Mystery car pix

fintail

It's an Opel Senator A - or to be exact, probably a Vauxhall Senator as those are certainly British houses in the background.

andys120

Those are British houses in the background but the used car ad says it's a 1978 Opel Senator A 3.0.

andys120

magnette

This car was sold in UK as an Opel Senator, as here, and seperately through Vauxhall dealers as a Vauxhall Royale. The latter had different trim, including a badge sying Royale on the side, so it is indeed the Opel.

magnette

Mercury Comet - I am useless on dates but would guess 1962

fangio2

1964

bumpy

Yep, it's the old GMC V6, 351E in this case. The easiest way to tell it apart from every other V6 I've ever seen is that the spark plugs are on the intake side of the heads.

andys120

Fangio2 is correct, the blue coupe is a 1964 Comet Caliente
.

andys120

karsick

That plug location did strike me as odd (not that I spend much time around OHV V-engines of any stripe).

Is that V6 related to any other GM engine?

andre1969

I have no idea. My first thought was a 2009 Forrester. I noticed that the Tribeca went to a Chrysler Pacifica-ish looking front-end recently, and that thing above looks similar. But it looks too trucky to be a Sube.

texases

That plug location did strike me as odd

Same here - does anyone know of any other engine that has the plugs on the intake, rather than exhaust, side? I never worked on one...

bumpy

Is that V6 related to any other GM engine?

The GMC V6 was a clean-sheet design done at the end of the 1950s. It did spawn V12 and V8 variants and a few super-obscure diesel versions. All of these were gone by the end of the '60s and the gas V6 itself was extinct by 1975.

stickguy

Dodge Journey?

oregonboy

That can't be a Dodge. It doesn't have a HUGE cross-hair grill.

guss

the wheels and grille look Fordish.

2009 Ford Escape ?

subearu

Nobody spotted the KIA badge on the grill? That's the Borrego or whatever they will call it.

-Brian

stever

"The new Kia Borrego will debut at the Detroit auto show in January. Not much info has been released yet, other than it will be a body-on-frame 7-passenger SUV, and will be powered by either a V6 or a first-ever (for Kia) V8. With the V8, it should tow like a Peterbilt; well, maybe not quite like a "Big Pete," but pretty darn good, nonetheless. The Borrego is expected to go on sale early next summer as a 2009 model."

Detroit Auto Show Preview: 2009 Kia Borrego (Straightline)

And blogging Bob also noted the Chrysler influenced front end.

texases

"body on frame" "7 passenger" "V6 or...V8"

Kias jumping in just when others are leaving the full size SUV market-weird. And the looks are clean, inoffensive, but forgettable.

oregonboy

Oh yeah... really bad timing. Better get working on the hybrid version. :P

james

karsick

Recipe:

a) 2004 Chrysler Pacifica lights
b) 2008 Subaru Tribeca Grille
c) Ford-copy wheels
d) Acura MDX bumpers & phony skidplate
e) Bloated Ford Escape body

Is EVERY Korean car just a mix of existing designs???

.... at least the Sonata looks good with its Camry/Accord/Audi blend.

The rest are rubbish design.

texases

b) 2008 Subaru Tribeca Grille

And that grill looks super-bland on the Subaru, like an overly-conservative reaction to the bad first iteration of the Tribeca. Bad one to copy.

andys120

Nobody spotted the KIA badge on the grill? That's the Borrego or whatever they will call it

Bingo Brian, it's the 2009 Kia Borrego, a full size SUV. No doubt there will be a Hyundai clone. Apparently Hyun/Kia like it's Detroit-based competitors is unable to resist the temptation to try to fill (and refill) every conceivable niche, including those that are rapidly shrinking.

That way lies ruin, my Korean friends. :sick:

hudsonthedog

Kias jumping in just when others are leaving the full size SUV market-weird.

Kia's not "jumping in" to the BOF truck market since the original Sportage fell into the Daihatsu Rocky/Suzuki Sidekick/Jeep Wrangler BOF SUV market 15 years ago. And did anyone else notice the six-lug wheels?

bumpy

Apparently Hyun/Kia like it's Detroit-based competitors is unable to resist the temptation to try to fill (and refill) every conceivable niche, including those that are rapidly shrinking.

Not so much. IMO, this is the de facto successor to the Land Cruiser-ish Hyundai Terracan.

andys120

The Sonata does look that good to me but then I've driven one. :P

The only good looking cars in the entire Hyun/Kia stable are the Tiburon and the new Azzera which has a nice BMW 7ish look without being an obvious copy. I haven't been inside of one tho. The worst "design" on the Sonata/Optima is the interior.

andys120

karsick

That's got to be the facelifted new UK Ford S40....., I mean Ford 3....., er, I mean Ford Focus (ST?).

