Mystery car pix

stickguy

A Voyager!

1958 Pontiac?

ab348

That's a 1958 Mercury Voyager wagon. I imagine the restoration costs on those must be astronomical.

tjc78

Wearing 70s Lincoln wheels 

andys120

stickguy said:

A Voyager!

1958 Pontiac?

ab348 said:

That's a 1958 Mercury Voyager wagon. I imagine the restoration costs on those must be astronomical.

Yup, it's 1958 Mercury Voyager, a new one on me. IMHO those late 50s Mercs had really awful handling. I learned to drive on a '59 Monterey.

Mr_Shiftright

What domestic DIDN'T have awful handling in the late 50s? They were all pretty much land whales unless you did some aftermarket stuff to them. Spongy coils and leaf springs, massive overhang, bias ply tires, numb steering, and a good portion of unsprung weight. I guess Corvettes weren't too bad, but even those pogo-sticked on rough roads.

berri

I had a friend who's family drove a 60 Mercury wagon. What I remember most about it was the incredibly narrow in depth dash. As for the 58 Mercury, like many makes that year, I think they cluttered up the 57 looks wise. The 57/58 Mercury wagon that looked kind of different was the 2dr HT version. I just didn't think those lines looked proportionate or something.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

What domestic DIDN'T have awful handling in the late 50s? They were all pretty much land whales unless you did some aftermarket stuff to them. Spongy coils and leaf springs, massive overhang, bias ply tires, numb steering, and a good portion of unsprung weight. I guess Corvettes weren't too bad, but even those pogo-sticked on rough roads.

I'm sure you're right, the 1960 Chevy we had for Driver's Ed was just as vile as the Merc. The steering had no power assist but that was no blessing when practicing parallel parking and three-point turns.

fintail

Lulea Sweden, early 60s:

andys120

The Fintail is a top of the line 220SE. In front of it is a Volvo Duett wagon. The shabby thing in front of that looks like an Opel, so does the blue car behind it.

Magnette can tell us from the plates whether this was taken in Norway, Sweden or Finland.

magnette

That shabby thing is an early Vauxhall Victor - and I think the blue car beyond it would be another Victor too. The green car in our foreground looks like an Opel Rekord, I think.


The plates appear to be Norwegian I believe. EDIT Actually although these look like Norwegian plates they are Swedish - I've found some codes in a book which indicate BD on the Benz was the code for Norrbotten in Sweden and the county town or whatever for that region is Lulea - as on the sign.

Later Sweden went over to a unified system where all plates are issued centrally but these are prior to that (the change was the 70's I think..

magnette

That VW beige coloured 4x4 is an Iltis and pretty much the opposite of the Wrangler jeep - rather than being made as cheap as possible this was a civilian version of a vehicle designed to meet a NATO military contract and they made them at a high price for the German / Austrian / Dutch and a few other armies at one stage. Made it a very expensive piece of kit but no doubt it was a good performer - I think they sold it to all sorts of non military users too like rescue services, police etc...

magnette

going back to that view from Haiti, the car on the left is an Austin Cambridge A55 I think rather than the Morris Oxford - the chrome trim is different.

The black car obscured by the DKW is possibly a Ford or Simca - I am thinking of the French Ford Versailles which later became a Simca Vedette or the Ariane.

They made the latter as a basic car for the French taxi market,

stickguy

gee, how did all those RWD cars get anyplace in the snow? I thought that was a physical impossibility!

andys120

stickguy said:

gee, how did all those RWD cars get anyplace in the snow? I thought that was a physical impossibility!

Hakkpelitta snow tires!

Mr_Shiftright

I used to go off-roading in a '53 Chrysler in Colorado. Where there is a will, there is a way!

ab348

Nice-looking car, what could it be?

texases

1966-ish Innocenti Coupe? Based on the Austin Healey -
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/2017/03/The-Italian-Sprite---1966-Innocenti-Coupe/3750617.html

magnette

in the case of that Vauxhall Victor it got progressively lighter as it rotted, unlike the Volvo or the Mercedes, etc....

magnette

I like the Innocenti - never sold them here although a couple are about - I've seen pictures of one at a British car show, and they are no doubt supported by the Sprite / Midget fraternity.

ab348

texases said:

1966-ish Innocenti Coupe? Based on the Austin Healey -
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/2017/03/The-Italian-Sprite---1966-Innocenti-Coupe/3750617.html

Yes, Italian coach work on a Spridget chassis. Be the only one on your block.

Michaell

ab348 said:

texases said:

1966-ish Innocenti Coupe? Based on the Austin Healey -
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/2017/03/The-Italian-Sprite---1966-Innocenti-Coupe/3750617.html

Yes, Italian coach work on a Spridget chassis. Be the only one on your block.

