Mystery car pix

andys120

kyfdx

andys120 said:

That is a Magnette

I'll take a wild stab at 1959.

kyfdx

Here is one in front of my house.

andre1969

Anybody want to take a guess on this one? Sorry for the less-than-optimal pics, but I got it off Google street view. It's a repair shop next door to our local Nissan dealer...

magnette

Yes - that is a Magnette - the original ZA like mine has a small rear window, but from 1956 they updated it to the ZB (larger carburettors and five more bhp) and the side trim was different.
This is from slightly after that as they also brought out a ZB Varitone - with larger (almost wrap round) rear window and a full length chrome trip dividing the top and bottom sections of the body - with two tone paint. Actually the Varitone was also available as a single colour car - all the chrome and the bigger rear window but with no two tone...
The model was withdrawn in early 1959
When new no Magnettes had wire wheels - they were all like the first photo with the standard MG pattern drilled wheels (as on the late TD &TF Midgets) but quite a few get converted to wire wheels nowadays. Mine isn't although I must say they look good that way too.

magnette

This is mine - the chrome strip is round the front wheel arch on a ZA and it would be a straight line from the side of the front wing just below the wing mirror to the front door on a non-Varitone ZB

magnette

I was out in it yesterday and actually followed a Mustang convertible - 1965 plates - through the local lanes in Essex for a few miles too.

magnette

@andre1969

I'm surprised that white car is there at all - not a car I think of as being in N America at all .....

magnette

@kyfdx - so you know this Varitone then?

kyfdx

magnette said:

@kyfdx - so you know this Varitone then?

Yes, a friend of mine restored that one and also has an MGA that he has owned since 1971! He has restored the MGA, twice.

andre1969

magnette said:

@andre1969

I'm surprised that white car is there at all - not a car I think of as being in N America at all .....

Yeah, I honestly didn't know what it was. I drove past that shop yesterday, and spotted a pink '59 Cadillac in that lot, but it was just a quick glance. I went to Google's street view to see if I could spot it from there. Sometimes if a car sits around long enough, it'll show up. The Caddy didn't show up in the pic, but this one did.

I honestly didn't know what it was, but accidentally found out, just in googling pics of old European cars. Wow, only 260 made, total? I wonder how many are left in existence?

texases

Give us a clue - country?

sda

magnette said:

This is mine - the chrome strip is round the front wheel arch on a ZA and it would be a straight line from the side of the front wing just below the wing mirror to the front door on a non-Varitone ZB

Interior pics?

andre1969

texases said:

Give us a clue - country?

They like their beer warm...or so the cliche goes.

And they quit making them the year Uplanderguy was born. (at least, I think he said recently in a post that he was born that year)

texases

Ah - a '55ish Bristol 405?
Here's more info:
https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a2140361/street-spotted-1956-bristol-405/

kyfdx

texases said:

Ah - a '55ish Bristol 405?
Here's more info:
https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a2140361/street-spotted-1956-bristol-405/

I think @uplanderguy was born in '57, but I might be off.

texases

That make him '55ish, right?

andre1969

Yep, that's it I believe. I thought Uplanderguy said he was born in '58, but I could be wrong? Anyway, according to Wikipedia at least, they made the Bristol 405 from 1955-1958.

kyfdx

andre1969 said:

Yep, that's it I believe. I thought Uplanderguy said he was born in '58, but I could be wrong? Anyway, according to Wikipedia at least, they made the Bristol 405 from 1955-1958.

I think you are correct.. '58

imidazol97

kyfdx said:

Here is one in front of my house.

I've seen this car live, haven't I, on Monmouth St at the car show 2 or 3 years ago.

magnette

@kyfdx

I always liked the MGA but never had one - I did have an MGB and a BGT but have actually owned this Magnette since the late 70's, although it has been repainted and is not exactly restored - I just want it to run and not to be too precious about it, really.

For example, it spent a number of years down in Wales in my mother's garage and during that time the cloth headlining over the drivers seat got chewed by mice, but I'm used to it like an old piece of furniture with patina rather than holes....

magnette

That Bristol is a rare beast over there - but they made good cars from about 1946 until only a couple of years ago and a lot of the cars survive - they have always been exclusive and I would imagine the vast majority of there still in Britain while mechanically the ones after 1960 when they started fitting Chrysler V8 engines to them are at least never going to have any reliability issues.
The old Bristol showroom - their only one - in West London is still in business servicing them and the spares situation even for the older cars with the Bristol engine like that 405 is better than for most other makes - more comparable to the likes of Rolls Royce or Aston Martin I suppose.

kyfdx

@imidazol97 Those shows all run together for me, but I do seem to remember him taking it down there. He lives about 1.5 miles from there, and I'm only about two miles.

andys120

stickguy

Lancias version of The SAAB 9000

fintail

I'll assume by the plate that the Thema is a 4cyl model, probably a turbo. Could also be had with a Ferrari-sourced 3 litre V8.

andys120

stickguy said:

Lancias version of The SAAB 9000

fintail said:

I'll assume by the plate that the Thema is a 4cyl model, probably a turbo. Could also be had with a Ferrari-sourced 3 litre V8.

