Mystery car pix

iluvmysephia1

Funny, I know it as the '62 Dodge Dart. But that car's style oddly grew on me a few months ago and the goodness of the design has stayed with me. I like the smaller, newer by a few years Dart design better, though. Say a '64 Dart's body design. But Virgil Exner made a good attempt ta salvage his lucrative job back then. Mopar body design can be a very, very appealing thing. Good competition for Ford and GM back in the automotive world's best decade, the 60's.

stever

I was 12 in '64 and that Fairlane is a scary pic. Not quite bell bottoms but getting there.

andys120

fintail said:

I think it's 1964 with that scoop style trim on the side.

Yep, 1964 Ford Fairlane 500 from the time when every Ford looked like a T-Bird.

andys120

stickguy

seems like an Opel to me.

andys120

stickguy said:

seems like an Opel to me.

Not even close.

texases

Brazilian VW?

bhill2

It looks like a Fiat 850 coupé to me, but dressed up.

iluvmysephia1

'64 Ford Corsair.

andys120

Boy, you guys are all over the lot on this one butBhill2 has it It looks like a Fiat 850 coupé to me, but dressed up

It is wearing aftermarket wheels and a pair of fog lamps below the bumper. The extra pair of driving lights were "factory" on fully-equipped later models here and overseas. The 1300cc powered 850 Sports were imported to the US from the mid-60s to early 70s. The Spider was styled by Bertone but the Coupe was done in-house at Fiat.

andys120

kyfdx

Shelby GT 350 '68?

Mr_Shiftright

Gettin' a little porky there.

berri

Porky, try the 71's

fintail

I think that's a 69. And yeah, the "fat Elvis" (lovingly said, of course) 71-73 models are a degree larger, at least in aesthetics,

berri

I agree it is a 69 by the headlight placement. Nice looking year for me. 71 a degree larger - heck, you'd have to shop in the Big Man's section for that pony

Mr_Shiftright

Wasn't 1970 the last GT350 of that era? Huge price difference today between the early 350s and the later ones.

magnette

Not many of these then or now..

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

Wasn't 1970 the last GT350 of that era? Huge price difference today between the early 350s and the later ones.

The pic I put up was a 1969 Shelby GT-350 which was considerably larger and heavier than the 66-68 cars which probably accounts for the fact that they aren't worth as much. The 1970s were similar to the '69s and marked the end of the line until the name was revived for 21st Century Shelby-badged 'Stangs.

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, they are worth about 1/2 the early ones. Still, it's not chump change to buy one.

andys120

fintail

I was thinking maybe a custom Sunbeam-Talbot by the basic grille design, but I don't think they made anything that fancy. I am pretty sure it is British.

magnette said:

Not many of these then or now..

bhill2

andys120 said:

I'm on the edge of my expertise. I'm pretty sure it's a SLC. I'll guess a 380.

andys120

magnette said:

Not many of these then or now..

Could be an Alvis w special coachwork. Apparently the bulge on the rear fender skirt is to clear the knock-off hub--weird!

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, looks (mostly) like an Alvis TB21 roadster, circa 1950 but it's not exactly.

OK, I'm going to push all my chips on Sunbeam-Talbot, based on the grillework.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

Yeah, looks (mostly) like an Alvis TB21 roadster, circa 1950 but it's not exactly.

OK, I'm going to push all my chips on Sunbeam-Talbot, based on the grillework.

Yup the grille does look like it's from a Sunbeam but I think you're closer with the Alvis TB21, here's one >



You take that or for that matter the Sunbeam-Talbot and put French coachwork on it and you'd have Mag's car.
Here's a Saoutchik Delahaye 135M that looks very similar>



Are we getting warm, Magnette?

Michaell

bhill2 said:

andys120 said:

I'm on the edge of my expertise. I'm pretty sure it's a SLC. I'll guess a 380.

With the US headlight, I'll say it's a 450 SLC

magnette

Sorry chaps -I'm not teasing you by being slow with replies - it is the time difference - its only 08:20 here.

It is British, so not the Delahaye, and while Alvis is a good try it isn't one of those. Nice picture of the TB21 and the Sunbeam Talbot is also a great guess, but not that either.

I'll leave this one a bit longer - they only built about twelve or fifteen of these though so it is only just in our criteria for a production car.

Mr_Shiftright

Some kind of Wolseley? A Rover-based Marauder? A Paramount? I give up.

magnette

None of those either although the Paramount in particular looks very much like this - but the subject car was a bit quicker.

Its an Aston Martin 2 litre - made from 1948- 50 and retrospectively known as the DB1 (only after the DB2 came along).

andys120

magnette said:

None of those either although the Paramount in particular looks very much like this - but the subject car was a bit quicker.

Its an Aston Martin 2 litre - made from 1948- 50 and retrospectively known as the DB1 (only after the DB2 came along).

