Mystery car pix

michaellno

Ah, so that's the car the character from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was named after.

andys120

That's right it's a l972 Plymouth Cricket nee Hillman Avenger. Chrysler bought a controlling interest in Rootes Group Ltd (Hillman/Sunbeam/Humber/Talbot).

andys120

stickguy

'62? '63? Bonneville?

I'm not much for cars of this era, but this one actually is good looking!

fintail

It's a 62 whatever model it is for sure, and I see it has 8 lug wheels. Good looking car yes.

lemko

...a 1962 Pontiac Ventura?

kyfdx

It reminds me of my mother's '62 Star Chief.. though, I think ours was a 4-door...

ateixeira

Tells me Pontiac, but I have no idea what model.

-juice

rsholland

'62 Pontiac Grand Prix.

Bob

andys120

LOL it is a '62 GP. It was the first year for the Prix, maybe that's why you guys picked it as everything but until Bob came along. :P They were good looking cars, and fast too especially wit the SD-421. The eight lug wheels were options much now much sought after by collectors of Ponchos of that time.

andys120

michaellno

a Peugeot 206, one of the first "hot hatches" in Europe after the VW GTI.

Early 80's vintage, I should think.

andys120

You're close Michaell. It's a Peugeot 205 GTI, ca. early 90s at which time it was lauded as the hottest oh th hot hatches by the British car 'zines.

andys120

michaellno

.... like a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle. Had a HS buddy restore one, but his was burgundy colored.

fintail

You must look further north...

andys120

Nope, not only isn't it a 1970 it's not a Chevelle, it's not even a a Chevy. I think Fintail's ont to it. :P

boomchek

i don't know much about hot rods but judging by the grille it's a Pontiac of some sorts mid 70's.

andys120

You're closer Boomchek but it isn't a mid-70s car.

rsholland

It's a Canadian Pontiac of some sort. Canadian Pontiacs often had Chevy body parts.

Bob

fintail

It's a 68 or 69 Pontiac Beaumont, basically a Canadian Chevelle

andys120

BINGO!

The big Canadian Pontiacs of the 50s and 60s featured lighter Chevy chassis and drivetrains. The compact Beaumont was as fintail suggests a Canadian Chevelle with a Pontiac style split grille.

andys120

andys120

which has been up for 12 hours? It's not that obscure guys. In any case I'm away for the weekend with no web access so you'll have to talk amongst yourselves.

Here's another to keep you going=>

rsholland

NSU Sport Prinz

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/2529/sportprinz.html

Bob

rsholland

Sunbeam Alpine.

Bob

gagrice

Interesting site and car. The first Wankel was what caught my attention. I don't believe I ever saw one. Probably not many made it to the USA.

andys120

Now for something older and more prosaic=>

rsholland

'49 Dodge

http://www.fridrichdesign.com/dodge/images/thrillmap.jpg

Bob

andys120

It's a '49 Dodge Wayfarer, Bob.

How about this?

boomchek

The wheels are typical Fiat of that era.

It's a 1972 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe.

andys120

For the record it's a '73 but close enough. The photo represents the third and most unfortunate generation of the 124 Sport Coupe, the first two were under appreciated, light, good handling, good-looking cars that got lost in the shadow of the more popular Spiders.

The third generation had everything but the looks.

andys120

notwithstanding the repaint, who knows the make/model?

ateixeira

No fair, I wasn't even alive back then. ;-)

I can appreciate the simplicity of some of these designs, particularly that clean Alpine.

Love those suicide doors, too.

-juice

andys120

Could be worse Juice, at least we agreed to limit this to post WWII cars.

fintail

The red car is an old school London Taxi, which was an Austin FX4 or something like that

andys120

It is indeed an Austin FX4, a popular London taxi design from the recent past but only one of many that have filled the part.

andys120

ateixeira

I'm going to guess it's a VW of some sort from the late 60s.

That sort of resembles the Brasilia models that were sold in Brazil, only Brasilia was a 3 door wagon and that looks like a coupe version of that car.

-juice

fintail

I know they are sending a few current London cabs to NA. I saw a few in Vegas last year.

The mystery car is some kind of VW special, looks like a 412 light assembly

boomchek

Re: Fiat 124:

I thought the 73's got the federal plastic bumper treatment. Maybe that was a Euro version. Anyways lets continue.....

andys120

That's a Brazilian VW as well, Juice, an SP2 from the mid 70s. I remmember seeing them in Rio when I was there in '72. I suspect they were based on 412 mechanicals.

Take another look Boonchek, that Fiat is wearing heavy bumpers, a '72 looks much nicer with it's thin bumpers=>http://www.carsfromitaly.com/fiat/124coupe_srs2.jpg

andys120

seminole_kev

Well that's certainly not stock. Is it some sort of modern re-manufacture that some company is making, or is it just a one-off?

andys120

You can buy one like it today with enough dough so it's not a one-off.

kyfdx

Is that from the movie?

ateixeira

Andy: for me the headlights gave it away. The Brasilia's were similar.

I'll guess it's Eleanor.

-juice

boomchek

What it's officially called though I'm not sure. Is it a Shelby Cobra GT500 or something?

I see yourpoint on the bumpers. I saw the newer Fiat 124s with the black plastic pumpers which maybe threw me off a bit. thanks

andys120

What it's officially called though I'm not sure. Is it a Shelby Cobra GT500 or something?

Shelby GT-500E, apparently they've decided to make replicas of Eleanor (Gone in 60 Seconds) from old Mustang fastbacks. I'm not sure if they'e using the Shelby name under a license deal or if they are actually made at a Shelby-American facility.

andys120

Some of these are still on the job.