Mystery car pix

magnette

Yes - that Cygnet is just right for swanning round the West End...

(Swanning is a colloquialism for drifting round in a posh way)

fintail

One will never come out ahead with a V12, they are just too complex and the parts are too expensive. He must have taken that on to gain some YT revenue, as there's no way to make the numbers work otherwise. Too bad, as the V8s of that era are generally very solid.

stickguy said:

that piece by Car wizard was on an SL600. Wiring harness shot, and roof hydraulics blown out. and it was sitting with a Carolina squat stance.

I think all together it was about 20k to sort it all out. car was mechanically totaled.

apparently a set of harnesses for the 600 are unobtanium. have to be custom made by an expert for a huge $ amount.

tjc78

How did MB with all their technology build cars with bad wiring harnesses? BMW did too.

ab348

tjc78 said:

How did MB with all their technology build cars with bad wiring harnesses? BMW did too.

IIRC it was an attempt to make them "green" so they went with plant-based insulation or wrap on the things.

stickguy

story on that one was, customer bought it before getting inspected for $7,500 online. When it showed up, not as promised. So wizard got to do the deep dive into the issues. Customer got hosed.

wires were designed to decompose. In theory long after the car was used up, so in the landfill. Problem was, living in an engine compartment it happened much quicker than expected. Oops.

andys120

Note the orange disc on the hood of the left side car.

tmart

Wasn’t the orange disc on the Plymouth a bug deflector? Very nice color on the Mercury.

fintail

I wouldn't take a V12 car for free without a PPI. They are a boat anchor if enough goes wrong, and only the best maintained lowest mileage pristine cars have collector value today.

Another problem the suits didn't think of it that people like to keep old MBs around - designing something with a ~20 year useful life, even if the wiring harnesses lasted that long, was a dumb move.

stickguy said:

story on that one was, customer bought it before getting inspected for $7,500 online. When it showed up, not as promised. So wizard got to do the deep dive into the issues. Customer got hosed.

wires were designed to decompose. In theory long after the car was used up, so in the landfill. Problem was, living in an engine compartment it happened much quicker than expected. Oops.

fintail

Can't recall if I posted this before - Aurora Village, Shoreline (suburban Seattle), should zoom well:

stickguy

red and white international travelall in the middle of the row.

xwesx

Is that Greg's car at the front right?

andys120

1967 Ford Galaxie coupe executing a tight right turn into rightmost lane. Hard to believe it was common for such big cars to have only two doors

ab348

xwesx said:

Is that Greg's car at the front right?

That one is a ‘69, mine was a ‘68. Same paint color though.

kyfdx

andys120 said:

1967 Ford Galaxie coupe executing a tight right turn into rightmost lane. Hard to believe it was common for such big cars to have only two doors

My first car was a '70 Galaxie coupe. No A/C and black vinyl seats.

andys120

stickguy

Gen 1 RX7 from the 70's. lovely car.

texases

I think that's a 'Series 2', that makes it an '81-'83. The wheels and the bumpers are different.

andys120

It's an '85 RX7, last year for Gen I (1978-85)

texases

That makes it a Series 3, then, but I can't see external differences. Instrument panels were different, supposedly.

Michaell

My sister had an '85 that she bought used. Hers was the baby blue color, and it had the wraparound 3 piece spoiler.

I got to drive it several times over the years, once in anger on some back roads. Bounced off the rev limiter a number of times.

Most fun I've ever had with 100 BHP.

ab348

Toronto, 1973, kind of a neat picture. GM Fishbowl coach to get you started.

kyfdx

Looks like a Mercury Capri behind the bus?

stickguy

when I was a kid they had those busses running in my town and you could catch one into NYC. Used to take them to the mall in the next town a lot too.

stickguy

definitely a yellow Capri. I think the small blue car next to it is an early Toyota Corolla (but might have had a different name then).

is the red wagon in the distance an Opel Kadett?

ab348

stickguy said:

when I was a kid they had those busses running in my town and you could catch one into NYC. Used to take them to the mall in the next town a lot too.

We had them here for the longest time, I think into the early '90s if not longer. They had a Detroit Diesel engine in the back which was pretty noisy. They had a 2-speed transmission and almost never got out of first gear, but occasionally one would get up a head of steam and not have to make any stops. When it hit the correct speed it would shift into high and the whole bus would shake before the thing really started to roll.

