Mystery car pix

magnette

Always a little hazy about the exotic Italians.....

Mr_Shiftright

So are the Italians :P

andys120

Yup, that's a 1950 Dodge Power Wagon with a custom woodie body.

IMO the old PWs were the coolest trucks ever made. That one's so far up the coolness scale it's right up there with Lotus Elites and early Porsche Speedsters.

Read about it here.

kucha2

Hi, the moderators in another discussion suggested that I post my query here.

I took this photo of a car in the distance. Does anyone have a clue if it is a Mercedes?

Thanks!

I posted the photo on Panoramio:

Mercedes?

fintail

looks like a 2005+ Jetta to me

kyfdx

I think that body style started in '06... but, I agree... VW Jetta...

andys120

If you're really good you might be able tell the name of the political candidate in the red convertible from the ages of the cars in this photo.

berri

Maybe around a 52 Lincoln (looked like Mercury's back then too!). Can't tell the candidate from the pix, but I'll guess Adlai Stevenson or Dwight Eisenhower.

Mr_Shiftright

That's Stevenson--I recognize the weak chin. :P

I guess the other guy is John Sparkman?

Of course, Stevenson lost both times to Ike, but he did distinguish himself in the Cuban missile crisis.

magnette

fintail

I think it's a Standard something, to the left maybe a Triumph 2000 estate?

magnette

Yes Fin, this is a Standard - I'll leave it a bit longer in case anyone gets the model.
Also you got the Triumph 2000 estate - Standard and Triumph were linked for most of the immediate postwar period, until Standard dwindled away in 1963. Even after that however there were a couple of Triumph cars which were sold as Standards in India - the four door locally produced version of the triumph Herald was known as a Standard for a time.

These small Standards were sometimes sold as Triumphs in some markets - was the Standard Companion (an estate version of what we have here) sold as a Triumph in NA at some stage?

bhill2

Does anyone know what's up with the fender-mounted mirrors? I don't remember seeing those on any European (or US) car.

andys120

Yup, that's poor Adlai Stevenson, who lost twice to Ike but that's no disgrace J.C. Himself would have lost too. and yup that's a '52 or '53 Lincoln. Some other identifiable cars in that scene too.

andys120

I reckon that's a Standard Pennant, ca. late 50s (most were two-tones). As for the mirrors, they were common add-ons in Europe at the time. Most cars back then did not include any outside mirrors as standard equipment and apparently many British and Continental drivers figured they might as well add two.

U.S. drivers as usual weren't generally as astute, it was rare at the time to see American Iron wearing two outside mirrors.

magnette

The mirrors on my MG Magnette are mounted on what we would call the wings - quite common here until the advent of door mirrors (and incidentally much better for accurately aiming the car through gaps).

magnette

Yes - its a Standard Pennant - a development of the more utilitarian Standard Ten, and was current from 1957 to 59.

magnette

Mr_Shiftright

Yep, that's a Pennant all right....1670 cc, 60 angry horsepower, and 0-50 in a mere 20 seconds. :P

fintail

Holland, again. I'll pick off the Skoda 1000 on the right.

fintail

Early fintails had mirrors on the fender, as opposed to door mounted mirrors past 1962-63 (I think). Seems goofy to me simply as you can't adjust it from inside the car.

magnette

No, that was the first series Standard Ensign. The Pennant had 948cc, 37bhp and 66mph with acceleration measured on a calendar.

magnette

Fair enough - the Skoda 1000 - the other two should be easy enough...

magnette

andys120

the other two should be easy enough...

Easy for you to say... The white car is a Renault 4CV, a rarity in NA but ubiquitous on your side.

The dark colored car looks like what we got as the Volkswagen Fox (a Brazilian VW Gol) but I don't think that was ever marketed in U-rope. I'm pretty sure it's a Vee-dub but not one we ever got. Speaking of VW, that's a Beetle/Kafer/Bug/1200 fender on the extreme left.

magnette

Yes on the Renault - but the dark estate car is not a VW of any type - yes on the VW wing out of shot.

fintail

I think it's a Mk1 Cortina estate.

andys120

The Hino version of the Renault R4?

magnette

Yes,this is a Mk I Ford Cortina Estate. I think its early enough to be a Consul Cortina - for the first year or so they sold the Cortina as a sub-brand of Ford Consul. They had also done this with the Consul Classic and its relative the Consul Capri.
I think that was similar to the way Ford US tried to develop brands within the main Ford brand like the Fairlane etc to become a whole range.

magnette

I hoped the British number plate would have tricked you, but never mind.

