Mystery car pix

Michaell

boomchek said:

Lol that was fast. When I first saw it I thought it was a Mazda CX7 knock off, or based on it but it is a Renault Kadjar.

Yeah, as a former owner of a CX-7, I certainly see the resemblance.

Is "Kadjar" French for "clone"?

andys120

texases

'68+ Volvo 142.

stickguy

I want it. But sadly it’s the dog of an automatic.

andys120

texases said:

'68+ Volvo 142.

Yup.

Mr_Shiftright

boomchek said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

That's a 308 GT4 2+2, so could be 1974-1979, They made a fair number of them, and it is one of the least expensive Ferraris. It is regarded as a second generation "Fiat Era" Ferrari, not an "Enzo Era". Yours for around $65K today in nice shape.

Speaking of cheap Ferraris I'd take a Dino 308 over a Mondial. I personally never liked the Mondial's lines or proportions in coupe or convertible form.

Yeah me too. Mondial? Woof! Woof!

fintail

Mondials are best used for "Weird Science" reenactments:

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy said:

I want it. But sadly it’s the dog of an automatic.

Borg Warner automatic. It's sad, really sad, to drive one of those. I think it was called the BW T35 or something like that.

What you gotta do with that car is slap a B20E cylinder head on it, rebuild a set of Swedish "SU" (not the Strombergs), get a little livelier camshaft, aluminum timing gears (ditch the fiber ones), electronic ignition and you're good to go!

tjc78

Mystery engine

ab348

stickguy said:

I want it. But sadly it’s the dog of an automatic.

Dad had one of those with the automatic, a ‘68. Indeed, it was a dog, but he loved it.

That one at BaT had over 400K miles on it, so someone didn’t mind driving it.

ab348

tjc78 said:

Mystery engine

It doesn’t look like much fun regardless of what it is.

stickguy

BaT now has a 1982 stick shift 245 turbo wagon running. Man, they are teasing me now. Being in San Fran will eliminate any chance of doing something stupid.

kyfdx

Has to be a front driver.

lostwrench1

ab348 said:

stickguy said:

I want it. But sadly it’s the dog of an automatic.

Dad had one of those with the automatic, a ‘68. Indeed, it was a dog, but he loved it.

That one at BaT had over 400K miles on it, so someone didn’t mind driving it.

I had a stick 1980 diesel Rabbit bought new. It was a dog but I loved it. I got 289,000 miles out of it.

omarman

Mazda 2 liter diesel, 52 hp. Ford Escort option in 1984.

andys120

lostwrench1

Well, the license plate tells the year of this Plymouth Suburban. Could be a Sport.

Michaell

omarman said:

Mazda 2 liter diesel, 52 hp. Ford Escort option in 1984.

I almost bought one of these new in 1985.

The '79 Sunbird I was driving in college got totaled, and I got $2000 for it from the insurance company. I seriously considered using that money as a down payment on one of these, but my parents talked me out of it. I still had a couple months of school left, and I didn't have a job yet afterwards. They thought that me taking on a car loan was not the greatest idea.

In the end, it was a good decision to pass on it. After I graduated school, I moved back home and ended up buying a one-year-old 1985 Honda accord hatchback.

bhill2

lostwrench1 said:

Well, the license plate tells the year of this Plymouth Suburban. Could be a Sport.

It has a top-trim look about it. Also, it's a V-8.

tjc78

@omarman
Nailed it! 1984 Ford Escort Diesel. In this case, wagon. I don't have the pic on this computer, but we all know what they looked like.

andys120

tjc78 said:

@omarman
Nailed it! 1984 Ford Escort Diesel. In this case, wagon. I don't have the pic on this computer, but we all know what they looked like.

