Mystery car pix

fintail

Alfa Guilia (maybe I spelled that wrong)

fintail

Guess what's under the car cover

Another angle

The mystery car is facing forward. Those little nubs at the rear corners should be enough for the OCD among us.

subearu

Wow, that old powder blue Merc looks to be in mint condition. Looks like a nice new black one in the garage too. I'd guess a old cadillac is under the covers, but that's a WAG.

-Brian

fintail

Nah, that old beast is just a photogenic 10-footer, it fools people. It's an unrestored survivor. And the car in the garage is actually 6 years old.

The mystery car is a bit smaller than a Caddy, and is now somewhat of an on-again off-again orphan.

lemko

An on-again off-again orphan? Is it an Avanti?

fintail

D'oh...I had a feeling I'd make it too easy.

It's the second incarnation, no less

I don't know who owns it...that's the garage where my old car lives, as I only have one garage spot in my building. The previous car there was a 67 Lincoln convertible in the same color.

andys120

Alfa Guilia

That's right, it's that quintessential Alfa berlina, the 1963 Giulia TI-probably a 1300.

guss

It's like a strip tease, now I want you to pull the cover off and show the whole thing.

andys120

Could we see just a little of it, please?

fintail

It would look something like this



I didn't feel right completely exposing someone elses car

subearu

whoa, a 3/4 frontal, lol

A friend of mine's dad has an Avanti (looks similar to the front lights) under covers in the garage as well, it needs some TLC and restorig to look well again.

-Brian

andys120

The round headlights in square housings denote a Post-Studebaker Avant II from one or another incarnation of the Avanti Motors Corp. The wire wheels (probably Kelsey-Hayes) were not on the Studes either.

1963 Studebaker Avanti>

andys120

stickguy

1970 Pontiac Trans Am.

andys120

Right, it happens to be a Ram Air III.

andys120

steelydanfan

andys, that looks like an Isuzu Amigo, circa late 1990's, which was basically a 4WD , two door Isuzu Rodeo, or vice versa .

andys120

andre1969

I'm gonna guess about a 1985 Dodge Charger?

subearu

That may be an '83-ish Shelby Charger

-Brian

karsick

Shelby Charger, huh?.. proving once again that nobody can deplete the equity out of a storied name like Chrysler can.

Last weekend I parked next to a "Chrysler TC by Maserati". 'nuff said :sick:

andys120

I'm gonna guess about a 1985 Dodge Charger?

Yep, Dodge/ Shelby Charger GLH-S to be exact.

andys120

bumpy

Datsun 280ZX, can't tell if it has the "Datsun by Nissan" badge or not. I saw a silvery powder blue one Monday.

lemko

Wasn't there some kind of performance version of the Dodge Omni. I remember it had some unusual alloy wheels with a circle pattern.

stickguy

the ZX looks like the 2+2 model from the roofline.

Lemko, the Omni was also called a GLH. I think that is the one you were thinking of, with the phone dial wheels.

steelydanfan

The Dodge Omni was a 5 door hatchback , the Dodge Charger a 3 door hatch.....the Dodge Omni was, in my opinion, bore more than a passing resemblance to the 80's VW Rabbit .

andys120

the ZX looks like the 2+2 model from the roofline.

Yep, it's a 1980 Datsun 280ZX 2+2.

andre1969

The Dodge Omni was a 5 door hatchback , the Dodge Charger a 3 door hatch.....the Dodge Omni was, in my opinion, bore more than a passing resemblance to the 80's VW Rabbit .

I think the Omni/Horizon was actually patterned after the Rabbit, to a degree. Didn't the earlier versions of them even use a VW engine? IIRC, there were two engines, one supplied by Peugeot and one by VW. One got phased out when the Mopar 2.2 became available, and eventually, the 2.2 was made standard.

bumpy

The Omni name was used for both the Rabbit-looking 5-door hatchback and the longer hatchback coupe (the Omni O24).

hudsonthedog

Yep, Dodge/ Shelby Charger GLH-S to be exact

Really? I thought the Shelby (no Dodge) GLH-S was a monotone car while the Dodge Shelby Charger (no GLH-S) was in this tutone treatment.

fintail

Yep the early cars had VW engines, the car was a bit of a Rabbit knock-off. The car was a design of Chrysler in Europe/Simca, and was sold as the Simca and Talbot Horizon there. My dad had a Horizon when I was a little kid...I don't know what engine it had, but I remember my dad was very fond of it as it was a good snow car and got decent mileage, and he even claimed it handled decently for a FWD econobox.

stickguy

I actually have personal experience with 3!

my folks got a fairly early one ('79 I think) when I was in HS. that had a 1.7l and 4 speed. Strippo model, but it was fun to drive (for the day). Ended up sucking oil I think.

