Mystery car pix

imidazol97

Wow. That's something I didn't recall about that group of cars. Chevy Monza was going to be my choice. Rotary motor? That's interesting.

negative

fintail

Fiat Multipla from a few years back. I think its kinda cool in a freakshow way.

stickguy

they were easy to tell apart. MOre than the grille was different, but that was the easiest clue. Can't tell you what exactly wa different at this point, but I know which one it is when I see it!

Scary now that I think about it..

Almost bought a '75 V8 4 speed Monza. That was the one where you had to jack up the engine to change the back plugs.

kyfdx

I seem to remember the Monza's headlight cluster being more flush with the front end of the car...

My first new car was a '77 Mustang Cobra II with a 302 V-8. The Monza and Mustang II were big competitors then.. You could also get the Monza with a 305 V-8...

It was a dark, dark time for car enthusiasts..

subearu

Dowh, I've always gotten the Skyhawk and Skylark confused.

-Brian

andys120

negative

Yup. This one's an '02. So homely and sad, it almost looks like it needs to be comforted. The current model looks a lot more mainstream.

negative

'64 Ford. Not sure of the model. Galaxy 500?

imidazol97

Ford 1964 Galaxie
Were the flags 390 or 352 motor?

andys120

390s 406s and 427s got flags, lesser motors didn't IIRC.
It's a '64 Galaxie 500

navigator89

negative

Seems to have the Pontiac arrowhead in the grille. Is this some sort of Pontiac clone of a Chevy Aveo?

bumpy

Pontiac Wave in Canada, and yes it's an Aveo clone.

bumpy

These three were meant to be the first GM models to have rotary engines, but the poor fuel economy of the rotary engine doomed that idea after the Arab oil embargo.

And we should be eternally thankful for that, given the abominable state of GM engineering in the 1970s. At a conference around 1974, some GM engineers complained about impossibly onerous emission standards, so Soichiro Honda CVCC'ed a small-block 350 that easily passed those standards just to prove that it could be done. Did GM beg Honda for a CVCC license? Nooooo, they slung three tons of smog crap on the motor and detuned the ever-loving-hell out of it instead. A rotary from those idiots would have been an unmitigated disaster from day one.

Instead of oversized, underpowered small-blocks, GM could have bought back the old Buick aluminum 215 from Rover and used that engine family in the Monza clones.

andys120

This one's kind of a cheater because it's not yet a production car but it will be soon>>


Don't you wish we could have it.

lemko

Looks like some kind of Alfa from what I can see of the grille plus I spot the small Pininfarina badge.

Per the CVCC 350 V-8, how much would've it cost for GM to license and build a CVCC engine compared to the approach they took? Also, does Honda still use CVCC?

tom1sharon2

Is it an Alfa Romeo?

fintail

I think it is a Brera. They have been all over the British mags.

stickguy

GM at the time (probably today too) likely only looked at the botom line $$. If the crap they added cost $10 less than a much better functional solution, guess which way they went? Hey, all cars ran crappy in those days, and everyone would buy a GM anyway, so why make a good product?

Besides, I'm sure GM wouldn't lower themselves to the embarrasment of licensing something from Japan! Although theywould have had to do that for the rotary... (or at least Germany).

andys120

Yep, it's the Spider version of the new Alfa Brera. You guys are sharp today.

Try another?>>

stickguy

GT 350. Not sure if it is a '65 or '66 (or an H)

I love that car.

andys120

It's a '66 which you can tell by the rear quarter window, on a '65 it's a vent just as on the contemporary Mustang 2+2 (AKA "fastback".

andys120

bumpy

Per the CVCC 350 V-8, how much would've it cost for GM to license and build a CVCC engine compared to the approach they took? Also, does Honda still use CVCC?

