Mystery car pix

stickguy

the 2 oldies I see are an early 70's Ford F100 with a cab, and off to the left side top a couple cars over from the Fiesta, what looks like an early 60's Imperial (or Lincoln).

fintail

Yep, the Imperial sticks out for me.

magnette

Yes, that Austin Apache looked better than the BL home market four door saloon, which would have been the Allegro, Marina or its successor the Ital, which was quite a big seller but they didn't want to have two cars competing one FWD and the other RWD for the same customers.
I guess they didn't have any money to develop it for us, as they didn't for any of the other models they slung out in that period.
The Spanish Authi was a result of Franco's Spain being very protectionist against imports and BMC had built a factory there for cars and vans - they built large numbers of Austin J4 vans and the later models to the Sherpa, I think, as well as the Authi and probably some licence built ADO16s too.
When in 1973 Britain joined the EEC - later the EU - we got tariff free access to Europe but Spain didn't join until about 1986, so they were protectionist a lot longer.

The South African Austin plant was a different issue as the political issues with imports from there got more difficult / controversial here and where some cars were assembled there and sent to the UK from South Africa there was a backlash as widespread boycotting of imports to UK such as fruit, wine etc was also difficult.

Ford built a Pickup based on the Mk V Cortina and later the Sierra (the P100 truck) and I can remember that was subject to some advertising - aimed at Ford in total here.

Mazda, to avoid the import restrictions we had on Japanese cars (to prop up BL really) started to import a version of the original 323 assembled in South Africa - it was called the San Pezo or something like that - and although it didn't sell well anyway - the new 323 from Japan came along - there were letters in the press about them too.

ab348

Paris in 1967, should expand a bit with a right click/view:

kyfdx

BMW 1600?

fintail

Fintail is a W111 220b (single rear bumper, lack of trim rings, and lack of horizontal fin chrome distinguish that particular model from other W111s).

Red Alfa Giulia SS sticks out.

andys120

The red car on the left, parked behind a little blue Fiat 500/600 is a real rarity. I appears to be an Alf-Romeo Giulietta SS ca. 159-60

andys120

kyfdx said:

BMW 1600?

The 1600 was the most popular 2-dr model of the Neue Classe BMWs on that side of the pond but given France's heavy tax on displacements, smaller motors were available for French market BMWs. Yellow headlights were the norm during that era in France.

magnette

The green Mini is an Austin, and is a deluxe or would be if it was the same spec in France as we got. The chrome finisher along the bottom edge of the sills and the little bumper corner bars indicate that.

andys120

Parked on left in mid-picture appears to be a white Fiat 500/600 and behind it is a person getting into a Citroen 2 Chevaux

ab348

andys120 said:

The red car on the left, parked behind a little blue Fiat 500/600 is a real rarity. I appears to be an Alf-Romeo Giulietta SS ca. 159-60

That was what caught my eye when I first saw the pic. Plus the ubiquitous fintail of course.

andys120

In the late 50s cars outgrew the garages in old houses>

magnette

On the far right of the Paris picture there is a grey Renault 4 approaching

fintail

Something here is incredibly rare:

stickguy

that convertible in the front I assume. Is that a subaru? That is what it reminds me of.

rest of them are pretty mainstream. Nice Nissan maxima square version behind the open trunk. Though could be be a Stanza. Pretty sure if I was walking the aisles could name them all!

tjc78

Lots of Buick’s and Olds in that shot.

fintail

Yep, a Subaru GL convertible - I think I've read of such things, but never seen one in person before.

Angular Maxima in front of it, too.

Roosevelt Field, 1988 per the source.

ab348

Is that a Peugeot I see next to the K-car?

fintail

Yes indeed, 505.

stickguy

I never, ever heard of a Sube convertible before. I assume a conversion, not factory?

fintail

Definitely aftermarket, likely USDM only. Maybe by ASC or another period firm.

stickguy

of all the weird cars to spend that much on a chop job, that must be near the top of the list.

ab348

What Subaru model was that convertible conversion based upon? It looks like it was from the era when Subaru still had a styling department.

stickguy

they did not do much with names in those days. Fin said it was the GL, which was a model (even though it sounds like a trim level). I think they actually had names like "coupe" back then too.

sda

Was it a true convertible or designer carriage top?

kyfdx

sda said:

Was it a true convertible or designer carriage top?

