Mystery car pix

texases

"I'll bet the door handles are in the C-pillar"

I guess I just don't get it, just like with Nissan on their SUVs. Just looks like something got left off the rear door. Or is this another one of those attempts to make a 4 door look like a 2 door?

qbrozen

Or is this another one of those attempts to make a 4 door look like a 2 door?

That's exactly what it is. And it works. At first glance, I thought it was a distorted pic of the Alfa MiTo.

By the by, the profile looks alot like the C30.

andys120

stephen987

Rover 3500 (P6)

ateixeira

She looks great, to me. Love it. Great integration of the front grille in to the design.

I think it would not look as good if they badged it as a Chrysler and deleted that grille.

andys120

urnews

Sunbeam Alpine, like Maxwell Smart used to drive. Not sure of the year.

andys120

Sunbeam Alpine, like Maxwell Smart used to drive. Not sure of the year

It is a 1963 Sunbeam Alpine

Smart's car was the 289 V8-powered Sunbeam Tiger which wore smaller fins (as did post-'63 Alpines.)>

andys120

stephen987

'50 DeSoto?

tomica

Bit Older, 1946-48

Mr_Shiftright

Yes must be 40s, as that was when most automakers just put a few pieces of extra chrome on the 1941 models. It's a very old-fashioned car. In the years just following WW II, you could sell *anything* on 4 wheels, or even 3 for that matter. People were desperate for new cars, as their old ones were wearing out after 4 long years of no civilian car production.

A fake Sunbeam Tiger is called an "Alger" and can be hard to spot if you don't know what to look for.

Mr_Shiftright

The Tigers were not put together by Rootes, but rather assembled by Jensen.

andys120

Yep, it's a '48 DeSoto Custom

andys120

stephen987

Chrysler LeBaron (K-car) convertible, early 1980s.

gxlfnut

<img src="http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/dekesdeals/templar1.JPG"This radiator cap was from the late teens, early twenties

texases

That looks like a radiator cap to a "Templar", made the the Templar Motor Company from Cleveland. The wings and wheel logo is for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (I don't know why, I don't think they ever won the race). The other logo is one version of the Templar Cross:


Here's more info on the Templar

Mr_Shiftright

Good catch!

This was what used to be called an "assembled" car (for the most part) wherein a company would form, sell stock, rent or buy a building, and then order all the parts it needed to make a car, from other suppliers. Sometimes these cars were "partly assembled" and partly made in the factory.

Naturally, an assembled or part-assembled car cost more to make, since all parts were bought on mark-up (and often didn't fit together with all the other parts from all the other suppliers) and required lots of fiddling labor.

At the onset of recession after World War I, many car companies folded by 1925 or so.

Another massive wave of attrition occurred during the Great Depression of 1929 and following.

andys120

Yup, it's an '82 Chrysler Le Baron/Mark Cross Edition.

andys120

stephen987

'73 Ford Escort RS1600?

andys120

Yes, a particular version of the Escort RS known as the Ford Escort Mexico.

lemko

jlbl

Simca Vedette or Simca Vedette Chambord. I'd rather think is a plain Vedette. Fiffties, last Century.

Regards,
Jose

lemko

Correct. This one's a 1958 model.

texases

I can't imagine those wire wheel hubcaps were standard in '58, were they?

andys120

lemko

Hard to tell the year without seeing the front end, but it's a 1942-48 Chevrolet Fleetline.

andys120

It's a '48 Lemko.

lostwrench1

1947 Fleetline Aero.

michaellno

It's a '48 Lemko.

I didn't know Lemkos were made in '48.

lemko

I'm a 1965 model.

fezo

And a darned spiffy one at that!

lostwrench1

Headlights still good?
No flat tires?
Still pass emissions?

andys120

michaellno

Mazda 323 GTX

kyfdx

Yup.. Mine was an '88.. which, might have been the only year they were made, IIRC..

I loved that car.. unfortunately, the person that had it before me didn't love it enough... Had to dump it after 18 months..

Turbo, DOHC engine... with true 50/50 AWD... very cool.

lemko

Was the first-generation Mercury Tracer based on this version of the Mazda 323?

stickguy

yes, I believe it was.

au1994

awesome little car. A rally car for the street. What was the 0-60 time?

ateixeira

Was the first-generation Mercury Tracer based on this version of the Mazda 323?

It may have been the 323/Protoge from one generation after that. The Protege came out in 1990. The Ford Escort, at least, came out in 1991, and the GT used Mazda's DOHC 1.8l engine.

I owned one of those Escorts, and the drivetrain was identical from the Escort GT to the Tracer LTS to the Escort LX-E 4 door to the Protege ES.

Later the Mazda Miata got that 1.8l engine, ableit in longitudinal form, for 1994.

Oddly enough the base engine in the Tracer/Escort was the Ford 1.9l, but Mazda used their own engines.

stephen987

You're thinking of the second-generation Tracer rather than the first-gen version Lemko mentioned.

The first-generation Tracer came out in about '86 and was based on the first generation 323 sold in the US (previous generations were called "GLC" instead). A virtually identical car was sold as the Ford Laser in Australia and some southeast Asian markets.



The second-generation Tracer, on the other hand, was a clone of the early-'90s Escort you mention.

ateixeira

Good catch, I forgot about those.

A friend of my dad's had one of those, but they weren't very common.

stephen987

The first-gen Tracer had a really nice interior, much nicer than anything else in its class. What a shame that Mercury no longer means anything at all. . .

andys120

imidazol97

1962 Fairlane 500
6 cyl?, I don't see a V8 badge.

andys120

Nope, no V8 badge, apparently it had the 200CID six and it is indeed a '62 Ford Fairlane 500.

andys120

stickguy

Shelby version of an Omni. Although I didn't think they came with an AT.

hard to miss that steering wheel and dashboard though.