Mystery car pix

fintail

"BMX Bandits". If you were a kid in the mid 80s, into bikes, and had cable TV, you probably saw it.

tjc78

Yeah, now it is ringing a bell. I was all of the above!

fintail

No takers on the 3 cars being hit by the truck? They are all pretty obscure now.

andys120

The yellow car looks like the dreaded Austin Marina

fintail said:

Here are some more unusual cars from that cinematic masterpiece:

stickguy

yeah, I was just coming by to post that it looked like a BMC car. The door handles scream something like the marina.

fintail

Yep, that's a Marina.

The car in front is an Audi - at the time, simply called "Audi" (F103), I think one of the first postwar "Audi" branded cars, from the late 60s. Quite rare. The car bearing the brunt of the crash is a ~71 Aussie Chrysler Valiant.

andys120

fintail said:

Yep, that's a Marina.

The car in front is an Audi - at the time, simply called "Audi" (F103), I think one of the first postwar "Audi" branded cars, from the late 60s. Quite rare. The car bearing the brunt of the crash is a ~71 Aussie Chrysler Valiant.

I had to look that one up. Wikipedia sez the F103 was sold as the Audi 75 which was never sold in the US. It looks like a smaller version of the Audi 100 which came to the US circa 1968.

Audi 75/Fl03

fintail

Definitely some MB-lite styling there. I think the engine had a MB connection, too.

fintail

Another shot from the same gem (music from which is still stuck in my head):

Mr_Shiftright

andys120 said:

fintail said:

Yep, that's a Marina.

The car in front is an Audi - at the time, simply called "Audi" (F103), I think one of the first postwar "Audi" branded cars, from the late 60s. Quite rare. The car bearing the brunt of the crash is a ~71 Aussie Chrysler Valiant.

I had to look that one up. Wikipedia sez the F103 was sold as the Audi 75 which was never sold in the US. It looks like a smaller version of the Audi 100 which came to the US circa 1968.

Audi 75/Fl03

They get that internal nomenclature (F103) from right after their merger with DWK.

andys120

fintail said:

Yep, that's a Marina.

The car in front is an Audi - at the time, simply called "Audi" (F103), I think one of the first postwar "Audi" branded cars, from the late 60s. Quite rare. The car bearing the brunt of the crash is a ~71 Aussie Chrysler Valiant.

I had to look that one up. Wikipedia sez the F103 was sold as the Audi 75 which was never sold in the US. It looks like a smaller version of the Audi 100 which came to the US circa 1968

Mr_Shiftright

There was also apparently an Audi 80 marketed in Europe and a Super 90.

magnette

Yeah - I remember the earlier ones and the DKW F102 as well I think - that was sold here for a while before it became an Audi.

Mr_Shiftright

Went to appraise one of these yesterday. RHD, brakes locked, lifter noise, popping through the carburetors. Good solid body though and passable leather and wood inside. I don't expect that that high-pressure Citroen-type hydraulic suspension-leveling/brake system would take much to repair. That, and a simple tune-up and you're good to go!

fintail

Pictured car is a Silver Shadow I, pre-1977. Begging for a smallblock conversion?

Did the value correlate to the weight of the car?

omarman

Found a "brand new" redline silver shadow which sold on ebay for $4938.88?

Mr_Shiftright

fintail said:

Pictured car is a Silver Shadow I, pre-1977. Begging for a smallblock conversion?

Did the value correlate to the weight of the car?

Ah, fooled yah. Not a Rolls. Actually about $1 a lb. wouldn't be far off. Maybe $1.19 to $1.29 a pound. About the same for potatoes.

I would imagine with that suspension and braking system, a small block conversion would still be a nightmare. The transmission could be kept (GM Hyrad-matic is what the factory installed), so that might even bolt up, but the rest---I dunno.

These early cars had some interesting defects. The driver's door was integrated with the suspension to lower the car as you exited or entered, but very often that would short out, so when you opened the car door the brakes would lock up. The Citroen-type hydraulics bled pressure off the suspension system to operate the 4-wheel discs.

Another fault was the rear bulkhead that was welded into the unibody supported the entire rear axle assembly.

These welds would often tear out, so you'd be going down the road and the bulkhead would drop, and the axles would pull out of their hubs.

They also liked to overheat.

The problem with the one I looked at, aside from no brakes, is that it hadn't been run in 20 years, so somebody just poured gas in and cranked it up. God knows what went through the entire fuel system after that.

I'd guess about $8000 for brakes, $4K for tune up and carb rebuilds, belts, hoses, $2K for paint touch-up and color sanding, $4K for carpeting and wood and re-dye on the seats, maybe $1200 for tires, $1K to drop the tank and flush out the system, and barring any unforeseen items, you're good to go!

fintail

Aha, didn't notice the hood ornament. Pictured car is a Bentley T1 (virtually the same as the Shadow, sans grille and emblem differences).

