Mystery car pix

fintail

It's called a Syrena. And scarily enough, it was still being produced just like that in 1978.

ladyblue25

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Here is a picture of "Lady Blue". I have had her for 24 years, the sole owner. A representative from Intermeccanica, has confirmed that she was not converted by their company and she is not a Silvia or a Viva. If any one knows the history of her, please share. I purchased her from a dealership in Southern California in 1981.

ladyblue25

Thank you for the Intermeccanica web site, but she was not converted by their company. I appreciate your help. If you find any thing else, throw it my way.

ladyblue25

Thank you for helping me upload the picture of my 1981 200sx S110-D Datsun/Nissan convertible, #3977 I have owned her for 24 years and purchased her from the showroom of a dealership in Southern California. I am the sole owner, and have the original owners manual. Still searching for more information on this car. If you find any thing out about her, send it my way. Thanks.

ladyblue25

Appreciate the information you shared. I am assuming ASC stands for American Specialty Cars, AKA American Sunroof Cars....I checked out their website, and no Datsun is listed. Thanks any way. You mentioned that you have seen one on Ebay, do you recall how long ago? Please refer to post #3977 for picture. Keep the leads coming in. Thanks!

boomchek

Actually it was being produced like that up to the early 80's.

My dad was telling me a funny story on how you had to be on a wait list back in the 80's for one.

The list was up to two years long, and when it was time to pick up your car, you would get a letter in the mail and would come down to the factory on a specified day to pick your car up.

You would stand in front of the factory parking lot with 9 other buyers, and when they opened the gate you would run up and touch the car you wanted to have. There was 10 cars and if you were a quick runner you'd get the color you wanted, but if you were limping, or a slow runner, then you'd be the last one to run up to the car you wanted and probably end up with the crappiest color that no one else wanted.

On top of that you needed to bring your mechanic at pi9ck up time to check out the car to make sure there were no defects on the brand new car you were picking up at the factory. I don't think they even had any warranty. :sick:

Communism at its best.

The model in the pictures had the non suicide doors i think from late 70's an up.

So the one in the pic was pre mid 70's.

fiatowner

Was this model Syrena 105 ??

fiatowner

Not just recycled - my Fiat Seicento was built in Poland, and they never built that model in Italy - same with the old Cinquecento.

fintail

I think the one in the pic is a Syrena 104. The 105 is in my 1978 book.

Commie cars sure were crap. Very few had any redeeming qualities...maybe those Russian fake Packards (ZIL/ZIS/GAZ Chaika), maybe the GAZ M1 which was a modified 33 Ford...and of course Tatras, but those were at their coolest before the war, and somehow were allowed to keep some of their genetics. Other than that...they were so bad that they made the Wartburg look high end.

Oh yeah, looks like there was a 200SX convert on ebay not long ago. Seller claims it isn't ASC....but I am certain ASC made them too

Mr_Shiftright

Not much in demand obviously.

Well you know, you chop a 1982 Japanese coupe and what have you got there? A car worth as much as a 1982 Japanese coupe with the roof cut off.

But gee, for cheap fun in summer, what's not to like? Just stay away from potholes.

fintail

Those A-pillars kind of scare me.

Mr_Shiftright

I have driven a few chopped cars although never this one, and it is disconcerting to see the windshield actually moving left and right across the cowl.

ladyblue25

After reading your bio, I would hope you would have a bit more insight as to the manufacturer of my car. This is the information I received upon purchase. I was told that there were only three made that year "1981," not 1982! That she was a prototype for the upcoming year, 82. I have never seen another car like her in the last 24 years that I have owned her, and my inquiries are in regards to how many were made and who made them. I made contact with Nissan this week and was told that they manufactured her themselves, but no details as to how many were made, and where she was made. Still, if you have any new information, please forward.
And oh by the way, she is fun to drive almost any day in sunny California.

lemko

...I've ever seen is when a guy cut the top off his 1984 Mustang coupe and constructed a very crude top from the poles and canvas of an old tent. That sucker twisted like a pipe cleaner. This is going back a bit, but I recall a fad in California where guys were cutting the tops off old Japanese pickups to make convertible trucks.

Mr_Shiftright

I really don't know a thing about them, sorry.

ateixeira

When I was in college at U of MD, there was this guy that owned a Datsun hatch back that was painted with tiger stripes and sawzalled into a convertible. It was hysterical. Condition was poor (obviously).

-juice

gsemike

When I was growing up, there was one crazy guy that I'd always see around town and every summer he'd have a different beater that he cut the top off of. The car would be gone by November and he'd be seen in a car with a top. By next summer, the top would be gone from the new beater. He was pretty indiscriminate about it. I distinctly recall a Granada and a Cataline got the treatment. I wonder how many beaters he did that to but that was his thing. I'd even see hiom driving them in the rain.

btw: I think that our friend with the 200 SX wants someone to tell her that it's so rare that it's worth a fortune.

Mr_Shiftright

Apparently these cars were also chopped by a dealer called Powers Nissan in the midwest:

http://www.1aauto.com/1A/ConvertibleTops/Nissan/200SX

You can buy a replacement top for these cars and they list both ASC and POWERS conversions.

Maybe not so rare as much as forgotten.

here's more:

"There was a limited edition S13 convertible, a few hundred cars were built by the factory to use up the last of the S13 coupe shells. All of the original cars were painted "Royal Blue", and had the fixed headlights of the Silvia, rather than the 180SX/240SX (PS13) pop-ups. There have been several conversions. The Autech package being the most common in Japan at least."

