Mystery car pix

ateixeira

small size and light weight are beneficial off-road as well as on

I was driving my 98 Forester on the sand in the Outer Banks, and drove right by a stuck HD pickup. He'd forgotten to air down as well, but that beast must weight 2-3 times what my Forester did.

wgrafer

OK, I'll bite -- What's a "HD pickup"??? Ford? Chevy/GM? Dodge?....

stever

I always associate those with Chevy Silverados. 1500HD, 2500HD, 3500HD. The Fords are Super Duties.

grahampeters

G'day

I vaguely recall seeing something like this in Geneva in about 1998. The Zurich, Swiss plate on the motorcycle next to it (Red cross is Switzerland, Blue and white shield and ZH plate confirm registration area) makes me wonder if it is one of those strange French/Swiss vehicles used as a city car. There is (or was) some oddity of registration in parts of France and Switzerland which allow low powered vehicles to be driven by unlicensed drivers, including teenagers.

There are elements which remind me of the Ogle designed Bond Bug.

I cannot see a steering wheel or handlebars although there is a joystick looking thing poking up. The seating reminds me a little of a recumbent bike. However the bulky area behind the seats suggests some sort of power system. Some sort of pedal assisted battery vehicle, perhaps.

I wonder what it is

Cheers

Graham

explorerx4

The only time I took my '02 Explorer out on the Outer Banks beach, I could have looked like a total idiot.
The kids were taking some surfing lessons and as I watched, quite a few trucks drove onto the beach.
I didn't see anyone 'air down', so I thought I should be ok going out there too.
Little did I know, many of those beach drivers just drive around 'aired down'.
Anyways, I buried the Explorer in the sand up to the running boards.
When i tried to drive out in auto 4x4, nothing.
Locked 4x4 high, nothing.
Locked 4x4 low, nothing.
The people parked around me started packing up and leaving.
The I remembered that turning the wheel back and forth had got me out of a few other situations.
Did that, the power kicked in, and was able to drive out despite running 40+ PSI in all the tires.

andys120

lostwrench1

1964 Comet?

fintail

That's about what I was thinking. I spotted it in congested central Zurich. It had more control inputs than would be needed by simple pedal power, and was also kind of bulky looking - so it was some kind of dual power if not weak electric. No badging on it. This afternoon in western Austria saw a similar vehicle, but it had a different front end, and this one looked to be off the road for some time.

andys120

Yup, a '64 Mercury Comet Caliente to be exact.

andys120

grahampeters

G'day

Late 70's Alfetta. Watch it rust before your eyes!

Cheers

Graham

grahampeters

G'day

After quite a bit of poking around the net, I have found a reference to a TWIKE. Apparently it is a Swiss designed, German made, pedal assisted electric trike. Apparently weighs about 250-300kg and has also found some buyers in the USA. I also found that one has come to Australia, where, with a supplementary small petrol engine driving through a fourth wheel, it made it to Uluru.

From searching images, there appears to be a later version with different lights

Not sure what I think.

Cheers

Graham

andys120

Late 70's Alfetta

Yup, it's a 1978 Alfa Romeo Alfetta 2000 Berlina. IIRC most US-Spec Alfetta sedans were 1750s or v6s.

andys120

kyfdx

Oh, man...... :surprise:

Mr_Shiftright

Alfetta---The world's first biodegradable car!

Put that one on my "Last Car on Earth I'd Buy" list......

fintail

US bumpers and Euro lights?

Same style as Cameron's car in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It had starting problems.

fintail

Spotted this morning in the parking lot of a flea market in Austria

Mr_Shiftright

you aren't supposed to be able to see that car!

michaellno

Same style as Cameron's car in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It had starting problems.

I thought Cameron drove a gen I VW Jetta.

robr2

2013 Porsche Cayman.

fintail

It was an Alfa 2000, here's a shot:



Does resemble the Jetta

andys120

2013 Porsche Cayman

AKA Type 981 coupe.

andys120

magnette

Hello Fintail - hope you are enjoying your trip.

