Mystery car pix

Mr_Shiftright

Not great, but better. Nasty rear quarter window, better nose than usual. Not beautiful in my book but not bad.

stevedebi

Somebody stretched an original VW microbus? Why? They could barely get out of their own way as it was... :confuse:

Mr_Shiftright

They could add even BIGGER reduction gears! Then you go 0-30 in 3 seconds with a top speed of 30!

british_rover

Maybe it has a Flat 6 Porsche engine in it? I think I read somewhere that Jerry Seinfeld did that to a Microbus he owned for a cross country trip.

fintail

ca. 1960 Borgward, I am not aware of the model name, but I believe these larger cars did not have names, just numbers. This is a rare high end model, possibly made in Mexico. It wants to be a fintail.

Mr_Shiftright

Okay here's the Frua Maserati I tried to post (well, similar) before that fussy website got all bent out of shape. It's just a little weird somehow.

jbollt

Volkswagen of America, Inc. is introducing an exciting new concept vehicle from its Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL), located in Palo Alto, California. The ERL has taken a 1964 Deluxe Microbus and retrofitted it with a collection of cutting edge technologies. Dubbed the “Chameleon”, this renovated bus contains projects developed by ERL engineers and external partners that explore novel design concepts for tomorrow’s cars.

Amoung other things, it has replaced the original VW engine with an all electric drive engine powered by lithium polymer batteries. Surfboards mounted on the roof are also lined with flexible solar panels that provide an additional source of energy to this 100% electric vehicle.

read more here --> micro bus

Mr_Shiftright

andys120

I don't have to guess , it's the post '73 (big bumpers) version of the redoubtable Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. That one's been modified w an airdam and perhaps the fussy grille has been cleaned up.

Mr_Shiftright

Nope, but it's in the family. Not a 124 however.

jbollt

It looks much longer than a 124 to me, but no idea what model it is.

Mr_Shiftright

and that's why it's a mystery car! But it's a regular production vehicle from Fiat.

jbollt

right you are! 1960 Borgward 230L Limousine.

BTW, the first car I every drove was a Green 1967 Mercedes 230 4 speed automatic (fintail)

karsick

Hmmm...

...clues...

The wheels on the Mystery Fiat are definitely some tasty late 70's Lancia alloys.

Exhaust is ANSA (natch )

Since it closely resembles a 124 (and a bit of Pug 504 Coupe) that it must be penned by Pininfarina, no? :confuse:

andys120

Since it closely resembles a 124 (and a bit of Pug 504 Coupe) that it must be penned by Pininfarina, no?

Your clues are unhelpful enough Shifty but that one is downright misleading. Pininfarina had nothing to do w the 124 Sport Coupe, it was styled in-house, for this reason the coupes did not wear the PF emblem like the Spiders.

I give up!

BTW-this is the CC (mk. 3) version of the 124 Sport Coupe with the big bumpers identical to your car
but the fussy production grille is intact>

Mr_Shiftright

GEEZ--- I might have posted the wrong car!

What I wanted to post was this type:

The other picture was so bad...

ANYWAY, this is the car I'll identify for you:

Fiat 1800 Coupe

andys120

Now that's a Pininfarina Coupe! It's also a great example of the influence American styling had on Europeans in the late '50s and early 60's.

The tailfins, wraparound glass and frenched headlights are pure Detroit and check out the nascent Dagmars on the bumpers. :shades:

Mr_Shiftright

Then how come it looks so great and most late 50s American cars are so hideously overstyled? Perhaps it's that the Italians showed RESTRAINT with all those items? Maybe you said it..."nascent"...

Good designers know when to STOP as well as where to START, seems to me....

fintail

Now that's a car

magnette

The Humber yesterday is a Hawk, not a Super Snipe, I think, and would be from about 1952/5. The name of the latter is a bit odd, but before the war there was a Humber Snipe, and indeed they named various others after other birds, but when they developed a faster version they called it the Super Snipe to distinguish it - and I suppose when they replaced that model they couldn't go back to a plain Snipe.

imidazol97

>Perhaps it's that the Italians showed RESTRAINT with all those items?

Weren't Chrysler cars in the late 50s early 60s styled with help of Italian stylists. A model for one car was on the Andrea Doria when it sank IIRC.

andys120

I forgot about the Hawk, it's a 1954 Hawk Mk IV.

