Mystery car pix

texases

Ahh, a Merak...you can get one cheap here:
$16,500 money pit

fintail

Who attached the bottom piece of a park bench to the rear of that thing?

Looks easy to work on too.

stephen987

yes, it's a Maserati Merak.

andys120

Yep, it's an Equus, Hyundai is considering bringing it to the US which is probably unwise since it'll only confuse the issue of which is the Top-of-the-line, Equus or Genesis?

lemko

They better come up with a better name than Equus - literally the Hyundai Horse!

andys120

stever

I sort of like the name (you don't like "pony" cars? )

There is that tie-in with the play by the same name, which could result in a rash of headlight smashing I suppose.

It should do well in Louisville.

I want to say Rambler Wagon for the green barge, but the only thing I have going is the slanted C pillar. Can't find any other matching bits on an image search though. How about a '66 AMC Cross Country?

andys120

Close, Hemming's sez it is a 1965 Rambler Classic Cross-Country.

stephen987

The blue wagon behind it looks like a Chevy Townsman, ca. 1964.

mistacharlie

OK...I am new and can not figure out how to get a pic of a car that I saw in Rome in the message. So bear with me and link to my page...I managed to post it in the album section. I was in Rome on 5/9/09 and saw this little car that is sort of an Isetta? Is it a car that just has BMW rims and roundel? It is killing me that I did not take a better look at it. Help! Thanks!

stever

You're almost there. You can copy and paste the "embed" link from your album page into the forum post.


See more Car Pictures at CarSpace.com

Please see the Help link at the bottom for other pic posting options (like using the Img button).

magnette

I think your little red car from Rome is a Town Life Ginevra - with a 505cc engine - either petrol or diesel - one of a number of tiny cars which benefit from Italian fiscal regulations.
Incidentally I think the reason the capacity is 505cc is that below 500cc cars are banned from certain roads. I know that cars below 1100cc are speed limited on the autostrade, which is why so many Fiats are sold with engines at 1107cc....

andys120

There's several unusual cars in this photo.

Larger version here.

andre1969

There is that tie-in with the play by the same name, which could result in a rash of headlight smashing I suppose.

That's actually why the name "Equus" bothers me, because it conjures up images of the play. I had to read the play ages ago in college and don't remember much about it, but vaguely recall it had to do with S&M and horse fetishes? :surprise:

stephen987

Yeah, no kidding. Foreground: Ferrari 456 GT M. In front of the garage: BMW Z1 and Siata Spring. Also, a Smart minus its body panels.

lokki

Here's a car that was a toss-up for posting here or in the 50 Worst Cars Ever

andys120

Renault Dauphine, ca late 1950's, once the #2 selling import in the US.

stephen987

My folks had a '59 Dauphine--their first-ever new car. Dad rolled it on two separate occasions in a two-and-a-half year period before they swapped it for a nice, safe '62 Bel Air two-door with a six and Powerglide.

andys120

So far so good, the Smart Cabrio seems to be missing it's windshield as well.

How 'bout the red car behind the 456?

lemko

Isn't that the car with the town and country horn?

stever

That's actually why the name "Equus" bothers me, because it conjures up images of the play.

Plus, besides the horse blinding, all the owners would have to drive around nude.

/shudder

lokki

Yup a Dauphine....

Here's a cute collection of quotes about it from Wikipedia:

The Dauphine's legacy is largely dominated by its infamously poor performance and bad handling, as well as its poor reliability: in many markets (particularly the United States and the United Kingdom) the car became notorious for mechanical problems.

In 2002, the auto enthusiasts' radio show Car Talk named the Dauphine the 9th Worst Car Of The Millennium, calling it "truly unencumbered by the engineering process".

In 2007, Time named it one of the 50 worst cars of all time, calling it "the most ineffective bit of French engineering since the Maginot Line" and noting that it could actually be heard rusting."

When I was a little kid, my dad owned a SAAB 2 stroke, and one of our wierd equally excentric neighbors owned a Dauphine. His son was my age and (in the drag-race-driven early 60's) we used to argue about which car would be faster in the quarter mile! :sick:
We never convinced our dads to drag race each other though....

However history has vindicated me!
(the Dauphine was infamously slow: Road & Track magazine measured the Dauphine's 0-60 mph/0-97 km/h acceleration time as 32 seconds).

Well.....OK not for the 1959 Model 93 my dad had first which I now find took 33.9 seconds to 60,



BUT the later Model 1965 Model 96 we had would have stomped that Dauphine into the ground with its 0-60 of 24.1. - If the Dauphine hadn't been made into a dog food cans by then.

hudsonthedog

So far so good, the Smart Cabrio seems to be missing it's windshield as well.

The Smart Cabrio was actually built that way, by Brabus, I believe.

And the TWO red cars behind 456 are a Porsche 911 (right next to the Ferrari) and a BMW Z1 (over the car's roof).

jlbl

The Dauphine was used by the flics as police car back then. Go figure… :mad:

Regards,
Jose

andys120

And the TWO red cars behind 456 are a Porsche 911 (right next to the Ferrari) and a BMW Z1 (over the car's roof).

