It appeared to be the same methodology used by that 1931 pioneer; for purity’s sake perhaps those 44 shouldn’t be included, but the tally matched Autocar’s.
Any harboured hopes of trouble-free research were unceremoniously scuttled by 16 occasions on which the test number skipped hither or thither, not always with subsequent correction.
By 17 July 1969, the published tally was a net five short of that calculated – albeit an improvement from briefly being eight out in 1962.
Starting from the following week’s issue and continuing for a quarter-century is the Dark Age of Autocar’s Road Test history, with no published tally.
Inevitably this fosters conjecture over what should be included, but by maintaining the rationale and following patterns of what was typically regarded as part of the sequence either side of the lengthy numerical void, it was possible to determine how it should have developed.
While far from the scale of mental leap required to accept that today’s reborn Ford Capri could have evolved from the lineage that disappeared in 1987, a mindset shift is necessary to absorb the assertion that when reintroduced on 21 September 1994, the Road Test tally of 4081 was 52 short.
Eleven further sequence blips registered before 2001’s close, increasing the net deficit to 61. Plaudits to everyone involved since then for maintaining the sequence’s most consistent run.
So, does it really matter? When people are involved, despite their very best intentions, mistakes inevitably occur, especially across 100 years of a fast-paced weekly magazine’s storied history. At worst, it creates a degree of inelegance from an editorial standpoint.
It would have been advantageous if the origin date was definite, aligning perfectly with an unwavering tally, but those responsible for creating and nurturing the series were rightly concentrating on its success, not chronicling every discussion and decision along the way.
Autocar’s Road Tests have always set the standard others can only hope to emulate, and they have generated a trove of automotive data unsurpassed in breadth and legacy. That remains undiminished and worthy of celebration.