Objects in picture are smaller than they appear.

fintail

I think you and andy got em all for Sweden and Haiti.

magnette said:

That shabby thing is an early Vauxhall Victor - and I think the blue car beyond it would be another Victor too. The green car in our foreground looks like an Opel Rekord, I think.


The plates appear to be Norwegian I believe. EDIT Actually although these look like Norwegian plates they are Swedish - I've found some codes in a book which indicate BD on the Benz was the code for Norrbotten in Sweden and the county town or whatever for that region is Lulea - as on the sign.

Later Sweden went over to a unified system where all plates are issued centrally but these are prior to that (the change was the 70's I think..

stickguy

I was thinking that one looked a lot longer than a Midget. Reminded me of a Fiat 124 size with no frame or reference.

omarman

tmart

A pair of Broncos.

magnette

Innocent did also build - apart from the Mini - the Austin A40 under licence too I think, which was of course a Farina design.

omarman

That's all I saw until I clicked a link to find the "Baja Bronco" edition which I'd never heard of.
Baja bookends – first and last model year Bill Stroppe Broncos head to auction
By 1971, Ford Broncos built by long-time Ford racing partner Bill Stroppe’s shop had amassed victories in both the Baja 500 and its bigger, uglier brother, the Baja 1000. To commemorate this—and to drive Bronco sales—Ford debuted a limited-edition “Baja Bronco” on January 28, 1971, built to resemble the Broncos raced by the Stroppe team and available through most Ford dealerships. Ford records indicate that roughly 450 were built before production ended in 1975...

andys120

It happens every winter>

fintail

I see but one foreign vehicle.

lostwrench1

I'll grab the 1958 Chrysler Saratoga.

andys120

fintail said:

I see but one foreign vehicle.

lostwrench1 said:

I'll grab the 1958 Chrysler Saratoga.

I don't see any imports. The '58 Chrysler might be the oldest car in the pic. Considering it's a tire store the cars are all bunched in that they're US made '58-'63. The '63 is the Pontiac four-door behind the utility pole. I think it's the newest.

I'm not sure of the AMC (Nash?) in front of the Poncho, I'd guess '58 or '59.

Edit-I spotted the foreigner, you can just make out the roof and rear window of a VW Bus under the word "THE"

bhill2

I see a ‘58 or ‘59 Ambassador. With a continental kit (oh the humanity).

texases

I'm guessing that van-looking thing is an import, but I don't know what it is.

fintail

VW Type 2/van contemporary to the other cars in the pic.

lostwrench1

Leonard Nimoy used the Frisby make-up room before each TV episode shoot.

omarman

lostwrench1 said:

Leonard Nimoy used the Frisby make-up room before each TV episode shoot.

Live long and powder.


1962 Chevy II to the left of van thing.

andys120

lostwrench1 said:

Leonard Nimoy used the Frisby make-up room before each TV episode shoot.

Vulcanized!


1962 Chevy II to the left of van thing.

A '62-'63 Dodge Dart to the right of the Chevy II and then a '62 Ford Convertible on the extreme left.

berri

63 Pontiac ahead of the 61 Impala

andys120

Interesting cars are often found parked at the races>

berri

64 Dodge wagon I believe, as well as a Olds Vista Cruiser, or whatever they called the Buick equivalent behind it.

lostwrench1

There exists a photo of Leonard Nimoy, costumed as Spock, between shoots, standing next to his beloved 1964 Buick Riviera someone may want to find and see.

stickguy

is the red racer a scarab?

lostwrench1

Blue wagon - 1964 Dodge 330.

ab348

A Bill Thomas Cheetah and a Morris Minor panel wagon support car in the background..

andys120

ab348 said:

A Bill Thomas Cheetah and a Morris Minor panel wagon support car in the background..

Yup, the Cheetah was a lightweight fiberglass-bodied car with a tube frame chassis designed to use Chevy or Ford V8s. A well-driven one was competitive with Cobras and big-block Corvettes but Thomas never made enough of them to compete in popular production sports or endurance racing. The car shown is classed as C-Modified (CM) which IIRC was for small or medium displacement sports prototype racers.

berri said:

64 Dodge wagon I believe, as well as a Olds Vista Cruiser, or whatever they called the Buick equivalent behind it.

. Before SUVs, the tow cars of choice were wagons.

omarman

Year, tow vehicle, race car?

lostwrench1

1961 Pontiac Wagon.

andys120

I think the race car is a Watson Roadster, powered by a twin cam Offenhauser.

omarman

Picture caption: 'In Indy car racing in 1961, this was a classy combo: a brand-new Pontiac wagon pulling a single-axle trailer with sponsorship from Bowes Seal Fast. Driven by AJ Foyt, the Trevis-Offy (Watson copy) on the trailer won that year’s Indy 500. That’s crew chief George Bignotti on the left posing proudly with the top-shelf rig.'

andys120

Know your 'Vettes?