Mystery car pix

ateixeira

One dealer had a deal where you bought a Blackwood and got a Mercury Cougar for free.

Similarly, I recently saw a dealer that had a buy-a-G-wagon-get-a-Smart for free.

Would be ironic if you could get a Smart EV. Buy a guzzler get a green car to offset it for free.

explorerx4

Tex,
I think you have just come up with a future marketing campaign for the Big 3.

odie6l

You guys are correct. I'm thinking it was headed up to the AACA in Hershey. That is the only explanation I have for it being on the road. Then again it was almost 60 degrees and sunny.

Odie

lemko

They used "The Wedge" in Triumph TR-7 advertisements. Owning a TR-7 must've been more like a "wedgie."

explorerx4

I saw Virgil Exner mentioned in this article.

Mr_Shiftright

he did some good stuff and some bad stuff but at least he's remembered more than most designers are.

kyfdx

Triumph TR-7 advertisements

"The shape of things to come"

odie6l

Looks like something out of "The Last Starfighter" or "Buck Rodgers"



Odie

grahampeters

G'day

Now I do know it it Bertone design (logo in front of rear wheel), but no idea what for.

I presume that it never went any further than a design study.

Cheers

Graham

odie6l

your close... It was a one-off Bertone that was just sold at auction for Jay Leno amount of money.

Odie

andys120

tmart

Well, it's a Land Rover based on the grill, and it's a pickup, so I'll say a Land Rover pickup. Absolutey no idea of the year or model.

andys120

Absolutey no idea of the year or model.

Years are hard on LRs but I'll be someone can guess the model.

kyfdx

Defender pickup?

Mr_Shiftright

I'm gonna guess Series II Land Rover, about 1959.

grahampeters

G'day

As mentioned by others, differentiating models of Land Rover are incredibly hard, but probably a Series II 109" pickup from about 1960. However could be IIa from a little later. They are very hard to tell apart unless you look under the bonnet. The IIa was supposed to be the most reliable Land Rover. There is a specialist Land Rover shop near me, supplying parts to keep these old beasts on the road. You still frequently see them, very far off road, plugging through the mud.

I guess that everyone has driven one at some stage. The sound, on bitumen, is unmistakable.

Dad ran a fleet of them for his survey crews. Before the Landcruiser in the 1960s, they were the dominant 4x4 in Australia, taking about 90% of sales. The Landcruiser's arrival, complete with the luxury of a heater and a radio, was a revelation. Stranger, the Toyotas did not break down every month.

I can remember, looking at a Land Rover brochure in the mid '60s and they had diagrams of something like 90 different models outlined, most of them to special order. It struck me, even as a kid, that they must find it hard to make all those different models. They would work up special proposals for even small runs for armies, government departments and such like throughout the British Commonwealth. I wonder how they made money?

Cheers

Graham

andys120

You were close Shifty but Graham nailed it. It's a 1962 Land Rover IIa/109 (lwb).

Mr_Shiftright

well he had a genetic advantage. Ask me about Italian cars next time!

andys120

Ask me about Italian cars next time!

Okay>

Mr_Shiftright

That's a Lambo Aventador isn't it?

andys120

Yup.

Mr_Shiftright

I'll take one, please.

colleen_r

Thanks so much for the info! (And for the referral to andre, who left a very detailed response!

colleen_r

Thanks so much, andre! This is really helpful.

I appreciate everybody jumping in and giving me their expert opinions on this. I'm so impressed with the knowledge here. It makes me really appreciate people's different interests and areas of specialized knowledge. Now, if you want to know exactly which album a certain, say, Wilco, or Ani DiFranco track came from, what year, and what the each band/artist's lineup was at that time, I could probably tell you. . . I could also probably tell you a thing or two about vintage clothing as well, being a lifelong garage-saler, thrifter, and now estate-saler, a general treasure-hunter, really. As someone who has grown to appreciate certain objects from our shared past, and likes to think about how they were used and in what cultural context, I think I can understand your passion for cars! It's just fascinating to me that people can know so much about one particular subject.

Again, really appreciate the response!

uplanderguy

Colleen, you mention Ani DiFranco. I've heard of her but am not familiar with any of her songs (that I know of), but I asked for a Judy Collins DVD for Christmas (amazing vocal clarity and sparseness of background instrumentation, and sounds great still at age 73), and Ani DiFranco is supposedly on the DVD. Shawn Colvin too.

colleen_r

Oh, that's great! See, I don't know much about Judy Collins' music, but from the way you described her, as well as the comment on the website where I just looked up the DVD you mentioned (it says that Ani "could be the Judy Collins of her generation"), now my curiosity is piqued! Apparently Ani and Judy cover Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty" on the DVD. Ani's got a few Guthrie covers in her regular reportoire, and I really enjoy all of them, so I would be interested in hearing this cover as well. She is quite an icon for her generation (she's 42), as well as for those 10, 15, 20+ years younger than she is! I know that many high schoolers and young college students still really identify with what she has to say (she's quite political), as I did at that age. As I get older, I enjoy her covers and collaborations more and more. She is extremely prolific and has put out so much of her own music over the years, but she's done a lot of collaborations and I think they really highlight her talents and show her appreciation for the people who paved the way for the likes of her. If you're interested, I would check out her covers of Guthrie, Dylan, and Phil Ochs, and her collaborations with artists as varied as Dar Williams, Pete Seeger, Prince, The Indigo Girls, Gillian Welch, Andrew Bird, Maceo Parker. . . Here's a link to the bio on her website--it probably says it all better than I can! http://www.righteousbabe.com/pages/ani-biography

colleen_r

Oh, wow--I just read up more on Judy Collins and I can't believe I've never really listened to her music! With all of the folk singers I've just mentioned, past and present, and my own uncle being a folk singer, which led to me meeting THE Joan Baez in person (!!!), how did this lapse happen? She will be my next musical exploration!

