Mystery car pix

andys120

Yup, a 1974 Fiat 124 Sport Spider, non-US Spec.

magnette

The Fiat minivan in the extreme left corner foreground is the small brother of the Doblo - its a Nemo. The other minivan, you can only see the roof, near the front of the first Saxo is actually a Peugeot Partner, but it's identical to the Citroen Berlingo from that angle so it is difficult - I only know because I took the photo.

The blue car facing away from us next to the blue Alfa is not a Hyundai, but there is one a bit further along.

You are correct about the black car next to the SLK - its a Seat Ibiza.

It doesn't help that due to filters on my work computer here I can't see the actual picture myself - our computer doesn't like my photo site at flickr and doesn't allow it to display! I thought the variety of cars in this would be interesting for this site, as most people on here are of course in America or Canada, and apart from the SLK I don't think any of the cars in that photo have ever been sold over there. What struck me to was how few Fiats there were - unlike nearly every other view in Italy where there would be at least a few Pandas (including our hire car, which was great fun).

andys120

lemko

The blue wagon is an AMC Hornet circa 1970-72. The green car is a Volvo, don't know which model or year. The blue Cadillac appears to be a 1953 Series 62 sedan. The tan car with the white roof is a 1971-73 Ford Pinto, the white car way behind the Cadillac appears to be a 1962 Oldsmobile, and I can barely make out a 1969 Ford LTD half cut off at the left edge of the picture.

stephen987

The green car is an early Volvo 142S. The beige car behind the '53 Cadillac is out of focus, but it might be a '68 or '69 Ford Torino fastback.

fintail

Is that from Chips?

I agree the car behind the old Caddy looks like a 68-69 Ford Fairlane or derivative. Behind that looks like a big ~1975 Caddy. Car behind the Pinto looks like a Datsun B210.

fezo

If you painted that Volvo a dark blue you would pretty much have my old 69 Volvo 142.

A picture of it being passed by a kid on a tricycle would be accurate.

andys120

The Volvo 142 is a post-'67 car, the side markers are visible. Fezo, I thought they only came in dark green. :P

The AMC Hornet wagon was called a "Sportabout".

I'd love to know how you can tell the Caddy is a Series 62 (top-of-the-line IIRC).

Good call on the barely visible LTD.

stephen987

The Volvo 142 is a post-'67 car, the side markers are visible. Fezo, I thought they only came in dark green.


The 142 was introduced to the US market as a '68 model.

lemko

The Series 62 was the base model. The Sixty-Special and Series 75 were the top of the line sedans. The ultimate 1953 Cadillac was the Eldorado.

bhill2

If you painted that Volvo a dark blue you would pretty much have my old 69 Volvo 142.

Yup, and if you painted it tan (the color of coffee with lots of cream in it) you would have my 69 142. I am almost sure that the one in the picture is a 69, but I can't rule out its being a 70.

fezo

If you took the 142 and the Sportabout together you are talking pretty much all my transportation in grad school. A friend I hung out with a lot in those days had the Sportabout.

magnette

Right, here's the various cars at Lake Como;
-
Fiat Nemo
Citroen Saxo
Peugopt Partner (light blue - looks like a Citroen Berlingo)
Lancia Ypsilon
Alfa Romeo 147
Daihatsu Sirion (silver blue )
another Citroen Saxo - blue
Hyundai Amica or Atos - it was sold here at least as an Amica, for the first few years, then as an Atos, but in Europe I think it was an Amica for longer - possibly still is.
I think the dark car beyond that is an Opel Astra
MB SLK
Seat Ibiza
Daihatsu 4x4 - probably a Fourtrak

magnette

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My employers finally changed my old Vauxhall Corsa for this new company car on Monday.

fintail

I think that's the new Alfa Mito. Could end up in NA someday. Maybe. Possibly.

I've always found it interesting how so many in the UK receive a company car or allowance - very uncommon on this side of the pond.

magnette

I didn't get a company car until four years ago, and then only a Vauxhall Corsa, because it was tax efficient - it just made sense at the time, and now I have got a better car, it is great. They tax on the basis of the list price for the car and it's CO2 emissions, by some arcane formula, although if your job requires that you do a huge mileage then they offset that somewhat. The latter doesn't apply to me - I only work a few miles from where I live and although I actually need a car for work - I manage properties so drive all over suburban London - the actual work mileage is relatively low. The firm lease the cars, and the contract includes road tax, insurance, all repairs, servicing (although they tend to skimp a bit on that) etc- and all the consumables like tyres, etc - everything but fuel and oil, which I have to pay for - although I can claim a small amount against my actual work mileage so when I take it out I get a few quid for petrol. Ironically more than half my work is in Central London, and that's not really practical in a car, so I go in by tube from the office (we're in the suburbs) anyway - they pay all the fares so it is actually cheaper.

