Mystery car pix

fintail

A few to ID here in Longton, Staffordshire, 1970 - zooms fine:

stickguy

Cortina in the center?

and is the 4 headlight coupe up front a Counsel?

ab348

A pair of Cortinas are easy to spot. But the car at the front of the image is (I think) a Riley Elf, a badge-engineered Mini with the front end you see here (the Wolseley version was similar) with a slightly extended and squared-off rear end. The real mystery is the 4-headlight coupe. My first thought was a Ford Corsair but I have never seen one of those with quad headlights. The body design looks Italian. No idea what it is, but it's a sharp design.

bhill2

Based on pathetic lack of expertise on these cars, I will comment that the 4-headlight car looks like a Ford Taunus. That being said, I have not seen a quad round light setup like that. I looks like it may have been a conversion for US importation.

fintail

I believe the attractive mystery car is a Reliant Scimitar from around the date of the image (was hoping @magnette would chime in )

fintail

A few easier to ID cars in Gastown, Vancouver BC, 1972, zooms fine:

Michaell

I miss the Old Spaghetti Factory! There was one a few blocks from my office in downtown Denver when I started working there in the early/mid 90's.

I'll take the Squareback - a lot like the '67 my folks owned (and, drove across country from CA to NY and back in the summer of '71).

stickguy

mid 60s Rambler in the back.

fintail

Michaell said:

I miss the Old Spaghetti Factory! There was one a few blocks from my office in downtown Denver when I started working there in the early/mid 90's.

I'll take the Squareback - a lot like the '67 my folks owned (and, drove across country from CA to NY and back in the summer of '71).

We have an Old Spaghetti Factory in Spokane, one of the first IIRC, opened in 1970 and still in the same building, it's a mild time warp now and still quite popular.

bhill2

stickguy said:

mid 60s Rambler in the back.

It's a 64 Classic; my parents had one and I learned to drive on it. Its 68 equivalent (called 'Rebel') is behind the Squareback.

ab348

We had an Old Spaghetti Factory here for several years in the '80s/early '90s. I guess they made money on volume, not margin, since I remember their pricing being very low. Wasn't a bad place back then.

ab348

fintail said:

I believe the attractive mystery car is a Reliant Scimitar from around the date of the image (was hoping @magnette would chime in )

Ah-ha, you are correct, sir! This is a shot of a 1967 model.

fintail

Back to Blighty - location is on the pic, must be around 1980 or so, zooms fine for an apparent postcard, plenty to spot here:



And the same location in 2023 from streetview:

stickguy

1980, Fiat X19 and Renault R5 Le car in the back. A spitfire. Volvo 245.

explorerx4

1980 pic. A red Fiesta and a silver Dasher wagon to the right of it.
2023 pic. A yellow Kia and a black Ford Kuga on the left.

texases

BL Princess on the far curb?

fintail

Yep Princess in the background, likely an Austin but the image could be hiding the grille of the uncommon Wolseley variant I suppose.

Above the Fiesta, MB W123.

andys120

Triumph Spitfire (post1974) in first pic on right.

fintail

In the Lavenham pic, the wagon/estate is a VW Passat (sold as Dasher on this side of the pond) and I think I see a couple of Capri along with a Vauxhall.

fintail

Port Alberni BC, 1973 - clear pic that zooms well, fairly diverse material here:

stickguy

a pair of Datsun 510s, including a great period pumpkin orange one. Butt of an early 70s blue Celica. a couple of French cars.

ab348

There’s a first-gen Bronco sticking its rear end out on the left side of the pic, with a late-60s Lincoln Continental coupe, a Fiat (?) wagon, and a Datsun 510 closer to the camera. At the intersection is a clamshell early ‘70s Chevy wagon and on the other side a ‘73 Chevelle sedan. I’ll leave the other side of the street to others.

bhill2

Second gen Corvair in front of the Little John.

explorerx4

UFO hovering near upper left.

fintail

Is a French car maybe a Renault parked at far right? The wagon at left between the 510 and Lincoln is a Mazda 1800, probably rare when new and a unicorn today, not sure if I have ever seen a wagon variant in person. Small car to the right of the clamshell maybe a Vauxhall Epic?

fintail

Winter in the days of RWD, Toronto 1971, zooms fine:

stickguy

69 or 70 Mustang up front stuck in the snow. Not surprised about that. Followed by a Datsun 510. I can see that rusting from here from road salt.

bhill2

The car up front being pushed is a Mustang Mach I, 1969 I'm pretty sure. A coworker in my college job had one of those, and I actually navigated for him in several rallies.. It was a nice car, and he may have been the best driver that I ever rode with. But I suspect that driving that car in snow would have puckered even him.

roadburner

It's a 1969; the faux fender scoops were removed starting with the 1969 Boss 302 and eliminated across the range in 1970.

magnette

@fintail

I kept off the one for Longton in Stoke on Trent but the car approaching in the far distance is a Singer Gazelle.

