Mystery car pix

magnette

Is this a Glasspar? My only knowledge of this make is what is written in the Standard Catalog of American cars but they do have a similar looking car in that. The model could be anything but they did have a car called the G2 - engines were Ford or Mercury flat head V8s.

texases

I think he's got it, just googled 'Glasspar car', saw a bunch, including this ad:

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, Glaspar G2.....BUT...do you know the name it was marketing under?

Answer: Yankee Clipper

Interesting car, interesting company. Not only did they make about 15% of all the small boats in America, but they were fiberglass pioneers. And some very credible historians (Smithsonian) have decreed that this "G2" was "the world's first fiberglass car".

And yes, mostly Ford running gear but one did leave the factory with a Cadillac ohv V-8. The Ford Flattie engines sometimes carried the Duntov ohv conversion.

You can see one of these in the movie "Johnny Dark" starring Tony Curtis.

Glasspar also built the Kaiser-Darrin and Woodill Wildfire and Volvo P1900.

The man behind all of this was Bill Tritt.

andys120

stickguy

BMW Z8. I love these. Maybe a MY 2000? I have no clue how to tell the years apart.

andys120

stickguy said:

BMW Z8. I love these. Maybe a MY 2000? I have no clue how to tell the years apart.

Me either, this one's a 2002 BMW Z8. The Z8 was an odd animal, a limited edition, very expensive roadster perhaps intended for the same market as the SL Benzes. It came out with little fanfare but they are highly sought after by collectors.

kyfdx

They didn't really sell, when new. Dealers always had year-old new models.
It's really hard to tell which car will take off, as a "collector" vehicle, later.

I did run into Peter Frampton at my local BMW dealership, looking at one... Around 2003, I think.

fintail

And take off, they did. I think they cost around 125K when new, now seem to trade at around 175-200K. Not bad for something from that era.

texases

I don't remember reviewers much liking the Z8. Seems like the key to its current value is its poor prior sales...

Mr_Shiftright

Limited production helps and only approx 2500 are U.S. legal. Aluminum frame and body, 32-valve V8--a rather special car. I wouldn't advise cracking one up.

magnette

Interesting stuff about the Glaspar / Yankee Clipper - I can well believe it would have been the first Fibreglass car though there were no doubt a few other contenders.

Here in Britain there was a thriving cottage industry making mostly ungainly roadsters from what looked like tin plate, odd alloys or similar bits and pieces and slowly over the 50s they also turned to fibreglass - again it was boat manufacturers, caravan makers, etc who tended to do this.

Most of the British specials' were based on old Ford 8 / 10hp chassis or Austin Sevens from the 30's - not V8s - and many were probably rubbish but it did lead to makes such as Turner, Ginetta and others - some were better than average.

andys120

Oh man, how 'bout those wire wheels

berri

Had wheels similar on an Olds Ciera

fintail

Wheels/hubcaps, not always the same

My family had a Ciera with those wheel covers too, I remember they sometimes made a clicking noise that drove me insane, even when I was maybe 10 years old.

berri

Funny - and those wheel "covers" were tough to keep decent looking as I recall. And yeah, we had that same clicking noise.

andys120

fintail said:

Wheels/hubcaps, not always the same

I was being facetious. There's nothing dopier than a big sedan trying to look like a sports car.

So far nobody's IDed the car.

stickguy

Late 70s olds Delta 88

Mr_Shiftright

fintail

I think the Olds is probably in the 81-83 timeframe.

Shifty's car appears to be a Peugeot 203 cabrio from around 1950.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh, you're good but you're off on the year. It's a 1955. I've never seen one in person.

Mr_Shiftright

kyfdx

1967 Polara?

Big guess... don't really know my Mopars.

Mr_Shiftright

BUZZZ! Nope.

tmart

Monaco?

Mr_Shiftright

warmer.......year?

lostwrench1

-1=1966

iluvmysephia1

1968 Dodge Monaco.

Mr_Shiftright

Nope...keep goin'

lostwrench1

Mr_Shiftright said:

Nope...keep goin'

'66 Polara.

Mr_Shiftright

earlier, not a Polara.

berri

OK, '65 Dodge Monaco

iluvmysephia1

A 1967 Dodge Monaco.

andys120

fintail said:

I think the Olds is probably in the 81-83 timeframe.

Close, it's a 1984 Oldsmobile Delta Royale

Cars like this are the reason Olds had to be put to sleep.

andys120

It's that time of the year...

kyfdx

'67 Catalina? Maybe a little later.. don't remember seeing many vinyl roofs on that model in '67.

stickguy

66 caddy fins on the far left? Maybe slightly later?

Mr_Shiftright

berri said:

OK, '65 Dodge Monaco

No.

Mr_Shiftright

iluvmysephia1 said:

A 1967 Dodge Monaco.

No.

Mr_Shiftright

I'm going to make you all work for this.

andys120

There's a two-tone 1958 Buick pulling out ahead of the 64ish Olds. The Buick would be the oldest car in that pic.

texases

??? Earlier than a '66? Not a Polara? All the '65 Dodges I find have smaller taillights, and the '66 Monaco has red filler, the '66 Polara pics I find are a match...???

Mr_Shiftright

Hmmmm.......it's possible that the label on this car is incorrect. I'm going to call it a '66 Monaco, so Lostwrench gets it first.

Mr_Shiftright

stever

I knew a guy in Atascadero who had a Mercedes pickup. Newer than this one, and I didn't know enough to ask him if his had been a custom or a gray market import.

texases

Mr_Shiftright said:

Hmmmm.......it's possible that the label on this car is incorrect. I'm going to call it a '66 Monaco, so Lostwrench gets it first.

Here's the Monaco on Allpar, note the red filler:


And here's the Polara:

Mr_Shiftright

I wonder if the fancy convertible got something different. The "label" on the photo I picked up said "1964" but that doesn't look right.

Hmmm...somewhat puzzling.....

Mr_Shiftright

This is apparently factory, so says the auction provenance. Can you guess the model on which it is based?

stever

@fintail must be traveling today - otherwise he'd already have answered.

I was under the impression that Mercedes pickups were never imported to the US. My friend's was a 50's era model.

Mr_Shiftright

I don't think they were ever imported, that's right.

berri

I can't find anything on it, but I believe sometime during that era Dodge put out some promotional versions, so maybe that was involved.