Mystery car pix

explorerx4

That looks a lot like a Range Rover. Taking your word that it is French, I hope that isn't the fuel filler door in the upper right rear corner.

grahampeters

G'day

I really fancied one when I first went to Britain in 1990. Very innovative (described as a Leisure Activity Vehicle) but got lost when Simca was subsumed in Chrysler Europe.

Oddly, the successor to this was the Espace prototype, later picked up by Renault and hugely successful. The first generation of this was revolutionary; Europe had not seen anything so ground breaking since the VW Kombi.

Matra were remarkably successful at designing race cars and the Bagheera, Rancho and Espace were fabulous.

Cheers

Graham

stever

andys120

Looks like a tricked out Renault Espace such as you might see on Top Gear.

Mr_Shiftright

Andys is correct about the Talbot-Matra Rancho. It was supposed to compete with Range Rover, although it was fitted with a 1400cc (!) engine.

let's try something harder:

andys120

It's another Renault and obviously a military ambulance design being used by police/fire/emt. It's obviuosly related this one, to which is called a Renault Goelette



Is that Jesus Christ Himself behind the wheel of the green one? :confuse:

magnette

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andys120

The Volkswagen wheels and ribbed siding suggests a variant of the VW Ilitis which provided the basic hardware for the Audi Quattro AWD system.

Ilitises (Ilitii?) were generally seen with taller one-pane windshiels and flat fronts.

Mr_Shiftright

An excellent guess but an older relative, so no gold star! This vehicle was also a civilian vehicle but yes, is 4X4 and used by the military, too.

The pix I posted is of a 1953 Renault R2087 "Fourgon".

Mr_Shiftright

Hint: It's French, and the year is 1956

magnette

Right country, Andy, but not quite the right make.

magnette

Salmson 2300 - they made it from late 55 into the early part of 56, I think, but in very small numbers - no idea of the coachbuilder although some were by Chapron.

Mr_Shiftright

that's a most interesting answer but my source says that is not correct. Your guess is a car that looks very much like the one in the photo; however, I don't believe the Salmson ever had those little round parking lights. However, you are in the right era, right country, and probably in the right DNA too.

andys120

If it's not a Veedub it has to be an Audi/DKW or Porsche. Perhaps a DKW Munga?

andys120

The grille is a little off but I think that's a Simca 8 Sports.

Mr_Shiftright

Closer....it's a bit rarer than the Simca 8 Sports....it's called the Simca Coupe de Ville, and was made only one year, in 1956.

Mr_Shiftright

Here's another very rare car but it was a rally car variant of a production automobile

andys120

Vauxhall Chevette, the UK version of the awful Chevy Chevette. I wonder if the Euro and Latin American versions were built a little better than the tin box rental Chevy I drove. Don't see how they could sell them over there if they were as bad.

IIRC it was originally an Opel design.

fintail

Vauxhall Chevette HS "droop snoot". That one dates from 1980. I cheated on the year, looked it up in the British license database. Apparently that one isn't on the road right now:

The vehicle details for HKM 55V are:
Date of Liability 01 12 2008
Date of First Registration 17 01 1980
Year of Manufacture 1980
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 2279cc
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type PETROL
Export Marker N
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour SILVER

Mr_Shiftright

I'll give this one to fintail because he noted the "HS" designation. If you look closely you can see wheels from a Chevy Vega!

Mr_Shiftright

andys120

BMW 3200CS Early 60s, body by Bertone IIRC.

Mr_Shiftright

bonus point: What engine does it have?

magnette

Good one - must say I'd never have guessed that - the only pictures I've seen of the Simca don't quite look like that. Salson was my guess because there was one made about then, but I've since found a picture in a book that is nothing like this car anyway...

magnette

The DKW Munga was lighter...

andys120

bonus point: What engine does it have?

Same V8 as the 507?

