Mystery car pix

andys120

ab348

1970 Imperial I believe.

andys120

ab348 said:

1970 Imperial I believe.

Well yes, a 1970 Chrysler Imperial LeBaron. It looks like a aircraft carrier from that angle which is apropos since it's nearly as big!

andys120

qbrozen

Is that a Marauder? Not sure how to tell other than being all black and maybe the wheels are unique to it.

stickguy

Grill and fog lights point hat way too.

fintail

2002-03 I guess

andys120

fintail said:

2002-03 I guess

Yup, it's a 2003 Mercury Marauder.

qbrozen

fintail said:

2002-03 I guess

The only 2 years produced. Good guess. ;b

andys120

berri

55 or 56 Hudson (aka - Hash)

andys120

berri said:

55 or 56 Hudson (aka - Hash)

Yup, that is the last sad gasp of Hudson/Essex/Terraplane, a 1955 Hudson Wasp Hollywood.

andys120

The guy on the left is a magazine writer but you might recognize the other guy and his connection to the little sports car. The story of how it came to be his is an interesting
one. Who is he? What's the car?

Lostwrench2

Hmmm, were not 1955 Hudson Hollywoods hardtops?

ab348

Jim Clark's Lotus Elite.

lostwrench1

(Test. Ok, I'm back onboard.)
I think the '54, '55, '56, and '57 Hollywoods were all hardtops.

andys120

ab348 said:

Jim Clark's Lotus Elite.

Yes that's Jim Clark posing with the 1962 Lotus Super Elite that was gifted to him as a reward for his great first year driving for Lotus Formula One.
Clark went on to be a double champion before he was killed in 1967 and he's still thought of as one of the best ever.

The Elite was the first Lotus to be sold as a complete car rather than a kit and it was the first to be built primarily for road rather than track use (tho it was quite successful in production sports racing). It pioneered the use of fiberglass bodywork and "backbone" chassis.

lostwrench1

I well remember the day of Jim Clark's fatal accident. It was in 1968 and I was stationed not far from Hockenheim. Some of the guys in the barracks were going to the race but the rainfall that morning lowered their expectations of seeing the race. The fatal crash was not attributed to a wet track.

fintail

Also in Germany (and name the movie if you wish):

Mr_Shiftright

andys120

fintail said:

Also in Germany (and name the movie if you wish):

That'san Alfa "roundtail" Spider of some sort going by in the background.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

The license plate reads "Shamal", it's a variant of the Maserati BiTurbo (late 80s/early 90s)

stickguy

Ford Capri behind the Alfa. And early 70s Benz behind that. And a VW camper.

kyfdx

andys120 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

The license plate reads "Shamal", it's a variant of the Maserati BiTurbo (late 80s/early 90s)

Big giant rear fenders. Guessing it has something special under the hood.

andys120

fintail

Right on the cars from ~1970 Germany, MB looks like a W108 with a W110 fintail nosing in behind the Capri. Also maybe a sliver of Beetle at far left. Car closest to the person is a Borgward Isabella.

Another shot from the same movie with some odd cars, this should make it easy to identify:

texases

Autozam AZ-1

andys120

texases said:

Autozam AZ-1

Right, it was a mid-engine Kei car that was a joint project of Suzuki and Mazda.

Mr_Shiftright

The Shamal has a V-8.

tjc78

qbrozen said:

fintail said:

2002-03 I guess

The only 2 years produced. Good guess. ;b

They were 03 and 04. It was launched in 03 after the last updates the Panther would ever get.

They were also available in Silver, Burgundy, and Dark blue in 04

omarman

Charlie Bucket from the original Willy Wonka movie?
Car with fender mirrors might be BMW 2002.

andys120

omarman said:

Car with fender mirrors might be BMW 2002.

Or any one of the dozen or so Neue Klasse BMW variants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_New_Class

andys120

The Mercedes in the lower left is either a W108 or a W109, among the best Benzes ever made.

omarman

On that wiki page I really like the link to the Hofmeister kink which points out earlier makes and models with similar "kink" features.
Like this one:

fintail

Yep that and the street scene before are from the original Willy Wonka.

omarman said:

Charlie Bucket from the original Willy Wonka movie?
Car with fender mirrors might be BMW 2002.

fintail

The Kaiser Manhattan is a pretty cool and stylish car.

omarman said:

On that wiki page I really like the link to the Hofmeister kink which points out earlier makes and models with similar "kink" features.

lostwrench1

It's a 1951 Kaiser so can't be a Manhattan.

omarman

Hemmings calls this a 1951 Kaiser DeLuxe Golden Dragon (!) which might sound more like a restaurant than a car model. The wiki page for Kaiser Dragon claims that the model name was due to, "a new vinyl upholstery option called "Dragon skin" instead of alligator so people would not think that it was real alligator skin."

Pretty cool considering the limited interior color/options available these days.

berri

Too bad the car had a rep (deserved or not) for vapor lock. But it was quite modern looking for its time. Omar, you sure you didn't read about a Hofmeister Kink in some Bob Guccione Penthouse magazine or see it in a Mel Brooks movie

omarman

Monstrous talent in those old Mel Brooks movies.

berri

There's Hofmeister, which one is the kink

andys120

House built..street not so much..

lostwrench1

I'll grab the 1958 Pontiac Star Chief.

ab348

I'd love to see a pic of that street now and see what it looks like, and if that skinny little tree survived and flourished.

Mr_Shiftright

Well the owner may not have--he would be statistically at his limit right now if that car was new.

That looks like a '58 Plymouth...maybe a Savoy? It's not Christine, of course, not being red----

BTW Christine was supposed to be a 4-door in the book.

andys120

I'm not sure if that's a '57 or a '58 but I think you're right about the Savoy part.

We moved to a street like that in 1958 (except it was paved). The new trees were little twigs then, they're all grown up now but then so are we.

lostwrench1

No, sorry, no cigar.
It's the rare 1958 Plymouth Silver Special.
Note the "knife" on the lower side with the long thin "handle".
Some consider it not rare but very rare.
Mr. Shiftright can tell us how rare.

stickguy

by now, if the tree is still there, it would have gotten too big and likely heaved the sidewalk at minimum.

omarman

1958 Chevy Delray parked in front of garage.

berri

The 58 Plymouth has dial headlights with the parking light above and between the headlights. The 57 has a single headlight, with a bit smaller light (in lieu if second headlight) that functions as a parking light. Designed that way because the dual headlight approval hadn't happened in all states when the 57's came out and Plymouth wanted it to at least look like duals and save changeover costs when duals were all approved. The 57 had been designed originally to accommodate dual headlights.