Mystery car pix

texases

BMW 6 series "Gran Coupe"? Not much "Gran(d)" about it, to me, doesn't have the same distinctive style of the MB CLS 'Coupe'.

tjc78

I'll tell you, car manufacturers these days do ugly well.

andys120

I'm not that crazy about the CLS either, the droopy trunk spoils it for me. As for the Gran Coupe I find it neither Gran(d) nor very coupe like. It looks much like a Fiver Sedan>





Is it really worth an 15G for a slightly lower roof?

A "four-door coupe" should have no B-post>

texases

"I'm not that crazy about the CLS either, the droopy trunk spoils it for me."

Agree 100%, the only plus of the CLS is it's distinctive look compared to the E350. Like you said, the Gran Coupe is just a squashed 5er to me, and not in a good way. Kind of like the X6 vs X5 - I can see no reason to pick the X6.

I kinda hate the whole '4-door coupe' thing, I'm big on headroom all around.

fintail

Money and taste/sense usually exist in inverse proportions.

That being said, I don't mind the Gran Coupe, goofy name though.

berri

Gran Coupe?

I think Plymouth used that monicker in the early 70's!

lemko

THIS is a Gran Coupe!



At least it has the proper 2 doors! What are they going to do next? Call a minivan a convertible?

imidazol97

Here's a coupe I can love too.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Buick-LeSabre-HARDTOP-/350776831680

andys120

THIS is a Gran Coupe!

It certainly is Gran(d)!

andys120

fintail

Ooh, nice patterned top. I once saw a period Mopar of some kind with a paisley patterned top. No less stylish than an X6 anyway.

andys120

No takers on the white roadster in #36885? Fintail? Magnette? Graham?

grahampeters

G'day

Very pretty. You really are picking rare ones and this had me stumped for a while. Front looks like several British Austin based cars of the 1950s but fins at rear tail-lights hint at Sunbeam.

This is a Turner Sports Car from Wolverhampton, but no idea of model. By the time that I first knew Wolverhampton in 1990, industrial decline had set in. However they were very proud of their motoring heritage. The client I was working with manufactured washers and other car components and was immensely proud of the area.

Cheers

GRaham

andys120

Thanks Graham, that is indeed a 1959 Turner 950 Sports. A lot of big name American and British racers got their start driving Turners and Elvas. They were little known compared to Triumphs, MGs and Sunbeams but they were light and tossable which made them very competitive in Production Sports categories.

The Turner nomenclature is a bit flexible, the pictured car was also known as the Turner Mk.III Sports. Here is one from another angle>

andys120

Same year as the Turner, and like it, better known among sports car racers than the general public.>

fintail

Deutsch Bonnet something or other, funny name as IIRC they were French.

andys120

Yes it's a Deutsch-Bonnet HBR 5, the most prolific progeny of a long standing partnership between two French engineers Charles Deutsch and Rene Bonnet. They built a series of racing cars beginning in the 1930s. The HBR 5 was their response to the postwar French legislation levying a tax on horsepower, figured under a complex formula to determine "taxable horsepower".
Power usually came from a Panhard Flat twin from the Panhard Dyna..

The HBR 5 was so named for it's rated 5 HP, it competed at LeMans for the Index of Performance which was based on efficiency. The tiny cars even took class wins at endurance events at Spa, Sebring and the Mille Miglia as well as LeMans well into the 1960s.

andys120

bhill2

'69 Dart GTS. It came with the 340 ci engine, which was a brilliant small-block. It may have also been available with the 383, but I don't know if it was, and if it was it shouldn't have been.

andys120

It's a 1969 Dodge Dart alright but not a GTS, it's a GT packing a milder-mannered 273CID V8.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright

They made a big block GTS, in very limited numbers, with a 440. They are called "M" code cars, and about 30 are still known to exist.

but the 340 has plenty of grunt, with about 300HP as I recall.

stevedebi

PM put out a list of the 100 hottest cars of all time

Mr_Shiftright

Not a bad list at all...there were a few clunkers on there, where the word "hot" in any stretch of the imagination doesn't seem to work, that being the Jaguar XJS, the Volvo P1800, the Triumph Spitfire, MGA, Triumph GT6, and the Karmann Ghia come to mind as less than thrilling--at least not in the league of the "fast, outrageous, or expensive". Not sure the '59 Cad or Lincolns belong on there either, but they do have a sort of iconic style, so maybe.

texases

And the Dino near the top of the list? Pretty, yes. Hot? Not to me.

stever

Don't ask me what any of these are, just a drive by today:



Looks like a couple of "hot" Triumphs up front and center though.

