Mystery car pix

andys120

imidazol97 said:

Probably not much of a mystery to folks on here, I'm sure. But I have no idea as to how unusual or common this vehicle is. This puppy looks like something a few professors drove when I was in college.

You must've gone to a cool school, the Porsche 356 was one of the best sports cars of the era. The 356B dates to the late 50s early/60s.

fintail

I'm not a fanatic, but I like Edsels, especially the wacky 58s and smooth 60s.

Mr_Shiftright said:

Are there any "Edsel fanatics"? I thought they were all depressed.

Mr_Shiftright

Well Edsel collectors yes, but "fanatic" seems like a strong word for this car.

bhill2

Mr_Shiftright said:

Well Edsel collectors yes, but "fanatic" seems like a strong word for this car.

You must not have checked out the links texases posted. They’re out there.

omarman

I clicked on the Edsel World link and went down the rabbit hole leading to an off road racing page including 2 Edsels prepped to run the Baja 1000! Very cool and a bit of mystery too.

At the middle of the page there's a second Edsel pic wearing #6 labeled as "Appears to be an Edsel." It looks like a tribute car based on the original 1958 Edsel "Baja Beast" which competed in the Baja 1000 in the 70's!

If that's not "fanatic" then it lives in the same zip code.

imidazol97

You must've gone to a cool school, the Porsche 356 was one of the best sports cars of the era. The 356B dates to the late 50s early/60s.


Rear of this model.

Mr_Shiftright

omarman said:

I clicked on the Edsel World link and went down the rabbit hole leading to an off road racing page including 2 Edsels prepped to run the Baja 1000! Very cool and a bit of mystery too.

At the middle of the page there's a second Edsel pic wearing #6 labeled as "Appears to be an Edsel." It looks like a tribute car based on the original 1958 Edsel "Baja Beast" which competed in the Baja 1000 in the 70's!

If that's not "fanatic" then it lives in the same zip code.

Well yes that last one qualifies in my book as "fanatic" but the rest of the links are just club events. Practically every car in the world has a club. A car fanatic (to me, anyway) is like Tesla owners--where you can't utter a word of criticism or skepticism without dire consequence. There's a quality of....oh, what would you call it....mystical reverence....like if a guy had an ALTAR built to his Edsel, and 100 stuffed Edsel toys, and Edsel signs in his house, and an Edsel clock on the wall.

You know. "over the top" devotion to a car.

omarman

I didn't click on the other links because "Edsel World" on the screen just looked to me like it promised the kind of devotion that you posted.

The way my dad used to talk about his Hudson Hornet had a similar ring of fan clamor. I've read that Hudson had a "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" image for a while anyway.

thebean

ab348

Funny thing about the step-down Hudsons - I don't think I've ever seen one at a car show here, and I don't remember seeing any of them when I was a tyke back in the early 1960s either, yet I have a strange fascination with them. I think that if there was ever a '50s car I might want it would be one of those. Don't ask me why because I don't know.

andys120

ab348 said:

Funny thing about the step-down Hudsons - I don't think I've ever seen one at a car show here, and I don't remember seeing any of them when I was a tyke back in the early 1960s either, yet I have a strange fascination with them. I think that if there was ever a '50s car I might want it would be one of those. Don't ask me why because I don't know.

I think the Step-down Hudsons were really cool. They are pretty scarce, I haven't seen one in several years but the ones advertised in Hemmings and the like seem reasonably priced. I've toyed w the idea of getting one.

They were kind of the BMW's of the early 50s with good style, 6 cylinder performance and strongly built.

andys120

thebean said:

At first I thought it was an Amphicar but it lacks the cooling louvers on the rear deck so it has to be an NSU Spider.

thebean

Bingo. 1965 model. I'm oddly fascinated by these, as @ab348 is with the Hudson step-down. But, only to look at, never to own. Maybe if I win the Powerball.

