Mystery car pix

fintail

Upper right, background, two tone wide-whitewalled Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud (probably a I, could potentially be a Bentley S1, but those are rare).

tmart

Several 52/54 Fords, several 57 Fords, couple of 56 Fords

andys120

Most of the old pics we see show very few pickups compared to the high prevalence of them in today's automotive fleet. This one is an exception as two classics lead this parade of a jam in a small town somewhere>



The oldest car are the black 1940s car peeking above the mid-pack
and a similar one behind it. What's the newest?

stickguy

newest? Maybe the eyebrow Chevy PU

andys120

stickguy said:

newest? Maybe the eyebrow Chevy PU

Maybe, I'm not sure when the "Eyebrow" design came in. The 3100/3800 "Advance Design" went out of production after 1955. One of them is leading in this picture.

Tere's a 1960 Olds ahead of the "Eyebrow" pickup.

fintail

Oldie 5 cars back looks like a 41 Chevy. Two behind it might be from the 30s.

ab348

stickguy said:

newest? Maybe the eyebrow Chevy PU

It looks to be a '61 based on the "Chevrolet" lettering in the middle of the grille. The '60 had that on the lower bar.

Lostwrench3

On the left, a 1946 to 1948 Plymouth Club Coupe.

magnette

Re Disneyland

@fintail - the Beetle was still pretty exotic in USA 1955 too


Perhaps it was Herbie coming for his screen test?

magnette

In the queue behind the classic pick ups and just before the row of red (I-H?) tractors is that the tail end of a grey circa 1948 Nash?

andys120

kyfdx

andys120 said:

'92 Accord coupe?

fintail

86-90 Legend coupe, still some on the road in the PNW.

For awhile. Acura styling predicted next gen Honda design.

kyfdx

fintail said:

86-90 Legend coupe, still some on the road in the PNW.

For awhile. Acura styling predicted next gen Honda design.

Well, duh.. Hadn't had my coffee, this AM.

fintail

He was still in metamorphosis then, a split window,

magnette said:

Perhaps it was Herbie coming for his screen test?

stickguy

child actors eventually grow up!

ab348

Dallas, early '60s. A couple of familiar cars and one not so common. Mr. Olson seemed to like using little cars for his business.

andys120

On the left we have a glorious 1960 Ford (Squire?). The VW Beetle looks like a '58-'63 version w bigger rear glass and teensy tailights.

Ahead of the Beetle is a Nash/Hudson Metropolitan (coupeversion). These were made in the UK by Austin and sold by AMC dealers. Most wore Nash badges but some were sold as Hudsons until that line was folded after the 1955MY IIRC.

fintail

The 60 Ford wagon is a Ranch Wagon, note the lack of rear quarter chrome.

magnette

The Metropolitan was sold in Europe as an Austin, from 1954 and it had a 1200cc engine but then got a 1489cc engine (same as my Magnette)from 1956... For the UK it was not available at all until about 1956 so the 1200 wasn't sold here, and it was sold as a Metropolitan (not an Austin) although it was through Austin dealers and I am sure in common parlance everybody called it an Austin.

It got the two tone finish like the one shown from 56, so its a 1500 ( 1489cc) and in 1959 it got an opening boot - at least here - prior to which it had a closed panel and access was by folding down the rear seat back.

They may have sold it as an Austin in Australia and South Africa too, no idea about Canada

It sold ok here but not especially well and it had a reputation for handling badly on corners. Still quite a few on the roads though - although the hardtops always outsold the convertibles due to our weather.

Last ones sold here in about 1961

ab348

The Met was sold by Nash and its successor American Motors dealerships in North America from 1954 to 1962. In my recollection most people called it a "Nash Metropolitan" but it may have technically been a "Metropolitan", that is to say, a make of its own. The '54 and '55 had the smaller A40 engine as you note, upgraded to the A50 engine for '56. The sales material referred to that as a MGA engine to enhance its image somewhat. I believe the change to the trunk also happened here at the same time. I think one of the impediments to sales here was that it was only a 2-seater, but it wasn't a particularly sporty car, though many found it cute-looking.

Interestingly, AMC tried to market a RHD version of it in North America as a police special, useful for parking patrol and general traffic duty.

Michaell

I believe my PE teacher in elementary school drove a Metropolitan - this was in the early 70's.

tmart

Didn’t the Metro also have reclining seats that could go flat? Believe other Nashs did.

texases

'90 Acura

tmart said:

Didn’t the Metro also have reclining seats that could go flat? Believe other Nashs did.

Really? As small as they were, that wouldn't be of much use, would it?

stickguy

it was a 2 seat car, but I think there was a little package area behind the seats where kids could sit if they needed to (hey, things were different back then!)

my parents apparently had one of these back in the very early 60s. Not sure if they got rid of it before or shortly after I was born, but I have no recollection of it.

