Yes, it is a Hindustan Contessa - made by the Indian company that were also still making 1950s Morris Oxfords into the early nineties with Isuzu engines. I think the one you gave the link to was slightly later than the one I posted, but they got several facelifts I believe.
The Contessa took the body shell from the 1972 - 93 Vauxhall FE Victor - later the VX series - and at first used a BMC 1500 or 1600engine but later went over to Isuzu engines.
The Contessa was introduced in 1984 and made in fairly limited numbers until about 2002
The Nissan Figaro is quite popular in Britain, although it was never sold here new and only came in from Japan as grey imports
However, most of those Figaros are in London and there are new emission restrictions for London, where a low emission zone has been developed which instead of a previous scheme only applicable in the inner City and West End is now going to encompass the whole of London inside the North and South Circular zones - pretty much a ten mile radius around central London - which comes into effecting October and will encompass several million people.
The cost to drive a non compliant car / van etc is going be something like £10 per day and it will mean cars like the Figaro which is not compliant would have to pay this charge every time it is used inside the zone - although really old cars like my Magnette are excluded because it is so old it is classified as a Historic vehicle - luckily for me as we live one mile inside the zone - our Fiesta doesn't have a problem as it is clean enough...
This one is from about 1977 and was taken in Bury StEdmunds, a market town in Suffolk about 50 miles north east of London. -picture will expand The colours may have been enhanced by the postcard publisher I think there are a couple of US cars in the far distance - the large USAF base at Lakenheath is about 10 miles
A couple of near-identical ADO16s lower left (though interiors are different shades), and a Rover P6 across the aisle to the right. Volvo 140 series far right in the same row as the Rover. I'm thinking possibly a Simca 1208 far left in that same row next to an Anglia.
I thought the white car behind the VW bus was a Volvo but after a closer look, is seems too small and the trunk has a slight slope and taillights off. Might just be the lighting or angle of the picture but I think it is something else?
Car behind the VW campervan is not a Volvo. Beside that mystery car is a MB W114/115.
Way in the distance left I think I see a two tone squarebody pickup with a camper shell and to the left of it parked near the building, maybe a Pinto woody.
In the row ahead of the VW I see what looks like maybe an older black Austin van beside a red Allegro, and behind the black possible van, a white Citroen GS.
Quite the parking job that crew in the the middle of the second row managed. Reminds me of how folks park around here (mostly only in the winter, though!). Crazy.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
I thought the white car behind the VW bus was a Volvo but after a closer look, is seems too small and the trunk has a slight slope and taillights off. Might just be the lighting or angle of the picture but I think it is something else?
Or as usual I am just wrong!
Shockingly, on this you are correct, sir! I failed to expand the picture before my prognostication. I'll withdraw the Volvo reference and replace it with a 3rd-gen HC Vauxhall Viva parked crookedly in the center of that row. Perhaps the engine stalled and the driver was unable to correct the positioning.
@xwesx What surprises me about that Viva is that when these were all current cars in our streets I thought of the Viva as a small car compared with a Rover P6 yet they look pretty much the same width...
Lousy parking isn't rare anywhere, but they should be ashamed of themselves with those wide bays - modern cars are at least a foot wider than old equivalent models and I bet that car park is still marked with the same size spaces while we are all surrounded by SUVs you can see from space!
@ab348 That Simca could be the 1208 but also could be the basic 1100 - they sold loads of those cars in the period 68-75 although hardly any left now.... @fintail That black van is one of the last Austin A50 vans - they made that model until about 1972 - replacing it with the Marinavan - and it was also available with different chrome as a Morris. I hadn't spotted the GS but that is quite distinctive..
I had thought at first look that the mystery car is a Volvo too but I think its a Toyota Corolla 1100 although it is one of those anonymous cars that we never noticed when it was common..
There is the rather stylish Fiat 124 Coupe - with black plates - they were introduced from 1967 but only made compulsory from 1973 - its behind a Mk 1 Cortina
Ahead of that Cortina is a Red wagon, which at closer look I think is an Opel Kadett Caravan
I'm surprised at the red over white colours on that Allegro -I can't recall ever seeing one like that before.
Back left 1955 Buick Rare 1957 Fairlane Ford, not a Fairlane 500. 1957 Oldsmobile convertible Is the 5th car from left a Pontiac? It has a chrome stripe down the trunk.
I like the big torpedo body 41 Cadillac (I think) at center. In the background closer to the plane appears to be another prewar car, I think an intermediate 39-40 GM sedan, maybe a Pontiac as mentioned by imidazol.
I wonder if the 57 Chevys, being very similar spec, were maybe rental cars.
@xwesx What surprises me about that Viva is that when these were all current cars in our streets I thought of the Viva as a small car compared with a Rover P6 yet they look pretty much the same width...
Lousy parking isn't rare anywhere, but they should be ashamed of themselves with those wide bays - modern cars are at least a foot wider than old equivalent models and I bet that car park is still marked with the same size spaces while we are all surrounded by SUVs you can see from space!
