Mystery car pix

grahampeters

G'day

Looks like an Australian made Valiant, probably a VE or VF model from about 1967 - 1969. These were based on the US Dodge Dart but assembled at Chrysler's plant in Adelaide, South Australia. They were assembled in Australia for New Zealand and South African sales (all rhd markets)

Whilst never as popular as Ford or Holden (GMH) cars of the same era, they were well regarded and many are still on the road, more than forty years later, especially the cavernous station wagons.

My best friend's brother in law was a serious car nut and replaced a Ford Customline with a VE Valiant; he thought it was the best car ever at the time.

I think that the best aspect was the engine, especially the Hemi added later.

Cheers

Graham

lemko

Correct! That's it! I saw a 1969 Valiant VF VIP at the last Carlisle All-Chrysler show two weeks ago.

andys120

texases

1980ish BMW M1?

grahampeters

G'day

The BMW M1 has to be one of the prettiest cars ever made. I recall one being used as an "Art Piece" in a display window in London in about 1990. Absolutely stunning.

Cheers

Graham

andys120

Yup, it's a BMW M1, (not to be confused w the BMW 1M). Credit for the styling goes to Giorgetto Guigiaro of ItalDesign who also created the 1960s Alfa Sprints when he was with Bertyone..

andys120

grahampeters

G'day

I think it is probably a mid '50s Daimler Conquest Roadster but cannot figure out the scoops on the bonnet. Are they for a supercharger inlet?

The single fog light is also odd looking.

At least the Brits understood design in the 1950's

Cheers

Graham

lemko

...at a Coastal station at Rhawn and Verree in NE Philly. had to take a few pics of this one!

fintail

Freaky! Looks like it spent too much time in the 80s. It's a 79-85 Eldo, but customized heavily...I am not aware of the maker of this piece of the past.

I like the period wheels though, if I had a Caddy of that era, it would wear those.

andys120

Yup, that is a '55 Daimler Conquest. It has an odd looking air cleaner housing to the left of the engine l
(link to picture) so the left side scoop is probably an air intake but I guess the right one is cosmetic for "symmetry."

""

andys120

lemko

It's a 1981 Cadillac Eldorado Evolution I according to the owner. Very few were made.

bhill2

Well I'll grab the low hanging fruit. The car in tasteful red is a '58 Chevy 4-door. The chrome side trim has been removed so it's hard to be sure of the model, but it looks to me like it's a hardtop, which would make it a Bel Air.

fintail

I can see why

Looks like a cross between an Eldo and a Toronado

explorerx4

The blue car behind the red Chevy looks like a Ford Falcon and also maybe 2 Lada's(?) blue and red. The white car looks kind of like a Geo Metro (Suzuki something?).

andys120

Well the Falcon has an odd grille, perhaps it's a Canadian Ford Frontenac c. 1960s. The white car is a Suzuki Swift, same car we knew as the Geo Metro.

fintail

Frontenac had a weird circular element in the center of the grille, kind of like a 49-50 Ford. I bet that's an Argentinean Falcon.

uplanderguy

Geez that thing hurts my eyes...and I've always liked '79-85 Eldorados, too.

andys120

grahampeters

G'day

It is the four seater (well, 2+2) version of the Lotus Elan, described as the Elan+2.

The two seater was much prettier, especially when driven by Emma Peel in The Avengers. Rather worryingly, I have just realised that Dame Diana Rigg, the actress who portrayed Emma, is now 74. However she still drives a Mercedes Sports

Cheers

Graham

Mr_Shiftright

The Elan nobody much wants. It's worth about 1/2 to 2/3rd of what the coupe is worth. Not as homely as the Jaguar E-Type 2+2 however.

grahampeters

G'day

Not an image, but a phrase or two:

"Panther Gait coil springs"

"The Car of the Century Floats on Fluid, Too!"

Different manufacturers, different eras, different suspension. Whose gentle ride were they referring to?

Cheers

Graham

stickguy

was the car of the century the Citroen DS?

tmart

link title

grahampeters

G'day

I would have thought the Car of the Century was the Citroen DS. However, it was much more mundane.

Sort of as improbable as the GM slogan for Cadillac; The Standard of the World! which derived from Cadillac winning the Dewar Trophy, celebrating parts interchangeability in 1908. They have been using it for a long time

Cheers

Graham

stickguy

then was it the mini?

robr2

then was it the mini?

Car of the Century was the Model T.

stever

VW Bug. :shades:

robr2

According to the Global Automotive Elections Foundation, the top five were:

Car model Points
1 Ford Model T 742
2 Mini 617
3 Citroën DS 567
4 Beetle 521
5 Porsche 911 303

stever

Might be their car of the century but not mine.

Yet another list:

Top 50: Best Selling Cars Of All Time (hubpages.com).

Hard to believe that the Golf outsold the Beetle.

grahampeters

G'day

When I posed this question, I presumed that "The Car of the Century " would be easy. However on further research, it appears that virtually every manufacturer has tried the line, including for the 1950 Vanguard!

The reference to Floating on Fluid was variously applied to the Austin 1800 and the Mini, each using a hydrolastic suspension, vaguely related to the Citroen system and one used on some expensive Mercedes in the 1970's. Normal leakage resulted in the BMC cars progressively sagging, discomfiting if it happened on one side before the other.

BMC claimed that the Austin 1800 was The Car of the Century. I spent my first few driving years belting mum's 1800 and still think it was extraordinary; suspension and road holding you would not believe for its time (1968).

The Panther Gait Coil Springs refers to a 1947 Buick and was oft repeated in advertising in Australia. I wonder whether it really did impart such fabulous ride?

Cheers

Graham

andys120

Extra points if you can name the actress and/or the TV show>

lemko

Isn't that Ann Francis as "Honey West" in her AC Cobra?

stickguy

289 Cobra.

no clue on the person or show.

lostwrench1

She also starred in my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone, The After Hours.
Marsha! Marsha!

andys120

Isn't that Ann Francis as "Honey West" in her AC Cobra?

It's her!

andys120

lemko

Well, the year is a give-away - 1965 Dodge Dart GT.

Mr_Shiftright

you really have to admire the fully functional ram-air intake system on the bottom of the doors. :P

qbrozen

those are speed holes, shifty. :P

Mr_Shiftright

And to think I wasted all that money on a supercharger upgrade when I could have just bought a heavy duty drill---damn! :shades:

magnette

Don't know what the problem is but can't access your site at all off Apple Safari - just comes up with server error.

It's been like this since last week - not working at all. Just a screen full of java script error codes.

I've had to use Firefox to get in to it now, which I don't like using basically. Any chance you will be fixing this soon?

lostwrench1

I saw the new Dodge Dart. It is larger than I expected.

Mr_Shiftright

Should be okay now. I think all the glitches are fixed. Best to clear your cache, etc.

magnette

no- still doesn't work in Safari. just pages of
server error
server error etc. All in Java code.

I'm using Firefox on this Apple machine to get this posted. Nothing else seems to be wrong with my Safari, just Edmunds - whether I try to log in off my bookmarked accesses (to both this forum and seperately to the 'I spotted an unusual car today' forum and also by tapping Edmunds Mystery Car into Google.

And I have emptied the cache (twice). It just doesn't like Apple Safari, I suppose....

explorerx4

For a while, those stick on ventiports were all the rage with the pep boys modders.
My personal favorite was a 3 series I saw that had a line of 17 down the side of the car.

andys120

All glitches are not fixed. I am asked to sign in every single time despite the fact that I am recognized in the hello box @ top of sign in page.

PITA.

andys120

Sign in glitch still not fixed a/o this AM, is the IT team asleep?

andys120