Mystery car pix

stickguy

Well, standard engine was a 6, so you were still 1 ahead with 7.

reminds me of the Nova I bought in my freshman year of college. It was a V8 with a 3 speed on the floor. Also had some sort of engine issue (a miss in 1 cylinder?) that I was too dumb to notice. Never did register that one, but managed to sell it for at least what I paid 9a rare talent I had in those days, making money on junk!)

Did end up with a spare hood for it. That stayed laying against the side of my parents garage for a while. pretty sure it is gone now though (being 27 years later and all...)

andys120

Yep, it's Johnny Unitas of the 1958 NFL Champion Baltimore Colts.

magnette

Now you've completely lost me - I've heard of Baltimore but the rest ??? Is that your version of rugby ?

andys120

Now you've completely lost me - I've heard of Baltimore but the rest ??? Is that your version of rugby ?

AFAIK it's something like rugby, we call it football but it's nothing like your football which we call soccer.

Back to cars...

andys120

magnette

Holden FJ - so about 1954/6.

andre1969

In 1957, not all states had legalized "quadrillights" as they were called back then. However, I'd imagine that most did, because most of the '57 Mopars that I see at shows, which offered them both ways, had the quad setup. However, it could just be a local phenomenon. Most of the car shows I go to are in Pennsylvania, and PA had legalized them. At least, I'd presume they did, as my '57 DeSoto Firedome came from PA originally, and it has quads.

The DeSotos and Chryslers don't look too bad with single headlights, because the openings were designed for either 2 or 4 headlights. The headlights were recessed, which gave the car a clean look either way. However, with Imperial the headlight assembly sort of hung on front of the grille, and the quads seem to balance it out pretty well. I think the Imperial looks kinda grotesque with the singles, though...

It has sort of an "owl-eyed" look.

stever

That rose/pink color must have been a popular color for the Imperials back in the day. The Fleetwood that Elvis gave his momma was a '55 that he repainted in pink. He had a pink '54 Caddy (resprayed that color) but it caught on fire and burned up on the road in Arkansas. The '55 got wrecked in that area too in '55 to the tune of $1,000 in damages.

andys120

Yup, to be exact it's a 1955 Holden FJ225 and it's about 8 years behind the curve style-wise. At the time when US GM cars were all getting wraparound glass the Aussies were making do with straight pane split glass. :sick:

andys120

hudsonthedog

1969 Plymouth Fury

lemko

These don't look as bad as the Imperial with single headlights, though I prefer the quad-headlight look myself:

andre1969

I think the '57 Merc is a good example of a car that looks better with the single lights. Those fenders aren't quite wide enough to support quad lights, so the result ended up being this swollen pus of an assembly that looked like it was hung on as an afterthought, and bulged out a bit on the sides.

I don't think it's a very attractive car either way, but definitely prefer the single headlights. I like the way they're recessed a bit, giving the car a tougher look. I always hated that bug-eyed look of the '57 Ford.

lemko

Of course, here's the absolute worst application of quad headlights:

fintail

And look what year it's from, shocking!

bhill2

Rats! You beat me by about 1 minute in pointing out this pathetic adaption of quad headlights. Congratulations, Lemko.

stephen987

'58 Packard Caribbean?

ETA: My bad, there was no Caribbean that year, and it's not a Hawk.

ETA: duh, just noticed the "1958" front plate. Feeling dumb right now. . .

andre1969

Y'know, if it wasn't for those stuck-on headlights, that '58 Packard wouldn't be a bad looking car. In those colors, it sort of looks like a 3/4 scale '58 DeSoto Adventurer.

