So often, the Festival of the Unexceptional reminds us of the elements that we no longer see on modern cars. In some cases, technology has rendered them obsolete, or ever-growing regulation has seen them outlawed. Alternatively, tastes simply change.
One such area that’s seen a stark change is interior fixtures and fittings – aside from the vodka bar extremism of supercars or new BMW M cars, the interiors of most vehicles today are as bleakly monochrome as a goth rock club circa 1979.
There are many reasons for this – marketing had us believe that leather (or an approximation of it) was the height of luxury, even though it’s cold in winter and clammy, if not posterior-burning, in summer. We yearn for the days when even the most basic models in a carmaker’s range had a kaleidoscope of not only fabrics, but patterns too. Not all of them were tasteful, but they all brightened up your day as you ambled your way to work and back.
We miss this long-since-gone interior excitement – whether it’s multi-coloured leather, intricate design, or sharply styled patterns. Here are some of our favourites.
Porsche 928
Few seat fabrics quite sum up the wild flavour of the Art Decade quite like Pasha (or Pascha), and indeed the Porsche 928 itself. Rumour has it that the car’s designer, Tony Lapine, came into the design office wearing a chequerboard scarf, which inspired the interior styling team. Designer Vlaska Rujbr conjured a psychedelic trip that helped to define the 928 in the public consciousness, though the fabric would later be seen in the 911, 924, and 944.
The Porsche 928 would also benefit from lurid colours into the 1980s, with a vast selection of leather – you really could order a purple-over-purple 928 S4 – as well as multicoloured check. That all went for the 1990s 928 GTS. It may have had 350bhp for ultimate excitement, but the drab grey or black leather interiors were anything but.
Ford Sierra XR4i
The XR4i would prove influential for the Blue Oval’s swoopy saloon. Though Patrick Le Quément’s aerodynamically optimised shape was influenced more readily on its exterior, the interior was light years ahead of previous Fords. There was a wraparound dashboard, for starters, but in the XR4i the sports seats featured Oxford fabric that seemed straight from a modernist architecture brochure.
Although the RS Cosworth’s red-dotted Recaros might sit in a vastly more storied and revered Sierra, the XR4i’s elegant, refined fabric wonderfully encapsulated the car’s grunty long-distance cruiser dynamism.
VW Golf GTI Mk3
The story of the original Golf GTI’s plaid/tartan seats is well known – Gunhild Liljequist, a trained porcelain painter and the first woman to work for VW design, was inspired by a trip through Britain and the many fabrics she came across. By the 1990s, however, the Golf GTI was more tepid than hot – at least, to drive. However, the Mk3 Golf GTI interiors were something to savour. A wide choice of interior motifs were made available, all taking influence from different artistic styles – even cubism served as inspiration for one style. However, we’re rather fond of the Anniversary version pictured.
Vauxhall Astra GTE 16v
The 1980s really embraced greys and blacks, but it didn’t forget to include highlight colours. We particularly love the striped Astra GTE interior, which at the time was up there with all things futuristic; who remembers the LCD instruments? The seats should also be remembered – these comfortable Recaros did their best to keep you planted while the GTE 16v’s rampant 150bhp engine turned even the mildest mannered driver into a hot-hatch hero.
Mercedes-Benz E-Class W210
Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts tend to go gooey-eyed over the Sportline interior of the W124. However, during the 1990s, Mercedes-Benz went a bit bonkers with its interiors. The kind of sparkly/colourful interiors we could perhaps understand for the SLs, A-Classes, and maybe even the C-Classes, but the E-Class is the picture of solemnity. Or it was supposed to be. In the mid-1990s, the E-Class was available with this funky fabric. We rather like it – it’s a bit like the quiet chap in accounts turning out to be a hardcore raver at the weekend.
Maserati Biturbo
The internet likes to criticise much about the Biturbo. Once the copy-and-paste opinions have gone through the usual gripes, the sneering centres on the early cars’ Missoni interiors. Missoni, for the uninitiated, is a luxury fashion house dating back to 1953, so having Maserati’s luxury small executive coupé clad in its fabric was supposed to be a boon. However, 1980s aesthetes turned their noses up at it, which is somewhat harsh. Paired with soft brown leather and the infamous LaSalle clock, wouldn’t you rather waft around in something this colourful, rather than in a dull monochrome interior?
