Mystery car pix

wgrafer

"Good eye Wgrafer, IIRC there was a Nomad next to the plain black car, I think it was a '56. "

Sorry, it is definitely a '57 as proven by the eyebrow over the headlight and the decorative strips on the side. :P

andys120

Oddly no one's Id'd the black car pulling out of the space. I believe it's an Alfasud.

The car in front of that is an Autobianchi A112, a very cool little skate>

andys120

texases

That looks like an early to mid-70s BMW 2002tii, I saw a 2002 going home yesterday, very clean outside.

andys120

Damn, I figured that'd last more than 5 minutes!

It's a 1974 BMW 2002 tii>

ateixeira

Now that I look at it, you can see a sort of resemblance to the longitudinal layout of even their recent straight 6s.

texases

You're right. I have to admit, I had a hint: I had just been looking at pics of '79 528i engines, and the intake runners look like the tii's

Sad to hear that BMW's moving to turbo 4s in many cases instead of their 6s, to improve mpgs.

andys120

jwilliams2

Looks like a 1966-67 Ford Fairlane GT...

tmart

Always wanted one of these in LimeGold.

andys120

Actually it's a '67 Ford Fairlane GTA/390.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright

Painful to watch. How could someone DO THAT to an Alfa? Way beyond saving, except maybe to steal the VIN plate and engine and little precious bits if it's a Spider Veloce model.

jwilliams2

Nice car. Had a new 66 Cyclone GT back in the day. Pretty much the same car. Fun to drive and won a lot of races with it. Would cruise all day at 90 mph or better.

I remember driving my younger brother from St Louis to Ft Hood Texas, made the round trip in just under 24 hours. Not bad for almost 1600 miles. Those were the days.

andys120

Pretty sad isn't it. 1959 Alfa-Romeo Giulietta Spider.

andys120

magnette

I think the Alfa that is pulling away from the parked cars is not an Alfasud but an Alfetta - incidentally it appears to be either a police or caribineri car..

magnette

That's a nice shot - Ford Vedette - circa 1950/2. They facelifted this model in 1952 to a more notchback style I think although dates are always more flexible, i my memory, at least.

andys120

I think the Alfa that is pulling away from the parked cars is not an Alfasud but an Alfetta - incidentally it appears to be either a police or caribineri car.

Could be but it seems small for an Alfetta, being no larger than the Ritmo. I don't see any police emblems or lights but Alfas were popular with the carbineri

[Ritmos were rebodied 128s so they were small by Yank standards (sold as Stradas in the US ca. late 70s IIRC)]

andys120

Yep that's a Ford (France) Vedette.

stephen987

Not sure if I'd agree with the characterization of a Ritmo as a "rebodied 128," though they did share some components. The Strada/Ritmo was slightly bigger than a Golf/Rabbit, slightly smaller than the Omni/Horizon, and far more civilized in demeanor than the 128. The US version also had a bigger engine (1.5 instead of 1.3) and a five speed (instead of four).

andys120

michaellno

Ford Aspire. Forgot about the 5-door variant.

magnette

I might be seeing things, but I think it has two blue lights sticking out of the roof, and a spotlight mounted in the middle - or there are similar lights directly behind it - also it has a police type colour scheme - the white roof over dark blue looks Caribinieri to me - and the licence plate is large unlike normal Italian plates - usually the front one is tiny, as on the Ritmo. Official cars have two normal size plates like this.

I think it is too big for a Alfasud, but it also looks less like one - that's a four door saloon not a five door hatchback. We did have both Alfasuds and Alfettas here, but sadly not many left now due to the rubbish Russian steel they alledgedly used.

We also had the Fiat Ritmo here but it was called the Strada in UK. I remember they showed an advert on TV for it showing it was built by robots - although the delivery driver to the docks being an Italian probably shook most of the bits back off anyway!

andys120

Hmmm, I do see a blue light but I can't tell if it's mounted on the roof via stalk (very odd) or on the sidewalk behind the car, The other stalk mounted light appears white to me, :confuse:

OTOH I can make out the contrasting color on the rook and the white license plate w black lettering which is different from the normal plates which are the opposite all of which would indicate a police unit.

HOWEVER I can't find any pix of an Alfetta Berlina with rectangular headlights. Here's one of an Alfasud in police livery (note rectangular lights).

andys120

wgrafer

1968 Plymouth Fury! :shades: Probably a Fury III or Sport Fury
judging by the fender signal marker.

andys120

Yup, it's a '68 Fury III.

andys120

texases

Looks a lot like a Chrysler, '57 300C, except the grill's not quite right. :confuse:

jwilliams2

My guess would be a 59 Chrysler 300E. If the picture were in color you could see the red in the grill.....

texases

Looks like you're right, it's a '59. I'm surprised how little they changed over those 3 years.

wgrafer

Well, while the FRONT ends pretty much stayed the same from '57 through '59 (with some additional red paint in '59) the rear ends followed the individual year changes. In other words, if you were behind a '59 300 you might have mistaken it for a '59 New Yorker, but as soon as you saw the front end it was deja vu all over again...

andys120

59 Chrysler 300E

Absolutely!

lemko

Here are the rear views of the 1957, 1958, and 1959 Chryslers:



1957 Chrysler



1958 Chrysler



1959 Chrysler

andys120

Possibly a lot of you have never seen one but IIRC it was the best selling imported car around the time those big Chryslers roamed the roads.

tmart

Wow, a Renault Dauphine. A paint job would do wonders. All things considered though, it still looks pretty good. I was partial to the convertible.

Mr_Shiftright

Awww.... a little Renault Dauphine...you are correct, they even outsold Volkswagen in, I believe 1960 or so, before....like a blazing comet disintegrating in the northern sky, the car's reputation fell to earth, creating a huge pit that still hasn't been filled in.

bhill2

Yeah, the parents of my best friend growing up bought a Dauphine. The father really enjoyed driving it until a cog somewhere in the drivetrain literally peeled off of its shaft and landed in the street. After that, not so much.

andys120

boomchek

That's the $200 Dauphine that the Texas guys is planning to drive to Alaska and back.

stephen987

Picture?

hudsonthedog

Possibly a lot of you have never seen one but IIRC it was the best selling imported car around the time those big Chryslers roamed the roads.

I think the Volkswagen was more popular, but Renault had the biggest-selling debut year for any import until 1986.

Mr_Shiftright

doomed....I'll bet $100 against them. The Alaska roads will beat that car so bad that in 4 days it will look like the bottom of a Shake N' Bake bag.

berri

Lemko, those Chrysler rear end are certainly an example of change for the sake of change. The 58 and 59 looked worse than the original and that was pretty much true of all the Mopars during that time period.

berri

Hey, those Dauphine's made an impact and Americans are still reluctant to buy French cars!

Mr_Shiftright

Renault actually outsold VW for one year, so yeah, it was the best selling import, albeit for a short time. It was faster, better-looking, quieter, get better gas mileage (by far) handled better, had 4-doors, and water-cooling for much better heat/defrost.

It was a better car in every way except one---it didn't run for very long without breaking down.

Mr_Shiftright

I don't understand the French---they make great race cars, and their cars are usually a pleasure to drive.

texases

Slimy SPAM alert - :mad: :mad: :mad: to you!

colin_l

Ah yes, the infamous Motor Trend Car of the Year award to the Renault Alliant. My poor aunt bought one. Actually her father did.. terrible car.