The Scimitar was actually manufactured in nearby Stafford - as were all the Three wheelers.

Lavenham is only about 70 miles from here and we spent New Year's eve there in about 2008 I think,

The whole town is full of ancient buildings and our hotel - the Swan - was built in about 1550 I think.

Hit my head a couple of times in our room due to low beams..

Tuning to the cars that Princess has round headlights and potentially could be the Morris version which was really rare and was the first to be dropped - B Leyland renamed the range from Austin /Morris/ Wolseley after about 7 months and relaunched it as Princess

They were actually really tough cars and it was a shame they were not better promoted but BL was in trouble by then...

fintail

magnette said:

@fintail

I kept off the one for Longton in Stoke on Trent but the car approaching in the far distance is a Singer Gazelle.

The Scimitar was actually manufactured in nearby Stafford - as were all the Three wheelers.

Lavenham is only about 70 miles from here and we spent New Year's eve there in about 2008 I think,

The whole town is full of ancient buildings and our hotel - the Swan - was built in about 1550 I think.

Hit my head a couple of times in our room due to low beams..

Tuning to the cars that Princess has round headlights and potentially could be the Morris version which was really rare and was the first to be dropped - B Leyland renamed the range from Austin /Morris/ Wolseley after about 7 months and relaunched it as Princess

They were actually really tough cars and it was a shame they were not better promoted but BL was in trouble by then...

The Princess is kind of a guilty pleasure for me, for some reason I kind of like them. Maybe one of the best period BL offerings - from what I read the quality wasn't as bad as some, and it was innovative, and a very period modern look.

fintail

Kingsway and Knight St, Vancouver BC , 1978 - zooms fine:

stickguy

Datsun wagon (610?) behind the Granada. And a Swedish Rambler (Volvo 140) behind a US Rambler in the parking lot.

stickguy

also, the Granada next to the 65ish Ford really shows how much design evolved in just 10 years. Granada looks relatively modern, and the other one an antique. These days, a 2015 vs. a 2025 are hard to tell apart.

sda

stickguy said:

also, the Granada next to the 65ish Ford really shows how much design evolved in just 10 years. Granada looks relatively modern, and the other one an antique. These days, a 2015 vs. a 2025 are hard to tell apart.

I wouldn’t think they drive much differently as they are both based on the 60 Falcon structure and are similar in size.

imidazol97

The car in front is a 1962 Fairlane 500. Midsize.
Drove nice compared to Falcon, in my opinion. Peppy with a 260 cu in V8. Light. Agile compared to full size Ford.
Had one in college at BSU.

fintail

I believe the wagon is a Colt.

ab348

sda said:

stickguy said:

also, the Granada next to the 65ish Ford really shows how much design evolved in just 10 years. Granada looks relatively modern, and the other one an antique. These days, a 2015 vs. a 2025 are hard to tell apart.

I wouldn’t think they drive much differently as they are both based on the 60 Falcon structure and are similar in size.

Exactly. Same car under the skin except for upgrades to the inline-6 or Ford small-block V8. Sad commentary on the state of Ford engineering at the time.

stickguy

They Made other changes too though. Disk brakes, probably to stuff like ball joints and maybe adding a sway bar. So basic platform but updated. The body style and interior though were major leaps forward.

bhill2

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stickguy said:

Datsun wagon (610?) behind the Granada. And a Swedish Rambler (Volvo 140) behind a US Rambler in the parking lot.

FWIW, I think the Volvo is a 164. That would make it a Swedish Ambassador.

andys120

stickguy

BMW we obviously didn’t get. I’ve seen pictures of it before. Maybe a 1600 variant?

kyfdx

2002 Touring

fintail

Yep another forbidden fruit that might not have been insanely rare elsewhere.

ab348

If you blow up the pic, the badge seems to proclaim it as a 1002.

kyfdx

ab348 said:

If you blow up the pic, the badge seems to proclaim it as a 1002.

Then, probably a 1602 or 1802 Touring

ab348

It may be that the second digit is an
“8”. Whatever it is, I like that body style.

texases

Yep, 1802:

andys120

kyfdx said:

ab348 said:

If you blow up the pic, the badge seems to proclaim it as a 1002.

Then, probably a 1602 or 1802 Touring

Yup a circa 1970 1802 Touring,,.never sold here.

sda

andys120 said:

kyfdx said:

ab348 said:

If you blow up the pic, the badge seems to proclaim it as a 1002.

Then, probably a 1602 or 1802 Touring

Yup a circa 1970 1802 Touring,,.never sold here.

From what I understand BMW didn’t sell many as the were significantly more expensive than the standard 2dr sedan.