Dunno about the per-unit cost, but Ford and Chrysler thought enough to get a license. (CVCC is basically a lean-burn stratified charge, with a prechamber in the head. Nothing terribly exotic or difficult for competent engineers, which were hard to find at the domestics in those days.) The CVCC system was superseded by the implementation of port fuel injection, but might make a return of sorts if the research into sub-stoichiometric direction-injection gas engines pans out.

bumpy

It looks like an early-70s El Camino, but the GMC badge makes it a Sprint. One of GM's better-kept secrets. (I wonder if you could stuff a 478 V6 in there to make it a real GMC?)

stickguy

A, a trick question. It is a 1970ish (70-72)GMC version of the El Camino. Of course I can't remember the model name right now...

I would have said it was an EC except I read the grill.

negative

I believe it was called a GMC Sprint.

As for the Chevelle on which it was based, there were few changes between '71 and '72. I think the parking lights in front were solid in '71, and split horizontally in '72 (or vice versa), so I'll go with '72.

navigator89

Pontiac Wave is correct. Nice name, too bad they used it on a rebadged Korean car. Cars like this insult Pontiac's sporty image, if that's what they are going for. Lol just look how small those tires are!

andys120

t looks like an early-70s El Camino, but the GMC badge makes it a Sprint. One of GM's better-kept secrets. (I wonder if you could stuff a 478 V6 in there to make it a real GMC?)

It's a '71, some of 'em had 454s in 'em, that seems real enough.

andys120

magnette

Actually, I think the big Jag is a Mark VII, the VIII and IX had a curved, one piece windscreen.

magnette

Peugeot 404 Coupe, 1962-68.

magnette

Sorry to be Mr Euro-pedantic, but we knew this car as the Daf 44 (at least, the ones with the glass windscreen...) Styled by Michelotti, and it was introduced in 1967, although it kept going for quite a while, certainly into the early 70's. I drove a Daf once - the little one (33). It had a simple lever on the floor - forward to go forwards, backwards to go back - Variomatic transmission, which was really a load of cones and a big rubber band, and acceleration (which you measured with a calendar not a stopwatch), was like driving with permanent clutch slip. Not much good on hills either - not that that would have been a problem in its native Holland.

magnette

Now there is a car I've never heard of - either the Wave or the Aveo....

By the way, I'm going back to class on my non existant computer skills after my failed efforts to post a picture (hope I wasn't the reason the site crashed a few days back) - thanks to those of you who proffered advice, and eventually, I'll get it sorted...
Although I still have some way to go - I've just managed to post this message five times (sorry) so I'm responsible for the next few missing numbers...

tom1sharon2

navigator89

There's something wrong with your picture, it wont show.

negative

kyfdx

Wild stab...

Ford Capri Touring..

tom1sharon2

Rats! Just when I thought I had this picture posting business all figured out.

negative

It does look similar, doesn't it?

But this is actually a 1976 Reliant Scimitar GTE (SE6a), made by the company better known for its three-wheelers. Back in 1984, when I spent a month on the British roads "on holiday," I saw a handful of these and wondered what they were.

bumpy

Variomatic transmission, which was really a load of cones and a big rubber band, and acceleration (which you measured with a calendar not a stopwatch), was like driving with permanent clutch slip.

Nowadays we call it a CVT- continuously variable transmission. The current examples are more sophisticated, but still basically the same thing.

bumpy

Now there is a car I've never heard of - either the Wave or the Aveo....

They're both a Daewoo Kalos with uglier noses and new badges. Does Chevy sell the Kalos sedan in the UK?

hangaralf1

but i came in way late on this. I'm enjoying this discussion immensely. But in reference to the post number 668 - the ghastly thing that is shown there - are you sure that it wasn't a pontiac aztek proto?

boomchek

navigator89

Easy, that's a Hyundai Terracan.

boomchek

I figured it would be easy for you navi. when I firtst saw the picture I thought it looked a bit like the Toyota Land Cruiser, and a bit like the Forester.

Just picked up the "What Car?" New Car Guide. It lists all the vehicles for sale in the UK. some really interesting ones in there.

andys120

fintail

Volvo 780 ca. 1989

boomchek

Bertone styled body iirc