Mystery car pix

ateixeira

Pontiac POS1000?

C'mon, GM. Every one is investing in small cars and you offer a 2nd clone of an outdated Korean car?

fezo

Is that the thing they are talking of replacing the Cobalt with and expanding it into the Pontiac and Saturn line?

Funny thing. I was going to post in here and say how I enjoy these and can almost always get the make but not the model and then you throw in that one. If I couldn't see that was a Pontiac I'd have to stop driving.

bumpy

The Wave has been around a few years, though. This one is rumored to be coming here as the Pontiac G3, yet another rebadge for GM's Exciteless brand.

ateixeira

I'm sure the Aveo is very profitable, as it's gotta be cheap to build and they sell a lot of volume.

But the Fit is a lot better plus an update is coming out now that stretches the advantage even more.

kyfdx

Fagen did a tour in the early-mid '90s called the New York Rock and Soul Revue.. Included Phoebe Snow, Michael McDonald and Becker.. plus a couple of others that have slipped my mind..

We went with friends that had 9th row seats (outdoor ampitheatre/pavilion), and I was just hoping that they would do 2 or 3 Steely Dan songs.. They started the show, and Becker was nowhere in sight.. After 3 songs, he came out... and over the rest of the night, they did about 10-12 Steely Dan songs.. (out of about 30 songs, total).

I'm telling you... if you had been in the studio with them, it couldn't have been any better.. With McDonald doing the background vocals.. it was unreal.. Fagen was in top-notch vocal form.. though, as emcee of the show, he reminded me of Ed Sullivan.. :surprise:

After they did Pretzel Logic, you could have knocked me over with a feather... It was stunning!

Okay.. .back to your regularly scheduled programming..

To stay on topic... we drove there in a car.. but, which one is a mystery to me.. Wish I had a picture..

regards,
kyfdx

fintail

The idiots in WA state also want dual plates, unless you have year of manufacture plates, then you can get away with one.

andys120

The Pontiac Wave is indeed a Chevy Aveo, made by Daewoo, rebadged for sale in Canada by the large network of Pontiac dealers there. Rumor is that US pontiac dealers will get a "G3" version to capitalize on the growing trend to small cars.

andys120

How many of these can you name?>



Larger version here.

lemko

Well the green convertible and the black hardtop in the upper right hand corner are 1958 Cadillacs. The black car with the silver top is a 1957-58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. I can just about make out a maroon 1961-62 Cadillac convertible behind the black sports car. The black car facing us is an MG TC and I the the red and blue ones are as well. The red car furthest left in the center appears to be a Lamborghini Miura and the red car next to it is a Lamborghini Countach. Not sure of the blue one. Is it a Diablo? Not sure of the others. Don't know what the red and black car is.

magnette

The black and red coupe in the middle is a very rare Morgan plus-4-plus made in about 1962/4. The blue car next to it is not an MG - it is another Morgan - a 4/4. The red car to it's left is indeed an MG TC, as is the MG facing us.

andys120

Good calls Magnette and Lemko, I think you've covered all the identifiable cars in the photo. I thought the red/black car might be a Fiat 8V as I had seem a photo of one in a similar color scheme but I hadn't seen a 2-toned Plus 4.

Considering it's proximity to other Mogs and MGs, I think you're correct Magnette.

andys120

magnette

I wish I'd seen this picture in Holland sooner - but I was back down in Wales...
The dark blue wagon partly obscured by the BMW ( which incidentally I think is a 2002ti, as it has two bars on the grille, and the top one is thicker), is a British Ford Anglia wagon, early 60's. The grey wagon behind the BMW is a German Ford Taunus, as is the very white saloon parked next to the Anglia.
The car I find most interesting is the one above the very white Taunus, which is mostly obscured by a man with an umbrella. That looks like a Borgward to me, but that is really a guess. To it's right is a FIat 124. then a Citroen Dyane 4, an Opel Kadett and then the gold and black car is another Opel - I thnk a Commodore, but I am dodgy on these.

magnette

Dacia Logan

andys120

To it's right is a FIat 124

Good eye! I missed that but you can see the tail of a mustard yellow 124 Spider sticking out behind that white Taunus. It looks just like the Positano Yellow Spider 1608 I bought new in 1971.