That's not a 911, it lacks the curve at the rear of the back window>


IMO it's the 456 GT's little brother the Ferrari Maranello, probably a 550 GT. >

andys120

33.2 seconds 0-60 sounds about right, the Dauphine was the only car I could out-drag in my 40HP Volkswagen Beetle (0-60 in about 29 sec.)

Me and my buddy took his Dad's Saab 96 to the drags once but sadly I can't recall his 1/4 mile time.

stephen987

Compared to these things, my first car (Fiat 850 Spider) was a veritable musclecar, doing 0-60 in about 18 seconds and topping out at an indicated 88 mph (over 6000 rpm!) on SC 18 a few miles south of town.

I have a video of some old car commercials, and one was for the Dauphine. They were promoting it as a "happy" car that was supposed to be easy to drive, so they tied a balloon to the antenna and watched how smoothly and easily it maneuvered through (very slow-moving) traffic. At times the car was not visible, just the balloon.

fintail

Geez, a 220SE fintail must have been like a supersedan back then, 0-60 in maybe 11.5-12 or so, and topping out at maybe 110.

texases

For years it was the 'fast' cars that could do 0-60 under 10 secs, with 'slow' cars unusable by todays standards.

bhill2

Geez, a 220SE fintail must have been like a supersedan back then, 0-60 in maybe 11.5-12 or so, and topping out at maybe 110.

It was. One of my father's coworkers was sent over to Germany for a few months by their employer to coordinate the integration of an acquisition. He came back with a 220SE fintail. He had a son about my age who levered it out of his father's hands and took other kids, including me, for rides in it. It felt like a rocket (especially compared to my folks' '60 Falcon). He also had a trick he liked to play; the speedometer was, naturally, in km. He would get it reading 100 or so, point to it, and remark to the passengers how well it handled that speed. I figured it out, but still liked to see the reactions of the others so I kept quiet.

hudsonthedog

That's not a 911, it lacks the curve at the rear of the back window>

You're probably right about it being a 550. But do you know what the yellow car in the back is?

lostwrench1

That Dauphine commercial with the balloons can be seen on that web site with all the videos. You know.

andys120

do you know what the yellow car in the back is?

Just as Stephen987 said, the yellow car is a Siata Spring, essentially a re-bodied Fiat 850 with a faux 1930s sports car body. The Spring was a sad conclusion to the story of of Siata which made some great-looking high performance sports cars during the '50s

andys120

stephen987

Nope. Not Saab. Tatraplan. (Far weirder than Saab.)

andys120

Tatraplan. (Far weirder than Saab.)

That's saying something but, yes, it is a '49 Tatraplan 600 and in their rear-engined, streamlined, skirted Moravian way they are at least as weird as early Saabs.

andys120

stephen987

Looks like my hometown. All that's missing is a brown boxcar proclaiming that "Southern Serves the South."

Yellow convertible: '55 Lincoln Capri?
Grey and white sedan: '59 DeSoto?

mistacharlie

Steve,Thanks for the info on posting. I am in Europe and always find myself saying..."what is that car?" I am looking forward to posting here. Thanks to magnette for the info. I could not pull up anything. Big Italian Kiss on each cheek to you both. Oh...mistacharlie.. I am female.

wgrafer

I'm going with a 1953 Lincoln convertible and a 1957 Plymouth Savoy. The truck looks like a 1951-52 Chevy.

andre1969

but check out what was sitting outside my mechanic's shop last night...

imidazol97

Omni/Horizon.

Looks in good shape.

Lots of the other cars in the lot would be interesting trips into history. Would you consider getting pictures of some of the others. That looks like a classic car restoration business in this area with lots of relics in the lot outside waiting for work.

andre1969

Yep, it's an Omni. I think it's a '78-81, judging from that light green color. I'm guessing the third brake light is an add-on. And yeah, the thing looked like it was almost brand-new, inside and out!

Next time I'm out there, I'll try to snap some pics of the other cars. I didn't have my camera with me yesterday, but my friend who gave me a ride home after dropping off my Intrepid took that pic for me. I think he thought I was a weirdo for being attracted to that color!

lemko

Heck, I did the same trick to my girlfriend. My 1994 Cadillac DeVille had an electronic dash with LED numerals. There was a button where you could change the information displayed from English to Metric. I said, "Check out how fast we're going!" "Aaaah! You're doing over 100! Slow down!" She couldn't see the little "kph."

imidazol97

With classic cars there are certain colors that link to my memories of them. The green and the woody sides do that for this car. It's a pleasant combination.

The rubber covered struts holding the rear bumper on should help identify the year.

andre1969

I'll confess, I pulled the same stunt on my grandmother, when I was driving her around in my uncle's '88 LeBaron. She was not amused. Even when I told her that it was just metric; we really weren't speeding. She kept griping until I switched it back to MPH.

stever

Welcome to CarSpace - check out my photo album of Italian cars on my CarSpace page. Ciao!

andys120

You've got 'em all Wgrafer, can't be sure on the year of the Chevrolet (3100?) truck as they looked the same for at least four or five years.

Nice going getting the exact year of the Lincoln (Capri?) as well as the exact model/year of the Plymouth.

andys120

hudsonthedog

The lovely Peugeot 505 (with a Vanagon and Golf II/GTI behind it).