Mystery car pix

fintail

Ours was a 390 with that badge. Badge also existed for 289 and 352 cars, but being an XL I'd wager it is a larger engine. I think the 406 was gone by then, a 427 would be exceptionally rare and cool.

andys120 said:

fintail said:

Yep looks like a very early Sonnett.

Dark blue 66 Galaxie with the guy standing beside it is almost identical to the first car I regularly drove, I recall those wheelcovers. That one looks like an XL.


The '66 Galaxie is packing some cubes based on the badge. Probably a 390 bit could be a 406 or 427.

andys120

Interesting thing about 1950s cars, most have a styling feature that enables you to tell the exact model year like these three.

tmart

54 Mercury, 58 Chevy, and an Oldsmobile.

sda

59 Olds Dynamic 88, perhaps a Super 88.

andys120

tmart said:

54 Mercury, 58 Chevy, and an Oldsmobile.

You've got two out of three and you've illustrated my point very nicely. The '59 Oldsmobile was distinguished by the unique shape of its fenders with the deep grooves separating the top from the main bodywork. The 1958 Chevrolet was unique for the way the rear fenders were rounded and contained the clustered tailights.
You missed the 1953 Mercury because you forgot that the '53 had tailight surrounds that resembled a clothes iron.

1954 Mercurys had wraparound tailights

tmart

Actually, all three cars were correct Mercury, Chevy, and Olds! Just had the Merc’s year wrong and didn’t mention a year for the Olds.

andys120

Well my main point was about those unique styling touches that enables one to distinguish one model year car from another. This was continued into the 60s and 70s in some cases.

fintail

Any takers on this thingamajig?

bhill2

I'll take a fling on Triumph Herald.

bhill2

fintail said:

Ours was a 390 with that badge. Badge also existed for 289 and 352 cars, but being an XL I'd wager it is a larger engine. I think the 406 was gone by then, a 427 would be exceptionally rare and cool.

andys120 said:

fintail said:

Yep looks like a very early Sonnett.

Dark blue 66 Galaxie with the guy standing beside it is almost identical to the first car I regularly drove, I recall those wheelcovers. That one looks like an XL.


The '66 Galaxie is packing some cubes based on the badge. Probably a 390 bit could be a 406 or 427.

In '66 if it isn't a 390 it would most likely be a 428 (although the 427 was still available)..

ab348

Buffalo, NY, apparently mid-1970s, and definitely not winter:

stickguy

gen 1 Capri far left, in the brown they all seemed to be back then. Saw quite a few with the vinyl roof for some reason too. Next to an early Maverick (non-PU version!)

and man, people in Buffalo seemed to love their land yachts back then.

fintail

Right size, wrong country. There's a red herring in the pic that might be tricky (I bet magnette would get it).

bhill2 said:

I'll take a fling on Triumph Herald.

fintail

In Buffalo I see what appears to be a dark colored Ford Elite to the left of a Continental Mark IV. Monte Carlo peeking in at right looks good on rally wheels.

I bet the car next to the Capri isn't a Maverick

andys120

Go granny go!

I'm not sure which engines rated a badge on these.

fintail

56 Ford Customline. I'd guess all V8s got the badge. Not sure if the 272 was around then but I am pretty sure the 292 and 312 were usual suspects.

tmart

The pic brings back memories! My Dad sold a 56 Fairlane four door to my Grandmother in 56, she was in her mid to late 60s, which was given to me when I graduated from college. She drove it to the liquor store, grocery store, and church. It wasn’t until I got it inspected for SC that I found out it had a 312 Thunderbird engine! I can’t imagine why he sold her so much power at her age. She NEVER went over 40 MPH. Wish I still had it.

bhill2

fintail said:

56 Ford Customline. I'd guess all V8s got the badge. Not sure if the 272 was around then but I am pretty sure the 292 and 312 were usual suspects.