SO, a few years later, they replaced it with a newer model. IIRC, the engine was different (maybe a 1.8l?) Or the same size, different unit. Something changed though. This was a "fancier" model, with cloth seats even! Also a stick (not sure if it went to a 5 speed by then).

My wife to be had an '85, but this was the 2.2l with an AT. Much quicker (actually a little hot rod). Absolutely fantastic in the snow. Almost like a primitive manumatic, since the tranny had options for 1,2,3 (in a line), so you could hold a gear as you preferred. never got stuck in that car, and it only had all season tires.

andys120

Really? I thought the Shelby (no Dodge) GLH-S was a monotone car while the Dodge Shelby Charger (no GLH-S) was in this tutone treatment

I confess to being thoroughly confused by the nomenclature of Chargers from this era. :sick:

andys120

fintail

DKW Junior, the sub-1 liter car

lancerfixer

Hey Fintail- Completely off topic, but if I were to look at this what common bugaboos should I look out for? I'm gettin' the Car Jones again...sad, really.

steelydanfan

andys, I'm dying to know....did I win the Isuzu Amigo contest ? I never saw a reply posted online......... Poor Isuzu...not only are they going belly up in the States, they can't even get anybody on this forum to guess at one of their past efforts..........no wonder they gave up.

andre1969

In later years, I think they called that thing the Rodeo Sport, or Rodeo S or something like that. But yeah, depending on the year it's either an Amigo or Rodeo. I can't remember when they finally discontinued the Rodeo/Amigo, but I'd guess the 2-door pictured is around a 2002 model?

steelydanfan

andre, I think the Rodeo was a 4 door SUV that was made up until 2004 or so, when they came out with the ill-fated Axiom . The Amigo was a 2 door variant of the Rodeo platform , and it was out for only a few years, from around 1998 to , as you guessed, around 2002 .

Speaking of Isuzu, I find it interesting that they were on the rise in 1986 with their Trooper, which I liked with the boxy military styling. You could even get one back then with a turbodiesel . They managed over the years to come out with the wrong idea at the wrong time until , near the end , they were rebadging Chevy Trailblazers for Isuzu Ascenders..

andre1969

One of my friends back in the late 80's/early 90's had an old Isuzu Trooper, like an '86 or so. It was slow, but reasonably economical as it has a stick shift and a small engine.

In 1993, when I finished college and got hired full-time, I went through a phase where I wanted an SUV. I looked at the Pathfinder, 4Runner, Blazer, Explorer, Rodeo, and Trooper, and probably one or two I'm forgetting now. I stayed away from the bigger ones because I didn't think I could afford one at the time. I'd say my favorite was the Pathfinder...it just had a rugged, cool sort of feel that I liked. My only issue was that you couldn't get a power sunroof with it. I didn't like the Rodeo because it just seemed too cheap, but I was impressed with the Trooper. I especially liked its mammoth sunroof.

In the end though, I stuck it out with my '68 Dart 318. None of those SUV's handled as well or took off as fast. And sadly, fuel economy wasn't much better.

bumpy

The Amigo started out in 1990, was dropped after 1994, returned for 1998-2002, and became the Rodeo Sport for its last year in 2003.

andys120

Sorry Dan, you were right it was an Amigo, I saw a soft top in good shape the other day and realized it'd been a while since I'd seen one.

karsick

Don't forget the VehiCross. Isuzu was the king of rehashing the same old platform.

(sorta reminds me of all the dozens of crossovers intro'd the past couple years in the US. Is everyone gonna buy a jacked up $35k 4500lb 16mpg station wagon now?? :confuse: :sick: )

andys120

Yup, it's an early '60s DKW Junior.

andys120

magnette

Sorry, I haven't been around all that much lately so I haven't had a chance to log-on as much as I would have liked.

This is a ( German )Ford Taunus 12M, late 50's, I think this particular model was current from circa 1955 to about 1961, when it was replaced by the 'Cardinal' model, which was of course Ford's first FWD offering...

steelydanfan

Ah, the VehiCross...if that vehcle was still around, it would be a good tie in to the new Speed Racer movie, seeing that they are(were) both duds...........

tmart

Must disagree! Saw Speed Racer last week. Was NOT as bad as some critics reported. Was no "Indy", but still worth the view, plus being on IMAX helped. The graphics are awesome.

steelydanfan

tmart, point taken, but did it really have to be over two hours long???????????

My "dud" reference was partially financial, as this movie cost over $200 million and took in only $25 million on opening weekend . :sick: OK, my numbers may be off here, but this will be one of those "Edsels" of a movie when the final curtain falls.............