Lostwrench3

On the left - 1968 Dodge Polara.

texases

Next to it a Valiant, same color as my mom's/brother's (he kept it running for it seemed decades).

sda

texases said:

Next to it a Valiant, same color as my mom's/brother's (he kept it running for it seemed decades).

That dark olive green color was common on Valiants. My 4th grade teacher had one, basic model, manual everything, I think it had the smallest 6, 198 cu in? I rode in it once. The seats were devoid of style, flat and thinly padded.

magnette

The car following that coach is a Toyota Corolla I think - the one we had as a Toyota 1000 for a time

EDIT - actually I think it was sold in North America as a Publica - we got it as a 1000 though

This one is a 1974 one

magnette

Had a problem posting that - its just not picking it up at present

instead its sending a separate link - not had that happen before...

kyfdx

magnette said:

Had a problem posting that - its just not picking it up at present

instead its sending a separate link - not had that happen before...

The yellow car behind the bus? That car has dual headlights.

The blue car in the right lane? That doesn't have the same grill as your picture.

texases

sda said:

texases said:

Next to it a Valiant, same color as my mom's/brother's (he kept it running for it seemed decades).

That dark olive green color was common on Valiants. My 4th grade teacher had one, basic model, manual everything, I think it had the smallest 6, 198 cu in? I rode in it once. The seats were devoid of style, flat and thinly padded.

It depends on the year. 1969 and older had the 170 cid available, 1970 and later that was replaced by the 198. My '72 Duster had the 198.

ab348

magnette said:

The car following that coach is a Toyota Corolla I think - the one we had as a Toyota 1000 for a time

EDIT - actually I think it was sold in North America as a Publica - we got it as a 1000 though

This one is a 1974 one

Toyota never sold a model called the Publica in North America to my knowledge.

I remember the design seen in the Toronto pic being sold here as a Corolla.

fintail

Yep, no Publica for the USDM, always Corolla.

andys120

This one was popular for a while>

bhill2

On the right side of the picture, in the distance, is a black car preparing to make a left turn. It’s a little out of focus but I think it’s a’63 or maybe a ‘64 Rambler; looks like a low line one.

jpp75

andys120 said:

This one was popular for a while>

Toyota Paseo? I forgot those even existed but a girl I went to high school with had one in the ubiquitous teal green that was popular in the early 90's.

andys120

jpp75 said:

andys120 said:

This one was popular for a while>

Toyota Paseo? I forgot those even existed but a girl I went to high school with had one in the ubiquitous teal green that was popular in the early 90's.

There was a time when every young girl in America drove a Paseo.

kyfdx

andys120 said:

jpp75 said:

andys120 said:

This one was popular for a while>

Toyota Paseo? I forgot those even existed but a girl I went to high school with had one in the ubiquitous teal green that was popular in the early 90's.

There was a time when every young girl in America drove a Paseo.

They traded in their Ford Tempos

magnette

I used to see a turquoise colour Paseo in the street near my old office about ten years ago driven by an older lady - it wasn't a very popular model here and was only sold here for a short while I think.

andys120

Michaell

Chevrolet HHR - GM's response to the PT Cruiser.

ab348

Unknown location, around 1960. Might be California, where the foreign invasion has already begun.

texases

Is that an Autobianchi Bianchina, like the gorilla drove in the Pink Panther?

xwesx

jpp75 said:

Toyota Paseo? I forgot those even existed but a girl I went to high school with had one in the ubiquitous teal green that was popular in the early 90's.

Yep, my sister had an exact clone of that as well. She had hers in the late 90s.

xwesx

kyfdx said:

They traded in their Ford Tempos

The predecessor of my sister's Paseo was our family's 1985 Camry (so not far from the truth!).

xwesx

Michaell said:

Chevrolet HHR - GM's response to the PT Cruiser.

Memory lane! My mother put 162,000 miles on one of those in 18 months.

sda

In 2010 I bought a used 2008 HHR 2LT with 13k on it. I liked it, my wife not so much. When I bought it the day was overcast. Little did I know in sunlight the flash blue color had a pink tone to it! Mine was identical to the picture and had a sunroof. A neighbor who was the same age as my daughter about 8, told her, "do you know your dad drives a pink car??" Groan. It was actually a good car but a bit small for me. I traded it after about 18 months.

tmart

ab348 said:

Unknown location, around 1960. Might be California, where the foreign invasion has already begun.

54 Ford, 57 Ford, 58 Ford

andys120

texases said:

Is that an Autobianchi Bianchina, like the gorilla drove in the Pink Panther?

It sure is!