Mystery car pix

andys120

This still is from The Sweeney a British TV show that aired 1975-78.



I'm not that good at 70s British cars but I
I can recognize two or three of these cars, anyone else?

Mr_Shiftright

do I detect the headlight of a Triumph Dolomite? No, I must be dreaming....

andys120

do I detect the headlight of a Triumph Dolomite? No, I must be dreaming....

Are you talking about the black car behind the motorcycle? Could be I guess but it looks to me
more like one of those awful 70s Austins (Allegro?, Marina?)

fintail

The Sweeney car (the one in the middle) is a Mk 1 Ford Granada...really hard to tell much else. I think I see a couple Minis at right, and is the yellow thing a DAF maybe? At left there is a London Taxi and I believe a Bedford box truck, I can't tell any of the others.

magnette

The Sweeney is one of the great shows of the 70's, with loads of car chases and punch-ups every episode...The title is cockney rhyming slang, as in " Sweeney Todd .. Flying Squad" - a reference to the mad barber of London apparently..
Starred John Thaw, who was later the more suave Inspector Morse. I didn't know you got this in US - it virtually needed sub-titles in Britain some weeks because of the slang.
Turning to the cars, I think it would be unfair to have a go yet, as obviously these are easier for Brits to spot, but the Taxi which has already been mentioned would have been quite old even then, as the Austin FX4 didn't have indicator lights on the roof after the mid-sixties.

andys120

You might as well go for it Magnette, I don't think we can identify those cars from the bits that we can see in that picture.

AFAIK The Sweeney has never aired in the States, perhaps BBC America will show it.

magnette

Ok then !

Firstly, the main car isn't actually a Granada- it is a Ford Consul Gt, which was a sort of stripped Granada which was only on sale for the first year or so of Granada production..
On the left, the blue car sticking out is a Ford Zodiac Mk4, and the blackish one behind it - just behind the bike, is a Vauxhall Viva HC. Then thereis the Austin FX4 taxi, and a Ford Transit van, wioth what we call a Luton body, where the box is extended over the cab. Hard to see much else on that side, but the white van in the far distance is a Bedford CF.
On the right it's a yellow DAF 44, blue Mini (Mk2), Ford Capri, white Triumph -either a Dolomite or a 1500 - then another Mini, and a Ford Zephyr 6 Mk $, which is a relative of the Zodiac, of course.
Not sure about the white car that is folowing in the middle of the road - is it a VW mk3 ie a 1500/1600, of the non-beetle variety ?
Sorry you don't get the Sweeney, it was fun, we still see it as repeats here on some channels - it wasn't actually made by the BBC though, so perhaps thats why they have never shown it there. I think in the 70-'s you wouldn't have got it as it was quite violent compared with, say Kojak or Streets of San Francisco (we got a lot of imports too)...

Mr_Shiftright

all--RIGHT! Spotting a Dolomite from one blurry headlight! I am at the TOP of my game today!

magnette

Well done - it is a bit blurry !

What gets me is that apart from the DAF and the possible VW everything else there is British.....

fintail

Hey, I got the DAF, I'm happy with that

bumpy

ateixeira

Yikes. Is that a Mitsubishi van of some sort?

They all get funky names, like "Happy Fun Lucky Joy Wagon".

Kirstie_H

Geez that's hideous, whatever it is.
apologies if it's your vehicle. Not for the comment; for the fact that it's your vehicle.

bumpy

I think it is an early-90s Mitsu van. If you think that is hideous, you will never forgive me for showing you this:

jbollt

Oh MY! Someone sure has more $ than taste.

rockylee

That is absolutely gross !!!! :P

Rocky

british_rover

Wow I don't know what to say. IS that even road legal and look at the thing next to it my god. What was that Merkur of some type or some kind of old Nissan.

stickguy

one of th eboxy Nissans

bumpy

Doesn't look like any of the usual suspects. I think it's a hardtop variant of some mid-80s Toyota.

bumpy

the new Lincolns are in early this year?

stickguy

It was the new Oldsmobiles that were in early!

A BB reference.

jbollt

I'm pretty sure the "rules" here dictate that the poster know what the vehicle is that he/she posts, but I will admit to breaking the rules just this once. I hope all enjoy this one. :confuse:

rockylee

Just what in the world is that ? It's like a hybrid of a Bugatti EB, and a Lamborghini :surprise:

Rocky

fintail

I am pretty sure that's a Mercedes van (Vito?), and De Groot is a relatively well known car dealer in the Netherlands.

boomchek

The blue one is a Nissan of some sorts, possibly a Cedric?

bumpy

Mid-90s Cedric it is. Not sure how they ended up cloning the Lincoln badge, but they did.

andys120

:confuse: >

ateixeira

Wild. Mini Cooper sedan with an Edsel grille. I have NO idea.

british_rover

Isn't that an Italian copy of the Original Mini called the Innocenti or something.

fintail

Badge-engineered Mini (GM's not the only one with this disease)...I forget which badge, something that died off in the 60s

andys120

Fin's theclosest, it is a badge-ebgineered Mini, sold in the late 60s as the Riley Elf.

Pretty dumb, huh?

andys120

jbollt

well, i think this is a Renault, but have no idea what model.

Mr_Shiftright

R8 Renault Gordini!

I had one. My brother borrowed it and it was destroyed by a large Buick. I really REALLY liked that car, too. Had peppier engine, driving lights, sunroof and AC!

There's more to the story. My brother was fine but the Buick driver went to the hospital. Go figure....

andys120

That's exactly right Shifty, I'll be there aren't many people that have seen one, let alone HAD one.

andys120

fintail

1964 Chevy Biscayne...maybe a 409 car or something?

rockylee

What our 2009 or 2010 Chin-E Class of cars will look like ?

-Rocky

magnette

Re the Riley Elf, it was also available as a Wolseley Hornet with different trim etc, and both versions were updated several times over the period 1962 -70 ( I think the Riley finished in 69). This is a Mk III Elf, the first had no external seams in the body shell, and they didn't introduce winding windows until the III, before that they were sliding like the basic Mini. It was basically a little better trimmed inside than a Mini with wood dash etc., the engine was a little more warmed up, and of course the boot was about twice as large - they sold well, and really were a different car from the basic Mini, while the reason there was a Wolseley and a Riley version was because of the different dealer networks in some towns, and there was a different client base - Wolseley was aimed at retired people,,or those who just wanted luxury, while Riley was supposedly a more luxurious MG for more sporty types ! Significantly they never offered an MG Mini, as that job was done by the Cooper.

ps - I managed to post this twice so I've deleted #10404

andys120

Right Fin, it's a '64 Biscayne 409.

andys120

ateixeira

I'm Audi 5000.

Car made infamous by the (mostly unfair) accusations of sudden acceleration.

fintail

Ferris Bueller's dad's Audi 5000 ca. 1985 (as it has the old style headlights)

boomchek

For their age, I think those Audis still look very attractive.

bumpy

ateixeira

The hint gave it away for me.

Cee'd. Or c'eed. Whatever. Dumb name, cute car.

andys120

Good eye, Fintail, I took that still from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. To be exact it's an Audi 5000CS Turbo.

andys120

Of course Parking was opnly incidental to the main purpose >



Still from Pleasantville(1998)

jbollt

54 Chevy convert on the left. Middle car is a 57 Ford,looks to be the Skyliner?..the forerunner to today's metal-roofed convertibles. '58 T-Bird convert on the right.

andys120

Cporrect on all counts though the T-Bird could be a '59.