Mystery car pix

grahampeters

G'day

Rover 800 series Fastback (5 Door), probably an 820 (4 cylinder) , probably from about 1990. Later models (after 1992) had a proper grille rather than the roll over of the bonnet (hood)

Sold in the USA as Sterling

It shared a lot with the Honda Legend, but had the curse of English electrical systems. The early dashboard was from the same source as the cursed Austin Maestro. I cannot remember now if this one talked at you, but that was a pretty freaky feature of the era.

A neighbour had one when we lived in Gloucestershire in the mid 1990's. He was an engineer and loved tinkering with it.

Cheers

Graham

wgrafer

OK, I'll take some on the right too:
'51 Chevrolet, '55 Buick, green '55 or '56 Pontiac leaving the curb, peachy '56 Dodge, and the previously mentioned pink '56 Chrysler. Great old pic!!!!

fintail

It's probably a Sterling 827 given a Rover rebadge, seeing as it has California plates. There are a handful still on the road in my area, the 5 door model being extremely rare even when new.

andys120

You're right, Fin. this article calls it the last Rover 827 SLi sold in America but since the rest wore Sterling badges it's the only one. That might be worth an extra $50 bucks to a collector.

andys120

wgrafer

I hope this is not Mr. Bean's car!!!! :sick:

mac24

It is, and according to press reports a neighbor suggests he tends to drive it in the manner of his on-screen persona. :surprise:

Mr_Shiftright

Well that's going back to the factory, I'm sure.

mac24

Well that's going back to the factory, I'm sure.

Yes, I don't think 'Joe's "All Makes" Body Repair' would handle it too well.
Won't be a warranty repair though.

Mr_Shiftright

shame that such beautiful machines have to suffer at the hands of klutzes.

grahampeters

G'day

Inevitably, the whole story is a bit more complicated. Rowan Atkinson is actually an engineer (M Sc in Electrical Engineering)and a very competent racer. He holds the record for "Celebrity in a Reasonably Priced Car" on Top Gear. He has raced some vicious machines including a Lancia and a Renault 5 Turbo (if you ever want to find out how to go backwards, sideways or anything else, there is a lesson)

However he has had a couple of "offs" and this looks like a very good example. I guess that is what happens when you drive an almost pure sports racer as a road car in soggy British conditions. I do feel sorry for the bloke. He has the cash and inclination to run very pricey machinery hard and inevitably, does have an accident. It does not look that serious as the general shape of the care remained straight.

Oh well, off to the repair shop.

Cheers

Graham

andys120

You've identified the driver correctly but so far no one has mentioned what type of car Mr.Bean wrecked.

colin_l

McLaren F1.

andys120

McLaren F1

Keerect.

Mr_Shiftright

Fair enough...I don't know the circumstances...but "competent" of course means "competent" to the level of your abilities. It takes a lot of talent to lose a McLaren on a public road? I dare say, what it took was not talent. The best race drivers, of course, do not generally smash up their rides on a regular basis. Oh, well, there *was* Nigel Mansell, so maybe I should take that back :P

colin_l

I would agree, particularly given that this car does not possess modern electronic safety nets.

Everyone used to put 911s in the ditch. Now they rarely go there due to in part to suspension tuning, but mainly the presence of stability control.

Mr_Shiftright

I know. Law enforcement used to love old 80s Porsche turbos, since they eliminated so many drug dealers.

ateixeira

McLaren F1

Nope, it's now a McLaren F'd Up.

ateixeira

alternate URL:
carstryke, "GM News, New Models and Market Share" #17011, 5 Aug 2011 3:31 pm

andys120

LOL, very cool Juice!

texases

How long have you been saving this? Mitsu 3000GT VR4, looks like a later year for these with the fixed headlights, so about 1999?

ateixeira

To be honest I'm not even sure the exact year, but yeah, that's a later model sans the barn doors (pop-up headlights).

Styling was inspired by a Samurai warrior, supposedly.

andys120

The newest car in this photo tells you what year it was taken>

imidazol97

I tried a little Paint Shop Pro on this photo to make the cars easier to see.

Mr_Shiftright

Certainly not the best time for automobile styling that's for sure. Are we in 1961 in the time machine?

texases

Looks later to me - isn't that a 1965 Chevy headed the other way? And I'm going to guess a 1963 Falcon a few cars back on the left side of the photo.

Mr_Shiftright

Yep, you're right--and the pickup is probably early 60s as well. Gee I wonder if the Beatles just landed!

berri

Nice enhancement!

My guesses: 56 Chevy, 61 Rambler American, 59 Olds flat top, 61 Olds F-85, early 60's Falcon, 66 Chevy Biscayne or Bel Air, late 50's Chevy pickup and mid fiftes Caddy.

wgrafer

Parked on left: '56 Chevrolet, '61-'63 Rambler American (I could never tell the difference even back in the day!), '59 Oldsmobile, '63 Buick Skylark, '62-'63 Falcon (again, hard to see details).

Driving away: '56 Cadillac, '58-'59 Chevrolet Fleetside truck, and the aforementioned '65 Chevrolet Biscayne.

andys120

Nice job on fixing the overexposure. It helps to see the '65 Chevy which is indeed the most recent car in this 1965 photo of downtown Winona, MN.

I think the car behind the white Falcon is a '49-'52 GM of some sort.

andys120

tjc78

Is that an AMC Spirit (82ish)? Cabs are Checkers, not sure of year.

robr2

Or an AMC Eagle Kamback altough it looks too low for that.

bhill2

Or an AMC Eagle Kamback altough it looks too low for that.

Actually, I was going to guess an Eagle because it looks higher than a Spirit.

andys120

The IMCDB crew says it's a 1979 AMC Spirit.

I'm inclined to agree, the Eagle Kammback was just a Gremlin on stilts>

mac24

Is that DB Cooper crouching at the back? :shades:

berri

Where are the shredded twenties?

andys120

texases

No picture for me...

andys120

Let's try this again>

bhill2

Still no picture for me

andys120

Sorry, can't get that one to work, let's try another>



.

ateixeira

Is that a wing nut or a Chevy logo?

I'll play the odds and guess SBC.

texases

Nope, SBC has the distributor in the back. Some Fords have that kind of coolant tank, so I'm going to guess an early 60s Ford, 260 or 289?

fintail

Yeah, I think it's a Ford too, I remember the 60 Ford with a 352 that my dad had used a setup like that.

Mr_Shiftright

And it has that typical Ford starter solenoid on the fender.

andys120

It's a 352 CID V8 with Offy heads and dual Quads from a '63 Ford Galaxie 500XL Slope-back>

ateixeira

Nice lines...wonder why Ford doesn't put lines like that on the boxy Flex. Right now it's just a MAXI Cooper, all boxy.

That looks square but still manages to have some character/style.

andys120

mac24

Looks like the Lagonda in the top of the ad to me: