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Research on nonautonomous delayed differential equations (DDEs) is crucial and very difficult due to nonautonomy and time delay in many fields. The main work of the present paper is to discuss complex dynamics of nonautonomous DDEs, such as Hopf bifurcation, periodic solutions and multistability. We consider three examples of nonautonomous DDEs with time-varying coefficients: a harmonically forced Duffing oscillator with time delayed state feedback and periodic disturbance, generalized van der Pol oscillator with delayed displacement difference feedback and periodic disturbance, and an electro-mechanical system with delayed and periodic disturbance. Firstly, we obtain the amplitude equations of these three examples by the method of multiple scales (MMS), and then analyze the stability of approximate solutions by the Routh–Hurwitz criterion. The obtained amplitude equations are used to construct the bifurcation diagrams, so that we can observe the occurrence of the Hopf bifurcation and judge its type (super- or subcritical) from the bifurcation diagrams. We discover rich dynamic phenomena of the three systems under consideration, such as Hopf bifurcation, quasi-periodic solutions and the coexistence of multiple stable solutions, and then discuss the impact of some parameter changes on the system dynamics. Finally, we validate the correctness of these theoretical conclusions by software WinPP, and the numerical simulations are consistent with our theoretical findings. Therefore, the MMS we use to analyze the dynamics of nonautonomous DDEs is effective, which is of great significance to the research of nonautonomous DDEs in many fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]