Doh! I'm ashamed to admit I've never seen one before and it's a historically significant car being the first Aston model of David Brown's era and according to Wikipedia the winners of the 1948 Spa 24 hour race.

Now what the hell is a Paramount?

Mr_Shiftright

Ah, yes, the first DB---a 4 cylinder. I've never seen a real one.

magnette

Now what the hell is a Paramount?


The Paramount was a Ford based special made in the early 50's - initially with a Ford 10 (Prefect ) base, - the old "sit up and beg" one - and then later with a 1500 Consul base.

They made about 100 I think and one or two still survive but I haven't seen one for years...






Not exactly a close match for the Aston Martin but the swooping wings are a similarity. I would imagine the 10hp had a top speed you measured with a sundial...
The last advert says it is even more exciting with the new 1500 engine and I imagine that was because the brakes were not much better than on the old 10...

Mr_Shiftright

Well you can't say I didn't try to guess....

magnette

This one is less swooping to say the least...

magnette

Mr_Shiftright said:

Well you can't say I didn't try to guess....

I'm impressed anyone has even heard of the Paramount.

stickguy

Simca?

fintail

Hillman Imp estate, I am pretty sure.

magnette said:

This one is less swooping to say the least...

berri

Someone's been playing with Dinky Toys - just kidding

fintail

Ha, they actually made one:

berri

I remember years back in elementary school when we'd take field trips to the various Chicago museums. They all sold Dinky or Matchbox cars in the gift shop. But I was a big American car fan and wasn't going drop two bucks on them when I could get a whopping 1/24th scale model at the hobby shops for the same price

kyfdx

I really started in with the Matchbox cars in the early '70s.

Thornbury Toys in the Turfland Mall.

berri

I got a few years on you kyfdx. And while I was away at college, my mother gave my model collection to my kid cousins who used them as toys. I still cringe when I see what some of those 1/24 promo's are worth today.

btw, my two bucks also got me a friction motor on my models

fintail

In the mid 60s, normal Matchbox were around 49 cents, I think. Larger scale Dinky/Corgi and Matchbox Yesteryears and larger models would have been more. If the museum had models of vintage cars, most of those aren't insanely valuable today. But if they wrre models of contemporary vehicles, those can have considerable value. Average boxed 1960-65 or so Matchbox is probably $40-$60 and can go a lot higher, average boxed Corgi and Dinky of the same date range probably in the $40-80 area, and can go higher. Rare varieties can be in the thousands. Some of the rare color or model promos are quite valuable too.

stever

Had plenty of Dinky type cars growing up and used them hard too. Now I wonder if my tolerance of older beaters stems from my real love back in the day - Crashmobiles.

andys120

Oh I had a bunch of Dinkys in the 50s, I think my preference for Euro cars stems from those days. I had a Rolls Silver Cloud, a four-seater Lagonda, a Jag Mk.1, an MG-TD and many others as well as some military trucks. Like Steve R, I managed to wreck them all.

My favorite was a Sunbeam-Talbot, a car I don't think I have ever seen.

magnette

Yes - this is the estate version of the Hillman Imp - but it was known as the Hillman Husky, which had been the name of the previous small estate based on the Minx and the Commer van. There was a van version of the Imp as well...

magnette

I had a lot of Dinky / Corgi toys and pretty much spent my "pocket money" on Matchbox cars when I was little.

At some stage I sold the larger Dinky sized ones at a toy fair locally - the trucks, fire engines etc - which got me enough money to buy a replacement diff for an MGB (that was about 1988 I think) but I still kept the car ones and all the Matchbox toys. Still have them now as they were in the attic at my mother's house when we cleared it some years ago. But they are wrecked -all played with, no boxes, scratched windows where there was glazing (the earliest ones didn't have any) and I had a mania for taking the tyres off at one stage too...

Probably worth about £1 each for the matchbox sized (there were a few rivals of Matchbox (Husky / Budgie / Dublo Dinky) and probably £2 or £3 for the bigger ones I think.

My era for this was the early 60's.

fintail

That's right, and is something about those old toys that wannabe antique dealers one might find at a yard sale or flea market don't always realize. A model that is worth $50 mint in box is worth $1-2 if loose and playworn. One can find tons of such old material at toy shows, and the sellers are usually willing to deal to move it out. These models were made by the millions, and only the rarest varieties have much value if not pristine.

Toys from back in my day (the 80s) haven't fared so well - no boxes then as everything was on card, but mint loose vehicles are usually no more than about $5 apiece, and loose playworn ones can be had at a few for a dollar.

I have a Dinky Sunbeam Talbot, one I found maybe 20 years ago from an antique dealer friend of the family, who sold it to me for about $5, I think:

kyfdx

On a related note.. I took my winnings from the Soap Box Derby ($500 savings bond), and used it to buy my first car in 1976. ($650 for a '70 Ford Galaxie coupe, no air, black vinyl interior, 113K miles).

A few of my matchbox cars made it to my son (now 22), but most were given away to someone else's kids, over the years, by my mother.