magnette

I don't understand how having only one plate works. Other than on motorbikes we have always had two plates and I believe every other country in Europe and most elsewhere have two, too.
Apart from the fact that we have a lot of number plate recognition technology now - everything from the congestion charge to tracking criminals - which works in the main by looking at oncoming traffic ( I think it helps because they also get a shot of the driver) we also have a chance to note the number in the event of an accident - whilst you can take a number of a car as it drives away from you, if you are the victim you will have seen it coming towards you - say it hits the front of your car a glancing blow, or you see an accident in approaching traffic.
We do have rear plate recording on speed cameras, though as they probably need that for speed measuring.

andys120

Americans would never tolerate that level of surveillance Magnette, at least I hope so.

magnette

This picture is different now ! At work (on a smaller monitor but using Microsoft outlook) the picture is about half a car wider to the right,and the mustard yellow car is not a Fiat, but an Opel - but here at home on Apple Safari, with a bigger monitor, it is cut off so yo can't see half of it. Now it looks like a Fiat, because you can only see the rear wing and a small corner of the vinyl roof.

stickguy

we already have it. Between speed cameras, red light running cameras, and EZ pass, there are plenty of opportunities for big bro to be snapping your plate.

I know that EZ pass takes a frontal shot to get the driver, but they must also take a rear shot to catch the plate again.

NJ has both (a real drag when you have a sports car like an RX-8!, but next door in PA they only have a rear plate.

magnette

I always wondered about that. You have CCTV outside banks, etc, you have cop cars monitoring everything that happens ahead of them - we see the results on numerous Police Action shows - and you have traffic cameras...
We also have a bias towards a liberal attitude in surveillance, supposedly, and UK is signed up to the European Treaty of Human rights, which is supposed to prevent abuses of such power, but London has more camera surveillance than almost anywhere in the free world. But then we also had bombing campaigns by various lunatics from the mid seventies onwards - so I suppose we have tempered our freedoms to match.
We are now moving towards road pricing, which I suspect is too much of a hot potato for the politicians to touch, and if fuel stays as expensive as it is now, here, then I suspect the roads will actually get a little quieter. The technology is effectively in place to allow that to be applied in some parts of Britain, especially London, andaround our major roads, and airports etc, already.

fintail

I think some US states haven't yet deteriorated into the Orwellian surveillance grid nightmare that is most of England and Europe today. But, the US will follow suit eventually. NWO.

I find it amusing that where I live, dual plates are required unless you have the old fashioned plates. The guy who parks by my fintail has a 1967 Lincoln with 1967 plates, and he only has the rear plate - perfectly legal. Yet if I did this on my modern car, some revenue enforcer would eventually read me the riot act.

fintail

I like how the Caddys in the background are in direct opposition to the sports cars. I think I see a 61 back there, along with a couple of 58s, and an Eldorado Brougham.

kyfdx

All violations must be witnessed by a police officer to be cited.. So, unless or until they change the law.. no red-light cameras, here.

fezo

Here in NJ, where they've had front plates required pretty much forever the governor tried to eliminate that requirement and got shouted down by all the cops.

We seem to be getting the red light cameras on a county by county basis. Morris County, where I grew up, doesn't have any. Ocean County, where I am now, has them all over. Guess it's time to move back.

magnette

stevedebi

"Americans would never tolerate that level of surveillance Magnette, at least I hope so."

Actually, I think it is already established American legal practice that there is no expectation of privacy in a public location. So it would not be illegal to use license-plate recognition here in the USA (unless there was state or local ordnances).

fintail

#1 - something JDM maybe? Looks like a Nissan badge.

#2 - Reliant Kitten

#3 - Ford Zodiac IV (Farnham? The only aftermarket "estate" builder that I can name off the top of my head)

#4 - Ford Corsair

magnette

Well done Fintail -

Reliant Kitten
Ford Zodiac IV - but the coachwork was by Abbot
Ford Corsair - again estate by Abbot - and this one is a GT

The odd one out is a JDM Nissan, one I hadn't seen here before as a grey import, called a Wingroad - I think it is a sort of fleet model, rather than one aimed at family drivers.

fintail

Corsair looks like a fairly handsome machine...the Zodiac on the other hand looks kind of odd.

magnette

fintail

Jensen something - has a "4" in it

andys120

296 NHX=Jensen CV8, ca. 62-66 featuring MoPar 361 or 383 power, most had the Torqueflite A/T. Next to it is a white Jag XK-150 FHC.

karsick

I'm eyeing the Renault Megane Coupe (yellow) across the road from the Wingroad, the basis for one of my favorite Formula2 Rally Cars (2wd, N/A).