So this car could be factory built non U.S. car, an Intermeccanica conversion, a Powers converstion, an ASC conversion, or an Autech (Japan) conversions.

Here's what the Japanese (Autech) conversion looks like:



The owner should probably hope it ISN'T the Japanese version unless they have DOT/EPA papers for it...of course it should be easy to tell if it's a Japanese Home Market car. I kinda doubt it as it would have right hand drive of course and conversion to LHD would have been prohibitively expensive.

I bet it's one of those Powers jobbies or an ASC

andys120

subearu

Wow, I don't think I've seen that model before. I was able to determine it was a Plymouth, so I looked up 1960's Plymouths. Looks like a Belvedere from what I can tell.

-Brian

andys120

Yep, '66 Belvidere.

lemko

...built on the same chassis as the 1962-64 "full-size" cars?

ateixeira

For any custom convertible, my concern would be getting a replacement top.

I've had to replace the top on my Miata *twice*, once due to age, another due to vandalism. It was nice to have about 6 different options, all competing to offer a low price and good quality.

In fact Robbins tops are better than OE ones.

-juice

bumpy

The Japanese convertibles were chopped from regular JDM Silvias and thus have the Silvia nose. The US convertibles were chopped from regular US-spec 240SXs in the US after they were shipped over from Japan. Nissan subcontracted the conversion to somebody, then sold them through the standard dealer network. Ladyblue's S110 convertible was probably done the same way.

fiatowner

When I had my MGB the hood failed every three years or so, usually because the side windows etc would crack if you opened it on a frosty morning.... I also had some vandalism, but generally I didn't lock the car, as it was easier to leave nothing in it worth stealing - I left it unlocked for about eight years and had no problem wherever I left it, in London or anywhere else. I had the Fiat two months and someone levered the (locked) door open, parked in the same street....

fiatowner

In UK there was a firm called Crayford Conversions, in Kent, who chopped the roofs off various Ford Vauxhall and B.Leyland cars, with varying success, some of them were ok, but their efforts on others were pretty flimsy - I saw a Mk 1 Vauxhall Cavalier they had converted at a car dealers, and there were cracks in the bodywork below the A-pillars, so I wouldn't imagine it was a long term prospect.

ladyblue25

Thank you for sharing this information. I guess my quest is to find the "somebody" that did the conversion.

Mr_Shiftright

The problem with chopping a car is easier to understand if you envision a pyramid shape with the point of the pyramid cut off and the two uprights wiggling in the air. :P

andys120

Only 20 of these were made>>

firemanjack

Man..it looks like an AC...but the rearend looks different..

andys120

Yeah does look like an AC Aceca but it's not.

navigator89

Sorry andy, not sure what 4004 is.

boomchek

Renault Vel Satis. Is this supposed to be a luxury model in Rneault's line up?

navigator89

I believe it is. I sat in one at the local Auto Show and the materials and design were amazing, and of high quality. It certainly is the flagship, above the Clio, Megane, Laguna and others.

Check out pictures at renault.com and other sites and you'll see how nice the interior is.

A cool thing about Renault cars is that they use cards instead of keys for the ignition.

andys120

I'm gonna spill the beans on this one, it's impossibly rare and pretty old too. It's one of the last of the Talbot-Lago line, a '54 T14 LS.
Talbot-Lago was a French maker of Sports, GT and racing cars thru the early 50s. Being French, I assume it's pronounced Talbow-Laygo. :confuse:

andys120

fiatowner

Fiat 2300S about 1963-67; and it is on Portugese plates. Sorry I missed the Talbot-Lago, but I wouldn't have known the model in any case.

lemko

I see a white 1965 Cadillac Sedan DeVille parked next to it. If this is in Europe, that's very uncommon.

fiatowner

Actually, looking at the Fiat again, it may be on old Dutch plates, though I still think they are Portugese. The Caddy would be unusual but I wonder if it is in Europe, because the lights on the M Benz behind look like American spec, I think.

Mr_Shiftright

Actually Cadillacs are very popular in France. There is evena Cadillac museum there.

fintail

I think that Fiat has Dutch plates. Hard to tell where the pic was taken....but a lot of American cars do seem to end up in Holland...

The car in the background is indeed a US-spec MB W107, but these things trickle back home.

andys120

Actually the caption said it's a '68. Body is by Ghia on those.

andys120

fintail

I'll guess it's a 300SEL 6.3, c.1969-1970. Of course it could be a 280SEL as well. Very little to differentiate these cars from 66-72 or so.

The rear is sagging...it's always something with those cars.

andys120

Very little to differentiate these cars from 66-72 or so.
Indeed, it's a '68 280SEL.

Try another?>>

cw9

It looks like a Studebaker Lark...?

bhill2

Indeed it is. A '59 or '60 I think. Oh, and a six-cylinder if my eyes don't deceive me.

andys120

I couldn't tell you how many cyls it had, but is indeed a 1960 Lark Wagon (IIRC they had 289 V8s as well).

And here's another Golden Oldie>>

imidazol97

1952 Cadillac
Beautiful car.

navigator89

Follow the link

http://photobucket.com/albums/c294/nav89/?action=view&current=IMG_0182.jpg