How to find period-correct cars for a 1960s, 70s or 80s drama

Cars are among the biggest props in any period drama, and they're some of the easiest for viewers to spot when they're wrong. Car enthusiasts will notice a model that hadn't been launched yet, but even viewers who couldn't name a single car will sense when a street looks too new, too clean or too uniform.

Here's how to get the cars right for the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The most common mistake is filling a street with cars from the exact year of the story. Real streets were never like that. In 1975, most cars on a British road were several years old. There'd be a few brand-new models, plenty of cars from the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a few older survivors still going.

A useful rule of thumb is to treat the story year as the latest date, not the only date. Most of your background cars should come from the ten years before it, with just one or two that are brand new.

The early 1960s still had plenty of 1950s cars on the road, with rounded saloons alongside newer designs. Familiar British cars of the decade include the Mini, Morris Minor, Ford Anglia, Triumph Herald, Austin 1100, Hillman Imp, Ford Cortina, Rover P5 and Jaguar Mk2, with Land Rovers on farms and building sites. Remember that the Cortina only arrived in 1962 and the Imp in 1963, so for an early-60s story, check launch dates carefully.

The 1970s brought boxier shapes and a colour palette that's now instantly recognisable: browns, oranges, mustard yellows and greens. Think Ford Cortina Mk3, Ford Escort, Ford Capri, Morris Marina, Austin Allegro, Vauxhall Viva and Triumph Dolomite, with the Rover SD1 arriving in 1976. Many 1960s cars were still in daily use, often looking tired by then.

By the 1980s, the street had changed again. The Austin Metro arrived in 1980, the Ford Sierra in 1982, and the Austin Maestro and Montego followed. Vauxhall Cavaliers, Volkswagen Golfs, Volvo 240s and BMW 3 Series were all familiar sights. Colours shifted towards reds, whites, silvers and metallic blues. For an early-80s story, plenty of 1970s cars should still be in the mix.

Plates are an easy detail to miss. From 1963, British registrations began carrying a year letter at the end (the suffix system, adopted across the country over the next couple of years), and from August 1983 the year letter moved to the front (the prefix system). A car with a plate that's newer than the story year is a giveaway, so check the plates on every car that will be legible on screen.

If a car's plate doesn't suit the scene, talk to the owner and your art department about options. Prop plates are only for off-road and closed-set use, and many productions handle plates in post.

Today's surviving classics are often in better condition than they ever were when new. Concours paintwork and spotless chrome look wonderful, but they can feel wrong in a gritty 1970s street scene. Real cars of the era were dusty, dented, faded and sometimes rusty.

Where the story calls for it, look for honest, original cars rather than freshly restored ones. Any dressing to make a car look older should be temporary and agreed with the owner.

A 1960s car park in Surrey and one in Glasgow wouldn't have looked the same. Nor would a car owned by a struggling young family and one owned by a bank manager. Ask who owns each car in the story and where they live. It's the details like these that make a period scene convincing.

If a hero car appears across several episodes or blocks of filming, make sure it's available for every date, and agree with the owner that it won't be changed between shoots. Our page on period cars for TV drama covers this in more detail.

Most period cars used on screen are privately owned, by enthusiasts and club members who look after them carefully. Many owners are happy to drive their own cars on set, which helps when older cars have quirks.

You can browse our catalogue of cars by make and era, or see our page on classic car hire for filming. When you're ready, send us a brief with your story year, location and the characters who need cars, and we'll build a believable line-up for you.