The house was a classic period 1959 Ranch on a sloped lot, so the garage was basically the left side of the basement, and went fully front to back of the house. Not a particularly big house, but I was told that at one point (obviously before too much junk collected) they were able to park a 1960ish Chevy wagon (full size) and the Metro in there, back to back. Must have been a tight fit.

ab348

tmart said:

Didn’t the Metro also have reclining seats that could go flat? Believe other Nashs did.

Not in the Metro. You're right about the bigger Nash models. Though the removable doors and center post like this one has was a very rare option.

magnette

@ab348 re the RHD Metropolitan - that sounds like a good idea for parking wardens

I remember posting a picture of a RHD Saturn Wagon which was manufactured to sell in Japan and was sold in the US for parcel delivery in much the same way as your RHD Jeep vans for the US Mail.

Here LHD is sometimes useful for certain trucks like refuse wagons and drain cleaners etc but not so much in other markets.

stickguy

in a lot of rural areas the mail carriers used RHD Subaru wagons.

andys120

kyfdx

andys120 said:

I don't know my models that far back, but it's some sort of Mazda from the early '70s.

Rotary? RX-3?

stickguy

Badge looks like rotary. That one would be an RX2. Same car came in piston as the 808. I almost bought one when I was in school. Should have.

Michaell

I remember my dad looking at the RX-3 and RX-4 in 1973, before he decided to by the Toyota Corona.

andys120

stickguy said:

Badge looks like rotary. That one would be an RX2. Same car came in piston as the 808. I almost bought one when I was in school. Should have.

Right, it's a 1973 RX-2 Rotary.

texases

I wonder how long the rotary in an RX-2 would last before the seals gave out.

ab348

stickguy said:

Badge looks like rotary. That one would be an RX2. Same car came in piston as the 808. I almost bought one when I was in school. Should have.

I remember the parents looked at an 808 in the early '70s. Car looked decent on the outside but the interior was just awful, thin vinyl and cheap plastic. That RX-2 Andy posted is on BaT and it looks like they improved it by '73.

andys120

stickguy

texases said:

I wonder how long the rotary in an RX-2 would last before the seals gave out.

Not very.

ab348

Turning off of Sunset Blvd in 1966 is this very interesting vehicle. From the Ruscha collection at the Getty Museum, expands some:

stickguy

It’s a rolls. No clue what model.

And entirely possible the Wagoneer is worth more today!

magnette

The coachwork is a Hooper Empress or one of its relatives, and similar bodies were available in both 2- or 4- door form.

This coachwork was seen in Daimler, Bentley and Rolls Royce and from that angle the grille is less obvious but it looks a Bentley to me.

Bentleys have a slight curve to the sides of the bonnet whereas the Rolls would have a sharp angle where the coachline meets the corner of the grille.

Also, the rear bumper would have a vertical oblong RR badge in its centre whereas the Bentley has an oval with a B in it - frequently with a winged motif surrounding it in the chrome of the bumper although you can hardly see any of that in this shot.

This would therefore probably be a Bentley R type chassis

ab348

Thank you @magnette ! It's nice to have someone who knows their stuff posting an answer.

magnette

There was a fashion in the 70s for people to buy old and cheap Bentley S types and to then fit a Rolls grille, but if they didn't get the line of the bonnet edge right it looked obvious.

Ironically a Bentley may be worth more here than the equivalent Rolls as the latter is seen as being a little ostentatious....

EDIT - what looked even worse was to take an Austin Princess Limo and stick a Rolls grille on it - many a bride went to the church in what she was told was a Rolls and it was really the same Austin her grandad had at his funeral...

texases

We had the same thing here:

fintail

Yep, I agree, the bustleback 2 door is a Bentley. A lot of that material came to this side of the pond in the 60s and 70s, as it was cheap and pretentious enough to sell in an era when "luxury" suddenly became the fad. Pick up an old Cars and Parts or Hemmings of the era, and you'll find ads from import/export types. Some of those faux Rolls-Royce Princess made it over here too.

magnette

I love that VW Royce ....

Michaell

And an unlovable Suzuki X-90 next to it.

ab348

Michaell said:

And an unlovable Suzuki X-90 next to it.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I loathe those Suzukis.

kyfdx

magnette said:

I love that VW Royce ....

I don't remember the whole front end treatment like that.. Seems like most of the one's I remember just had the grill/hood

Michaell

ab348 said:

Michaell said:

And an unlovable Suzuki X-90 next to it.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I loathe those Suzukis.

What did they do to you to earn that enmity?

ab348

Michaell said:

ab348 said:

Michaell said:

And an unlovable Suzuki X-90 next to it.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I loathe those Suzukis.

What did they do to you to earn that enmity?

When they were first on the market here I saw one at a new-car show. It was just hideous. Looked like it needed a wind-up key on the back. I couldn't believe anyone would actually buy one.