Mystery car pix

fintail

The "T" suffix on the UK plated Niva dates it to 1978/79.

60 Ford in the front row of the car lot is a Galaxie 4 door post, could be a Galaxie 2 door post in the back row.

ab348

Cool pic here taken in the early '90s of a somewhat famous singer and actor behind the wheel of a classic convertible. Taken on Canon Dr. in L.A. in front of Caffe Roma, courtesy of Vintage Los Angeles.

magnette

That Buick next to the entrance -is it a 60 Le Sabre?

fintail

Pretty sure my dad's Country Sedan was the same color as that convertible. BMW E32 in front of it.

ab348

magnette said:

That Buick next to the entrance -is it a 60 Le Sabre?

Yes sir!

tmart

Don’t recognize the driver, but he’s in a red 60 Ford Sunliner.

sda

Is it Ricardo Montobaln? (sp?)

andys120

sda said:

Is it Ricardo Montobaln? (sp?)

I wouldn't think so, there's no Corinthian leather in a '60 Ford.

ab348

The driver is the late Al Martino, the father of Alison Martino who runs the Vintage Los Angeles page, and she says he loved to drive the '60 Ford Sunliner that was his fun/cruising personal car. Al is best known for his singing career but was also in several movies, most notably The Godfather.

tjc78

Two nice Panther wagons across the street too.

andys120

ab348 said:

The driver is the late Al Martino, the father of Alison Martino who runs the Vintage Los Angeles page, and she says he loved to drive the '60 Ford Sunliner that was his fun/cruising personal car. Al is best known for his singing career but was also in several movies, most notably The Godfather.

IIRC Martino's Godfather character was based on Sinatra.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0553887/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

imidazol97

Did anyone notice how the instrument cluster and the lower controls have the same shape as the
taillight and the reflector light on the rear bumper. Alliteration.

fintail

That arc theme is in the car, especially the Starliner, I also see it in the front fenders, and the roofline too. The optional reflectors under the taillights help with that too.

That design influenced the 1962 UK Ford Capri, which I see as kind of a 2/3 scale Starliner:

imidazol97 said:

Did anyone notice how the instrument cluster and the lower controls have the same shape as the
taillight and the reflector light on the rear bumper. Alliteration.

sda

imidazol97 said:

Did anyone notice how the instrument cluster and the lower controls have the same shape as the
taillight and the reflector light on the rear bumper. Alliteration.

What was the reason ‘blue dots’ were added to tail lights?

kyfdx

sda said:

imidazol97 said:

Did anyone notice how the instrument cluster and the lower controls have the same shape as the
taillight and the reflector light on the rear bumper. Alliteration.

What was the reason ‘blue dots’ were added to tail lights?

Custom!

tmart

To look cool.

imidazol97

sda said:

imidazol97 said:

Did anyone notice how the instrument cluster and the lower controls have the same shape as the
taillight and the reflector light on the rear bumper. Alliteration.

What was the reason ‘blue dots’ were added to tail lights?

"In taillights with internal parabolic reflectors, the blue dots gave a very vivid magenta color to the taillight when viewed from directly behind. It's actually pretty neat. On vehicles with no reflector inside the taillight housing, the effect was much less pronounced and not worth doing."

I recall that fad from the 50s. On some taillights it makes the color more purplish and piercing, in my opinion. It was a fad somewhat like the fad of recent years of having "fog lights" or "driving lights" on your car and driving around in normal weather with them on to impress people.


https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/50296/what-was-the-initial-idea-behind-those-blue-dot-tail-lights-from-the-30s-to#:~:text=In taillights with internal parabolic,pronounced and not worth doing.

imidazol97

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IB2LE7TcEY

andys120

texases

1969 Cougar, XR7?

ab348

This one might be a bit more difficult:

texases

1960 Auto Union SP 1000?

tmart

ab348 said:

This one might be a bit more difficult:

Kinda looks like a 57 Ford mated with a 55 Thunderbird! Or an offspring of a 57 Thunderbird.

ab348

texases said:

1960 Auto Union SP 1000?

That's it, though the listing tabs it as a '59 model. I had never seen one before. Not a bad design for the era.

andys120

ab348 said:

texases said:

1960 Auto Union SP 1000?

That's it, though the listing tabs it as a '59 model. I had never seen one before. Not a bad design for the era.

It's as good an example as any of the influence Detroit's 1950s styling themes had on European styling. The SP1000 ticks all the boxes with a wraparound windshield, hardtop roof and tailfins. The result IMO is kind of a disproportianate mess.

More pleasing results occurred when stylist paid more attention to proportions and didn't try to get all the gingerbread on the car>



Here we have American themes like two-tone paint, quad headlights, pillar less hard-top, wraparound glass, tail fins and chrome accents used in a restrained way to create a styling masterpiece,

fintail

The W111/112 coupes are seen as timeless due to their restraint . That one is two tone due to being a cabrio (the car in that pic is a low grille car, so 1970-71, likely a 280SE 3.5). Two tone was offered in normal hardtops too, here's one from a few years prior:



There were more two tone options for fintails, especially early cars, but with the fins, these aren't as restrained:

andys120

Brochure , notice how the juxtaposition w a narrow beam sailboat makes the car look longer

magnette

That is a 67 Imperial convertible

Going back to the Auto Union SP 1000 we had that offered here in about 1960-62 and was only sold here as an Auto Union and rarely seen but the contemporary DKW saloons were marketed fairly widely here as DKW although with an Auto Union badge I think - sort of "DKW by Auto Union"

andys120

"Auto Union" was an an amalgam of makers similar to General Motors. The four rings in the emblem stood for Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW (eventually NSU was added ust before the VW takeover) They used "Auto Union" as a marque in the same way the General uses "GMC" which is to say for products similar to those sold under other names..

Yup, that's a 1967 Imperial Crown (they weren't badged as Chryslers in '67 IIRC (it's confusing)

Lostwrench3

Correct. Beginning in 1955, Imperial was an individual make.

texases

Until the '90s. Hard to think of this as a world class luxury car:

ab348

Though many like the early to mid-60s body on frame Imperials and while they are certainly robust cars, the ’67, although being the first of the unibody Imps, is my favourite. I love the narrow body-color accent in the grille and the general presence it has.

andys120

stickguy

Tucker?

Lostwrench3

One of 51!
47 survive.

xwesx

Lostwrench3 said:

One of 51!
47 survive.

That's an unbelievably good survival rate! People must have recognized they were special from early on.

lemko1968

???

ab348

Triumph Mayflower. Always thought the body design was odd, with lots of sharp angles in some areas but rounded in others.

fintail

Volunteer Park, Seattle, early 60s (should zoom well):

ab348

Looks like the Morris Minor far right is visiting from California. Newish Chevy II off in the distance.

stickguy

Brown rambler next to the red and white Buick road master.

Lostwrench3

1949 Chevy.

andys120

Partially hidden behind two figures in foreground is a copper-colored 1960 Chevy wagon (Kingswood?)

andys120

stickguy

Lotus. Evora?

andys120

stickguy said:

Lotus. Evora?

Nope it's the new Lotus Emira their newest design and likely the lasr with internal combustion power so perhaps thevlast lightweight Lotus (batteries are heavy!)

magnette

That Triumph Mayflower has a none standard paint job which does improve it in my opinion from the usual plain single colour.

There was a lady who lived in our neighbourhood when I was a kid and she drove round in a black Mayflower - it looked like a hearse...

fintail

Seattle:

stickguy

got you 60 Ford in there. And what must be a brand new at the time VW bus. That could have appeared brand new 10 years later too.

Lostwrench3

1955 Olds.
1961 Olds.