Mystery car pix

imidazol97

Which one?

tmart

If you're asking about the engine, it was the 312ci with a flat Holly four barrel carb. If you're asking about the pictured car, from that angle, I'm unable to tell whether it is a 2 or 4 door or possiblely even a station wagon.

andre1969

If you're asking about the pictured car, from that angle, I'm unable to tell whether it is a 2 or 4 door or possiblely even a station wagon.

I think it's a hardtop at least, but can't tell if it's a 2- or 4-door. At least, it doesn't look like the doors have window frames.

My grandparents had a '57 Ford Fairlane 500 4-door hardtop with the 312. They were supposed to be horribly built cars, but I don't recall Granddad ever badmouthing it. They traded it in 1961 for a brand-new Galaxie 500 4-door hardtop. They never really held onto cars long enough for them to start getting troublesome...at least until the 70's when they could be trouble right off the showroom floor. :sick:

steelydanfan

Nice job on the tricked out Cressida. At least I put that one on my short list, although I missed by a couple of years........I gotta say though, I still believe you could get a manual with say, a Cressida "sport" model. I know Maximas from that era could be had with a 5 spd, so I don't see how one could assume that Toyota didn't want to at least offer a few Cressidas with a 5 spd.........remember, BMW's were all the rage back then........325 with a 5 spd anyone??

andys120

I think it's a hardtop at least, but can't tell if it's a 2- or 4-door. At least, it doesn't look like the doors have window frames

Well the brochure only shows that much of the car so it could be any number of doors.
Did Ford have H/T wagons in 1957?

andys120

bhill2

I could be wrong, but I don't believe that Ford ever offered a hardtop wagon. Actually neither did Chevy or Plymouth. That configuration was saved for the upscale offerings like Buick and Chrysler. The exception, of course, is Rambler Ambassador (but then, that was as upscale as Rambler got).

andre1969

Did Ford have H/T wagons in 1957?

I know Mercury had hardtop wagons in '57, but I don't think Ford did. Now that I think about it, did Ford ever have them? I think Mercury offered them for '57-60, Chrysler had them from '60-64, and Dodge had them for 1960 only. In 1958, the bigger Edsels used the Mercury body, so they might have offered one too, but I can't remember now.

Oh yeah, almost forgot...Olds and Buick also had them in '57-58, and Rambler offered them for a few years, too.

fintail

You're right, no HT wagons for the low-priced three

boomchek

Looks like a Sterling 800 series, late 80s. Based on the Acura Legend platform, and using Acura's powertrain, but with a British body built by Austin I believe.

Beside it to the left is a early 90s Nissan Altima.
To the right, we see the corner of a 99 and up Camry sedan.
Straight ahead between the tree and the lamp is the front end of a 06 and up Grand Cherokee.
Parked directly in front of the Sterling is the rear end of a 99.5 and up Jetta .
Beside the Jetta is a blue Saturn Vue.
And visible between the Vue and the Jetta is a silver Honda Accord, 03 and up.

fintail

I think the exact model for that big hatch was the 827 SLi

steelydanfan

boomcheck is right on this one, specifically , this is the Sterling 827 ( the 5 door version), the 825 was the 4 door sedan.

Not surprisingly, the Acura Legend drivetrain was , well, Acura, and the body integrity/hardware/accessories , were, well........British.......

bumpy

1987 was the last year for a Cressida with a stick. Toyota positioned it as a sort of Japanese Buick or '80s Oldsmobile, and there was very little demand in the US for a car like that with a clutch pedal. Nissan always positioned the Maxima as a distinctly sport-oriented sedan (hence the 4DSC thing), so the stick lasted in that car all the way through to 2006.

steelydanfan

Nice info, bumpy. Judging from the (ho-hum) Toyota Camry review in the latest Motor Trend , Toyota has taken the Japanese Buick/Olds concept to the Chevrolet price point level.........nice job, Toyota . Maybe you should have kept the 5 spd in the Cressida after all..........

andys120

You're right, no HT wagons for the low-priced three

I s'poseyou're right technically because the '55-'57 Nomads had a B-pillar but unlike other wagons of the era there were no other pillars besides the A-B-C pillars so they're
considered H/T Wagons and highly desired by collectors now.

andre1969

Sorry, but by definition, that ain't no hardtop. Notice the B-pillar? They might have called it a hardtop, but it's not. I'd call it a "sportwagon", at best. But it's no more a hardtop than my two '79 NYer's, and yes, Chrysler actually called those things "Pillared Hardtops", which is a bit of a contradiction.

In contrast, here's a trio of true hardtop wagons. I just verified in my old car book that ALL Mercury wagons in '57 were hardtops. I'm guessing they stayed the same in 1958-59 as well, and possibly in 1960. Also, I checked out the Edsel lineup. In 1958, they only offered wagons in the cheaper series based off the Ford body. The nicer Corsair and Citation, no the Mercury body, had no wagons.

andys120

<img src="http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/06/18/gal_car_packardwoody1951.jpg

andre1969

Heh-heh-heh, morning wood! :shades: I'd guess that's about a 1952 Packard? I'm sure they gave that model a fancy sounding name, but "1952 Packard" is about all I'm good for right now.

andys120

Close enough Andre, it's a '51 Packard, don't know which model.

andys120

imidazol97

1949 Chevrolet. I don't recall the amber parking lights.

What are the other two cars? The White/red looks like an Oldsmobile knockoff.

bumpy

That front wheel cover isn't stock either. Those old Cuban cars are pretty much George Washington's axe by now.

wgrafer

'49 Chevy looks right on target! The red&white one across the street looks like a '52 Oldsmobile Super 88, and the other one looks like a '52 Chrysler (with somewhat customized rear lights).

