mid-engined racer called the GT40 and a road going GT46 guise. Lola, a small British race car engineering firm, had the perfect configuration for Ford’s GT40: an aluminium body and a Ford V8.

Ford purchased two Lola MK6 racers. They got to work and built the GT40. After two years of Ford failing to finish the Le Mans race, 1966 brought a 1-2-3 sweep to Ford thanks to the GT40 MKII.

Originally naming it Porsche 901, it’s said that Porsche was forced to change the name of its new sports car to the 911 after a claim was made about naming rights from French manufacturer, Peugeot. Porsche was looking for a worthy replacement for its 356 and therefore the 901, or 911, was born. It had 128bhp, compared to the 356’s 55bhp, a 0-62mph time of 9.1sec and a top speed of 130mph – impressive figures for the era, for sure.

Four seats and a sporty image were always intended for the Mustang: it would be a family car with gusto. Born from the second-generation Ford Falcon, the Mustang was a sporty offspring and it was fully customisable. The cockpit was shoved back, the bonnet - stretched, and its rear was short. Racing was big in the 1960s, therefore the Mustang had to appeal to racing enthusiasts, so Ford also made it as a two-seater.

Carroll Shelby then joined the party and took 100 of the first 2+2 cars and turned them into GT 350 models, more were built afterwards. During the transition, Shelby removed the rear seats, added larger front brakes, a fibreglass bonnet and chunkier tyres, alongside various other performance enhancements.

Germany and the US were hot on the heels of Rolls-Royce, each one trying to nick the ‘Best car in the world’ badge off the British. The Silver Cloud, as lush as it was, was beginning to age. Production continued till early 1966 and Rolls-Royce finally bid farewell. A successor, the Silver Shadow, arrived in 1965 with fancy suspension, brakes licensed from Citroen and a new super-smooth V8.

The Silver Shadow quickly became Rolls-Royce's most important car. Later, British band Oasis even parked one in a swimming pool for an album cover — however, it was just a carcass and never had an engine.

Ferruccio Lamborghini visited the Seville ranch of Don Eduardo Miura in 1962. Miura bred large fighting bulls, a topic that Lamborghini took great interest in, and as a result, he would name his next car after Miura. When produced, the Miura P400 was the fastest standard production car in the world, with its V12 singing all the way to 174mph.

The body was carved by the late Marcello Gandini to fill Enzo Ferrari with envy, and since its release, the Miura made it to the big screen 43 times.

It was also purchased globally by celebrities and now demands upwards of $1.5m when one rarely pops up for sale.

The Ford Mustang was triumphant, and its release caught nearly everyone off-guard. This meant Chevrolet had to quickly pencil something in to compete. The first Camaro went on sale in September 1966 and over 220,000 were sold in the first year, which wasn’t anywhere near enough to trump the Mustang’s 418,000-plus during the same period.

Chevrolet then built the Z/28 in 1966 for the 1967 model year. It was a stick of dynamite that would blow its competition out of the water and win the SCCA Trans-Am series three times. In 1968, the same car won 10 out of 13 races.

The Escort was originally a lower-spec guise of the Ford Squire before it branched off and became one of the world’s most successful cars. The MK1 has worn many suits over the years. If you needed an affordable runabout, there was the 1.1, or if you favoured performance, you could opt for the 'Blimey’ twin-cam, as it was named.

Over the next six years, Ford would sell more than two million Escorts. It could transport an entire family, squeeze into tight parking spaces, and it replaced the Anglia’s tired design.

Toyota had released the 2000GT, a gorgeous sports car that had hints of Jaguar E-Type, and Datsun responded with the 240Z. While the 2000GT was a hit, the 240Z was far more successful and sold more than 160,000 units in just four years of production. Its two-seat layout, steel monocoque, six-pot engine and low weight made it an instant hit.