Mystery car pix

lemko

Mercury had a Plexiglas-roofed counterpart called the Sun Valley.

andys120

texases

And the uncropped version:


Bonus question-where was this photo taken?

andre1969

Stupid me, I was gonna say a 1979-83 Plymouth Sapporo, even though it says "1978" right on the license plate! :surprise: I didn't realize these things came out that early.

I always thought they were neat looking little cars. I believe they used the Mitsubishi 2.6 4-cyl, but supposedly a Mopar smallblock fits quite nicely. :shades:

andre1969

Bonus question-where was this photo taken?

Looks kinda like the spot where Clark W. Griswold launched the Wagon Queen Family Truckster out into the desert. It's not Shiprock, New Mexico, is it?

texases

"It's not Shiprock, New Mexico, is it? "

Nope, but double bonus for the exact place.....

kyfdx

Sedona, AZ?

stever

Exact place? Looks like somewhere in Monument Valley, but don't ask me for the lat/long or whether it's on reservation land or not. I've been to Bluff and Mexican Hat while running the San Juan River, but need to get into the actual park there one of these days. Mmmm, frybread. Ya'ah'tee. :shades:

Did I miss the mission-style hospital location on the postcard btw? With the palms, I'm guessing LA or south in California.

andre1969

Monument Valley, Utah?

texases

Yes, Monument Valley - that formation is one of the two call the Mittens...fun place to drive through.

andre1969

Monument Valley is listed as one of the filming locations in "National Lampoon's Vacation", so that could very well have been the spot where lark went airborne with the Truckster!

imidazol97

Now I get geography lessons with the car identifications! We don't get this elsewhere on the web!

Where was the St. Joseph hospital location from the earlier picture today?

fintail

It's also the location in Back to the Future Part III where the Delorean wearing 1955 wide whitewalls travels back to 1885.

michaellno

Looks to be Monument Valley in northern Arizona.

ky, I don't think the rocks are red enough to be Sedona.

If the above guess isn't correct, then it may be at Devil's Tower in Wyoming (where "Close Encounters" was partially filmed).

EDIT - right location, wrong state.

andys120

St.Joseph's Hospital is located in Orange, California, that's in the O.C., I wonder what the hospital looks like today?

magnette

I've been there - we took a Jeep tour through the valley - didn't fancy going off road in the hire car....

andys120

magnette

Well, we knew this as a Hillman, but the initial Minx based estate car was just known as the Hillman Estate Car, and not called the Hillman Minx Estate Car until about 1961 ( I think). This one appears to have the grillefrom the Minx IIIa, but without the badge from the Minx 1600 - that would beon the wing - so I think it is late 1966/2, Minx IIIa Wagon.
(Now you are going to tell me it was sold in some parts of the US as the Sunbeam Minx, or something..)

andys120

Yep, it's a 1961 Hillman Minx Estate. Minxes were sold under the Hillman name in the US and were fairly popular in the early 60s although wagons were less common than the sedans or convertibles. The Minx was probably the best seller among the cars exported to the USA by the Rootes Group.

andys120

stephen987

SVS Codatronca. Here's the Edmunds review.

andys120

Yep, I got the photo from Edmund's

boomchek

It was voted as most beautiful car at some show in Italy. :confuse: I must disagree.

lemko

Shoot, I thought it was a prototype for the next Batmobile based on a 1963 Corvette Sting Ray.

stephen987

Yeah, imagine the view from that rear window!

andys120

wgrafer

1948 Willys Jeepster (I think the 'O' in the W/O comes from Willys Overland Motor Co.).

andys120

Yup, it's a '48 Jeepster.

stever

Looks snazzier than my '49 CarSpace avatar.



The real thing is hanging over my garage door. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled, lol.

andys120

cars are visible in this movie clip>

karsick

Here's a WAG... (L to R)

Peugeot (104?)
Citroen 2CV
Peugeot 304
Simca
VW Super Beetle
Renault 16
Fiat 600 ragtop?
Renault 12

I'm guessing this is a mid-70's French flick :confuse:

magnette

To follow on from karsick, I would only amend the following-
The car facing us on the extreme left, beyond the 2CV looks like a different Peugeot to me - possibly another 304.
White car beyond the VW is a Fiat 850.
Little cabriolet on this side of the Renault 16 is, I think, a Vespa 400

stephen987

I believe the red Peugeot is a 204 rather than a 304. I think the 304 had trapezoidal headlights like the 504/505. This one appears to have oval lamps. And the white car next to it is a Fiat 850, not a Simca. Funny though--when I first saw it my brain incorrectly said "Skoda."

andys120

lemko

1967 Pontiac Beaumont convertible - the Canadian counterpart of the U.S. Chevrolet Malibu.

andys120

It was sold as the 1972 Pontiac Acadian Beaumont.

andys120

stephen987

'53-54 Studebaker Starliner coupe. I love it.

andre1969

It was sold as the 1972 Pontiac Acadian Beaumont.

Waitaminute...GM of Canada was trying to push a 5-year old car off as brand-new?! That sounds like something Chrysler might have done in the Mexican market, but I don't think that can be right. I'm sure the Beaumont went to the "split wheelbase" design for 1968-72, just as the US Chevelle and all the other GM intermediates did.

And back in those years, I thought the Pontiac Acadian was a rebadged Chevy II / Nova?

stephen987

FWIW, here's what Wikipedia has to say:
1966-69 Beaumonts continued to use the Chevrolet Chevelle body with minor styling revisions, including different taillights and a Pontiac-style split grille, but dropped the Acadian name as Beaumont became its own separate make. The interior used the instrument panel from the American Pontiac Tempest/LeMans/GTO series. The Acadian emblem was retained on the front grille, however. All Acadians and Beaumonts used Chevrolet powerplants. The Beaumont was dropped after 1969, after which Canadian dealers sold the Pontiac LeMans.

So it appears there wasn't a 1972 Acadian Beaumont in Canada, assuming that Wikipedia is correct. Was the Beaumont sold anywhere else?

andys120

stephen987

Andys120, that's gotta be the ugliest thing on wheels since the Mohs Ostentatienne Opera Sedan:

texases

Spyshot of the 2010 V-12 powered Infiniti M70? :P
Must be some JDM rework of an Infiniti M by "Mitsuoka" into a stretch limo of sorts...

boomchek

:lemon: :surprise:

Where's the emotorcon for puking?

andre1969

Where's the emotorcon for puking?

I'd tell ya, but I already gouged my eyes out so I can't find it now! :surprise:

karsick

I love it, too.

What was wrong with the rest of Detroit that they didn't see the elegance of this clean design?

Of course, even Studebaker itself couldn't just leave those lines unadorned for long.

magnette

I think this sort of Mitsuoka is a Galue, although it looks longer than a Galue III, so perhaps this one is the even better looking Galue IV ? The Galue III was based on the Nissan Fuga.
Only MItsuokas I've seen in UK have been Viewts, although there is at leas one Orochi coupe registered in Britain, because I've seen pictures of it...

andys120

Must be some JDM rework of an Infiniti M by "Mitsuoka" into a stretch limo of sorts...

That's pretty much what it is. That hideous mess is sold in the JDM as the Mitsuoka Galue S50 Limousine. Previous Mitsuokas were based on cars like the Corolla, Cedric and Fuga.

Stephen987, I thought of the Mohs immediately when I first saw the S50....oh the horror...the horror. :sick:

andys120

imidazol97

Ford Falcon, 1960 or 1961.