It is Japanese - but not a Hino, and as far as I know it isn't related to any European car assembled in Japan etc.

grahampeters

G'day

A bit more mainstream than many of your recent postings. Also extremely successful in rallying in Australia.

This is the Mitsubishi Colt Fastback from the mid-late 1960s, which sold fairly well in Australia. Prototypes were brought to Australia for testing which highlighted a series of issues. Accordingly the finished product was "Australianised" and pretty robust for our tough conditions.

The interior was extraordinary, with a fold flat rear seat and spare wheel cover which folded out to a picnic table. I seem to recall that the rear windows opened outward with a gap at the bottom, rather than the rear. It struck me, as a child, as similar to the Renault 16, with its unusual fastback lines

The wipers "clapped hands" folding over each other in the centre of the screen. I had not seen these for years but recently hired a small Ford in New Zealand wit the same feature; they clear virtually all of the screen, except the band around the windscreen mirror mount.

I am not sure how many sold, but I do recall seeing them around reasonably frequently, when I was at university in the 1970s; probably by that time, the typical student car, handed down from mum.

Later model Colts were assembled in Adelaide from about 1984. I owned a 1982 model which was good fun.

Cheers

Graham

andys120

fintail

I have noticed "clap hands" wipers have come back in the past 15 years or so, often on van style vehicles. My fintail has similar wipers, these were seen on some MBs until the mid 70s.

I saw an early 80s Colt 4/5 door the other day, very uncommon here.

andys120

No replies to me not-a-Maserati in Post #36957? Here's a hint...powered by Chrysler.

Going...going....

magnette

Thats it Graham - its Mitsubishi Colt 1100F - 1968. They were never actually sold here, but Mitsubishi explored the possibility at that time - this particular car was road tested by Motor magazine and I know they must have had at least two here because this one was white (there is a colour photo on the cover of the relevant magazine) while I have seen a pale lemon yellow one back in the late eighties in suburban London - it was there for about a year and I kept meaning to take a picture but then it was gone...
They decided against importing at the time, and in fact didn't organise themselves until the mid-seventies - when they called the cars Colt (not Mitsubishi) because they thought it was too Japanese. Of course, after a few years they were all called Mitsubishi anyway...

magnette

I've seen a picture of this car but can't remember where....

andys120

I've seen a picture of this car but can't remember where....
Hemmings?

For those of you too lazy to click on the link, the black cabrio is a 1967 Ghia 450SS, powered by MoPar's 273 CID V8. The rest of the drive-train came from a Plymouth Barracuda S. Giorgetto Giugiaro did the styling, he's best known for the Maserati Ghibli, the Alfa Giulia Sprint and the original VW Golf/Rabbit.

andys120

because this is one of the coolest cars ever made>

magnette

Ah well - I was actually thinking of something else anyway. Never look at Hemmings magazine as it isn't known here really.

magnette

Nice one - Abarth 750 GT Zagato.

Mr_Shiftright

slobber, slobber...

andys120

Yup, that's a 1959 Abarth 750 GT Zagato, these were popularly known as the Abarth Zagato "Double Bubble", this view of the roof shows why>



If you've never seen one you have no idea how tiny they were, they were built on the same platform as the diminutive Fiat 500.

andys120

magnette

Ah yes - another car that did the Brits better than we did them ourselves...

This is an Innocenti Spider (I think this one was known as the Type C) and it is really an Italian version of the Sprite. If only - but they weren't sold in Britain and consequently are rare here.

Mr_Shiftright

And they have a double bubble in the roof because.....? (QUIZ)

kyfdx

Room for your head?

Mr_Shiftright

er....close but not quite the right answer.

au1994

room for your head in a helment?

andre1969

If it's factory correct, that GT would only have a slant six under the hood. The V-8 would have a badge on the fender that said "V8".

However, I have a feeling a few things were pulled off of that car when it was repainted. For example, it's missing the silver and matte-black aluminum trim that's supposed to run along the beltline.

My old '69 GT also had metal trim pieces in the wheel openings. I don't know if that was part of the GT package, or if they were a separate option.

As for the V-8, I can't remember...did they finally put the 318 in these cars for '69, or was the 273 still around? My '68 Dart 270 was originally equipped with a 273 according to the VIN, but I have no idea what it was sporting by the time got it. Previous owner said it was a rebuilt 318.

andys120

Yup that is an Innocenti 950 Spider, basically an A-H Sprite built in Turin with Sprite Mk.II mechanicals and a Tjaarda designed Ghia body. It's a lot prettier than the rather insipid BMC design>



Here's the Innocenti brochure for 1963>