A look back at the Geneva Motor Show - what happened 30, 40, 50 and 60 years ago?
03/03/2011
Today is the official opening of the 81st Geneva Motor Show, a good time to take a trip down memory lane.
The Geneva Motor Show is one of the most important motor shows in Europe and, due to its early date, attracts a large international audience and visitors from all over the world every year. Time and again, world premieres have been presented at the Geneva Motor Show, be it the Chrysler Airflow (1934), Fiat Otto Vu (V8) (1952), Jaguar E-Type (1961), Mercedes 230 SL (1963) or Porsche 928 (1977). We have done some research and looked back 30, 40, 50 and 60 years, examined the surroundings of the earlier motor shows and dug out original photos of the exhibitions of the time from the photo archive.
The 1951 Geneva Motor Show shows the pontoon shape in its heyday. 400 exhibitors shared the space in the Palais des Expositions in Geneva, only Moskwitsch had not managed to bring the cars to Geneva in time. The range of American cars on show was extensive, boasting advanced technology (e.g. the torque converter) and bold color combinations and design touches. The British car industry was present almost in its entirety, demonstrating its ongoing interest in the Swiss market, which was also documented by improvements dictated by practical experience gained in Switzerland. New products included the Alfa Romeo 1900 and the 2500 SS Vila d'Este, as well as the Hotchkiss-Grégoire.
The 1961 Geneva International Motor Show owes its special status to the Jaguar E-Type, which was presented to the world at this very exhibition. This world premiere dominated the media coverage and the saying "nothing new except Jaguar" circulated even among trade journalists. From today's perspective, this was actually wrong, as there were a number of interesting new models on show in addition to the E-Type, such as the Facel-Vega Facellia, the Abarth Ellena, the completely revised Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta (SWB), the Mercedes-Benz 220 SE, the Peugeot 404, the Alfa Romeo Sprint 2000 and the Rochdale Olympic.
The 41st Geneva Motor Show in 1971 was dominated by extravagant and futuristic studies and super sports cars: Ferrari presented the 365 GTC/4, Fiat the 130 Coupé, BMW showed the 3.0 CS, Maserati the Bora mid-engined sports car. Ford showed the GT 70, which never actually went into production, Renault the Alpine-Renault A 310, which stood out with its glazed lamp front. Lamborghini presented the Urraco with a transverse mid-engine. A special highlight was the prototype of the Lamborghini Countach LP 500 by Bertone, which in many respects anticipated the later production sports car of the same name.
The 1981 Geneva Motor Show was held in the aftermath of the fuel price shock, the generally rising cost of living and, above all, the ever-increasing competitive pressure from the expanding Japanese manufacturers. As a result, there were fewer premieres on show than in other years, but still plenty of interesting things to discover. John DeLorean presented the DeLorean DMC mid-engine sports car. The Talbot Tagora saloon, the Talbot Murena three-seater coupé, the second version of the VW Scirocco and the Honda Quintett were also on show for the first time.
The presentation of the Audi Quartz by Pininfarina, based on an Audi Quattro (see picture), attracted a lot of attention.
