Oxford Street, London 1972

A wonderfully busy West End scene dominated by red buses, shoppers and early-’70s traffic. In the foreground is a real rarity for Britain: a Swiss-registered Fiat Dino 2000 Coupé (plate TI-1343-Z). These striking Bertone-styled GTs were never officially sold in the UK and were built primarily to homologate the Ferrari-designed V6 for Formula 2 racing, making this an unusually exotic sight among the Cortinas, Minis and Vivas normally found on Oxford Street.

Across the road stands the grand façade of Selfridges, its rooftop flags fluttering above the columns. Routemaster buses line up almost bumper-to-bumper, including Route 8 to Old Ford, illustrating just how congested Oxford Street already was long before pedestrianisation was first proposed. To the right, parts of the period shopfronts are visible, including Gilda and the familiar illuminated roundels marking access to Bond Street station.

With its mix of high fashion, department stores and dense traffic, the photograph captures Oxford Street in the early 1970s at its most vibrant – a lively jumble of London life, topped off here by the unexpected appearance of a Ferrari-engined Fiat.