Hahaha! That's so true. Up here in Alaska, the parking lots typically have comfortably-sized spaces that allow any passenger vehicle to park in any space (regardless of what may be parked adjacent), and they will fit with room to open/close doors with relative ease (e.g., only minor car needed with doors).
However, the further east (in the US) one travels, the smaller and smaller the spaces become... yet I never notice the cars getting any smaller. Even Wal-Mart parking lots have smaller spaces, yet the lots seem to be relatively large all the same.
Not an eastern example, but I stopped at a "trapper Joe's" in Portland, Oregon, a few years ago (located downtown). We were driving a rental Ford escape (relatively compact vehicle). The lot spaces were so small that, even perfectly parked, there was maybe 6" of space on each side of the car between the lines (e.g., maximum clearance maybe 12" between cars). It was so unreasonably tight, I just told my family to unload before I parked it. I was tempted to just sit in the car and wait for them, but I finally gave in to spousal pressure and carefully squeezed out of the car by wedging my hand between the car door and the side of the adjacent car while I forced my way out of the narrow gap.
2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
@xwesx It is certainly true that space to park here too has shrunk while cars have grown.
I once went early to get groceries one morning and parked in a Supermarket car park just as the store was due to open but I was about ten minutes too early so there were about ten cars in a huge area with people in them waiting for the doors to open.
I sat there with a space to both sides of me, and about one minute before the store opened a man parked next to my drivers side door so close he was in my space with me - I couldn't get out - and there were perhaps 300 spare spaces - I had to move to another space to get out as he just walked away without a care in the world..
@kyfdx I can remember seeing a DC3 and even a DC6 working freight for Air Atlantique at London Stansted (our third airport) when I flew out of there on holiday in about 1996 - we joked we were going to Arnhem . There were also Lockheed Electras still flying on Royal Mail night freights then too at the same time when we came back as our plane taxied past one when we returned
@kyfdx I can remember seeing a DC3 and even a DC6 working freight for Air Atlantique at London Stansted (our third airport) when I flew out of there on holiday in about 1996 - we joked we were going to Arnhem . There were also Lockheed Electras still flying on Royal Mail night freights then too at the same time when we came back as our plane taxied past one when we returned
What airline was your DC3 loading with?
It was a contractor running a short haul for FedEx. Ironically, they were flying to and from London... Kentucky.
@kyfdx I can remember seeing a DC3 and even a DC6 working freight for Air Atlantique at London Stansted (our third airport) when I flew out of there on holiday in about 1996 - we joked we were going to Arnhem . There were also Lockheed Electras still flying on Royal Mail night freights then too at the same time when we came back as our plane taxied past one when we returned
What airline was your DC3 loading with?
It was a contractor running a short haul for FedEx. Ironically, they were flying to and from London... Kentucky.
My first time flying was in grad school from CVG to ATL to CHS. The Atlanta to Charleston was on a version of the DC3. Somehow in booking I'd ended up on that flight, but I had been on a Convair 880 (Like a 707) for the first part. I thought the taildragger was a Convair but it was just like the DC3, but I recall that we stayed low and there was liquid coming from the engine out over the wing. It looked like a mixture of oil and water. I was praying that we made it to Charleston.
@xwesx It is certainly true that space to park here too has shrunk while cars have grown.
I once went early to get groceries one morning and parked in a Supermarket car park just as the store was due to open but I was about ten minutes too early so there were about ten cars in a huge area with people in them waiting for the doors to open.
I sat there with a space to both sides of me, and about one minute before the store opened a man parked next to my drivers side door so close he was in my space with me - I couldn't get out - and there were perhaps 300 spare spaces - I had to move to another space to get out as he just walked away without a care in the world..
I posted this story years ago. This seems a good place to repeat it. I was sitting in my car in a small shopping center's parking lot waiting for a friend to return from a store. A lady parked next to me and in her attempt to exit her car she banged her car's door into mine. Still attempting to exit her car, she again banged her car's door into mine. I sounded my horn. She replied with "OH, BE QUIET BUDDY. MY CAR IS NEWER THAN YOURS!"
@kyfdx I can remember seeing a DC3 and even a DC6 working freight for Air Atlantique at London Stansted (our third airport) when I flew out of there on holiday in about 1996 - we joked we were going to Arnhem . There were also Lockheed Electras still flying on Royal Mail night freights then too at the same time when we came back as our plane taxied past one when we returned
What airline was your DC3 loading with?
It was a contractor running a short haul for FedEx. Ironically, they were flying to and from London... Kentucky.
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https://gaadiwaadi.com/this-beautifully-restored-hindustan-contessa-classic-evokes-memories/
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Yes, it is a Hindustan Contessa - made by the Indian company that were also still making 1950s Morris Oxfords into the early nineties with Isuzu engines. I think the one you gave the link to was slightly later than the one I posted, but they got several facelifts I believe.
The Contessa took the body shell from the 1972 - 93 Vauxhall FE Victor - later the VX series - and at first used a BMC 1500 or 1600engine but later went over to Isuzu engines.
