Dear oh, dear - what were they thinking of? Did motor makers and marketers of yesteryear really think a virtually naked woman would sell a car? Has any driver ever bought a vehicle on the basis that he liked the look of the model draped seductively over its bonnet? It wouldn't happen in today's more enlightened world, but back in the later decades of the 20th century, sex apparently sold - and almost no car promotion of feature was complete without beautiful models in various unsubtle states of undress. To visit this odd world, take a drive down motoring memory lane to a decidedly less politically correct time - when sexism was clearly an alien concept to carmakers all too eager to exploit the female form. From supermodels to supercars, Page 3 'stunners' to motor-show exhibitionism, these curious images evoke the spirit of their strange times, revealing as much about the mentality of so-called 'liberated' attitudes as much as they did the female form.

Adam Powley is a writer and author of a number of books including When Football Was Football: World Cup. His interest in motoring stems from his first trip in his dad's Triumph Dolomite Sprint - now there was a car that didn't need a scantily clad model to flog it.