The cars were a bit mad ( although slower overall than later WRX ), but what I really liked about rallying back then was the sheer scale of the events. Remember how many different UK regions the Lombard visited? tbe Safari etc? my grandfather had a cabinet of trophies from when rallying was making the transition into road racing, so I kinda grew up with the idea that it was all huge endurance events.
Remember when competitors used to get booked for speeding between special stages because it was all timed?