Mystery car pix

stickguy

I knew it was a Fiat, but is that considered a 124 series coupe? Or some other model name?

andys120

Yes, a 1969 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe, mechanically identical to the Spider but w seats for four. Front end styling changed in 1970 and again in '74.

Mr_Shiftright

One of my favorite cars--almost impossible to find one anymore. They all went to Ferrous Oxide Heaven.

andys120

qbrozen

Ugh. This is so familiar to me. Gonna kick myself when i read the name.

qbrozen

Ah wait! Hit me this morn. That's a Suzuki, right? I believe it was in one or more of the Gran Turismo games. 

fintail

Here's a train of cars to identify:

omarman

Toyota, Toyota, Toyota,
white, white, white,
blue, blue, blue,
gray,
red,
Oh, look! Train!

andys120

qbrozen said:

Ah wait! Hit me this morn. That's a Suzuki, right? I believe it was in one or more of the Gran Turismo games. 

It's a Suzuki Cappuccino from the 90s (IIRC) one of the tiny micro cars that make up the kei class. They don't see to sell anywhere else and include everything from micro vans to pickups but the little roadsters like the Cappucciono
and the Honda Beat are the coolest.

qbrozen

Honda Beat was also in Gran Turismo.

andys120

lostwrench1

I'll grab the '47 Pontiac.

imidazol97

lostwrench1 said:

I'll grab the '47 Pontiac.

Where is that car located in the picture?

lostwrench1

Oh, look! Train!

BLG Logistics rail car carriers. Some of the best ever designed.
As to the most interesting? They have to be the GM/Southern Pacific rail car carriers which had the autos transported nose down.

lostwrench1

imidazol97 said:

lostwrench1 said:

I'll grab the '47 Pontiac.

Where is that car located in the picture?

Left to right - A foreign car, then the '47 Pontiac.

andys120

I found the pic on Hemmings of a restaurant where my family would sometimes go for a fancy Sunday dinner, a vain attempt to teach some table manners to us three boys.

It was located on Northern Blvd. (NY25A) in Manhasset Long Island and known as "Patricia Murphy's Candlelight Restaurant". A sister Restaurant in Midtown Manhattan was Lauraine Murphy's, both are long gone.

It is possible that the Frazier peeking out from behind the bush on the left belonged to my family (1947 MY)!

The foreign job in the foreground is a Renault 4CV, a very popular item in Europe but seldom seen on these shores, as was any non-American iron in 1951 (Volkswagen imports began in 1950). Like many Eurocars of the time, the 4CV was rear-engined.

tmart

I'll take the 49/51 Ford four door.

fintail

That's a very early 4CV, too. Appears to be on Dutch plates. I wonder if it was a Dutchie on holiday or an expat who brought their car home to impress the locals.

I see a few prewar cars in the pic. To the left of the shoebox Ford is a 39-40 Buick-Olds-Pontiac coupe.

lostwrench1

Why Dutch? Some 1951 NY state plates had 2 letters, 2 numbers, dot, 2 numbers with nothing above.

andys120

lostwrench1 said:

Why Dutch? Some 1951 NY state plates had 2 letters, 2 numbers, dot, 2 numbers with nothing above.

I agree for a couple of reasons:

-part of the plate is behind the bumper, obscuring the shape but it appears to be as wide as a standard US plate.

-the plate begins with the letter "Q". Back then NYS plates usually indicated county of registration with the first letter or two of the plate #. Q was for Queens County with the Queens/Nassau line being perhaps 15 miles due east of this restaurant.

That 4CV looks pretty beat up for a car that couldn't be older than four MYs. I looked it up, 4CV production began in 1947, pic is from May '51. The 4CV was Renault's first million selling model. It looked most distinctive seen from behind>



The car to the left of the '47 Pontiac is a (possibly brand-new) DeSoto, according to the Hemmings crew (I don't know how they could tell it wasn't a Dodge or Chrysler.)

lostwrench1

I see it as a '50 DeSoto because of the two side chrome horizontals in front of the front wheel.

fintail

Oh, the plate looks wide to me, but it could be the angle

lostwrench1

I find that NY state license plates from 1929 to 1957 were 6" x 14".

omarman

Could these 3 cars be different body styles of the same make/model?

Maybe 1950 chevy(s)?

andys120

omarman said:

Could these 3 cars be different body styles of the same make/model?

Maybe 1950 chevy(s)?

Yup, they look like 50/51 Chebbies to me as well. I've always thought the 50-52 Chevrolets
along w their similarly styled cousins at Pontiac and Olds were dowdy, even compared to their '46-48 sisters. Notice how sharp the shoebox Ford 4dr looks next to that Chevy coupe.

GM and Chrysler products seem over-represented in this shot compared only one Ford and no Mercs, Lincolns, Studebakers, Nashes or Hudsons . I recall FoMoCo's market share being
quite a bit bigger than Renault's.

A little aside--I think buildings and homes of white painted brick like the Candlelight were particularly popular on LI in this era. I don't rember them showing up much in other areas.

berri

Part of that Ford thing may be that Ford had gotten kind of obsolete and in financial trouble in the 40's. War contracts were keeping them solvent. The White House actually requested Henry Ford II be released from his Naval officer assignment and sent to Detroit to rescue the company. He ended up hiring the "whiz kids" - a group of former young military officers who served in the war and it all turned Ford around. The 49's were the first of these efforts. The picture has a lot of older vehicles mixed in, so that may be part of the reason there is a lack of Fomoco in the shot? Also, sometimes today it is hard to recall that Chrysler Corp. was pretty successful in the 40's and 50's.

fintail

Something you don't see every day:

Mr_Shiftright

Thankfully. I got nothin' .