The car is the 135bhp 1.4litre turbo model with the new Multiair engine which is actually more frugal than the lesser engines - they also make a really hot turbo engine but my employers wouldn't have let me have that and actually for what I do it would be too fierce anyway (and the jarring sport suspension would hurt my ageing back). This one is fast enough...

It is not as small as it looks - about the size of a Honda Civic, I think, and it is certainly quick, although I am actually trying to run it in a bit before I hoof it, and anyway suburban London isn't the place to drive like a maniac -- especially when we had a tube strike yesterday which doubled the amount of traffic on the roads round here...

What I wanted was a car which isn't the same as everything else in the company car park (lots of Audi A3s and a few Mini Coopers, at this size, although there is a fairly relaxed policy about cars - as long as they can carry more than two passengers - we have people with flashier stuff like BMWs and such, the odd Passat, a Nissan Qashquai, various Astras and Corsas, Saabs, a few Golfs etc.. )
My colleagues who have longer journeys to work and need the economy tend to favour diesels (my Corsa was a 1.2 diesel, but at least it had a turbo) but I didn't like the fact that diesel fuel is actually about six percent more expensive than petrol, partly because they tax it more heavily as a result of the particulates it churns out, and also to make up tax revenue as otherwise lower consumption cars would mean less tax revenue. Although the Corsa was ok, it rattled like a tin can and they say the Alfa will too, but at least it will do it a bit more flashily! Also on Monday one of my colleagues took delivery of one of the new Alfa Guiliettas - they've only just gone on sale here, this month - but he needed four doors (kids) and he's gone for the turbo diesel, so it's not quite as fast, although it is a good looking car.
For a change - and only if I'm not going out during the day on appointments because my insurers wouldn't like it - I take the Magnette in once in a while - in fact I used it last Friday - and although it is still tatty - awaiting funds for the inevitable respray - it still turns heads in everyday traffic. I tend to use it for work mainly on school holidays though to avoid the dangerous mum drivers ...

magnette

Tried to update my profile to show the Mito as my new car, but it isn't in the available options, probably because you can't buy it over there (although the Vauxhall Corsa I just deleted was never sold there either) so I have to wait till they add it I think..

magnette

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fintail

Interesting. Here, at least in my areas, a company car is usually for a salesman or someone who drives a lot locally - for other driving jobs it is usually a company owned car that does not go home with the employee.

The little Alfa looks like a fun and unusual choice, more adventurous than a Corsa or Civic.

fintail

Looks like a GAZ Volga M21, which was benchmarked from the '53 (USA) Ford.

magnette

At least we can find it when we go to the supermarket - there were a lot of black Corsas out there.
It handles well, and seems to be really nippy, as well as very light. There is a switch to adapt the driving "mode" called D N A (Dynamic/Normal/Allweather). So far, other than to check the switch worked, I've left it in normal, but will play with it a bit when on out of town roads. Also, like most Italian engines, it revs freely, which is fun (even the Fiat Panda hire car we had in Italy the other week revved like a Ferrari, albeit to less spectacular effect..-sorry Avis)
One thing I'm a bit cautious about is the "stop start" technology which switches off the engine when you sit in neutral for more than a few seconds, ie at lights etc. It starts again as soon as you press the clutch, but I don't like feeling I'm in a car that has just pretended to stall... So far I've turned it off after a few minutes each time, and my partner is even more wary of it - she turns it off as soon as she gets in the car.

magnette

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That's right fintail - here's the front.

Bonus points for the white car in the background although I haven't got another picture of it to show you...

magnette

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I'm going to bed after posting this - goodnight!

wgrafer

Way back in the early 70's I worked for Kraft Foods in Miami FL, and in '72 we had a couple of sales reps from England come over as they had won a contest over there. As I recall, when I took them out on a store tour they were very impressed with my '72 Chevy Impala company car. It was a normal 350 V8. They wondered why such a large and inefficient car was used. I really had no answer, other than it was simply a 'normal' company car.

fintail

Looks like the Dacia Sandero - James May's baby :shades:

I can't tell the white car behind the Volga.

Oh yeah, and I know what you mean by the "mum" drivers...must be a cultural constant of the developed world as we have them here too. Probably the driving force that keeps me from getting a motorcycle :sick:

fintail

I think you made a good choice. No harm in being different, and your different choice might be superior. Italian cars can't be as bad as they were back in the day. My Swiss friend has driven Fiat exclusively since he started driving, he swears by them. He has a Punto now and is very fond of it...cheap to buy and run, and has just enough driving fun to keep him awake. I rode in it when I visited, and it seemed like a decent enough car for a little cheapie.

