Mystery car pix

jlindh

The movie was "The Pink Panther" and the car case occurred after a costume party which accounted for a number of strange costumes. No idea what the car was, however.

Mr_Shiftright

Leona Helmsley?

fintail

Autobianchi Bianchina, I guess early 60s.

andys120

Yup it's an Autobianchi Bianchina, which had the same relationship to the Fiat 500 as the Karmann-Ghia had to the VW Type 1.

andys120

stickguy

early vintage (late 40s) MG TC. Got the big spoked wheels.

andys120

Yes indeed, it's 1946 TC.

stever

kyfdx

Another one we probably won't get over here...

stever

Of course not. :-)

Do you really need a 0-60 of 5.4? (5.1 with a roll-out).

texases

I still think mine looked better:


(Mine was black)

stever

stever

Testing a Hot Hatch You Can't Buy in the U.S.

2013 Volkswagen Scirocco R: Track Tested

fintail

Heh, no surprise, those were huge with the kind of mature hippie set here. 83-87 Tercel SR5 wagon. Still quite a few of them on the road in the PNW.

stever

Classic "boater" cars. Neighbor had a AWD one that I always envied.

This one is designated a 1986 Toyota Tercel TDX and is a bit pricey with an initial asking bid of $5,000.

Breaking Bad Cars To Cross Auction Block

fintail

No doubt the history makes the money. A nice enough roadworthy wagon like that is worth half as much. Nice piece of the 80s anyway.

I think all of those wagons were AWD. They were everywhere in PNW snow country back in the day.

uplanderguy

Yep, a Tercel, a name that Toyota dropped.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh thanks for reminding me...ANOTHER car I once owned. Not bad, gutless though. I wouldn't do any *serious* off roading with it (ask me how I know that):)

stever

It's the driver, Shifty. :-)

My Tercel sedan was pretty peppy with the 5 speed. I could go up Turnagain Pass with 3 people in it without downshifting. The split rear seat was great for paddles and skis.

My neighbor used to razz me about not having the AWD Corolla wagon, Uplander. I'd always point out that my Tercel was badged a Toyota Corolla Tercel. She wouldn't buy it, lol.

Mr_Shiftright

You are NOT going up that pass in the station wagon in 5th gear with 3 people.

I would push all my chips into the center of the table on THAT bet.

You'd be lucky to do it in 3rd. You're forgetting 300+ lbs more weight and the aerodynamics of a block of cheese, to tamp down that roaring 62 HP you have in there.

stever

It was in the sedan. And I have a witness who commented on it, and he's a judge now, LOL. It's only a 900' pass with a long approach from Anchorage.

Mr_Shiftright

I was by no means questioning your integrity--just the implication that you could do it in a wagon. You'd have to downshift to go over a speedbump.

stever

The AWD did add weight. Still wish my neighbor would have swapped with me. It would have been a lot easier to pack than the sedan.

I don't think she ever took it out of the city.

ateixeira

They should bring back the Tercel name. Yaris sounds like russian for some STD.

You have Yaris? You really should see a doctor about that.

stever

Tercel sounds like a type of yarn (it's really Tencel, a biodegradable material made from wood pulp cellulose).

That's a good thing. :-)

kyfdx

That's the word I use to make my teen-age son cry.. Yaris!!

"No! Daddy! Don't make me drive a Yaris! I'll be good, I promise!"

grahampeters

G'day

I am not sure if you get them in the States, but in Australia, Toyota sells the Yaris in a bright Pink. I could not see it as a big seller but a salesman in my local dealership says there is remarkable demand from young women who do not want their car borrowed by boyfriends or little brothers.

Cheers

Graham

kyfdx

The Chevy Spark comes in some sort of pink, here... not bright, bright.... but, I wouldn't want to drive it...

andys120

lemko

Audi 90?

Michaell

Ur-Quattro coupe.

texases

Yep, wheel flares = ur-Quattro. No flares = Coupe:

ateixeira

Retro Rally Awesome.

Mr_Shiftright

The car that put Audi on the map (in a good way).

andys120

Yup it's a 1985 Audi Quattro, popularly known now as the "Ur-Quattro" (Ur is German for "original" as in Pilsener Urquell which means the original Pilsen beer).

The Audi Quattro changed big time rallying forever.

au1994

Velocity had a special a few months ago: "Rallying: The Killer Years" or something to that effect.

Very interesting show and some great period racing and interviews with the drivers who were brave (crazy) enough to pilot those group A cars back then.

Crank up the volume for some sweet music from the Stratos and ur Quattro!!

lemko

uplanderguy

Your pic punctuates a point for me, lemko. The common perception today is that cars back then lasted three to five years. I see a '59 Chevy in the photo, but I also see cars at least eight years old then (the '51 Fords) and possibly older (the Kaiser). And this is in the northern climes of Philadelphia!

andys120

Right to left:

1955 Plymouth, 2x '49-'51 Fords, another '55Plymouth, '47-50 Kaiser or Frazer,
1958 or '59 MoPar, '59 chevy, then they get pretty blurry.

Nice pic Lemko! Notice how much taller the earlier cars are.

fintail

An 8 year old car then sure looks older than an 8 year old car now.

I wonder what that area looks like now, and how much industry there fled to Secondworldistan.

uplanderguy

"An 8 year old car then sure looks older than an 8 year old car now."

True. That's one reason new-car introduction night used to be so fun IMHO.

The first bread-and-butter (midsize or full-size) car (well, GM's, anyway) that I remember not having a significant facelift at least, if not a full redesign, after two model years, was the full-size B-body cars which came out in '71. As a teen, I kept waiting, year in, year out, for the redesign, and it just didn't come until '77. IMHO, that was a good one though.

fintail

77 was definitely worth waiting for. Too bad things bloated up and got kind of overdone between 71 and then.

8 years old is more or less a 2006 model car now. Some designs from that age have just stopped production.

uplanderguy

You're right about the '71-76 B's bloating up, for sure.

I like the front end of the '72 Impala, and the seat trim that year, but overall I think I now like the '71 best--wide rocker trim, leave off the optional wheel opening trim and body side moldings, and it's a clean looking..boat!

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1971_Chevrolet/1971_Chevrolet- _Brochure/1971%20Chevrolet-10.html

fintail

The 71 was pretty clean for the time. Funny though, to me the hardtop looks older than the post model, maybe because I associate hardtops with something older. I've always seen a relationship between these and the fullsize 71+ Chevy vans, must have been the same design team. And that design soldiered on well into the 90s.

uplanderguy

I believe the Impala 4-door sedan (post) was the best-selling car in America in 1971 (red car in photo in previous post).

andys120

berri

'56 Lincoln

andys120

Yup, that thar hot rod Lincoln is a '56 Premiere.

andys120

uplanderguy

'54 Dodge Coronet.