Also a turning point – was everything better then? The IAA 50 years ago

Power to the people
Power at affordable prices in provocative sportswear, that’s what the masses wanted: innovations like the Audi 80 GT in Monza yellow with rally stripes, the Audi Asso di Picche study as a harbinger of the VW Scirocco, the DAF 66 Marathon 1300 Coupé, Datsun/ Nissan 260 Z (at that time the best-selling sports car in the world), the still affordable Lancia Beta Coupé, the three-seater plastic racer Matra Bagheera, Skoda 110 R Coupé, Toyota Celica GT and of course Opel Manta GT/E as well as the new Kadett C as a pretty coupé. With that, Opel wanted to get back to number one in the German registration charts and overtake VW, just like in 1972. But the Wolfsburg-based company knew how to win back the hearts of the masses. The Beetle had just dethroned the Ford Model T as the most-produced people’s car up to that point. Now the VW Jeans Beetle, City Beetle and Big Beetle signaled that the crawling animal remained en vogue for the time being. And the Passat already excelled as the first superstar of the new kit of front-wheel drive bestsellers.