Looks like convertible.. especially around the windshield header.

texases

You could have bought one a few years ago:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/jalopnik.com/for-5-000-could-this-1983-subaru-1800gl-convertible-h-1795838314/amp

andys120

I find it hard to believe thatanyone would paythe freight for a Sub Leone ragtop!

omarman

kyfdx

omarman said:

Renault Alliance?

sda

Probably an 85 or 86 Alliance. They came with the big 1.7L instead of the 1.4L. I had an 85 DL same white exterior with red interior, alloy wheels, PW, PL, upgraded stereo, Cruise, ac, leather sport wheel, power top. It rode well, could take speed bumps like no other car, typical French long travel suspension. Fun car in its own way. I traded it in late 87 after Chrysler bought AMC and the local dealer said they were already having trouble getting parts and finding technicians to work on them.

omarman

Winner! From the seller's copy:
1985 Renault Alliance convertible in a beautiful, good and original condition. The Alliance was built between 1983 and 1987 (cabrio since 1985) for the american market by American Motors Corporation (AMC). It has the original 1700 cc 78 hp injection engine and an automatic gearbox. A very rare, nice and very well running 4-seat cabriolet.

sda

I found some good pics to share but for some reason the site won't let me retrieve photos from my Surface.

ab348

sda said:

I found some good pics to share but for some reason the site won't let me retrieve photos from my Surface.

Well, let me try to step into the breach. I can't retrieve local photos either, haven't been able to for what seems like forever, so I use remote hosting to post them. A bit more painful but any port in a storm. Let's continue our Grand Tour of Europe, this time in Germany (according to the source, but I'm not sure). This should blow up with a right click/view:

andys120

Quite a mix of French and German iron, could it be Switzerland or Belgium in the mid 1960s? I'll call the French iron:
Cream colored car parked facing away is a Simca 1000, a red Renault 8 or 10 parked on left.
Another French car might be a black Citroen 2CV way down the street,

magnette

The number plates make me think of Denmark in the 60's or maybe Austria.

magnette

Approaching white car is a Ford Taunus 12M which I think is the first FWD Ford model anywhere.
Behind that is the red Renault 8 and following that is another Taunus - this one a 15M.

fintail

The old building in the background is Porta Nigra in Trier, Germany, I believe.

I see what appears to be a fintail behind the "Badewanne" Taunus in the leftmost lane.

fintail

Aside from the BRAT, I think all USDM Subaru names were just a few letters until the Loyale and Legacy around 1989. In olden times, it was DL and GL.

I am sure the convertible is a chopped coupe - the coupes themselves are pretty rare anymore.

stickguy said:

they did not do much with names in those days. Fin said it was the GL, which was a model (even though it sounds like a trim level). I think they actually had names like "coupe" back then too.

Lostwrench3

fintail said:

The old building in the background is Porta Nigra in Trier, Germany, I believe.

200AD!

andys120

Lostwrench3 said:

fintail said:

The old building in the background is Porta Nigra in Trier, Germany, I believe.

200AD!

I'm impressed that two of you recognized this structure in an obscure German town. I thought it looked somewhat sinister so I looked it up. Porta Nigra translates as "dark gate"and over centuries a church was built onto one side of it so I guess there's nothing sinister about it. Trier was protected by four different Portae in Roman times.

andys120

sda

53 Olds Fiesta

fintail

Toyota HQ 1979:

andys120

On the extreme left a blue Corolla hatchback (AE86) sold in US as a Corolla SE, elsewhere as a Trueno or Sprinter

andys120

sda said:

53 Olds Fiesta

Yup, the Fiesta was one of the limited production cars offered by GM in 1953. The Fiesta and it's Cadillac equivalent the ElDorado featured the wraparound front glass that would be seen on most cars in 1955. Unlike the Buick Skylark and the Eldo, the Fiesta did not have wire wheels as standard.

omarman

Top right scarlet and gray '78 Monte Carlo.

stickguy

and top left a Fairmont.

center the silver hatch is a Celica Supra. Long nose and distinct grill.

fintail

Supra next to it, too, and the white one appears to be another Supra. Both sedans are first gen Cressida, what I call the "baroque" generation with round lights. I kind of like those. Older lady across the street from my grandma had one, apparently bought new, and kept it for eons - always had it when I was a kid, and it was always immaculate. Replaced by a Corolla after the turn of the century, probably ruined by a vaping stancedork by now.

I believe the blue Corolla is an E50 liftback, 1976+, now a unicorn but once fairly common here. AE86 is an 80s model.

andys120

I didn't know this one either. It's postwar British.