Yes, the 272 was available in '56, and I think this one has it. IIRC both the 292 and the 312 got the "Thunderbird V-8" badge.

tmart

Bhill2 you’re right. I forgot about the different V8 badges. Mine had the Thunderbird V8.

ab348

fintail said:

I bet the car next to the Capri isn't a Maverick

My first thought was a '73 Buick midsize, either a Century or a Regal.

ab348

Chicago, mid-1960s it appears, I-90.

jpp75

In the Buffalo pick I'll take the easy one no one has grabbed yet, the massive Cadillac front and center is a 76 Coupe de Ville.

fintail

A few cars in Chicago have to be 1965 models at the oldest. I'll pick off the white 65 Ford sedan heading to the left.

imidazol97

andys120 said:

Interesting thing about 1950s cars, most have a styling feature that enables you to tell the exact model year like these three.

Is this wedding picture reversed? There doesn't seem to be a steering wheel next to the open door on the Mercury. People are parked on the wrong side of the street for the US.

Lostwrench3

Good eye!
And, note on which side of the guys' jackets the flowers are on.

xwesx

ab348 said:

Chicago, mid-1960s it appears, I-90.

Wow. That was so long ago, the cars appear to actually be moving along I-90!!!

imidazol97

I did NOT catch the boutineer location.
I did see the "Just Married" on the trunk was backwards as well. LOL

Lostwrench3

Chicago - 1964 Mercury wagon.

bhill2

My favorite was the gen 2 Corvair. One thing I noted is that, based on badging (or lack thereof), the '58 Chevy, the '65 Chevy wagon behind it, and the '63 Chevy whose front is poking out on the left all appear to have 6's.

andys120

stickguy

Geo metro convertible. With some awful stick on decoration mods.

ab348

stickguy said:

Geo metro convertible. With some awful stick on decoration mods.

But missing the most important stick-on mod, the oversized wind-up key stuck to the trunk lid.

andys120

zthat's right. I knew a guy that had one, he looked quite odd driving it since he was well over six feet.

fintail

I saw one of those on the road last week, pastel blue, very "1991". Always resembled a roller skate to me, especially with the top down.

magnette

I've virtually never seen a Geo Metro but it would blend in totally anywhere here ie Europe (am I allowed to say we are still part of Europe?)

kyfdx

To actually be seen in it's normal environment, it would be occupied by two 300-lb twin sisters, delivering a paper route in rural Northern Kentucky.

stickguy

See below!

stickguy

fintail

I think you guys maybe got the same era Suzuki Swift I know offered at least some parts of Europe oddly as the Subaru Justy, also based on the ROW Cultus.

Speaking of those, just remembered the other day I saw a Chevy Sprint on the road, the Geo Metro ancestor.

magnette said:

I've virtually never seen a Geo Metro but it would blend in totally anywhere here ie Europe (am I allowed to say we are still part of Europe?)

kyfdx

stickguy said:

Alfa!

andys120

IIRC they called that the Alfa-Romeo SZ (Sprint Zagato). Not meant for mass production and unusually ugly for an Alfa or a Zagato for that matter

stickguy

It’s an RZ. I didn’t know it wasn’t actually produced?

magnette

@stickguy

Yes the Alfa SZ was definitely sold here - they were seen in the streets when current - I photographed this one in 2006 in the West End

magnette

@fintail

Yes we got the Suzuki Swift in various generations and also the Subaru Justy although they were much rarer - I think they actually sold better in more hilly country like Yorkshire and so on, rather than Southern England.

xwesx

My eyes! MY EYES!!!!

andys120

stickguy

new truck, old cars. wonder if that is a movie shoot being set up?

Nice Checker wagon there.

fintail

Hillman Minx lower right

fintail

We got the old style Justy, the boxy 80s looking one, but I understand the Swift was also sold as the Justy in some markets.

Justy was the first modern car sold in the USDM with a CVT, I believe (and I think it wasn't perfect). I recall a lot of them being white, in 4WD form this would probably qualify as a minor collectible now:

magnette said:

@fintail

Yes we got the Suzuki Swift in various generations and also the Subaru Justy although they were much rarer - I think they actually sold better in more hilly country like Yorkshire and so on, rather than Southern England.

tmart

64 Ford Custom 500