Mystery car pix

fintail

You had the 14d Iso Grifo, a prolific casting that was made with "regular wheels" as pictured, and also the later/faster "superfast" variety (I'm a collector )

Michaell said:

I had a Matchbox version of that car.

Michaell

fintail said:

You had the 14d Iso Grifo, a prolific casting that was made with "regular wheels" as pictured, and also the later/faster "superfast" variety (I'm a collector )

Michaell said:

I had a Matchbox version of that car.

I played with mine. And subscribed to the newsletter.

fintail

Before my time, but I like the quality of the older models.

Here it is with the later wheels - this was made in several colors:

I played with mine. And subscribed to the newsletter.

Michaell

I had the dark blue one with the superfast wheels. I really liked it.

fintail

45 years later, most modern diecast cars are no better than the Matchbox of times past.

The real car is a looker, too:

Michaell said:

I had the dark blue one with the superfast wheels. I really liked it.

qbrozen

texases said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I bought one of these years ago for cheap, cheap, cheap. It was running badly, had no compression in one cylinder, and had some internal upper engine noise. Cosmetically very nice car, however.

I started to disassemble the engine to take off the heads and lo and behold, I found that one of those cheap stamped rocker arms had broken. Quick trip to the wrecker, a few bucks for the part, and a quick flip for a couple thousand dollars. Made my day.

Sounds like some of those episodes of 'Wheeler Dealers' when some potentially major problem is fixed with a fuse or a soldered wire. Wonder how many junkers they've bought that haven't seen the light of day?

I've seen them lose money a couple of times and break even quite a bit. This season, they have started adding in how many man hours they are spending on projects, but they don't put a dollar value to it. If they did, I think most would be losers.

Mr_Shiftright

As they say: "The profit is in the buy, not the sell".

andys120

fintail said:

Iso Rivolta, sometime in the mid 60s.

That's right, it's a 1963 Iso-Rivolta GT powered by Chevrolet 327. The Rivolta was one of the prettiest of the many Euro-American hybrids of the era IMO.

andys120

Michaell

I don't know a lot about 50's cars, but for some reason that looks like a Packard to me.

lostwrench1

1955 Crown Imperial.

texases

'55 Imperial?

berri

I think it is a 55 or 56 Imperial limo. IIRC Eisenhower used one in his presidential fleet.

Mr_Shiftright

That's right!...I mean, that you don't know a lot about 50s cars

To your credit, it was a direct competitor.

fintail

There's one of those limos in this recent mystery car pic:

berri

I always liked the Ghia bodied Imperial limo's models from the later 50's. Not just Eisenhower, but I think President Kennedy sometimes rode in one of those early in his term.

andys120

Michaell said:

I don't know a lot about 50's cars, but for some reason that looks like a Packard to me.

Nope not a Packard.

Michaell

andys120 said:

Michaell said:

I don't know a lot about 50's cars, but for some reason that looks like a Packard to me.

Nope not a Packard.

So sez Shifty.

andys120

Michaell said:

andys120 said:

Michaell said:

I don't know a lot about 50's cars, but for some reason that looks like a Packard to me.

Nope not a Packard.

So sez Shifty.

Say what? Shifty knows his 50s cars, I doubt he thinks that's a Packard.

Michaell

andys120 said:

Michaell said:

andys120 said:

Michaell said:

I don't know a lot about 50's cars, but for some reason that looks like a Packard to me.

Nope not a Packard.

So sez Shifty.

Say what? Shifty knows his 50s cars, I doubt he thinks that's a Packard.

Read back through the last dozen or so posts. @Mr_Shiftright tells me it's not a Packard, before andys120 shot me down.

andys120

lostwrench1 said:

1955 Crown Imperial.

Say the words Chrysler Imperial and most car guys think immediately of the distinctive "gunsight" tailights even thought they only lasted two years '55 and '56. AFAIK there's very little visual difference between those two years. The 1956s had these chrome hashmarks on the side>



At least some did; it's confusing though because I've found pix labeled as '56s w no hashmarks. Anyone know the story.

lostwrench1

Beginning with the 1955 Imperial the Imperial was considered an individual make and was no longer the Chrysler Imperial.
Ok, we have our homework for today, researching the hashmarks.

andys120

lostwrench1 said:

Beginning with the 1955 Imperial the Imperial was considered an individual make and was no longer the Chrysler Imperial.
Ok, we have our homework for today, researching the hashmarks.

The chrome strips on the side were rearranged for '56 and I think the hashmarks were only on the '56s. Some photos I've seen of hashmark cars are mislabelled.

For instance this car mislabeled as a '55 shows the hashmarks and high chrome stripe on the tail>



Whereas on actual 1955 has no extra chrome on the fin and no hashmarks.




Interesting (if irrelevant) thing about the mislabelled car. It's wearing a Euro-style plate and the oval above reads "SF" (Suomi Finland)

Mr_Shiftright

Yes the architecture and sky above have all the gaiety of Finland about them.

andys120

Mystery dash>

stickguy

definitely a BMW. somewhere in the 80's. Love the car phone. Nice that it has a stick though!

andys120

You're on the right track Stickguy. Back in the 1980s practically all Bimmers had sticks but that's not an 80s car.

fintail

I think it's an 8-series/E31 - those had a thing for that ruched leather.

Look at all the buttons, you know it's going to be German.

andys120

fintail said:

I think it's an 8-series/E31 - those had a thing for that ruched leather.

Look at all the buttons, you know it's going to be German.

That's right Fin, it's a 1994 BMW 850 CSi
/E31, a pretty neat high concept V12 gran turismo that didn't sell in big numbers. Here's what it looked like from the outside>

andys120

berri

Later 60'sVW Karman Ghia, maybe around a 67? Don't see many of those over here.

stickguy

VW. something based off the Karman Ghia?

andys120

Yup, this is the Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia 1500/Type 34.. This version was introduced in 1961, six years after the orignal K-G 1200/Type 14. These were never officially exported to the US but some came in via Canada. They're pretty rare but I think rather good-looking. Styling has influence from the Corvair and the BMW Nueue Classe

andys120

tmart

57 Ford Ranchero

Mr_Shiftright

Not exactly a beauty queen is it........

Mr_Shiftright

stickguy

no clue, but you don't get rear visibility like that out of a modern sedan or SUV!

berri

Which way is it going

magnette

Tatra 603 - a great car...

imidazol97

berri said:

Which way is it going

The rear end looks better than the front end on some current cars. Shows heritage to 1950 Studebaker and Stingray Corvettes.

Mr_Shiftright

Zoom zoom---gold star for magnette----. Air cooled V8, supposedly a very sturdy and reliable car that did well in endurance rallys. But other than that, they were mostly owned by Commie big-wigs. Made in Czechoslovakia from 1956 to 1975.

stickguy

Probably really good but n snow too

fintail

I saw one of those Tatras on the road in Bern, Switzerland, several years ago. I rushed to grab a pic and snapped one as it passed by:

andys120

stickguy said:

no clue, but you don't get rear visibility like that out of a modern sedan or SUV!

It's pretty amazing considering the motor is in the back (and it's a V8 IIRC).

berri

Ah, modern Communist architecture in the background of the Tatra shot

fintail

Funny, I was thinking the same. Those beautiful older buildings in Europe

berri said:

Ah, modern Communist architecture in the background of the Tatra shot

andys120

magnette

andys120 said:

Someone down our street had one of these recently.

fintail

Citroen Cactus, proving the French still have a sense of humor and don't take everything seriously. Kind of a neat thing in a way. I assume those are some kind of manufacturer or test plates.