colleen_r

Cool, thanks, I'll check it out!

stever

Got to see Judy Collins in concert last summer.

I have a mystery car pix, but the only mystery is whether it'll ever run again. :shades:

uplanderguy

Did you enjoy the Judy concert?

I've seen her five times live over the years. Some, she was great, other times, less so. I do think it seems as if she has maintained if not even improved her voice with age, which is rare. She was in our town this past year but I was a little leery to see her at age 73. Friends went and said she was great.

To Colleen: 'Pastures of Plenty' is a great tune which I've heard on Judy's last studio album.

She became famous as a folk singer, but the NYT once called her an 'art singer' and I think that's most accurate for the past thirty or more years of her career.

stever

Not a big concern fan, but it was a good show. My favorite song of hers is Someday Soon and she didn't quite get it to match the recording (or chose to phrase it a bit differently), but it wasn't a clunker. All in all the Finnish Reggae band we saw a couple of years ago was as entertaining. :shades:

That Aventador must be the one with the blinding headlights that's being recalled.

odie6l

Man brings life back to BMW 633csi

When I first saw Back to the Future part 2, I could never place my hand onto what model Griff's car actually was. Oh, don't get me wrong. I picked out Centuri's (The Last Starfighter) Starcar in the background in a heartbeat when I saw the movie, but this one eluded me. Then when Ford brought out the redesigned Mustang a few years back I could have sworn they had it hidden as Griff's car. I love reading how much time people take to restore movie cars, not just build them from scratch. I'm been following the one about the '86 Dodge Turbo Interceptor from "The Wraith" also.

Odie

Mr_Shiftright

The thing is hideous beyond description but you have to admire the level of competence required to do such a job. I sure don't have those talents.

fintail

That's awesome. It just needs a Pit Bull hoverboard alongside it. I am surprised it survived, as it was such a crude hack job - I always knew it was an E24 6er, but hadn't seen the car (I know Biff's 1955 car, a 1946 Ford coupe chopped into a convertible, is still around and in fine condition.) It would be pretty cool to have a car from that movie - Doc Brown's beautiful Packard Victoria would be another goodie:

magnette

Sorry Steve - I have been away from this site for days, and didn't get back to you. I'll have a go in a few days when I get the chance.

magnette

Graham - I missed this one as well. It is indeed the Peugeot 309. I know someone who still uses one as everyday transport - his older car is a Humber Super Snipe (unusually a LHD example. ex US forces personnel).

explorerx4

No problem. Just put some of those furniture floor slider things under the cinder blocks and you're goods to go!

andys120

berri

49 or 50 Lincoln?

kyfdx

Definitely a '49!

Mr_Shiftright

"How mysterious IS it, Shiftright?"

"It's SO mysterious that I can't even find a picture of it!"

I read a reference this morning on a car for sale on www.pistonheads.com. Well, I went there and didn't see it.

It is described thusly:

"FOR SALE: VANTIQUE, built only one year 1989 on a Reliant Fox platform

Any freakin ideas anybody?

Is this some kind of UK kit car? Sounds like it was actually manufactured by someone. Reliant did put out a lot of strange cars.

fintail

It's a reproduction/fantasy style van based on a Reliant (4 wheeler)



It gets a short mention about halfway down this page

stickguy

fintail

Looks like a VW Brasilia

Strange thing, Hot Wheels decided to make a toy version recently:

stickguy

that didn't take long.

I was hoping at least 1 person would guess 412 instead.

and yes, a truly odd choice for a hot wheels model.

Mr_Shiftright

Aha! Good sleuthing fintail! It's kinda cute. I wonder what something like that is worth? Well, you'd be the first on your block....

stickguy

bhill2

I will, perhaps naively, guess that it's a Rover 3-litre saloon.

grahampeters

G'day

The front end is the odd VW which never really made it - was it a type 4?

However the rear looks wrong, almost like a VW Polo or Audi Fox with air cooled rear engine. Overall looks sort of mismatched.

Perhaps something from VW Brazil

Cheers

Graham

grahampeters

G'day

Rover P5, probably mid 1960s with a 3 litre engine. An elderly friend still has one, although a little later with the 3.5litre ex Buick engine.

Margaret Thatcher used her P5 coupe (actually a four door coupe) to accentuate her frugality in the early years of her government. An old, but reliabel car. Her unfortunate husband had to sell his Roll Royce and get by with a Ford Cortina Estate to reinforce her image of frugality - "Greater Love Hath No Man..."

Probably not as revolutionary as the P6 but a very important car.

Cheers

Graham