Mystery car pix

omarman

Maybe "Ford Edsels" and "Mercury Edsels" are the easy button way of splaining why Edsel failed. Consumers already had the option of shopping Ford and Mercury so what was the perceived bridge for car buyers to cross over to Ford Edsels and Mercury Edsels?

Mr_Shiftright

Trim levels I guess. More chrome. More gadgets.

andys120

A U.S. interceptor became the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records.


The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter IIRC

berri

GM put their mid priced brands on two chassis back then too such as Bonneville v. Catalina. Very symbolic picture Omar. Andys, don't think we had any vehicle called starfighter, but we did have Ford Starliners and Oldsmobile Starfires (oh, and I think maybe a Studebaker Starlight or some such).

kyfdx

berri said:

GM put their mid priced brands on two chassis back then too such as Bonneville v. Catalina. Very symbolic picture Omar. Andys, don't think we had any vehicle called starfighter, but we did have Ford Starliners and Oldsmobile Starfires (oh, and I think maybe a Studebaker Starlight or some such).

Star Chief!

berri

Oh that's right. For 58 Bonneville was a restricted model like the Impala, but on a longer chassis (wheelbase) than the Impala IIRC. Nice looking car. I also think the Star Chiefs had some chrome stars or something on the rear fenders.

omarman

andys120 said:

A U.S. interceptor became the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records.


The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter IIRC

Great pic. Here's a b+w pic of the same two F-104A Starfighters identified by their buzz numbers FG-769 and FG-781. There's an F-104C on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB. Surprised to read that according to the FAA there are 10 privately owned F-104s in the U.S.

andys120

texases

omarman said:

A U.S. interceptor became the first aircraft to simultaneously hold the world speed and altitude records. The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter IIRC

Great pic. Here's a b+w pic of the same two F-104A Starfighters identified by their buzz numbers FG-769 and FG-781. There's an F-104C on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB. Surprised to read that according to the FAA there are 10 privately owned F-104s in the U.S.

I’m guessing those 10 include ones in museums, right?

Michaell

andys120 said:

Ford Cortina?

andys120

Michaell said:

andys120 said:

Ford Cortina?

Yes but the yellow badge on the grille indicates that it is a ('66) Lotus-Ford Consul Cortina. Unfortunately NSH, it could have been Britain's answer to the 2002.

andys120

omarman

Wiki noted that 3 F-104 Starfighter variants are apparently airworthy and in use by a private company. "Starfighters Inc, a civilian demonstration team in Florida, operates three ex-Canadian Military CF-104 Starfighters (1 CF-104D and 2 CF-104s)...Another, 5303 (104633), civil registry: N104JR is owned and operated by a private collector in Arizona." Many more are listed as being on display in museums.

berri

A latter version VW Karman Ghia?

Fighter jets - I always liked the F4 Phantom.

andys120

Yup, those are known as VolkswagenType 34s. They were never officially sold in the US AFAIK. The pictured car is a 1968 VW Karmann-Ghia.

Mr_Shiftright

berri said:

A latter version VW Karman Ghia?

Fighter jets - I always liked the F4 Phantom.

Didn't Starfighters crash a lot?

omarman

According to Wiki's Lockheed F-104 Starfighter page:
The poor safety record of the Starfighter also brought the aircraft into the public eye, especially in German Air Force service. Fighter ace Erich Hartmann was forced to retire from the Luftwaffe due to his outspoken opposition to selection of the F-104...American pilots called it the Zipper or Zip-104 because of its prodigious speed.

In Germany it earned several less-charitable names due to its high accident rate, a common name being Fliegender Sarg ("Flying Coffin"). It was also called Witwenmacher ("Widowmaker"), or Erdnagel ("ground nail"), the official military term for a tent peg.

andys120

Michaell

Saab 93?

andys120

Michaell said:

Saab 93?

Right make, wrong number.

stickguy

96?

ab348

Saab 99 I believe.

andys120

ab348 said:

Saab 99 I believe.

That's it ab348, it's a 1973 SAAB 99.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright

andys120 said:

ab348 said:

Saab 99 I believe.

That's it ab348, it's a 1973 SAAB 99.

A very advanced car for its time, but alas, somewhat satanic in nature.

berri

Omnirizon coupe. Did one of the sport models get called the 023 or some such maybe?

stickguy

Omni 024 and horizon TC3. That’s a Plymouth version.

andys120

stickguy said:

Omni 024 and horizon TC3. That’s a Plymouth version.

Yep, that's Chrysler's pitiful imitation of the VW Scirocco, an '83 Plymouth Horizon TC3.

andys120

berri

62 Pontiac Catalina. I'll take a 61

andys120

berri said:

62 Pontiac Catalina. I'll take a 61

On the nose.

andys120

stickguy

The Austin that came here as a Plymouth cricket?

ab348

Not Austin, Hillman.

ab348

andys120 said:

berri said:

62 Pontiac Catalina. I'll take a 61

On the nose.

Posted in the "I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today!" board last week. A really nice original car found on Hemmings.

berri

I had a friend in college that drove an old Hillman. I don't know, but swear by the car's peculiarities it had Lucas electrics.

Mr_Shiftright

Might well have. Hillmans were quite popular in the Caribbean, where cold-starts weren't very necessary.

Mr_Shiftright

They made 8 of these, so it might be able to squeak into this topic. It's a race car of tremendous historical significance:

ab348

That looks like Jimmy Clark's winning Lotus-Ford from the 1965 Indy 500.

Mr_Shiftright

Yep- good job! Do you remember the model number?

This car changed the Indy 500 forever. Small and light, it simply outclassed all the front-engine roadsters of the time. Soon after, no front-engine cars raced at Indy.

One of my favorite Chapman quotes apropos of this race: (might be slightly re-worded): "Any fool can engineer a bridge to not fail. But it takes a genius to engineer a bridge to JUST NOT quite fail".

omarman

Amazing car, place, and time for the Lotus 38 and the men who made it happen. Dan Gurney said, "I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. You felt like you were making history, and that’s always good."

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, Dan Gurney has also passed. That guy won just about everything.

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

One of my favorite Chapman quotes apropos of this race: (might be slightly re-worded): "Any fool can engineer a bridge to not fail. But it takes a genius to engineer a bridge to JUST NOT quite fail".

I only recently learned of some of Chapman's less admirable traits. There was a BBC documentary on him from the '90s I found on YouTube that laid out some of the things in his personal life re. cheating on his wife, etc., and in his business life regarding him as a boss, some of the questionable financial dealings he did with DeLorean on his vehicle, and so on. But certainly a remarkable engineer.

omarman

At year's end now I'm seeing lists of Legends Lost in 2018. Twitter comment by Chuck Yeager, January 14, 2018.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright

Atsa nice!

kyfdx

California?

andys120

kyfdx said:

California?

Right make, wrong model.

Michaell

575?

fintail

599 GTB Fiorano, perhaps