Mystery car pix

lemmer

I had one just like this. Lotus handling, crappy Isuzu engine, miserable reliability.



I wonder why nobody talks about these anymore. It was arguably as nice as a Conquest/Starion.

stickguy

went to bed too early. 3512 and 13 were slam dunks.

As to the Impulse, they didn't sell many, so probably not many left. I do recall they got good reviews at the time. The back end even slightly resemples a 928 to me.

I love the Dolomite Sprint. A British BMW fighter, at least on paper. 2.0l DOHC 4, 5 speed (I think), hot stuff for the time.

l went to Bermuda when i was about 10 (early 70's), and probably my favorite part (other than driving the moped!!) was all the neat English cars there, stuff you didn't see in the US. At the time, they were still connected to England enough that the cars were British, now they are all Japanes (like everywhere else I guess).

I remember buying one of the British car mags, and it had a feature article on the Sprint. Damn, I wanted one!

And yes, I was about 10-12 at the time, but I did already get MT and C&D in the mail. Guess why I hang out here?

au94

Probably the low production volumes hurt them. They were great looking cars back in the day.

I remember when I saw a Starion/Conquest the first time (pre-teens I think) I thought it was the coolest looking car in the world even better than the exotics. I guess my practical side started early because what I liked about it: great looks, hot motor and affordable. Dad was an Olds and Caddy man then so he would not give in to my juvenille pleadings.

fiatowner

I never drove a Dolomite Sprint but they really were popular, and they had a prolific saloon racing career in Britain. I did once drive it's little brother though - the Triumph Toledo - I passed my driving test in one in 1973 ( thank goodness we don't have periodic retests - never again).
We didn't get the Isuzu Impulse - but the Piazza (which may have been similar) has a thriving owners club in UK - as does the Dolomite.

lemmer

I am pretty sure the Piazza was the same as an Impulse.

fiatowner

I get enough trouble at home for amassing loads of car magazines, so although I look out for numberplates of places I haven't seen before as they drive past, I don't actually collect them - I did pick up a couple in USA though, as every time we have been there I try to get a plate for each state we visited - but thats only seven states and plates in total.
Because plates don't get renewed here periodically there seems to be less of a market for old ones - I've got one from a car I used to own, but only because I scrapped it.
Main reason I look out for foreign plates is we get so many in London - just about every country in Europe, etc, USA, the odd Middle East one- there's a chap near here who drives past in a Shogun with UAE plates (Dubai I think), and we even get the odd import running on Japanese plates as there is a thriving market for importing secondhand cars from Japan because they are RHD and our testing for older cars isn't as prohibitive as in Japan. I even saw a Merc on Cuban plates last year, probably connected with their embassy.

ateixeira

I knew 12 and 14.

I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that that Impulse was RWD? Wasn't it loosely based on the Chevette chassis?

Later they went to FWD, and the Stylus (picture recently) sort of replaced it.

Eventually Isuzu stopped building cars. Looks like now they will stop building trucks also (except heavy trucks).

-juice

juliett23

car does look like ti would survive anyways.. hah :sick:

fiatowner

I remember going to the London Motor show the first year Isuzu was launched in the Uk - about 1984 I think - and they were trying to give the Piazza - which was all they were selling at first as they didn't introduce the 4x4's until later - a really upmarket image. They wouldn't let average Joe Public like yours truly on the stand, the cars were all behind barriers etc as if they were Aston Martin. The next motor show, they were virtually dragging people onto the stand because they weren't selling well - it wasn't until they started selling Troopers that people began to view them in a more positive light, but the Piazza, which was the only car they sold here -as opposed to 4x4s - has subsequently built up a cult following.

lemmer

I have read that also.

But, I remember it as using parts of a Chevette front suspension, but little else.

andys120

jaserb

-Jason

andys120

Can't see it Jason.

nwng

friend of mine had a starion in college. with rwd and turbo, that car just rocks. And that baby can corner too!

Only if you can afford the insurance and tickets

stickguy

looks like an Eagle Premier, late 80s/early 90s? An Chrysler rebadge of a Renault model (forget which one)

au94

either a Dodge Monaco or Eagle Premier (one in the same mechanically)

jaserb

It's the unloved Dodge Monaco. I remember seeing them on the lot at the Chrysler Dodge dealer when my dad was buying his Lebaron convertible. I remember being surprised that I had never even heard of it, since I was already a big time car geek.

I don't think they could have made it dowdier if they tried. Abandon all pretense of style, ye who enter here.

-Jason

themoon77

Dodge Monaco it is. Grille gives it away. Had a friend with one of these, reliability was horrendous, even when new.

Edge

themoon77

My brother bought one of these in 1986, his first car. I was 9, and thought it was the stuff. I'd love to have one now.

andys120

I had to do some searching to pinpoint the last year for round headlights, it was 1975 for the Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

themoon77

That's the one, andys120. My brother had a white '75, his girlfriend at the time had a white '76. Funny how the redesign (stacked square headlights of the '76) made such a big difference. Even then, I thought the '75 had a much sportier appearance.

Edge

ateixeira

Dodge had the cross hatch grille even back then.

-juice

imidazol97

1953 Plymouth?

andys120

1953 Plymouth?

Yep, a Cranbrook. I gotta laugh at the attempts to turn a plain jane car into a glamobile by adding skirts and visors. The visored headlights were a popular 50s accessory.

imidazol97

I'm surprised I had the year right. Cranbrook I should have remembered. They were similar to the 53 Chevs of the time. I think there was a little vertical chrome edge above the taillights, sort of like a minifin. The Cadillacs at the time already had their taillight plastic sticking upward in a hatchet shaped tailfin.

andys120

kyfdx

Merc Comet?

andys120

Nope.

kyfdx

Throw me a bone... Is it at least a Mercury?

wgrafer

Looks like a Mercury Meteor -- maybe a '66?? The wheels look weird...
BigW

andys120

Yeah it's a Merc, not a Meteor either.

lemko

...is it a Caliente? I thought that was a version of a Comet?

andys120

Yep it's a '64 Caliente, come to think of it you're right it was a version of the Comet, analogous to the Falcon Sprint. The pictured car has the same 260 CID V8 that graced early versions of the Falcon Sprint, Mustang and Cobra.

andys120

fintail

License plate says Justy, so I'll guess Subaru Justy, although I wasn't aware it morphed into a pretend MPV/SUV thing

manifold

manifold

andys120

Your eyes (or your monitor) are sharper than mine if you can read that plate! It's a Subaru J3X Just AWD as currently sold in Europe (and I assume the JDM).

#3557 is a Datsun 510 with a spoiler on the trunk.

#3558 looks like an Iso Rivolta with the bumpers removed.

manifold

fintail

Matra Rancho, I had a toy of one of these when I was little

andys120

imidazol97

1952 Ford.
I don't recall the black grate over the front of the pickups.

andys120

Close, it's a '51 Ford F1.

andys120

navigator89

A very early Beetle? Or a Citroen? Looks like 50s to 602.

andys120

Nope, not a Beetle or a Citroen but you're on the right continent, :P :P

yoribe2

yoribe2

yoribe2

steine13

Dunno the name.. but I used to see these all the time... they have a goofy notched back, and they really are DAFs, from the time when DAF went belly-up and were bought out by Volvo. About the DAFs, I remember they had a CVT, and they'd go as fast backwards as forward...

That Mazda van is what, the Cymbal? :-)

Hoping I finally got one right,
-Mathias