So you could spend around 20K (not including purchase price) to end up with a car worth maybe in the low teens. Sounds good!

andys120

stickguy

I like that one. at least the color. guessing it is a 71? Rancehero. GT obviously. that one definitely looks modified a bit.

lostwrench1

It mowed that field in 14 minutes.

andys120

stickguy said:

I like that one. at least the color. guessing it is a 71? Rancehero. GT obviously. that one definitely looks modified a bit.

Yup, it's a 1971 Ford Ranchero GT-500/351 w custom paint and other mods. Those were Torino based IIRC.

andys120

stickguy

yes, that Ranchero iteration was a Torino up front (and a party in the back?)

Black beauty is a Renault Fuego (though I think it has an R designation too. Maybe 17?). I almost bought one from a neighbor back in around 1985. Probably lucky to have dodged that bullet.

fintail

R17 was an unrelated model, maybe could be seen as the predecessor to the Fuego:



When I was a little kid, I thought Fuego's were pretty cool, but indeed, they were not the highest quality product in the history of the automobile.

Mr_Shiftright

I wouldn't be all that confident driving a car whose name means FIRE!

andys120

qbrozen

I can give Lotus Elite, but the specifics beyond that are outside my knowledge bank.

andys120

qbrozen said:

I can give Lotus Elite, but the specifics beyond that are outside my knowledge bank.

Yes, that's a 1960 Lotus Elite, one of the iconic sports cars of the Golden Age, it featured a fiberglass body with a backbone chassis, a 1200cc Coventry Climax w 75 hp and weighed only about 1100 lbs and had disc brakes front/rear.

IIRC the Elite was the first complete car offered by Lotus Cars, previous cars were kits. Subsequent models bore the Elite name in the 70s and 80s but lacked the ground-breaking brilliance of this 1958-63 version.

iluvmysephia1

That Lotus Elite is gorgeous. I'll have that.

texases

A guy's trying to ID this car on another site. Best guess so far is mid '70s Pontiac. Edit: I'm pretty sure it's a '73 Firebird. Any ideas?

qbrozen

problem is all the aftermarket garbage. Tough to tell what is stock and what isn't. For example, if it is a Pontiac, I believe those corner braces should be tubes, not flat metal. But it is quite possible that is a hack repair of some sort.

texases

I found another pic of a '73 Firebird with those flat metal braces (also pics with tubes). So they must have used both, I guess...

qbrozen

funny. And I found some on ebay with no braces at all.

omarman

Is that Pontiac blue peeking out of the crud in the lower pic?

Mr_Shiftright

Well oil cap is in the right place, upper radiator hose goes to the right place, the color of the block is correct, so.....

Here's a '73 Pontiac Trans Am engine, in ever so slightly better condition:

texases

" in ever so slightly better condition:"

That's how your expert eyes earn their keep, Shifty...

But seriously - I've since come to learn that it's a '73 Firebird Esprit with the 400cid/2bbl carb. What would a good runner (not this one) be worth?

Mr_Shiftright

Nice driver quality maybe $8500 to 9500. Over the moon resto maybe 20-ish. So yeah, restore it for $50k and flip it for 20!?

andys120

stickguy

1969 Toyota crown?

fintail

That's a Corona wagon, I will guess 1971.

andys120

fintail said:

That's a Corona wagon, I will guess 1971.

You're right on the money, Fin. The Corona is largely forgotten but was an important seller
for 'Yoda in the 70s. The Camry replaced it in the mid-80s.

andys120

A little more exotic>

fintail

Aston-Martin of course, I think DB6, I think the cabrio is a "Volante".

Michaell

andys120 said:

fintail said:

That's a Corona wagon, I will guess 1971.

You're right on the money, Fin. The Corona is largely forgotten but was an important seller
for 'Yoda in the 70s. The Camry replaced it in the mid-80s.

We had a '73 Corona, bought new on August 12, 1973. Brown with brown vinyl. 3-speed auto, with column shift. Bench seat up front.

Great little car; I don't recall it giving us any problems. Sadly, I totaled it in an accident driving to HS in, I think, 1981.

andys120

fintail said:

Aston-Martin of course, I think DB6, I think the cabrio is a "Volante".

You're close, it's a 1965 Aston-Martin DB5 DHC that just went for a record $2.7 mil at auction. The Hemmings' item used "Drop-Head Coupe" rather than "Volante" but I think either applies.

tjc78

andys120 said:

A little more exotic>

Wow that’s a stunner.  

Mr_Shiftright

They only made 123 of those '65 DHC and only 35 of the "short chassis" Volantes. I'm still not sure if the 35 is a subset of the 123 or in addition to them, but nonetheless a very rare car, and then we get into this one, which is LHD, which makes it even more rare.  Sometimes to understand a bid price with these classics, you have to peel the onion and go through all the esoteric layers of rarity and desirability. 

andys120

Michaell

Mystery car lyrics!

Name the artist and song these lyrics are a part of:

Nice car
An, I love those Bavarians
So meticulous