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

Thankfully. I got nothin' .

I know I've seen it but I can't quite place it. Those are VW-style wheels so it's prolly Volkswagen based.

fintail

You're on the right track, but the station is a ways away, in a much more expensive neighborhood.

andys120

berri said:

Part of that Ford thing may be that Ford had gotten kind of obsolete and in financial trouble in the 40's. War contracts were keeping them solvent. The White House actually requested Henry Ford II be released from his Naval officer assignment and sent to Detroit to rescue the company. He ended up hiring the "whiz kids" - a group of former young military officers who served in the war and it all turned Ford around. The 49's were the first of these efforts. The picture has a lot of older vehicles mixed in, so that may be part of the reason there is a lack of Fomoco in the shot? Also, sometimes today it is hard to recall that Chrysler Corp. was pretty successful in the 40's and 50's.

Good info, most of which I'm aware but Ford is definitely under-represented in that pic and so by the way are Caddies, Lincolns and Buicks. Manhasset is located in one of the most affluent parts of the NY area, there ought to be some upscale cars parked at a nice restaurant..

andys120

fintail said:

You're on the right track, but the station is a ways away, in a much more expensive neighborhood.

Porsche-based?

omarman

I think I spot a Porsche 904 Carrera GTS in the back row. Beautiful car. There's also a Porsche logo on the hideous green thing.

andys120

stickguy said:

I knew it was a Fiat, but is that considered a 124 series coupe? Or some other model name?

Apologies Stickguy, for taking so long to get back to you. I think you're confused because the 124 Sport Coupes had three major styling changes:

Gen 1 1967-69 1438cc (Type AC) >



Gen 2 1969-72 1608cc (Type AB)>


Gen3 1973-75 1608 or 1756cc (Type AC)



The last restyling was a disaster, thanks to the NHTSA as it was for many cars of the era that needed new bumpers, taillights and other changes thanks to new safety regulations.

fintail

I've seen the green thing identified as a "Porsche GT Le Mans", but that's on a model car, I forgot to get a shot of the ID info where I saw the car. It is maybe 904-based.

thebean

When the Vega came out, I thought GM stylists copied the Gen 1 124 coupe. I remember writing a letter to Road & Track opining that very thing. Didn't get published.

omarman

This link points to a restoration page for a 1960 Porsche Wendler coupe. Never heard of it.

andys120

deerlake7

1962 Buick Wildcat in front of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. To me, one of GM's cleanest designs, both inside and out.

andys120

deerlake7 said:

1962 Buick Wildcat in front of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. To me, one of GM's cleanest designs, both inside and out.

I didn't know it was the SeattleFair--should've recognized the Space Needle. I totally agree that the '62 Buicks were among the General's best. My favorite Buick was a '62 Electra 225 convertible w a Wildcat motor that belonged to a pal's dad. I got to drive it one Christmas.

berri

62 was a good styling year at GM in general. I'm partial to the Olds that year, but thought Pontiac took a small step backwards from the 61. That Buick you posted is quite handsome though.

fintail

Does that Wildcat have a vinyl top? Beginnings of maybe not the best trend.

Random Prague street scene, should be a few to pick out (might need to zoom):

berri

Personally, I'm not a big fan of vinyl roof coverings, but I do think it works better on vehicles that are a bit linear in styling like that Buick.

andys120

berri said:

Personally, I'm not a big fan of vinyl roof coverings, but I do think it works better on vehicles that are a bit linear in styling like that Buick.

IIRC 1962 was the year that lots of cars started getting vinyl roofs. It was also the year that GM started putting faux convertible tops (complete w simulated bows) on their coupes. It wasn't long before people started getting vinyl tops on everything whether it not the roofline resembled that of a ragtop or not.

It even became popular on fourdoors>

My Mom who disliked convertibles because they messed up her hair was quite taken by the fake ragtop look. My folks bought a '67 Firebrid with a vinyl roof which looked nice in black over olive green but to my eyes the roof was too rounded to pull off the ragtop vibe.

After that they had a series of 4 doors and everyone of 'em had the vinyl roof, or in some cases the even more hideous half-vinyl roof.

andys120

fintail said:

Random Prague street scene, should be a few to pick out (might need to zoom):

The red Ford at left must be a recent iteration of the Ford Ka next to it perhaps a Hyundai Accent and then a Honda Fit/Jazz.

They say Prague is a particularly beautiful city and you can see why in that photo.

omarman

It only looks bad if you look at it.

tmart

I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I like both of them.

stickguy

Smart move by ford. Split one roof over 2 cars!

kyfdx

In retrospect, vinyl roofs are stupid. But, in the ‘70s, it was a sign of luxury.

The landau half roof was highly desirable in the latter half of the decade.

Seriously, for those of you that are younger. I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Michaell

kyfdx said:

In retrospect, vinyl roofs are stupid. But, in the ‘70s, it was a sign of luxury.

The landau half roof was highly desirable in the latter half of the decade.

Seriously, for those of you that are younger. I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Kind of like how the "avocado" and "gold" appliances, and shag carpet, were the in thing in the 1970's.

20 years from now, will everyone say "eeewww, look at all that marble / quartz / granite in the kitchen"?