"Dave Baker" wrote in message
...

Of course you couldn't build anything remotely similar today. By the time
you've fitted airbags, ABS, a cat and a complicated fuel injection system
to make that work, central locking, electric windows, modern standards of
crash protection you end up with a car that weighs 300 kg more and then
needs a diesel engine to give the same economy as a petrol engine did 20
years previously.


Are you sure about that?
Modern cars have less steel in them so they may well weigh less for the same
trim level.
Of course there is a lot more sound proofing in most modern cars and that
does add to the weight as do bigger tyres.