The stop start stuff worries me most around wear on the starter motor. At least it can be disabled.

magnette

Yep - the Dacia Sandero is still unusual enough to me that it warranted a photo - I don't think they are going to market it here for a while yet, so you tend only to see them abroad. Renault market them as "Dacia by Renault" - at least in France.

The white car is actually a Midas, although I'm not sure of the model - I didn't notice it at the time, only when posting the picture. I have somewhere a few photos of the Midas range, they are kit cars or available fully built up, and the current ones are based on recycled old Rover Metros, althougfh I think that one is a bit earlier and would be Ford Escort based (?)

Gravity is the force that keeps me off motoer cycles (and fear). But as we start the new school year it never fails to amaze me how kids are basically the same size they were 50 years ago, but to get them to school now requires an urban tank - at least a BMW X5 or a Range Rover Sport.

magnette

I am concerned about starter wear too - at least my other car has the option of a starter handle!

I have always thought Fiats are good value, provided you could live with the flimsy panels, but now they are nearly all plastic, like virtually everything else, even the threat of rust is gone. My old Seicento was great fun, fast in town, becasue it was so nippy, easy to park and actually very reliable in general - although I did blow the cylinder head...

magnette

Back then the standard company car in Britain would have been either a Ford Cortina 1600cc or perhaps a Hillman Hunter, probably the 1750cc. Thos would have been seen as full size family cars here, and an Impala would have been huge and exotic...The only V8 anyone here ever got near would have been a Rover 3500 and that was pretty much a luxury car - your local bank manager or the factory boss might have one, but not the workers!

When I see what you got as a family car over there compared with Europe, it is amazing - although your driving conditions are completely different from ours, as even then our roads were pretty crowded, and ours towns don't cater for large cars (which is why giants like the fashionable Range Rover / Volvo XC90 / etc are too big to park anywhere.

stephen987

Yeah, I would imagine that parking a '72 Impala over there makes about as much sense as trying to drive a Hillman Hunter across Texas.

Incidentally, the US actually got the Hillman Avenger for a couple of years, under the name Plymouth Cricket.

magnette

Amazingly, the Hillman Hunter - virtually a standard unmodified one - won the London - Sydney Marathon in 1968. It was so unexpected that Chrysler, who owned Hillman by then, apparently had to create a publicity campaign virtually from scratch, whereas Ford and the other (mainly European) manufacturers who were expecting to do well had made all sorts of plans which had to be abandoned...

The Avenger started off here as a Hillman, then became a Chrysler, and finally a Talbot - but they didn't improve it really during that time.

fintail

I remember I saw a few Dacia products in Germany, but didn't think to take a photo. Usually cars used for delivery fleets. They'll never made it over to NA, but Fiat is eventually going to have some kind of minor presence - after being kicked to the curb here during the malaise era. There are very few Fiats left in this part of the world that aren't open cars that survived because of that fact.

I live in an area where the trophy with orange "tan" skin, bottle blonde hair, and huge sunglasses also transports Todd and Buffy around in between shopping excursions in an X5/XC/Rover/GL/Escalade/LX-RX...it's a mystery both why such a vehicle is needed and where the money comes from when neither seemed to exist in the past. And don't dare ask the latter.

ateixeira

Daihatsu 4x4 - probably a Fourtrak

Dang, that would have been my guess, no guts no glory.

I would have said Rocky and I sorta doubted that name was used in other markets.

Are those related?

andys120

lemko

It appears to be a 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente.

andys120

1964 Mercury Comet Caliente.

Yup, 289 V8.

andys120

It's easy to figure out which cars this logo belongs to but do you know what the alphabet soup above the word "Lotus" stands for.

michaellno

Colin Anthony Bruce Chapman

Mr_Shiftright

Mercury Comet Caliente? Maybe 1964?

andys120

Colin Anthony Bruce Chapman

Close Michael, his Colin was his middle name, so it was ACBC as in Anthony Coil Bruce Chapman.

andys120

Sorry, you're a bit late Shifty, Lemko solved that one four hours ago. :P

andys120

Mr_Shiftright

Perhaps, but I thought of it first. :P

fintail

Lada Samara, early 90s. Actually sold in Canada for several years, although I haven't see one on the road there for at least a decade.

andys120

Yup, it's a 1988 Lada Samara LF

fezo

It's sad what has happened to me. Too many days in here. The moment andy posted that picture I thought to myself "looks like maybe a 64 Comet." No wonder my brain has no more room. It's full of things like that!

andys120

Here's a chance to redeem yourself Fezo, you know this one>

stickguy

one of Andre's fleet, dressed up for Halloween

stephen987

Dodge Diplomat police cruiser.

michaellno

Dodge Diplomat police cruiser.

My dad drove one of those (w/o the light bar) when he was an investigator with the fire department. Poop brown, I believe.