Mr_Shiftright

andys120 said:

ab348 said:

Funny thing about the step-down Hudsons - I don't think I've ever seen one at a car show here, and I don't remember seeing any of them when I was a tyke back in the early 1960s either, yet I have a strange fascination with them. I think that if there was ever a '50s car I might want it would be one of those. Don't ask me why because I don't know.

I think the Step-down Hudsons were really cool. They are pretty scarce, I haven't seen one in several years but the ones advertised in Hemmings and the like seem reasonably priced. I've toyed w the idea of getting one.

They were kind of the BMW's of the early 50s with good style, 6 cylinder performance and strongly built.

They have wonderful dashboard and interior trim. It's like being in a chrome cave. For their time, they handle pretty well, too, and if you put on some vintage speed equipment, they go pretty good, even by a modern standard.

andys120

bhill2

I hate it when I'm playing outside my area of expertise, but I will hazard a guess at Aston Martin DB2.

tjc78

thebean said:

What a way to ruin an 06+ Panther

fintail

For the money spent, you could no doubt buy a very nice real Edsel.

Mr_Shiftright

Admirable skill level, but it just doesn't work IMO

texases

Interesting how Bugatti gets a 'pass' with its horseshoe grill. Not good looking, to me.

stickguy

I like the wheels on it at least

Mr_Shiftright

texases said:

Interesting how Bugatti gets a 'pass' with its horseshoe grill. Not good looking, to me.

I think it helps if your marque won LeMans a lot in the past, or if you can go 250+ mph in the present. Having a good resume seems to forgive a lot of styling missteps.

One wouldn't call the Edsel "steeped in glory".

At least the Model T and the Mustang have some street creds.

tjc78

stickguy said:

I like the wheels on it at least

Mustang wheels.

bhill2

fintail said:

For the money spent, you could no doubt buy a very nice real Edsel.

What strikes me is that for the money spent you could buy a very nice CV or GM and have enough left over to do something else very nice (to the CV/GM or somewhere else).

fintail

Or buy a nice CV/GM and a good enough Edsel, no doubt. Then you'd have the best of both worlds (if you are into that), as well as having a sturdy daily driver and a fun hobby car.

bhill2 said:

fintail said:

For the money spent, you could no doubt buy a very nice real Edsel.

What strikes me is that for the money spent you could buy a very nice CV or GM and have enough left over to do something else very nice (to the CV/GM or somewhere else).

omarman

I don't think that guy wanted a nice CV or GM. I don't know who the owner is but the picture of his car tells something about his story: He didn't want a CV or GM. Some people are highly self-motivated.

berri

Well, that Edsel conversion probably gets some attention I suppose. I suspect the owner is a fan or maybe either had one in his family or owned one years back. Much cheaper than all the chrome needed to recreate a 58 Oldsmobile

andys120

tjc78

Was going through an old photo album to find a picture and came across this. 

ab348

andys120 said:

That’s probably the best angle for a ‘54 Nash Henley LeMans. Nice design for the most part but the front end styling doesn’t work for me. 

Mr_Shiftright

In the French style.

fintail

~1985? Charger. I like old photo album pics, I wish my parents would have been more sentimental, and devoted more time to pics of their cars. Always just in the background.

tjc78 said:

Was going through an old photo album to find a picture and came across this

tjc78

Yep 85.  Brand new in that pic.  Not long after the paint started peeling.

Can anyone grab the car with just the taillight parked in front of the 85?  

fintail

1980+ Cordoba/Mirada?

Granada/Monarch coupe across the street, too.

tjc78

Nope!  

Yes pretty sure it was a Granada.  It was replaced by a first gen Taurus, then a jelly bean Taurus.  

fintail

I was also thinking maybe an early Panther, but I don't think that's it either.

Funny thing, I can remember most of the cars of close neighbors from the time I was about 5 onwards.

tjc78

Panther it was.  1980 Mark VI Givenchy. Funny story, that car almost burned to the ground when it a few years old.  

That was my grandparents street.  I remember the neighbor’s cars too.  There was a late 70s Grand Marquis through the late 90s and first generation Cavalier that was oddly really loaded up.  