(A little bigger)

grahampeters

G'day

Some dogs toward the bottom of the list but get better the closer to number one.

Could I have the Alfa Stradal for my birthday, please?

Cheers

Graham

stickguy

4 vanagons? Guess you should always have 1 running...

a bug, VW fastback (type 2?), 2 Spitfires, and 2 MG Midgets

stever

Even better, there's another 5 in the row behind those four that show up in another snap I took. And an older Bus in another pic I didn't post that probably would run better than any of the Vanagons.

explorerx4

There is a shop just past the dealership where my wife bought her car. They must have 30 of those VW vans. Not sure if it's hoarding or restoration.

andys120

There's kind if a cult thing about those later model VW Vans that have the Syncro AWD.

kyfdx

I'd guess they deal in used parts that are hard to find...

Mr_Shiftright

Heard an interesting comment from the local MG club about Midgets---that few members are interesting in driving them because they are so small, and modern SUVs so large, that no one feels comfortable in a car that size anymore.

I should preface these remarks by saying, that some car clubs, the MG clubs tend to drive their cars frequently, and on long-ish tours, and are not averse to beating them up a bit. They are generally not 'show and shine" type clubs.

kyfdx

A car that small should not have a steering wheel that belongs on a city bus.. :surprise:

Mr_Shiftright

Well that was the fashion then, and besides, big steering wheels worked well on cars without power steering.

stever

And those vans are living in the UP where the AWD would be handy.

Judging by the apparent lack of rust, most of them died an early life and have been living a salt free diet for years. :-)

wgrafer

What a great looking Diamond T!!! I'll guess '46-'48? Does this really have dual rear wheels?

kyfdx

Well.... not buying that... the Midget had a bigger steering wheel than an MGB.. and, numerous other cars without power steering of the era... even FWD models..

I had a friend with a Midget, and she could barely keep her.. uh.. appendages.. from getting caught in the wheel....

(late-70s Midget.... Not sure what they were like in the early-'60s, when you were driving them... )

Mr_Shiftright

it was the fashion of the time to have huge steering wheels--even Corvette had monster steering wheels.

Remember the Mercedes Gull Wing wheel--it actually FOLDED so that people could get in the car!

andys120

That's right Grafer, it's a 1946 Diamond T. Most of 'em had dualies IIRC.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright

Nah, Morgan would never make anything that hideous---that must be a Siata Spring ??

andys120

It's hard to believe that Siata, the same company that made this>

...or this...>



...could make a car as homely as the Spring.

magnette

magnette

I think the black and white picture is a Siata / Fiat 1500 from the mid sixties. The red car is a Siata 750S, I believe.

andys120

It most certainly is, I can make out the Siata emblem on the hood.



That could be a Siata Daina Coupe (mid 50s) or more likely a Saita 208S Berlinetta (closed version of the above 208S Spider). Looks like Zagato coachwork or perhaps Touring.

andys120

Sorry, the red spider is a Siata 208S (power by Fiat 8V) but you're right about the Siata1500 also powered by Fiat.

andys120

bhill2

OK, that's a little weird. It's a Dodge Power Wagon, maybe early '50s. But I've never seen one that wasn't all steel. Are those aftermarket veneers, or even worse, plood?

magnette

According to the information on the car - it was for sale at Essen - this was indeed a Daina - I can't remember who did the coachwork, but will investigate.
In my view that was one of the nicest cars at this year's show - really a beautiful car.