Yup, the Thema was Lancia's version of a platform developed jointly by Fiat (Croma), Alfa(164),Lancia (Thema) and Saab(9000). On paper it was a neat design featuring plenty of room, good styling and handling.

As a one time owner of the Saab version I can tell you the execution was badly flawed but a surprising number of 9-thous are still plying the streets of New England.

ab348

Ray Shellabarger Chevrolet (now White's Mountain Chevrolet-Subaru), Casper, WY, in the fall of 1970. Used car row. Courtesy of Americar on FB.

stickguy

Vega panel wagon In showroom. And a few gen 2 Camaros and some nice Blazers top right.

Lone C3 Vette right in front of the building.

magnette

There's a Vega van beside the corner of the showroom - not seen one of those before.
Also quite a few Pick-ups and trucks in this dealership compared with many pictures of the same period where its usually just sedans and wagons that we see.
Must reflect the generally more rugged nature of the local Wyoming landscape I suppose.

Three beyond the Karmen Ghia that is an El Camino.

stickguy

magnette said:

There's a Vega van beside the corner of the showroom - not seen one of those before.
Also quite a few Pick-ups and trucks in this dealership compared with many pictures of the same period where its usually just sedans and wagons that we see.
Must reflect the generally more rugged nature of the local Wyoming landscape I suppose.

Three beyond the Karmen Ghia that is an El Camino.

Those Vega panels were pretty rare. And yes, back then you only saw trucks being used for normal use in country areas like this. Pretty tough area for driving.

Michaell

Casper is out in the middle of nowhere, so I'm not surprised that trucks were a pretty popular inventory item.

My dad bought his C-10 that year, from a dealer in Southern California (Hal Watkins Chevrolet). I wonder how much choice he had at the time.

stickguy

Not like today.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Not like today.

Sold it to a CHP officer after my dad passed; he said he was going to restore it.

stickguy

so weird seeing a long bed on one of these.

Michaell

stickguy said:

so weird seeing a long bed on one of these.

It got used as a truck. My dad worked construction as a part time job, so he was always hauling tools and lumber to various job sites around town. Also towed a bass boat with it for a number of years. Was one of the vehicles I learned to drive in. I remember when we could squeeze all four of us into the cab, when my sister and I were kids.

Never put many miles on it - he had the top end of the engine (350) rebuilt around 100K, and it probably had 140-150K on it when we sold it in 2017.

fintail

And to think, the 61 Impala bubbletop near the building at left was probably like a $400 used car, and is now probably the most valuable thing in the pic.

stickguy

that, the Corvette, or one of the Blazers.

fintail

Yeah, I suppose with the off-road craze probably bigger now than ever, and plenty of over-monied middle aged dorks willing to fight on BaT, a no-miles Blazer like one of those could cost as much as a decent livable house in much of the country.

bhill2

fintail said:

And to think, the 61 Impala bubbletop near the building at left was probably like a $400 used car, and is now probably the most valuable thing in the pic.

That bubble top, the 61 wagon on the road, and the 62 four-door on the lot make me think that the cars in that neck of the woods tend to have long lives.

magnette

I see that I seem to be fitting in to the median age for this forum - I was born in '56

ab348

magnette said:

I see that I seem to be fitting in to the median age for this forum - I was born in '56

A good year, same one in which I was born.

kyfdx

magnette said:

I see that I seem to be fitting in to the median age for this forum - I was born in '56

No, that's really old.. (says the guy born in '58)

Michaell

kyfdx said:

magnette said:

I see that I seem to be fitting in to the median age for this forum - I was born in '56

No, that's really old.. (says the guy born in '58)

+1

(1963 birth year here)

magnette

@ab348 A good year, same one in which I was born.



Having said that - some mornings I think I might mean 1856....

ab348

magnette said:

Having said that - some mornings I think I might mean 1856....

I know what you mean. When I was a kid I read a book about the Detroit Lions football team in the 1960s (Paper Lion by George Plimpton) and Alex Karras, one of the players, had a saying he used when he felt he was injured or otherwise hurting: "I'm 10,000 years old!". At the time I thought it was silly.

Now I know what he was talking about.

stickguy

And gayle sayers just passed away this week too,.

ab348

Here's an early/mid-1960s shot with a group of interesting mystery cars in the foreground and a lot of more mundane ones in the background.

fintail

Y'all are technically old enough to be my dad (although my dad is technically old enough to be your dad - I was a later life addition, he is probably why I know anything about older cars, as he loved 50s and 60s metal, especially Fords).

omarman

stickguy said:

And gayle sayers just passed away this week too,.

Just 15 years ago in August, Gale Sayers was visiting troops and signing footballs at Al Asad with a USO group in 2005. “The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third.”