Our street was full of Mopar minivans and Taurus’.   Neighbor to the left had an interesting mix.  86 Chrysler Fifth Ave and a similar vintage Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 

fintail

I forgot about those. Can't be too many of the coupes left now. I'll guess it put out maybe 130 hp.

When I was a little kid, the people across the street had a late 70s Blazer with a removable top, a then-new RX7 that I loved, and a Vega wagon - nice mix. A couple houses down I recall a "glasshouse" Caprice sport coupe, and a soft top Jeep next door. We moved I think around 1983, and the new neighbor had an early Camry, Marty McFly style Toyota 4x4, early 40s Chevy pickup, and a Fiat X1/9 - another nice mix. On the other side was a hippie-ish woman with a Beetle. Lots of other more ordinary 70s and 80s cars - gentle climate here allowed cars to age gracefully, so 60s cars scattered around, too.

On my grandma's street, there was an immaculate first gen Cressida until around 2005, traded in on a Corolla, ugh. Someone a few houses down also had a ~73 Buick and first gen Tempo until a couple years ago, and further down the block, there was a 63 Impala 2 door HT sitting outside from the time I was a little kid up until a few years ago. The development was built mostly from around 1960-67 or so, and there are still a few original owners on her block.

andys120

ab348 said:

andys120 said:

That’s probably the best angle for a ‘54 Nash Henley LeMans. Nice design for the most part but the front end styling doesn’t work for me. 

I agree w you about the from end. The headlights were just too close together>



Very early ones (1951) had nicer styling, particularly in front.>



Pininfarina restyled the N-Hs for '52 changing the grille and adding small tailfins. Last week's episode of Jay Leno's Garage featured Mitt Romney's '54 Nash-Healey. They were pretty good performers for their day but expensive because they used Nash drivetrains but were assembled in Britain at the Healey works using Healey tube frames. A special bodied Nash-Healey finished 3rd at LeMans in 1951.

tjc78

tjc78 said:

Panther it was.  1980 Mark VI Givenchy. Funny story, that car almost burned to the ground when it a few years old.  

That was my grandparents street.  I remember the neighbor’s cars too.  There was a late 70s Grand Marquis through the late 90s and first generation Cavalier that was oddly really loaded up.  

Our street was full of Mopar minivans and Taurus’.   Neighbor to the left had an interesting mix.  86 Chrysler Fifth Ave and a similar vintage Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce. 

I couldn't tell you that last time I saw a Mark VI coupe let alone a designer one. That was Pop's car. It was all loaded up with everything but digital dash. 8 Track digital radio and the "premium sound" knob. It replaced a Coupe DeVille, and started a long line of Panthers for him (85 LTC, 89 MGM, 93 and 98 LTCs, and finally a 2004 MGM)

andys120

berri

A mid 60's Continental, not sure of specific year though.

Mr_Shiftright

mebbe.....'63? These are lovely cars, and a royal pain to keep in top mechanical condition.

tjc78

63 and 64 look very similar despite being quite different. 64s have a longer rear door and a much different instrument panel.

Pretty sure this is a 63. The windshield is more upright on a 64

Mr_Shiftright

Not the best color for this car. I like either black or white.

ab348

Beautiful design on those Continentals. Ford's problem was that they could never do a follow-up that was better, and the squared-off sharp-edged design they later tried to emulate on a lot of their lesser models never looked as good.

andys120

Yup, it's a 1963 Lincoln Continental, and yes they never did figure out how to top it.

berri

I think I read somewhere that Elwood Engel squared it off because the market, while applauding the original 61 design, wanted a bigger Lincoln.

bhill2

This '63 Continental is for sale and being advertised on the Hemmings. If you have access it's worth reading the listing. It's pretty funny.

imidazol97

bhill2 said:

This '63 Continental is for sale and being advertised on the Hemmings. If you have access it's worth reading the listing. It's pretty funny

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/lincoln/continental/1953162.html