Mystery car pix

lostwrench1

andys120 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I remember when the old Saab 900/5-door hatch Turbo was *THE* car for surfers and geeks to own in California.

Man, that's weird, I'd think that Saabs would be pretty rare in California. I once worked at a radio station in Boston and between us we had four or five Saabs, so did the GM but that's New England where they were more popular than in Sweden

Remember Larry Glick? I was an official card carrying Glicknick.

tmart

stickguy said:

Renault Dauphine?

That would be my guess too.

texases

That Daewoo is an Asuna GT, a brand GM created for Canada only, 1992 - 1993
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asüna

fintail

Oh I remember Asuna, they rebadged the Tracker as the "Sunrunner":

texases

I had never heard of Asuna. I'd like to find a complete list of all the GM brand through the years, the ones I've found leave out brands like this.

andys120

tmart said:

stickguy said:

Renault Dauphine?

That would be my guess too.

Yup, it's the unlamented Renault Dauphine, a very popular import in the last years of the
50s when they actually outsold VW. The second pair of doors was a big selling point.

berri

I think it was a bit more sophisticated (for lack of a better word) than a VW bug, but too many quality bugs sunk it quickly.

andys120

The Dauphine had even less motor than the Beetle.

VW 1200cc/40hp Renault 845cc/32hp

I can't even imagine how slow the French car was. The 1200cc Beetles took 29 seconds to go 0-60mph.

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, it had a much better heater, 4 doors, was prettier, got better MPG, much quieter operation, even had a hand crank!

ab348

And both of them folded up like a free gas station road map in a crash.

Mr_Shiftright

Indeed. Death Trap I and Death Trap II.

berri

Death traps; how about that era Isetta

andys120

stickguy

beautiful car, with an unfortunate graft on of a 1964 Plymouth.

berri

That front graft may have some 62 Dodge Polara in it too.

andys120

stickguy said:

beautiful car, with an unfortunate graft on of a 1964 Plymouth.

Where do you see that??

stickguy

maybe it was 62. But it looks like some early 60's Mopar.

texases

What’s with the hood?

Mr_Shiftright

berri said:

Death traps; how about that era Isetta

That wasn't a death "trap" That was a death "wish".

andys120

texases said:

What’s with the hood?

If you're talking about the transparent screen, I imagine it's supposed to keep stone and bugs off the windshield. The were not uncommon on race cars of that era.

stickguy said:

maybe it was 62. But it looks like some early 60's Mopar.

Because it has a pair of lights in the grille and another pair fender mounted? Man that's a stretch.

1962 Dodge>

Mr_Shiftright

More like this?

Mr_Shiftright

OR------>

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

More like this?

That's a mid '50s Cunningham C4 with an American (Cadillac?) V8 and coachwork by Vignale, the same coach builder who styled the mystery car.

andys120

Last call for the sleek black coupe>



Some hints: You can probably tell from the styling that it is from Italy. The maker was set up in 1947 by the three surviving Maserati brothers after they sold Maserati Sp.A. It's full name was Officine Specializzate Construzione Automobili-Fratelli Maserati. Power was from a modified Fiat 4 cyl.

Anyone?

Mr_Shiftright

It's an OSCA MT4, circa early 1950s. The brothers sold out to MV Augusta in 1963, because they were getting too old.

texases

I'd ditch the hood ornament and live with the bugs!

berri

Kind of like the car is wearing reading glasses

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

It's an OSCA MT4, circa early 1950s. The brothers sold out to MV Augusta in 1963, because they were getting too old.

Yup,it's an OSCA MT4, but it's 1955 MY. The fratelli Maserati sold out in 1937. Maserati SpA. was moved to Modena but OSCAs were made in Bologna, the previous home of Maserati.

OT4s did well in racing including a win at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1954 in an OT4 driven by Stirling Moss and Bill Lloyd. MT4s were made w a variety of open and closed bodies.

fintail

Grossglockner, Austria

andys120

Wow, VW Beet...er...Kafers were really popular in Austria. The Type 1 Sambas (Microbuses with the roof windows) are all the same color and spec so they probably belong to a resort or sightseeing company.