I've seen other shots from Cuba with all kinds of pre-1960 American cars still running around--amazing. There was a story in the Miami Herald Tropic a few years ago about them as well as another about Earnest Hemingway's '56 Chrysler Convertible supposedly still hidden somewhere on the island.

andys120

hudsonthedog

Looks like a Sterling 800 series, late 80s. Based on the Acura Legend platform, and using Acura's powertrain, but with a British body built by Austin I believe.

The Sterling 825/827 was sold everywhere outside of North America as the Rover 800. Austin Rover North America didn't think that the 1987 reintroduction of Rover cars to North America would survive with the memory of the ill-fated 1980 reintroduction of Rover still fresh. So they simply renamed the whole marque for the US. The Honda Legend-based powertrain was Anglicized taking out all of the reliability designed in from Japan and adding that key Britishness which, more than anything, makes you remember the old Rovers (and MGs and Triumphs and...). Honda and Rover designed the XX platform and Honda (sold in North America as Acura) had a great product while Rover sold a mediocre one. By 1991, Sterling was gone, but Rover continued to use Honda parts in the Rover 200/400 and Rover 600.

hudsonthedog

1946-47 Renault Dauphine

fintail

It looks like a Renault badge, but I don't think the Dauphine name was born until ca. 1956-57. The pictured car probably has one of the "....quatre" names.

imidazol97

andys120

Not a "Dauphine" but a "Dauphinoise" .

jlbl

Renault Dauphinoise

I was really intrigued by that pic you posted. A post WWII little wagon Renault with Dutch registration numbers… now I know she was the Dauphinoise, here are some more pics of her:

link title



Regards,
Jose

andys120

andys120

That's not beautiful to me, the square headlights are not in harmony with the rounded forms of the rest of the car which is a 11939 Graham Model 97 popularly known as the "Sharknose".

kyfdx

The front one appears to be an early '70s 3.0CSi.. or possibly a 2800 CS..

The back one looks like a sedan... maybe a Bavaria? Hard to tell on this screen..

andys120

You're cookin' with gas today Kfdyx, the blue car is a 1970 2800CS, the green sedan's a '72 Bavaria.

andys120

magnette

The Dutch registered Renault was originally marketed in France as the Renault Break, and was based on the 1938 Juvaquatre. By 1951 it was known as the Juvaquatre Break, the saloon Juvaquatre having been dropped in 1950, but this model was retained in production until 1960, having been renamed the Dauphinoise in 1956, the year the rear engined Dauphin was launched. By the time this old warhorse was dropped, the Renault 4 was on the way, which was it's natural successor...

magnette

This sleek beast looks like it is based on a Triumph TR (4/4A/?), but I'm not familiar with it - is the coachwork by Touring?

andys120

This sleek beast looks like it is based on a Triumph TR (4/4A/?), but I'm not familiar with it - is the coachwork by Touring?

Close but no cigar, Magnette. The sleek GT bodywork was installed by Carrozzeria Vignale on a TR-3A chassis. The car was sold by a limited network of dealers as the 1960 Triumph Italia 2000, about 300 were sold but few were willing to pay the $1000 premium over the price of the Triumph roadster.

The resemblance to the later TR-4/4A/250/5 comes from the designer Michelotti who used many of the same shapes in the later ('62) TR-4, as you can see the Italia even previewed the distintive hood bump of the later cars>

magnette

Well, I never smoke them anyway...

Actually, I have seen a picture of this car, but I'd forgotten it....

andys120

michaellno

Looks like an early 70's JDM Mazda.

boomchek

I say it'sa couple Fiats. The green one is a 70s Fiat 125. The white one is some sorts of Fiat coupe from the 70s as well.

magnette

White one appears to be a 124 Sport Coupe

magnette

magnette

This picture probably needs to be a bit bigger, but I reckon there are several cars here which are clear enough to be recognised;

andys120

Yep, the white car is a 1972 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe.

boomchek

Let's start from the top:
By the white garage door at the top: a silver Ford Focus 5 door, late 90s.
Skip 3 cars....
By the trees: a silver Land Rover LR3, 06 and up.
Beside it a green Ford Focus,
Skip a few cars, and on the very right of the photos: a black Mercedes Benz ML
The red car facing us is a Vauxhall Astra
The black car to the left of it is a VW Passat Wagon
The red car to the left of the Passat is a Mercedes Benz A Class, late 90s.
The light blue SUV beside the A Class is a Honda CR-V 2005.
The silver car blocking the CR-V is a Nissan Primera hatchback.

magnette

I wouldn't disagree with any of the cars you've named, but I'll leave the one or two others until later ( it's 11 pm here anyway) in case someone else wants to have a go.
The only thing where I disagree with you, though, is the white garage door. It's the wall of a public toilet block...

fintail

I can only add a couple boomchek didn't get - silver van between the Focus and LR looks like a modern VW Transporter, and I think the weird black sedan to the left of the van is a Renault Megane.

fintail

Oh, I forgot this one...it's a BMC Farina, I guess an Austin A99/110, registered 1964