I sure hope those stripes are a delete option :P

It almost looks as cohesive again as the original 99 Focus (almost).

BTW- What's with FoMoCo's multi-decade, international fascination with still promo pics that have the wheels spinning (in this case the rears appear to be at Mach2 while the fwd fronts are at parking pace)????

andys120

(in this case the rears appear to be at Mach2 while the fwd fronts are at parking pace)????

LOL! I didn't notice that. You're right 'sick, it's the Euro Focus ST.

colloquor

Not just Korean cars, place a Saturn L200 and a 2008 Accord side-by-side, even the taillights are almost exactly alike.

karsick

Let's hope that Ford continues its WRC program with that facelifted model.

They may still get the driver's title this year with Marcus Gronholm! Lots of good Focus WRC clips on youtube.

andys120

karsick

Whatever it is, it sure has some dandy body panel fit.

fintail

Looks like a Borgward Isabella convertible, and yes, it appears the hood and door aren't shut, or it was really haphazardly assembled.

Mr_Shiftright

Looks like a kidnapping!

That's a Borgward. Didn't know they made ragtops! Bizarre cars. Mr. Borgward was apparently quite eccentric and very difficult. He had an excellent opportunity to compete with and possibly defeat BMW in the sport sedan market but he took every opportunity to sabotage his chances of success.

andys120

That's correct, I don't recall seeing an Isabella Cabrio but I do recall their shutlines being a little wider than you'd get in a Benz.

Seriously though the pic was taken at a car show so perhaps the hood wasn't entirely shut.

stever

This 2nd generation flagship car will debut in Geneva in '08.

magnette

The carsbehind the Isabella are a Borgward Six saloon, circa 1960, and the white car in the background is a Lloyd I think , which is mid fifties.

By the way - I don't like this new format for the forum - do we need to have acolumn alongside every entry stating when the person joined etc. The actual text entry is now too narrow, so when you try to reply, like to this picture, the box is too tall for the monitor screen, - all I can see as I answer this is the bit where it says 'to post a message...etc'
Hopefully someone will pass this to whoever designed the new layout.

andys120

I hate the new format as well, not least because it's impossible to post a decent sized photo. We're bitching up a storm in the Forums Software topic, do join us. link

stever

Since I'm on the web 98% of my time at the computer and don't watch DVDs on it, about a year or so ago I switched to Portrait mode. It's great for surfing. Not having big photos warp the page margins is a feature for me.

stever

(no photo of the body damage though)

SPOILER

andys120

That's a new Kia styling study, can't recall the name but it's related to the Kia 'Ceed

stever

Almost 'Ceed indeed.

"The European-designed Kia Kee concept car, touted as the "new face of Kia," was en route to its North American debut at next week's 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show when it broke free of its cargo restraints inside the car transporter and smashed its front end."

andys120

it broke free of its cargo restraints inside the car transporter and smashed its front end.

That kind of thing might improve certain Kias>

andys120

From Gumball Rally (1976):

stickguy

Olds Cutlass sedan, Cobra (of course), Fran Prix ('72?), 70ish 'Burban, Impala Wagon ('68?), early Valiant, Chrysler big one (Newport?), Lincoln Mark something (III?)

andys120

Pretty good stick, I'm not sure the Lincoln is a Mark, it looks more like a Continental sedan ca. 1966-'67. Other than that I'd mention that the Cobra is a 427.
The Valiant is a late one, ca. '70. The originals were smaller a decade earlier.

karsick

I can only assume those Death Valley cars are a new Kia Amanti replacement.

They look very derivative of the Toy Avalon, but in this case (replacing the current Platypus Amanti), it would be the right thing to do to improve the environment. :P

andys120

andre1969

I think that brown wagon is actually an intermediate, like a 1970 Chevelle. The yellow Chrysler is a '66, most likely a Newport. Blue compact is a '72 Dart Swinger. I think that Cutlass sedan is a '75...I think the '73-74 were a bit less squared-off up front. Grand Prix is a '73-75 I think. Even though the Feds didn't require the beefier rear bumpers until 1974, I think GM's '73-77 intermediates just went ahead and used the bulkier rear bumpers anyway, since they were a new design and that '74 deadline was looming, anyway.

I don't really know my Lincolns from that era, but I'd guess that one pictured is around a '69?