Vehicles have played a key role in some of Coronation Street's most dramatic scenes since the soap first aired in 1960. Nearly 20 million Brits tuned in to watch Richard Hillman plunge a people carrier into a canal in 2003 with himself and the Platt family inside, and it became one of the most talked-about TV moments of the year.
In 2010, the show marked its 50th anniversary with a dramatic explosion and tram crash, saying goodbye to long-term characters Molly Dobbs and Ashley Peacock. This scene was also paying homage to a tram accident that took place in a 1967 episode of the soap.
Motoring accidents have never been in short supply on Coronation Street, with the show even centring its plot around a bus crash for their first colour broadcast episode in 1969. However, most car and bike models do make it through Weatherfield unscathed, and the show serves as a time capsule for how the UK’s motoring tastes have changed over the years.
By combining licensing data from the Department for Transport with television scenes highlighted in the Internet Movie Car Database (IMCDb), researchers at Bikesure, a specialist bike insurance broker, can reveal which motorbike and car models have memorably starred during the show’s history and how many (if any) of them survive in the UK today.
Coronation Street’s starring motorbikes
One of the oldest vehicles to appear in Coronation Street was a Velocette Viper, featured in episode 88 back in 1961. Footage was still in black and white when this episode aired barely a year into the show’s run, with its on-screen owner John Edward "Jed" Stone smugly showing off his newly acquired model from a series of bikes that is fittingly finished in monochrome tones.
Bikesure’s research shows the exact number of remaining Velocette Vipers is unknown in the UK, with the Department of Transport having 8,760 unnamed registered models in its record. Vipers are hard to come by in the UK and will normally fetch around £6,000 on the resale market.
Other '60s models to make an appearance include a 1964 Lambretta Li in episode 431, and a 1969 Yamaha YR-3 in episode 4132. The Yamaha was owned and ridden by Samantha Failsworth (played by Tina Hobley), who took a smitten Sean Skinner (Terence Hillyer) on a trip to Todmorden. The pair spend hours on a snowy hike, with Samantha under the illusion that Sean is a seasoned outdoor adventurer. Their walk eventually turns into a sit-down heart-to-heart, where Sean learns more about Samantha’s past relationships.
There are also no Yamaha YR-3 or Lambretta Li models identified by Bikesure in the Department for Transport’s ownership data. Both the bike and scooter model had short production runs during the mid-60s to early 70s. Overall, however, both bike brands perform strongly on modern UK ownership today.
Moving further forward in time, two Kawasaki models from the 1980s make starring roles — a GPX 750 R in episode 3126 and a KZ 750 LTD in episode 9617.
Two KZ 750s that appear are owned by a burly set of bikers. Character Ali (James Burrows) foolishly picks a fight with both bikers in a fit of rage. Unfortunately for Ali he ends up being bested by them after they drag him down an alleyway to finish what he started.
This model of Kawasaki has no identified owners in the Department for Transport’s records either, and private auctions will list the model for a minimum of £1,000.
Coronation Street’s starring cars
During the show’s history, the most frequently starring car brand has been Ford — equivalent to one in five cars that have driven over Weatherfield's cobblestone streets. The next most popular brands on the soap have been Vauxhall (8% of cars), Volkswagen (5%) and Mercedes-Benz (5%).
The oldest example of a Ford identified in Bikesure’s research is a 1957 Ford Anglia 100E in episode 1688. Although the Ford Anglia was produced between 1939–1967, with no models created in over a half a century, there are still more than 3,600 registered under UK ownership today.
Another regular staple on the streets of Manchester (and the rest of Britain) for many years was the Ford Cortina. The Cortina is also one of the most regularly starring models in Coronation Street’s history, equivalent to one in 40 car models that appear.
While many of the bikes and cars identified from Bikesure’s research show considerable declines or extinction in registered UK ownership, the Cortina still boasts more than 2,700 owners here.
As part of Bikesure’s research, they uncovered which beloved motorbike models are closest to extinction of all. You can read more about their research here: https://www.bikesure.co.uk/motorbike-extinction/2040/