Mr_Shiftright

Yep, a V-8.

magnette

Andy, you were nearly right, really - it is a Porsche597 "Jagdwagen" which was a contender for the German Army contract of 1954/6 - they buiilt about 80 I believe but the contract went to DKW (later Audi) for the vehicle that became the Munga.
The engine for this Porsche was the 1600 unit from the contemporary Porsche 356, and the vehicle was designed to float, although it wasn't amphibious because there was no means of propulsion in water - it was intended that they could be towed across rivers etc....

andys120

Yes this is Post WWII (1952)>

fintail

Singer 9? Britain would have been making cars like this in volume through the 80s if they'd been allowed.

magnette

Given a choice between that or an Allegro / Montego / Maestro I think perhaps we should have kept on making things like this ..... Although this is a little spartan for most, with acceleration you measure on a calendar...

magnette

Its the Singer 9 4AB - they made this from 1950/2 as an update of the 1939/50 Singer 9 4A - this one had independent front suspension, and can be distinguished from its predecessor by the shorter radiator grille. Amazingly in 1952 they replaced this car with another - the SM Roadster (actually they produced those from late 1951 so it was in parallel for a while) and even updated that in 1953 with a 1500cc engine, in which form it ran on to 1955. In fairness their competitors were really MG with the TD, so it was no more antiquated than that....
The Union Jack radiator is novel though....

andys120

Singer 9 4AB

Yessir

magnette

These three are postwar too...
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(Ignore the sign - it relates to a Bentley which is just in shot to the right). Also I am not sure about the individual coachbuilders...

andys120

andys120

They're the last Bugattis made, I couldn't recall the Type # so looked it up and found a picture of the very same lineup at the Schlumpf Collection. They're really quite nice. I'll let someone else tell the exact model.

magnette

I actually had a Vauxhall Chevette back in the early 80's - a 1978 2-door saloon - and it was easy to drive and reliable - my then wife loved it. However at some stage we ran it with low oil, and blew the bearings.

fintail

Morgan kind of did that, but an industry can't be built on new vintage cars.

Britain had days even darker than the US industry. Some cars were good in their own way (Jags, SD1), but BL really hurt. Although I will admit I like the landcrab style cars, and although I know they are terrible, I can't not stare at a Princess.

Mr_Shiftright

It looks like what you think it is, but it's not.

andys120

That looks like a 50s Fiat 500 or 600 except the C-post and door line are different so perhaps it's a variant made Romania, Japan or Argentina.

Am I warm or cold, Shifty?

Mr_Shiftright

It's a basic 600 that has been reworked by a carrozzeria and sold in some numbers (so not a one-off type of thing) ,-- but it is 100% Italian.

To be historically accurate, one should describe this car as a Fiat 600 "XX" (italian noun) or a (man's name) + "XX" (italian noun).

So, like Fiat 850 Abarth "Rigatoni" (I just made all that up of course). :P

wgrafer

At Last! Some domestic iron!!! 1966 Plymouth Satellite! Probably the typical 318 engine with the strong Torqueflight automatic... Very nice.

andys120

Yup, exactly, it's a '66 Plymouth Satellite/318.

fintail

Nice little car lot, ca. 1961:



Larger version here

andys120

Nobody has chimed in with the particulars on those Schlumpf Bugattis so here they are (from Wikipedia)

They are all Type 101s from 1951-52:

-Cream four-door sedan by Guillore
-Blue 2-door by Gangloff
-Red cabriolet by Gangloff
-I'm not sure about the green car on the left, it may be the Gangloff coupe that Wikipedia says is also at the Schlumpf museum.

Those three or four cars represent a good chunk of the 9 Type 101 Bugattis made; what a glorious swan song!

uplanderguy

Their Studebaker building must just be out of the frame!

My small hometown's Stude dealer (two car showroom) also sold M-B (I have a photo from '58 with the neon tri-star sign in the window), and later sold Simca and Sunbeam as well. They had sold Packards from '41-58 (even before the merger) and moved a '56 Caribbean convertible, pretty heavy stuff for a small town dealer.

andys120

Is the red cabrio next to the white Merc a Singer Rapier or a Sunbeam? I think I see the nose of a related Hillman Minx on the right.

The light blue metallic car looks like a Borgward Isabella.

ralph69

fintail

I think the red car is also a Hillman Minx. Light blue car is definitely a non-hardtop Isabella.

fintail

You might be on to something. The pictured dealer was "Colonial Motors" of New Canaan, CT. A quick google brings results of a "Colonial Motors" Studebaker in Hartford, CT. I know it is a generic name, but possible relation.