IIRC some escort Diesel motors came from BMW

tjc78

Didn’t know that. The early 80s Continental and Mark VII had a BMW diesel option as well.  

andys120

How are you at recognizing cars from behind>

stickguy

Batwing chevys are easy! Is the dark convertible a Mercedes Ponton?

fintail

Would that Escort diesel engine be the same as in a Tempo diesel? I still remember taking the stereo out of an 86 Tempo diesel in a junkyard ca. 1994-95, when the one in our old Tempo finally crapped out. The diesel model was very clean, 5-speed, but suffered some mysterious terminal malady, I suspect engine-related.

tjc78

I’d hope not.  52 HP in an Escort is bad enough.  In the Tempo it would have been downright scary!!

fintail

You're on the right track. It appears to be an early 50s W187 220 cabriolet, quite a rare car even then. A small amount were sold here new, maybe a Max Hoffman import or similar. Those cars had prewar styling cues, including functional landau bars:



Looks like Chevy was popular in Chicago. Newest cars? I see a couple I think are 1961 models - a cigar/bullet T-Bird in the far right lane near the "Edens" sign (directly in front of a 59 Chevy), and a 61 Caddy in front of that, and maybe a 61 Buick in front of that. Car at lower right appears to be a 61 Comet. In the next row to the left, in front of a 60 Caddy, I think I see a 61 Ford convertible.

stickguy said:

Batwing chevys are easy! Is the dark convertible a Mercedes Ponton?

ab348

stickguy said:

Batwing chevys are easy!

And popular too back then it seems. I count at least 4 or 5 of them.

lostwrench1

On the far left a 1960 Olds wagon.

tmart

Square Bird on left plus a 59 Ford. Several 57 Fords.

Mr_Shiftright

Mercury Comet on the right with optional trunk-mounted cargo pod.

texases

So much for the "Big 3" - I only see one Mopar for sure, the '60 Dodge in the lower right corner.

bhill2

ab348 said:

stickguy said:

Batwing chevys are easy!

And popular too back then it seems. I count at least 4 or 5 of them.

One of those batwings may be kind of a unicorn. At the bottom of the leftmost stacked lane there is a white (or very light) flat-top, with a darker flat-top just to the right and in front of it. The dark one is the usual Impala trim, but from what I see the white one is a Bel-Air. Not a lot of those around.

andys120

Middle Left, a Volkswagen Beetle. it's hard to tell a year on those but it has the big rear window which debuted in '58 or '59 so it's relatively new in a '61 photo. Not many imports in Chicagoland. I think you'd see at least three or four in a similar shot in NY or Boston that year.

magnette

Nice shot - makes it more interesting with all tail views...

Two ahead of the M-Benz is that a Mopar Wagon? - Perhaps a 58 Plymouth Suburban ?

Ahead of that the sedan with the double tail light illuminated - would that be a Pontiac (say 59?)
EDIT - actually I think I mean 58 for the possible Pontiac

At the point where the roads diverge and people are pushing in, there is a small car - probably a Beetle, and that has a wide car directly ahead of it - but two in front of that the large light coloured car makes me think of a 58 Lincoln as it is big enough.

fintail

I think you are right on the Lincoln, magnette.

I also notice in front of the apparent 61 Buick in the middle of the rightmost lane, a 60 Ford, and in front of that, a pair of 60 Chevys. I suppose in an area as hard on cars as Chicago, and at a time when rustproofing wasn't really a thing, cars tended to be newer than older.

magnette

Its funny - half the cars on that photo would have been unknown here at the time or at least only in places like Central London or near US airfields or similar in East Anglia

The one which are most familiar to me from this rear shot are the 59 Chevrolets which are distinctive (and I had a model one from Corgi toys at the time) and that possible Plymouth wagon (again thanks to Corgi toys)....

fintail

I learned a lot about unusual or exotic/alien cars via toy/model vehicles as well.

I have several 60s era issues of "Autocar", which have interesting classifieds sections. I can't imagine piloting a 60 US Ford around narrow British country lanes.

magnette

We used to have the "Observers book of Automobiles" which was updated every year and was about 230 pages or so with technical data and a photo - one car per page generally.

They covered a smattering of cars from most european makes, the majority of British ones and the basics of the US makes too - so you'd be able to see a Ford Falcon, the Fairlane, a Galaxy, one of the wagons and probably at least two Mercurys or a Lincoln etc.