I always thought that Super Snipe was a dorky name.
The last Super Snipe was another example of Detroit styling influence>



-Frenched double headlamps /Check
-Wraparound wshield /Check
-Chrome grillework /Check
-Nascent Tailfins /Check.

andys120

No one has identified my pretty little Frua>

hudsonthedog

"Weren't Chrysler cars in the late 50s early 60s styled with help of Italian stylists. A model for one car was on the Andrea Doria when it sank IIRC."

Yes...Ghia built a few Chrysler cars and concepts in that era. The Chrysler Norseman concept was the car that sank with the Andrea Doria.

texases

Wasn't their styling help limited mostly to the show cars? I can't see much Ghia in, say, a '62 Dart!

magnette

This is a Maserati - Mistral (?) circa 1967

magnette

The last Super Snipe, which you show in number 11105, is the first double headlight production car sold in Uk, from 1960 - the earlier version had single headlights and a different grille. Vauxhall had already introduced the wrap around windscreen and the tailfins on the Victor and Cresta/Velox....

Mr_Shiftright

I think some stylists did experiments for Chrysler, mostly Ghia, the worst of the bunch IMO. Ghia made some ugly stuff, you're right. But they did make the Fiat Jolly!

I like this picture---the driver looks SOOO embarrassed!

andys120

Yep, it's a Mistral, the AC 428 was very similar to the Mistral Spyder.

andys120

kyfdx

That looks like a cross between a CR-V and a Prius.. :surprise:

british_rover

Ford C-Max...

I like this one better.

kyfdx

That looks like the really good Ford Focus that the rest of the world gets...

boomchek

Isn't this one called the Fusion in Europe (the red Ford).

urnews

Isn't anyone going to identify the turquoise puddle jumper (probably a Fiat of some sort)?

fintail

I think he said it in the description - a Fiat Jolly

andys120

Shifty already identified it, it's a Fiat Jolly, essentially a decapitated Seisiento (600)
for cruising San Remo or Capri. :shades:

Basically a Golf cart.

Mr_Shiftright

Good guess but this particular one is a 500. They made 'em in 500, 600 and even Multiplas. They also is a difference between an Italian Jolly and an export Jolly (higher headlights for the USA).

hudsonthedog

"Wasn't their styling help limited mostly to the show cars?"
Mostly but not entirely. They did work on some Imperials, and there were the Dual-Ghias, which were production versions of Chrysler concept cars.

andys120

magnette

Maserati Merak - mid/late 70's

andys120

Maserati Merak - mid/late 70's

Check!

andys120

Still from TV's The Saint 9'62-'69)

texases

Don't know what the blue one is, just that it didn't get 5 stars in the crash test!

Mr_Shiftright

I can identify them all except I'm not sure about the blue convertible in the background. I wonder if it's a 1200TV or some such.

seminole_kev

I'm not really up to speed with Italian hardware, but my stab:

Fiat Multiplia flanked by Fiat 600's(?). Citroen 2CV in back ground.

urnews

Could the blue convertible possibly be a Sunbeam?

magnette

I'll have a go...( Note how the British studio who shot this series pretended that the setting was Italy by judicious use of a few Fiats and a couple of fake Italian plates, when it was clearly in England, and you can even see a Post Office van next to the British 'pillar box' in the background.)
Main car is a Fiat Multipla, flanked by two Fiat 500's.
Red car to left is a Fiat 850, the blue convertible is a Triumph Herald 1200, and there is a Citroen 2cv in front of that.
oh - I think the car with the dark roof to the extreme left, just going out of shot is another Triumph Herald, but it is a bit blurry on this rubbish monitor at work..
Off down the pub now as it's the end of the day - cheers
On the road in the distance (left to right) is a BMC 1100 (grey), a Bedford van, the truck passing it is a Bedford TK, then the back of a Black and white Vauxhall Victor FB estate, the smaller truck behind that is a Commer or Karrier, and the post office van is an Austin J4. Finally the blue and white car in front of the post office van on the extreme right is a Hillman Minx

andys120

I think the car with the dark roof to the extreme left, just going out of shot is another Triumph Herald, but it is a bit blurry on this rubbish monitor at work..
Off down the pub now as it's the end of the day - cheers

Cheers to you Magnette, hoist one for us.

Your monitor is better than mine, I can't even see the car that you're referring to. You're undoubtedly right about the scene faking Italy on the cheap but it's funny how it caused people to mis-identify the blue Herald convertible (I know Shifty knows them.

Mr_Shiftright

For some reason it looked too large to me for a Triumph Herald and I couldn't see any hood releases at the rear of the front fenders.