On the topic of British cameras, can you tell me what's up with the many Smart Cars I saw last year driving around Central London filming the scenery from a periscope-looking camera device? :confuse: Creepy!

andre1969

On the topic of British cameras, can you tell me what's up with the many Smart Cars I saw last year driving around Central London filming the scenery from a periscope-looking camera device? Creepy!

I know GoogleEarth is working on some thing where they have cars driving down the street, taping the view out the sides and the front. Their goal is to ultimately give a street level view of every public road on Earth from the comfort of your own livingroom.. Maybe they're using Smart cars to do that in London?

I've heard that they've already been sued over it, because they've caught people on video in their own yards, or catching someone getting a little Afternoon Delight with the shades open. :surprise:

magnette

It is a Jensen 541, late 50's, which preceeded the CV-8 and had a 4 litre Austin straight-six engine. The CV-8 was about six inches wider, and a lot faster (although the last of the 541 series, the 541S, had the wide body, with the Austin engine) The Jag is indeed an XK150. Any ideas on the make of the old looking green saloon/sedan in the middle distance ?

magnette

The Smart cars with the lolipop camera on them are indeed snooping - and they are not confined to Central London. They are a operated by the individual borough councils in London although not everywhere has adopted them. Where I work, in East London, the council has a few of them, and they are supposed to be preventing street crime and anti-social behaviour - they seem to spend their time actually enforcing bus-lane and parking restrictons, judging by the places I see them regularly, and such things as parking on pavements - but they are also used to catch people fly-tipping rubbish and preventing vandalism - I think they are seen more as a deterrent than as an effective tool. Sounds a bit Orwellian, but they are actually manned, by street wardens who have the power to enforce these rules anyway, so it is a little bit more like a patrol car. As usual, though, they are more likely to catch honest citizens parking badly than actual thugs mugging old ladies.
My firm has CCTV coverage on various sites, and in our experience the police find it useless to convict anybody, as the courts won't uphold it, except if it has been expensively enhanced etc. - they can do that if it was filming a murder or a bombing, but don't bother if it just showing someone breaking a window or pinching something, so I think that most of this big-brother stuff is actually designed to provide the public with the illusion that the authorities are looking after them, while they are indeed probably looking at us all. It is worrying, to an old liberal like me, but given the incompetence which the security forces usually bring to bear even when it is imprtant, I suspect most of this stuff doesn't work properly anyway.
( ps - while typing this I've just seen one of those Smarts drive past the office - they must be on to me)
EDIT On that Google Earth thing, I think they have been forced from the outset to obscure faces, numberplates and views into any window other than a shop, by the threat of EU privacy legislation, which is probably more restricive than that which British law would prevent. EU rules apply here so we should be free to do these things without being filmed on Google, at least, although I think there was a case from the aerial filming last year where someone was complaining that their wife found their distinctive bright red car parked round the back of a another ladies' house...

steelydanfan

Is that a Peugeot nameplate on the grill ? Looks like the SUV of the (near) future to me.............

andys120

steelydanfan

Can't remember the European Ford platform name offhand, but this would be what the US spec'd Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique twins would have been based on.....early 90's my guess...........there's also more than a little early 90's Mazda 626 DNA thrown in there, no ?

kyfdx

Ford Mondeo?

magnette

Was this taken in Cologne ( Koln) ? I think the car is registered there, although I believe they have changed German plates now, so they will register municipal vehicles, police, buses, etc in the normal series...

fintail

Yep looks like an earlier Mondeo, I would guess 1993-96

andys120

Yep that's a Mondeo Mk. I

steelydanfan

Thanks all, that was the European Ford that birthed the Contour/Mystique twins ..........

bumpy

hudsonthedog

1990-1993 Nissan Primera P10....known in the US (with a modest facelift) as the Infiniti G20.

andys120

These are selling well on the used car market (40mpg+)

ateixeira

Geo Metro!

I owned a 1986 Chevy Sprint, its predecessor. Don't laugh, in college I was broke and I got 45mpg in that thing, and it still got me around. Eventually.

That looks like an early 90s model. I'll toss out a guess - 1993.

fintail

That's the second generation model, 1995+

andys120

According to Wikipedia Fin is correct, the Gen II Metro debuted in '95.