What was good was they also had really obscure stuff - always a Holden and some Austin or whatever from Australia, and perhaps an Aussie Ford or Chrysler, and a page or two on the main Japanese makes too - and at the end the Zil and the Zaprohets...

They were really good pocket sized books and they went through various editions from the late 50s to early 70s. I had most of them for the 60s at least.

They also had an companion volume for the latest Aircraft, too.

These were really small books with a page size about 4 x 3 inches and hard covered so they lasted. I;ve still got a few of them although they are falling apart......

magnette

I often wonder about the people who use really big American cars on our main roads let alone country lanes.....

If you find a you tube video called "Welsh Driving Roads A4061" - I learned to drive on that in the early 70s - it is a proper two lane road with real traffic only about six miles from my old family home and we used to go over that all the time - from my first Morris Minor Traveller up to the present Fiesta S I have tried it many times as it is just great fun - the section on that video joins to a number of other roads that take us across half of South Wales..

Its not narrow - just a lot of bends given it is used as a proper main road and there are lorries and coaches too although less so in the weekends.

fintail

I think size and thirst made American cars less relevant in overseas markets even more than any quality claims. American cars had endless cachet before and shortly after the war, but eventually became just too big and wild, and then the competition started making products that could be viable alternatives.

texases

The thought that something could be done to make the Japanese buy more US cars....laughable.

andys120

fintail said:

I think you are right on the Lincoln, magnette.

Are we talking about the white car ahead of the VW?? Two big round taillights with a coupe of small lights on the rear fenders, that says '59 Ford loud and clear>



Let me see the Lincoln you think it is.

magnette

No, its not that VW. I'm looking ahead on the lane with the M Benz at our end.

Nine or ten cars ahead of the M-B there is a small rounded car at about the point where the which I assumed is a VW although it might be something else - certainly a small roof.

It is three cars beyond that - it is a very wide light or white coloured car, pretty much exactly at the point where the left hand carriageway stats to curve away tour left, while our three lanes of slow traffic crawl on ahead.

Its adjacent to the point where the little triangle of grass appears between the two carriageways. It really is a very wide car with a flat square look to it like a large 58 or so Lincoln.

Something like this

andys120

Okay, I see the one you mean, its kind of fuzzy but it's really big as were those late 50s Lincolns. Speaking of big, is that a '59 Cadillac just ahead of the Pontiac that's ahead of the Benz.

My father in law got stationed in Poitiers, France during the early 6os and quickly found out that his '57 Olds was way too big and thirsty. He kept the Olds for highway tours but acquired a Fiat 1200 for local use.

tmart

andys120 said:

fintail said:

I think you are right on the Lincoln, magnette.

Are we talking about the white car ahead of the VW?? Two big round taillights with a coupe of small lights on the rear fenders, that says '59 Ford loud and clear>



Let me see the Lincoln you think it is.

Nice looking car! Miss the tutones. The new cars. just don’t have the body lines to make it look good.

Mr_Shiftright

You might be right about that:

imidazol97

magnette said:

No, its not that VW. I'm looking ahead on the lane with the M Benz at our end.

Nine or ten cars ahead of the M-B there is a small rounded car at about the point where the which I assumed is a VW although it might be something else - certainly a small roof.

It is three cars beyond that - it is a very wide light or white coloured car, pretty much exactly at the point where the left hand carriageway stats to curve away tour left, while our three lanes of slow traffic crawl on ahead.

Its adjacent to the point where the little triangle of grass appears between the two carriageways. It really is a very wide car with a flat square look to it like a large 58 or so Lincoln.

Something like this

How about a 1959 Mercury




https://www.imcdb.org/v243513.html

fintail

Ooooh I like that blue and white 60 Ford Galaxie Town Victoria in that second pic.

fintail

I still see it, too. Imid's Mercury suggestion is also a good one, but the V shaped fin seems smaller in your pic, like the Lincoln. As the curved bumper area appears flatter in the street scene pic, perhaps it is a 60 Lincoln.

magnette said:

No, its not that VW. I'm looking ahead on the lane with the M Benz at our end.