Nothing quite gets car nuts going like a road trip: the planning, the early starts and the late finishes, the surprise severe weather, the high speeds and the buzz of crossing borders all unleash our sense of adventure. But how to purify the hit? Do it in a 1970s classic car; how else? Nothing beats the ‘adventure’ of knowing your prized classic could come to a rolling halt at any second. 

So reliability may not be a speciality of the 1970s, but if you want a car with character, look no further. From Lamborghini and Ferrari to Saab and Land Rover, these are the nine best 1970s classics for road trips. 

Aston Martin DBSV8 

We don’t need to explain why the Aston Martin DBS is one of the best 1970s classics for road trips – just look at it. Built to replace the DB6, the Touring-designed DBS mixed a chiselled chin and brawny bodywork with the cocktail-jacket elegance of the old car. Early adopters were palmed off with the same straight-six fitted to the DB6. But the V8 DBS came on stream in 1969 with 5.3-litres, four overhead cams, mechanical fuel injection and a top speed of 160mph, it was the fastest four-seater on sale. 

And that was the beauty of the DBS V8. You could sling your luggage in the boot, your kids in the back seat, the other half in the passenger seat, point the Aston’s snout towards the Mediterranean and be sipping a martini cocktail in the Casino de Monte-Carlo quicker than you can say “shaken, not stirred”.

Jaguar XJ-S V12 

When Jaguar whipped the covers of its new XJS at 1976’s Frankfurt Motor Show, it’s fair to say the car wasn’t universally loved. The E-Type replacement was clearly a GT, not the sports car enthusiasts had hoped for, and what were those things at the back? The XJS’s ‘flying buttresses’ now seem a crucial part of the design of what has to be one of the most stylish cars to be produced in 1970s Britain. 

But there were other things to like, like the world’s first mass-produced V12 delivering a genuine 150mph top speed. The speed was impressive, but it was its turbine-smooth delivery and hear-a-pin-drop-refinement that marked it out from the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini. You could conquer huge miles before skipping out the driver’s seat fresh as a daisy. 

Lamborghini Miura

You only need to look at cars like the Pagani Zonda to know how far passion goes in car design, but what about less positive attributes, like spite? We can thank spite for the Lamborghini Miura. Ferruccio Lamborghini was a tractor maker and a car lover who owned several Ferraris, Ferraris that loved to chew through clutches. Complaining directly to Enzo Ferrari didn’t bear fruit, the boss telling Ferruccio he should stick to building tractors. Ferruccio did not take kindly to being fobbed off. 

He set out to build a car that would wipe the smirk of Enzo Ferrari’s face – the Miura. Being jaw-droppingly good-looking was just a tiny percentage of the Miura’s appeal. A mid-engine layout gave it handling balance a front-engined Ferrari road car couldn’t replicate and the Miura was the first car branded a supercar for this reason. Its V12 motor was good for a top speed of more than 170mph. 

Ferrari 365 GTB4 Daytona

The Ferrari 325 GTB4 Daytona – so called because of the marque’s dominant 1-2-3 victory at 1967’s Daytona 24hr – was a different kind of superfast GT car. It was a car that was as fun on the mountainous roads around your Mediterranean estate as it was skelping down the autoroute to get there. 

Looks played a big part because the Daytona remains a classic Pininfarina design dominated by its dagger-edged bonnet, cab-back design and ‘Kamm’ tail. Early models’ novel Plexiglas light covers were replaced with pop-ups in 1971. Power came from a Tipo 251 V12 mounted at the front, so it lacked the sophistication of the mid-mounted Miura but was no less potent thanks to 0-62mph, taking 5.4 seconds on the way to a 174mph top speed. 

Porsche 911 Turbo 

In the 1970s, Porsche needed to get Ferrari and Lamborghini-rivalling power from a relatively small capacity air-cooled flat-six; the answer? Turbocharging. In 1975, the 930 Turbo burst onto the scene boasting a body kit to die for and a turbocharged motor with 50 per cent more power than the naturally aspirated SC.

While the Turbo’s looks were figuratively worth dying for, the engineering could literally kill you because the turbo dumped vast dollops of torque mid-corner with little warning. The Porsche was known to spear the unwary into hedges and was tagged ‘the widowmaker’ as a result. Modern Turbos are, of course, four-wheel drive. 

BMW 3.0 CSi

It would be easy to slot the BMW 3.0 CSL onto this list, but a race car for the road with a paired-back interior isn’t the best car for doing huge road trip miles in. 

But the 3.0 CSi should be just the ticket. Sharing its Karmann body with the CSL (without the crazy aero package), the CSi has the purer design, allowing you to make quick progress without drawing attention to yourself with the local constabulary. The CSi weighed about 200kg – doing without the CSL’s aluminium body parts and lightweight seats – but its added refinement would be most welcome on longer drives and you still get the glorious bark of the CSL’s race-based straight six. 

1969-70 Ford Mustang Mach 1

The 1969-1970 Mach 1 Ford Mustang makes it onto this list by the skin of its teeth, but we’re glad it does because it has a quarterback build missing from the 1971 model. Few cars have the presence of a Ford Mustang Mach 1 with a Shaker air scoop tremoring from the centre of the bonnet.  With the optional 428cu Cobra Jet V8, the Mach 1’s 335 official horses were a vast underestimate of what this drag engine was capable of.

American cars are often castigated for their simple handling, but what they lack in corners they make up for with an ability to gobble up straights like a professional eater conveyor-belting cheeseburgers. With a truck-like build, the Mustang can swallow up roads that would destroy other classics, carrying four people in comfort in a way alien to European sports car owners.

Saab 99 Turbo

By bolting a Turbo to its Triumph-designed and (thoroughly) re-engineered slant four, Saab turned the 99 into one of the world’s first performance Q cars and one that, like the XJ-S V12 featured earlier, we can all aspire to own one of these days.

Two-door 99 Turbos got from 0-60mph in 8.6 seconds, but it was the 45 per cent torque boost that period reviewers noted as the car hauled towards its 5,500rpm red line. Motor magazine explained: “Between 40 and 100mph, the Saab accelerates faster than just about any four-seater saloon in the world. And that means overtaking and cross-country ability of the sort hitherto the preserve of expensive exotica.” It sounds perfect for a road trip.

Range Rover 

Perhaps choosing the best road trip car isn’t about roads because the best destinations lie well off the beaten track, places where you’ll need a car like the Range Rover. Early Range Rovers weren’t that luxurious but provided road comfort far superior to any other Land Rover, with the same unstoppable off-road ability.

Three-door versions of the classic Rangie are far cooler than the coupé SUVs we see today and offer a similar mixture of sporty looks and impressive interior practicality. Of course, the old Range Rover isn’t in any way sporty. Roly-poly in corners, the Range Rover is better treated as a comfy cruiser with a V8 warble and a commanding driving position.