 |
Today we tend to think of Subaru and Audi as the most committed makers of four-wheel drive road cars (as distinct from off-road mud-pluggers in the Land Rover mould) but it was a British company called FF Developments that pioneered the systems seen in today's 4x4 road cars, 35 years ago.
Jensen, a little-known company from West Bromwich, got its name in the history books by having the vision to use FF's technology on a production road car, the fabulous Jensen FF of 1966. There were many other prototypes built during the sixties and seventies - many of them by FF who developed the crucial viscous coupling technology - but it was the Audi Quattro that reawakened interest in four-wheel drive as a safe way of delivering high performance. The impact of this car - so grippy, so quick - resonated around the world (especially when it started winning rallies) and soon there was an unseemly clamour to join the 4x4 club and grab some of the kudos. Thus the eighties spawned a whole sub-species of forgettable 4x4s, some with performance pretensions, others merely effete fashion accessories. Some were quite good, others were no better than they should have been and most passed into history as the decade turned. The 4x4 cult seemed to die with Thatcherism as buyers ultimately proved unwilling to pay for the extra expense that four-wheel drive entailed. Throughout the '90s, cheaper, lighter and increasingly sophisticated traction control systems made four-wheel drive, on anything but aggressive performance machinery or genuine off-roaders, look more and more unnecessary. Here's our guide to the 4x4s you'd forgotten about.
|