The Contessa was introduced in 1984 and made in fairly limited numbers until about 2002
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
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However, most of those Figaros are in London and there are new emission restrictions for London, where a low emission zone has been developed which instead of a previous scheme only applicable in the inner City and West End is now going to encompass the whole of London inside the North and South Circular zones - pretty much a ten mile radius around central London - which comes into effecting October and will encompass several million people.
The cost to drive a non compliant car / van etc is going be something like £10 per day and it will mean cars like the Figaro which is not compliant would have to pay this charge every time it is used inside the zone - although really old cars like my Magnette are excluded because it is so old it is classified as a Historic vehicle - luckily for me as we live one mile inside the zone - our Fiesta doesn't have a problem as it is clean enough...
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
The colours may have been enhanced by the postcard publisher
I think there are a couple of US cars in the far distance - the large USAF base at Lakenheath is about 10 miles
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Or as usual I am just wrong!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Way in the distance left I think I see a two tone squarebody pickup with a camper shell and to the left of it parked near the building, maybe a Pinto woody.
In the row ahead of the VW I see what looks like maybe an older black Austin van beside a red Allegro, and behind the black possible van, a white Citroen GS.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
What surprises me about that Viva is that when these were all current cars in our streets I thought of the Viva as a small car compared with a Rover P6 yet they look pretty much the same width...
Lousy parking isn't rare anywhere, but they should be ashamed of themselves with those wide bays - modern cars are at least a foot wider than old equivalent models and I bet that car park is still marked with the same size spaces while we are all surrounded by SUVs you can see from space!
That Simca could be the 1208 but also could be the basic 1100 - they sold loads of those cars in the period 68-75 although hardly any left now....
@fintail
That black van is one of the last Austin A50 vans - they made that model until about 1972 - replacing it with the Marinavan - and it was also available with different chrome as a Morris.
I hadn't spotted the GS but that is quite distinctive..
I had thought at first look that the mystery car is a Volvo too but I think its a Toyota Corolla 1100 although it is one of those anonymous cars that we never noticed when it was common..
Ahead of that Cortina is a Red wagon, which at closer look I think is an Opel Kadett Caravan
I'm surprised at the red over white colours on that Allegro -I can't recall ever seeing one like that before.
I think that woody is a 50 Chrysler Royal
And what’s that little British buggy in the center?
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
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2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
1955 Buick
Rare 1957 Fairlane Ford, not a Fairlane 500.
1957 Oldsmobile convertible
Is the 5th car from left a Pontiac? It has a chrome stripe down the trunk.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I wonder if the 57 Chevys, being very similar spec, were maybe rental cars.
However, the further east (in the US) one travels, the smaller and smaller the spaces become... yet I never notice the cars getting any smaller. Even Wal-Mart parking lots have smaller spaces, yet the lots seem to be relatively large all the same.
Not an eastern example, but I stopped at a "trapper Joe's" in Portland, Oregon, a few years ago (located downtown). We were driving a rental Ford escape (relatively compact vehicle). The lot spaces were so small that, even perfectly parked, there was maybe 6" of space on each side of the car between the lines (e.g., maximum clearance maybe 12" between cars). It was so unreasonably tight, I just told my family to unload before I parked it. I was tempted to just sit in the car and wait for them, but I finally gave in to spousal pressure and carefully squeezed out of the car by wedging my hand between the car door and the side of the adjacent car while I forced my way out of the narrow gap.
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It is certainly true that space to park here too has shrunk while cars have grown.
I once went early to get groceries one morning and parked in a Supermarket car park just as the store was due to open but I was about ten minutes too early so there were about ten cars in a huge area with people in them waiting for the doors to open.
I sat there with a space to both sides of me, and about one minute before the store opened a man parked next to my drivers side door so close he was in my space with me - I couldn't get out - and there were perhaps 300 spare spaces - I had to move to another space to get out as he just walked away without a care in the world..
I can remember seeing a DC3 and even a DC6 working freight for Air Atlantique at London Stansted (our third airport) when I flew out of there on holiday in about 1996 - we joked we were going to Arnhem .
There were also Lockheed Electras still flying on Royal Mail night freights then too at the same time when we came back as our plane taxied past one when we returned
What airline was your DC3 loading with?
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
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version of the DC3. Somehow in booking I'd ended up on that flight, but I had been on a Convair 880 (Like a 707) for the first part. I thought the taildragger was a Convair but it was just like the DC3, but I recall that we stayed low and there was liquid coming from the engine out over the wing. It looked like a mixture of oil and water. I was praying that we made it to Charleston.
That was Delta 1968.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I was sitting in my car in a small shopping center's parking lot waiting for a friend to return from a store. A lady parked next to me and in her attempt to exit her car she banged her car's door into mine. Still attempting to exit her car, she again banged her car's door into mine. I sounded my horn. She replied with "OH, BE QUIET BUDDY. MY CAR IS NEWER THAN YOURS!"
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Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
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