I can't remember now, but did Packard even use model names for these cars, or were they just "Packards"? I know Studebaker called their version of that hardtop the Starlight.

lemko

Actually, there was a 1958 Packard Hawk - an incredibly ugly mutation of the rather attractive Studebaker Hawk:



It reminds me of a catfish.

bumpy

lemko

Oh my God! The proportions are just all wrong! That's one of those first-generation Sevilles cut and shortened into a two-seater! Looks like a clown car! That top looks like it was sewn in a 6th grade home ec class!

berri

I think the Imperial looks kinda grotesque with the singles

I think the other Mopars looked much better with the blended single headlight and parking light set-up, but I guess they really couldn't do that with the Imperial design.

berri

I think the '57 Merc is a good example of a car that looks better with the single lights

I think the late 50's Mercury's were underrated and nice looking cars. If they had been GM models I think they would have probably been much more popular. The 57 seemed the cleanest design of them IMO.

berri

I think the real tragedy was that the 55 and 56 Packard's were nice looking cars inside and out, then came the merger...

lostwrench1

Packard Clipper, Club, Mayfair, Patrician, Cavalier, Caribbean, Panama, Constellation, Executive, Hawk.

hudsonthedog

I just saw this car on TV...what do you think?

fintail

That's the Chrysler Imperial limo from Cannonball Run II, I guess the car would be ca. 1981-82

stephen987

I think it's an improvement over the "regular" '82 Imperial.

andys120

bumpy

Yep, Seville Milan conversion job. It was a thoroughly pathetic attempt to compete with the MB SLs of the period, though not quite so awful from the back.



GM would produce its own similarly pathetic SL competitor a decade later.

stephen987

Looks like a Chinese ripoff of a 2002 Honda Civic to me.

fintail

I'd take an Allante over that awkward thing any day of the week

lemko

I'd take a 1993 Allante with the Northstar in it. I think the Allante would've done a lot better if it had a decent engine in it all along. The first Allantes had to make do with the thoroughly mediocre 4.5 litre V-8. Still, the Allante was a very attractive car.

andys120

As a matter of fact it is Chinese. It's called the Coda, it's all electric and expected to sell for about $45K in California starting late 2010.

Good luck with that one. :lemon:

Coda Automotive.

fintail

A 45K knock off of an early 00s Civic (that rear end is just as bad) built by a rogue state. Should be an easy sell, and I am sure it is very crashworthy... :shades: :sick:

fintail

I'd still prefer the SL it was meant to compete with, but the Allante isn't offensive in any way...just half baked for the most part, which was about as good as it got for most GM products of that era.

stephen987

hudsonthedog

No...not a sports car. But it is a Buick Reatta.

stephen987

Bingo, it's a Buick Reatta, a decent enough car on its own terms, but the styling may have led some folks to assume it was more than a two-passenger Riviera. It wasn't.

andys120

Nope, not a sports car be any stretch just a boulevard cruise, the mid-ninties
Buick Reatta

andys120

andys120

Last call for 21646......

magnette

The new invisible car - among it's features is an inability to appear on my computer screen, at least here at work.

andys120

LOL, Magnette. Here's some pix of the same car from other sources>





Can you see it now?

magnette

Ok - now I can see it... Not that it helps... Nice car, and I assume it's Italian, but other than that ????

stephen987

Is it an ATS 2500?

andys120

Nope sorry, it's not an ATS nor is it Italian but it does have a model name that sounds Italian, _________ Malzoni (fill in blank).

Hint: It was sold at about the same time as the ATS 2500 and in similarly low numbers but otherwise bore no relationship.

andys120

OK, one last hint about our Italian looking sporty coupe: it wasn't built or sold in the Northern, or Eastern Hemispheres.

Going once...twice..

stephen987

Perhaps it's from Brazil, then. Lots of specialty builders there in the '60s.

andys120

Right you are Stephen, it's the 1966 DKW Malzoni of which 35 were produced by Puma from mechanicals supplied by Vemag, the Brazilian subsidiary of DKW. After Volkswagen's takeover of Auto Union-NSU, VW do Brasil decided to supply Puma with parts to enable Puma to build an interim version the Puma DKW Malzoni GT ca 1967>



In the 1970s Puma began building the Beetle-based Puma GT which proved quite popular in Brazil.>



FWIW, the Italian-sounding name comes from Puma Automovilia's founder Genaro (Rino) Malzoni, an Italo-Brazilian auto racing enthusiast from Sao Paolo.

Pay attention guys, Puma will be heard from again.