The white car at bottom right w blue roof is an Opel Rekord (mid-50s?). I see a black Fintail next to the MicroBus at left. I recognize some others but I'll let someone else play.

thebean

White Dauphine next to the Sambas, then next to that is maybe a Ford Anglia?

magnette

The red car with the white roof is a Lloyd Arabella The white car nearer us - obscured by the VW Samba is a Ford 100E - Probably an Anglia but may be the 103E Popular which was a run-out model.

thebean

Thanks for the info, @magnette. I love that era of British autos, but have so little knowledge (relying on my Matchbox (Lesney) memories).

magnette

I still have a small shoebox full of old Matchbox toys retrieved from the old family home in Wales although it is now buried again, in the loft here in London, and therefore beyond reach for the foreseeable future....

magnette

In the Austrian photo the white estate car near the rear of the yellow bus is a Borgward Isabella I think. That would therefore be a relative of the Lloyd Arabella as they were both part of the same company (with Goliath and a few other now forgotten makes)

Mr_Shiftright

Say Magnette--what do you make of this small-ish plate I saw in a consignment shop? Seems too small for a car, too big for a bike.

andys120

I'm wondering about the black car in the Austrian photo. It's behind the blue car w white top
(another Rekord?). The black car looks like it could be a Peugeot 404 but those didn't come out until 1960 (photo appears to be from late 1950s).

tjc78

Mr_Shiftright said:

Say Magnette--what do you make of this small-ish plate I saw in a consignment shop? Seems too small for a car, too big for a bike.

Looks like it was cut in half. No border on the left side.

kyfdx

That’s what I thought.

fintail

Pic is probably from the mid 60s or so based on some of the cars - VW Notchback and Squarebacks. Fintails also weren't on the road until late 1959. I think the source claimed 1968, but the cars seem too old for that.

I am having a hard time with the dark 2 door sedan at left between a pair of Beetles.

andys120 said:

I'm wondering about the black car in the Austrian photo. It's behind the blue car w white top
(another Rekord?). The black car looks like it could be a Peugeot 404 but those didn't come out until 1960 (photo appears to be from late 1950s).

thebean

magnette said:

I still have a small shoebox full of old Matchbox toys retrieved from the old family home in Wales although it is now buried again, in the loft here in London, and therefore beyond reach for the foreseeable future....

Nice. I still have my cars from the early 60’s in my closet, in the little suitcase-like transporter. I look at them occasionally and they never fail to make me happy. That’s when toys were made to last and it was a great treat to get to buy one.

ab348

I had a whole pile of Matchbox and Corgi toy cars when I was. Kid. I think they went to my nephew when I got older. Wish I still had them.

fintail

The quality of casting on 60s era Lesney Matchbox is often better than new diecast. Those were indeed high quality products - they weren't as cheap as modern items, but you got what you paid for and then some. Larger Corgi and Dinky items could also be nice. I have a relatively large collection of vintage diecast.

magnette

I've got other more modern 1/43 scale models in a display cabinet, but also I did retrieve some some tatty Dinky / Corgis from Wales- as with the box of Matchbox toys the ones from my childhood are languishing in the attic so inaccessible for the moment.

magnette

That number plate looks like it has been cut down from a larger one but the letters XP were not a normal issue except in the early days.

XP was originally allocated in August 1923 -from XP1-XP9999 but 9999 was reached in early 1924. (That would of course have been an old silver on black plate) but I doubt this is what you have - or a part of it.

Subsequently when Britain issued plates with a prefix serial letter London issued AXP 1-999 in early 1934 and every few months or so they went through all the others ie BXP1-999 etc right round to YXP 1-999 in 1960-61

After that we had reversed numbers (ie 123AXP) etc and that doesn't fit this remnant. After that from 1964 London would have issued plates like AXP 123B in 1964 but the XP code was subsequently one of a batch they kept back

there were some special plates for cars used for export, however as reissues - perhaps when a car had been registered elsewhere. I don't know about those as they weren't a regular series but XP does suggest that as a possibility.

The other possibility is it could be some sort of 1980s military plate- we have plates like AA 23 BB for military vehicles and the whole series got reversed for certain ones (ie 12 AB 34) so it could be the right hand side of one of those although XP is not a proper military code either - but we did have plates for overseas forces here sometimes - perhaps its the end of a plate issued in connection with a US base in UK or something?

andys120

stickguy

Some sort of Allard?

Mr_Shiftright

Ah, that makes sense. UK plate meets interior decorator. I thought it was weird but didn’t look closely enough. Thanks!

jpp75

Mr_Shiftright said:

The Mini has pretty bad torque steer, and you can feel it in the Volvo C30, too. Probably the turbo cars show it the worst.

My second C30 has an aftermarket tune, which is a lot of fun but also makes the torque steer much more pronounced than in the stock version.

Mr_Shiftright

Well that makes sense, since you bumped up the torque by maybe 25-30 ft lbs. I may start calling a C30 a "mystery car". I have yet to see another one on the road.