Mystery car pix

fintail

Or as I call them, "British fintails".

I think those came around in 59, just like the fintail. Made in a huge amount of models over several brands, badge engineering perfected, and they are kind of cool in their own way. That's a later car with the F suffix, maybe 1966. Nice rust on the fender too, so you know it's a genuine British car.

andys120

You're right, that was a typo, I meant to say 1959-61.

lemko

You're all in the right ballpark, but it's not an Austin.

stever

That Neon was clocked going over 140.

Drag Racers Crash on Long Island Expressway. Take out Gas Station, Hooters

colin_l

The Evo looks a lot like mine, stock wheels and all, except mine is white. Oh and mine has a carseat in the back.

andys120

michaellno

Looks like a Mitsubishi Diamante of late 90's vintage.

andys120

Mitsubishi Diamante of late 90's vintage.

Indeed, looking at one on the street the other day I was struck by the resemblance to a BMW E39 (5 Series). Well it turns out the Diamante came out in 1990, 5 years before the E39, which would make BMW the copycat.

andys120

michaellno

The burgundy car is a MK1 Capri - early 70's.

The brown car is, I think, also a Ford, but I don't know the model.

Is this a shot from the UK cop show The Professionals?

andys120

You're right on both counts but let's see if some can ID the Ford. (model name? Appx year.) The Capri is a '71 Mk.I

The shot is from another Brit cop show Life on Mars (light years better than the limp US version shown on ABC), shot mostly in Manchester.

fintail

What here looks like an E39?



I don't remember those hitting our shores until 1992. Nice faux hardtop styling, a clean looking big wagon...maybe should have done better, but I think they had issues. I remember by the late 90s they were often seen with a trail of blue smoke.

explorerx4

Ford Taunus?

joeshan

A Ford Cortina?

kyfdx

I agree... the Diamante was a nice car.... but, had more in common with a Legend....

I really don't see any E39 in it...

andys120

Yup, it's a 1974 Ford Cortina Mk. III The Cortina 3 was a couple of sizes larger than it's 1960s forebears and less sporty but it was one of the nicer looking family sedans of 1970s Britain and looked considerably nicer IMO than any Yank Ford of the era(it's about the size of Maverick).

Here's a better look at it>

andys120

Now here's some cop cars from the American version of Life On Mars>

Click the link.

andys120

No one's picking up on #28221, c'mon it's not that hard>



link for version showing both cars.

lemko

That's an NYPD 1972 Plymouth Fury I. It's in the classic green, black, and white livery before the NYPD switched to blue and white in 1973. Philadelphia Police cars were red and white until the mid-70s when they switched to a similar blue and white scheme.

andys120

That's right Lemko, now click on the link and tell us what the NYPD car on the right is.

link.

lemko

Oh, that one's a 1968 Plymouth Belvedere. I didn't know the NYPD used Belvederes that year. Most commonly, they used Plymouth Fury Is.



I remember they used an LAPD 1968 Plymouth Belvedere in the first season of Adam-12.

andys120

It's certainly a '68 Plymouth, not sure of the model. Here's one in LAPD livery>



[Note plate mounted under siren]

lemko

It's the intermediate-sized Belvedere as you can see on the nameplate on the front fender. I beleive the police sergeant had a 1967 Belvedere wagon during the first season of Adam-12. It was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid.

andys120

Note sign above trolley>

Cilck for full size!



Cilck for full size!

explorerx4

Do you think that was the inspiration for the song?

andys120

You'd have to ask The Eagles.

explorerx4

Do you think any of them would remember?

explorerx4

Where were all those cruisers when I saw an armed robbery back when those were in service?

au1994

I hear it's a lovely place

andys120

jwilliams2

Looks like a Triumph TR2...1953-55...

Mr_Shiftright

Yes and no---yes, it's a TR2 and nope, it's not a "small mouth"----SMs are a reference to the earlier TR3s.

jwilliams2

I believe the TR2's were all small mouths, either long door or short door. The TR3 small mouth came out in 1955, and the TR3 wide mouth came out in 1958.

At least according to this website:

http://www.vtr.org/TR2/TR23-spotting.shtml

Mr_Shiftright

Yes but when they say "small mouth" that means early TR3. It makes no sense if you think about it, to call a TR2 a small mouth because ---"small" in comparison to what? The "larger mouth" wasn't even built yet. And then what would you call the large mouth version of the TR3? The "Really Large Mouth"?

I guess it's like when people call the late 40s Jaguar Saloons "Mark IV"--there was no Mark IV until they built a Mark V.

I'm rather surprised an organization like that would use that nomenclature. Historically, it's not accurate and generally, not how appraisers catalog these cars.

Richard Newton's Triumph Buyer's Guide, as well as Sports Car Market's Price Guide, all break the TR3 down into small mouth and large mouth.

The TR2 breakdown that I always see in classic car publications is "long door" and "short door".

Given how the TR2 looks from the front, the confusion is understandable.

lemko

When I was about nine or ten years old, my Dad took my brother and I to a race held in NE Pennsylvania on a twisty mountain road called "The Weatherly Hillclimb." I recall seeing all kinds of British sports cars in that race: Triumphs, MGs, Austin-Healeys, Lotuses, etc. If you were a fan of British sports cars, this was the place to be.

wgrafer

OK, so you can check out but you can never leave, BUT what about the mystery cars???

Left: '56 Cadillac
Right: '51 or '52 Chevy, '53 Chevy, '52 or '53 Ford, '57 Chevy.

andys120

For the record Hemmings identifies the green 1954 Triumph TR-2 as a "long-door" model.

andys120

I did too, in fact I bought a 1966 TR-4A. The car in your pic is a 1961-65 Triumph TR-4 with the optional surrey top, basically the TR-3A motor and chassis wrapped in a Michelotti-styled Italian body, in other words 1930s tech dressed in 1960s Carnaby Street clothes.

andys120

tmart

59 El Camino

ateixeira

Back window makes it look like it's going backwards... :surprise:

andys120

Yup, '59 was the first year for the EC which is odd because it didn't mesh well with the batwing styling.

andys120

andys120

Hey what gives! I can't get photos to appear even though they show up in previews! Another IL screwup!

stever

I heard that there were some site improvements rolled in today but they weren't supposed to affect the forums.

Anyone else having issues?

andys120

That's better picture shows now.

berri

I liked the El Camino's, but I thought the full sized Ford Ranchero's were nicer, particularly the 57. However when they were both downsized to midsizers, I think the El Camino's were generally nicer. I don't think any of them were really big sellers though.

andys120

Any takers on #28252...going...going...

lemko

That's a later model Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow - post 1973.

andys120

You're just a little-off Lemko. The long wheelbase version of the Shadow II was known as the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II (1978-80) which is confusing because the Shadow I (1965-77) did not have a separate name for the LWB version.

[Fun Factoid I picked up from Wikipedia: Silver Shadows were originally going to be called Silver Mists until R-R discovered that "mist" is German for Manure.]