Mystery car pix

andys120

I probably rode in about 100 of those cars as taxis.

I've always been amused by the practice of using small two-doors as taxis as is common in Latin America. :confuse:

You *must* go there at least once in your life time, or you simply have not lived.

Been there, love to do it again, there's no place like Rio.

andys120

kyfdx

I think that guy pulled me over on I-75, just last month.. :surprise:

andre1969

1961 Plymouth, most likely a Savoy I'd guess. The car that inspired a whole generation of Japanese movie monsters.

Mr_Shiftright

I bet in those days they didn't tell the handcuffed prisoner to "watch your head" either....

ateixeira

We always look for 4 door taxis, even if it means having to wait a bit.

-juice

andys120

I noticed that the two pursuit cars I've posted recently were two doors....curious.

andys120

andre1969

Back in the old days I think most police cars WERE two-door sedans. They tended to be cheaper and lighter than their 4-door counterparts. I don't know if they were actually lighter enough to have a real power advantage, though. I'd imagine that the weight difference was usually less than 100 pounds. And the cost probably wasn't that much, per car, but it adds up in fleet volume.

andys120

You're correct Andre. That bubble gum machine dosn't do much for the loooks , does it?

andys120

No takers on 8953? Here's another look>



Too bad we won't get this in the USA.

boomchek

Oh, ok, that must be the new Fiat Bravo. Very nice looking car.

bumpy

Fiat Bravo. It's nice when they put the model name on the license plate. Fiat should send GM a thank-you note for financing the development of this one.

bumpy

andys120

That looks like the new ('08?) Vauxhall (nee Opel) Corsa.

andys120

A tableau of various cars from Starsky and Hutch:

fintail

From L to R - 68 Fairlane wagon, Camaro (67?), Pontiac (looks like a 63 or 64 GP), 64 Chevy, Ford Granada

imidazol97

Is the Granada about a '75? That seems newer than the rest of the cars in the pictures.

andys120

You're running about 95% Fin. The Poncho is a '64 but I doubt it's a Grand Prix, I don't see the grille-mounted fog light.
Imizadol is right, the other car is a Granada, much newer than the others. Starsky and Hutch aired '75-79.

Here's another S&H scene, it shows mostly older cars too>

kyfdx

'69-'71 Nova..

Triumph or Austin-Healey?

Looks like some kind of Galaxie on the right.. '69?

fintail

I think that's a Triumph TR-3 behind the Nova, and the car on the far right appears to be a GM product

kyfdx

Yeah.... I can see that now.. Delta 88?

andys120

The white car on the far right looks like a Buick ca. 1966-68.

Anybody wanna ID the red and white car in the center? :P

derrado1

Any takers?



For a brownie point, tell me what car it's based on.

boomchek

The red car is a Ford Torino isn't it?

boomchek

Hmmm, tough one.

The one on the far left is a Lada Signet Station Wagon.

Got it Daewoo Espero, mid 90s model. Daewoo has/had a big presence in Eastern Europe as they bought up many of the plants there, and some manufacturers in Poland and continued building cars under the Daewoo name.

derrado1

Wow! I didn't even notice the Lada on the far left...

Well, smart guy, can you tell me what the Espero is based on? :P

andys120

The red car is a Ford Torino isn't it?

Close, but no cigar, it's a ca.1975 Ford Grand Torino

andys120

kyfdx

Ford Sierra?

kyfdx

Close, but no cigar, it's a ca.1975 Ford Grand Torino

Isn't it a Gran Torino?

imidazol97

How 'bout 1974 GRAN Torino. If you owned one, they were Grand... :P

alodonovan101

andys120

Yep, that's the Euro-Ford Sierra, the car we knew as the Mercury Merkur.

andys120

kyfdx

1st gen Mazda RX-7

andys120

Yep, obviously I'm going to have to go a little more obscure

andre1969

Isn't it a Gran Torino?

Yup, it was "Gran". No "d". Another sign of cost-cutting in the 70's, no doubt shortening that word by 20% saved countless dollars when you added it up over volume. Poor cash-strapped Chrysler had to take a similar move, with the Gran Fury.

But just to show how big and unstoppable GM was in the 70's, they could afford to splurge on that fifth letter. Hence, no "Gran Am", "Gran Ville", "Gran Prix", or "Gran LeMans". :P

fintail

On the left is a Singer I am pretty sure, I don't know about on the right

fintail

What was with the "Gran" thing...were they trying to be pretentious, but realized the cars really weren't very "Grand", so they just called it "Gran"? Or was it just catchy in a 70s way?

andre1969

I dunno where the "Gran" originated. I have a feeling it was to make the car sound more exotic than it really was.

Maybe it sprang from the GT or "Gran Turismo" edition cars that started springing up in the 60's?

bumpy

stickguy

the white one a few back was a Sterling (827SL?), an english interpretation of a Gen 1 Acura legenda.

The white mess just above is the Chevy version of a Corolla from the '80s. Didn't they commit blashemey and call it a Nova?

bumpy

Didn't they commit blashemey and call it a Nova?

Indeed they did. :sick:

"Croikey! Theat's not a Neauva, mate! Theat's a Neauva!"

andys120

Yep, the left hand car is a Singer Roadster 4AD (1951-55) the other is an Austin A40 Sports ('50-'53).

andre1969

but I think that white pile of rust actually might deserve the name "no va".

andys120

bumpy

It has the bloomin' trim designation roight on the soide, it does!

bumpy

The old RWD Cutlass Supreme. I still a few around as beaters here and there.

Edit: I should add that they're all coupes except for one forest-green-over-white sedan I see clunking around occasionally.

michaellno

Oldsmobile Cutlass ... mid to late 80's.

One of the things that I remember about that model was that the front grille hinged; you could push on the bottom of it and it would swing back. I suspect that it was done so that in the event of a low speed fender bender, it wouldn't crack.

I remember showing my dad that feature on a Cutlass we saw in a parking lot once; he was amazed that I knew it existed.

See - subscribing to C&D since the mid 70's does pay off....

andre1969

One of the things that I remember about that model was that the front grille hinged; you could push on the bottom of it and it would swing back. I suspect that it was done so that in the event of a low speed fender bender, it wouldn't crack.

I remember showing my dad that feature on a Cutlass we saw in a parking lot once; he was amazed that I knew it existed.

I had an '82 Cutlass Supreme coupe and thought it was so cool when I saw that the grille could swing down like that. Until one day I showed it off to one of my friends, and the damn thing broke off!

It was a pain in the butt to try and find another Cutlass in the junkyard too, because most of them were either wrecked in the front, or were missing one or both grille pieces. I did finally find another 82 Cutlass that had the front intact. It was a Brougham model, and annoyingly, the Brougham had a different grille from the base model, so I had to buy both sides for it to match!

I think those hinged grilles were somewhat common for awhile. My '79 Newport had one, as does my '79 New Yorker. And IIRC the '77-79 T-bird had a hinged grille too.