Some disturbing news this week in the motoring news ...Lots of famous high volume cars of the past.. are now on the brink of extinction.!
These stats are from Auto-Express (weekly magazine & re-printed in the'Sun' daily paper from 31/8/06)
R.I.P: the top 10 vanishing cars:- (DVLA) number of
MAKE----MODEL-------YEAR--------SOLD-----cars still registered
1- Morris...Marina.....(1971-80)....807,000.....745
2- Ford..Cortina MK.IV/V(1976-82)..1,065,682...2,010
3- Renault 18..........(1979-86)....131,241.....317
4- Renault 5 MK.I......(1972-83)....216,199.....499
5- Skoda Estelle.......(1977-92)....102,105.....612
6- Vauxhall Cavalier mk.II(81-89)...807,624....6,343
7- Austin/rover Metro..(1980-94)..1,370,000...21,468
8- Austin/rover Montego(1984-95)....436,000....8,988
9- Austin/rover Maestro(1983-95)....440,000...11,574
10- Fiat Uno mk.I......(1983-89)....190,000....5,179

For comparison ..Not all cars have faired so badly (here's their examples) :-
Nissan Micra mk.I......(1983-92)....340,000+...96,000
Ford Granada Mk.III/IV..............265,640....40,000+

The best car they found (least casualties.!) was the 1952-55 Bentley
R-type Continental ..with 102 sold ..still 100 on the road.!