The camouflaged jeep is a VW 183 Iltis - they did sell them on the civilian market, but most were sold to NATO armed forces - there were even a couple of thousand built under licence by Bombardier in Canada, for the Canadian Armed Forces. If this one is civilian registered it probably belonged previously to the Austrian or German military I suppose.

fintail

Yep, having a great time, another long fun day ahead. Sadly, it is almost over, but have knocked off a few car-related bucket list items, so it has been productive.

I also saw a couple boxy military looking 4x4 kind of things in Austria, I am assuming older Steyr or Pinzgauer products. Seems to be more rural dwellers there who actually need off road capability. Oh yeah, saw a G-wagen with a snorkel too.

ateixeira

Is that a Trabant? Didn't know they made 4 door models of those.

It's jacked up, too.

The World's Worst Sport Utility Wagon.

magnette

This is a Premier Padmani, the Indian Licence-built version of the late '50's Fiat 1100. They always seem to be taxis in the films.

andys120

Nope, not a Trabant, not even close. Magnette got it right.

It's jacked up for a good reason in that it's an old European design modified for taxi service in a Third World country where the roads are bad.

The familiar Padmini will soon be gone from the streets of Mumbai since they passed a regulation that Taxis can't be more than 25 years old(!).

Interesting none have air-conditioning!

The Millecento may be the best car Fiat ever made.

ateixeira

Trabby is an old european design used as taxis...maybe not so far?

andys120

ateixeira

Educated guess, but that must be the new Ford Ka.

The original Ka came out before the New Beetle did, and to this day some call it the copy cat.

The 2nd Ka looks more like the photo above.

Looks like they put a Fiesta face on it now.

andys120

Yep.

andys120

berri

'59 Olds. A school buddy of mine had one in that color, but it was a flat top 4dr. Decent car except for the 4bbl carb.

fintail

Have seen quite a few of those in Germany, and some older ones too. The first one was a pretty advanced design and lived for what seemed like eons.

uplanderguy

I believe that is a Ninety-Eight, correct?

[Deleted User]

It's a late model Range Rover.... curiously, they all look like this right after the warranty expires. LOL.

Seriously though, it's Britain's version of a Jeep and it's 70 years old.

[Deleted User]

Beautiful car. I wonder whats under the hood. Looks like a '59 Caddy.

ateixeira

curiously, they all look like this right after the warranty expires

You missed one tell tale sign of older Rovers - the suspension is not sagging to one side.

My dad ran a fleet of these in Suriname and later Belize. After a while they switched the Land Cruisers, and they cut operating costs by half.

andys120

Yup, that thar is a 1959 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday Scenic Coupe.

andys120

of cars in this photo>


Any one want to guess the year, based on the giant Mercury BB?

Anybody recognize the location?

Have at it with the cars.

BIGGER VERSION

lemko

Left lane : 1961-65 Chevrolet Corvan.
1961 Rambler American.

Right Lane: 1965-67 Chevrolet Corvair.
VW Beetle. 1965 Chevrolet Bel Air or Biscayne two-door sedan.

A Dodge van parked at the Gulf station.

What might be a 1969 Chevrolet Impala by Tom's Restaurant.

The billboard looks like a 1969 or 1970 Mercury Colony Park.

stickguy

that is a mid-60s Ford Econoline van in the Gulf station.

omarman

Looks like El Toro park (the DAP) from Bull Durham.
"I have been known on occasion to howl at the moon." :shades:

lostwrench1

A Sinclair gasoline station! I haven't seen one of those in decades.

texases

Actually, Sinclair's now an independent, lots of stations in certain areas:

andys120

We're still missing a few. Just ahead of the Corvair there is a '65-'66 Chevy 2-door, probably a Biscayne and just ahead of the mid-60s Beetle is what could be an early Mercury Comet.

On the left approaching the ball park I think might be a '59 or 60 Buick with a '65ish Cadillac on its right.

If any of these have already been mentioned, my apologies.

andys120

stickguy

mazda cosmo?