Mystery car pix

fintail

Per the caption where I found it, it is an Atlas 41E. There was a silo nearby.

And of course I will pick off the 60 Ford County Sedan with dome/bubble lights nearest the camera.

tmart

Ford pick up, third in the row, and a white Ford panel delivery truck.

omarman

fintail said:

Per the caption where I found it, it is an Atlas 41E. There was a silo nearby.

And of course I will pick off the 60 Ford County Sedan with dome/bubble lights nearest the camera.

I always liked the Ford County better than the Mercury Municipality. At least the 1960 models.

fintail

Ha, the smallest typo.

The Mercury wagons from that era are pretty unique.

omarman said:

I always liked the Ford County better than the Mercury Municipality. At least the 1960 models.

berri

I seem to recall that 60 Mercury's had kind of an unique front interior between the windshield and a large, spread out, but very narrow to the windshield dash. The 60 Merc may have been the last of the unique Mercury's because IIRC they basically went Ford with the 61 models.

omarman

fintail said:

Ha, the smallest typo.

The Mercury wagons from that era are pretty unique.

omarman said:

I always liked the Ford County better than the Mercury Municipality. At least the 1960 models.

It's funny how the '60 Mercury Computer wagon leadhights are spaced across the grill in a way which creates the topical illusion of asymmetrical design.

lostwrench1

Guy in picture #3 is asking.......
Does the commuter have a computer or does the commuter have a commuter or does the computer have a commuter?

fintail

Reminds me of an Olds, funny, as Edsel was aping Pontiac that year.

berri

I see that in the front. In the rear, the kind of abbreviated fins on top of candlestick like taillights has just a bit of Virgil Exner early 60's perhaps?

berri

I was just remembering that a guy I went to high school with drove his dad's 60 Mercury once in awhile. Wasn't a bad riding car, but that dash and view always seemed weird when in the front passenger seat (maybe it was just perspective with the window interface).

lostwrench1

Answer - The commuter has a Commuter.

omarman

And the Commuter has a commuter at the wheel.

lostwrench1

Your sentence for posting the wagon as a Computer has been commuted.

omarman

Thanks!

magnette

Going back on that post for the MGA dashboard, my Magnette ZA is earlier but the F control on mine is for the fog and spot lights which were supposed to be standardised.

As standard my car would have had - according to the handbook - two auxilary lights - the nearside one was a fog light and the offside was the spotlight.

How it works is to pull the knob out to the first stop and the fog light comes on - on an RHD car like mine that would be the left hand light nearest to the kerb and presumably the position was reversed on the LHD market.

Then to get the other light on it is necessary to turn the knob to the right and pull it out further and that gets the spotlight on - which is on the driver's side and is set for long range.

Apparently some cars were sold with two foglight or with two spot lights (the only difference is the glass front (lens) which is diffuse on the fog but not the spot.

There is a P button too which is for Panel lights which has three settings - one turns it all off, another lights all the instruments (hopefully) or just illuminates the speedometer to provide less dazzle. Again it involves pulling out one stop then turning it and pulling again.

The washer system is not original on my car but basically was a push button which worked on a vacuum basis - not an electric pump - and it squirted water onto the screen if you revved the engine while operating it but just dripped if you didn't.

I have a spare one for a later car and that had a white button like the one shown on that MGA - when I restore mine to working order and throw away the aftermarket electric one which is pretty useless anyway, I will keep my old one with a chrome button - the bit that has failed on mine is the vacuum bit in the bottle anyway.

ab348

Interesting tidbit on the washer system @magnette - we had an Austin 1100 in 1969 and its washer wasn't electric, but didn't seem to have vacuum assist either. It was a longish black plunger button on the dash that you pushed in to give a squirt. There was enough resistance to it that it felt like a manual pump.

andys120

FWIW, IIRC my '66 TR-4A did not have an electric washer system, it was some sort of manual/vacuum system probably from the same supplier as your Austin 1100.

omarman

In 1974 my brother had a '71 Opel Kadett with a foot pedal bellows to operate the windshield washer fluid reservoir. It also was neither electric nor vacuum. You can still find forum discussions about how the OEM washer pump in an Opel actually worked.

tjc78

fintail

Mitsubishi Cordia, sold here for a few model years in the mid 80s, hen's teeth now.

That one is on a German "H" (historic - vintage registration) plate.

tjc78

I knew you would get this one Fin.

Mr_Shiftright

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

Looks like an Elva Courier but I've never seen that style h/t on one. The Courier was an oddball that was seldom seen on the street but appeared often at tracks like Lime Rock and Upper Marlboro and Elkhart Lake in production sports car races.

American racers like Pete Revson and Mark Donohue broke into racing campaigning Elvas.

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, it's a somewhat rare Elva coupe, based on a Mk II chassis I think. Not very attractive cars but they sure do the job on a race track. I believe the one in the photo is based on a heavily breathed upon MGB block.

andys120

Once again it's time to play, "What Year Corvette Is That?"

kyfdx

'62?

lostwrench1

I'll grab the '54 Mercury.

andys120

kyfdx said:

'62?

Nope there's no moulding around the coves on a '62 but there is a moulding strip along the bottom.

kyfdx

andys120 said:

kyfdx said:

'62?

Nope there's no moulding around the coves on a '62 but there is a moulding strip along the bottom.

I had a 50/50 chance..

andys120

kyfdx said:

andys120 said:

kyfdx said:

'62?

Nope there's no moulding around the coves on a '62 but there is a moulding strip along the bottom.

I had a 50/50 chance..

I guess you remembered there were only two '61 & '62 C1s with the duck-tail but only the '61 has a moulding around the side coves. '62s had no moulding around the coves but did have a ribbed moulding along the bottom.

The duck tail of course was kept on throughout the '63-'67 Corvette C2 generation (original Stingrays).

andys120

tmart

No idea on the car, but the color is gorgeous!

andys120

tmart said:

No idea on the car, but the color is gorgeous!

Not exactly typical in fact I'm not sure it's a factory colour (hint).

fintail

Bristol 400

andys120

fintail said:

Bristol 400

Yes that's a Bristol 400 (1947-50). Bristol was an Aircraft maker that branched out into crafter making successful RAF bombers and fighters during WWII.

The 400 featured a version of the BMW inline six which Frazer-Nash had acquired a license to build prior to the war, the frame was based on the prewar BMW 326 and the grille shows obvious influence from BMW styling.

The Bristol Beafighter was used a fighter-bomber and night fighter 1940-1945>

magnette

I think the registration plate on that car might be Indian although not sure what period although given it was made just after the war it could have been sold to one of the Indian princes.

I remember building an Airfix model of the Bristol Beaufighter when I was a kid. Apart from RAF service in Europe it was supplied in large numbers to Australia and New Zealand, and fought in the Pacific theatre as well.

My one was equipped with a torpedo if I recall correctly although given I made that kit in the late 60's my memory is hazy.

andys120

Yes, the Beaufighter served to attack Axis shipping in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Pacific theaters so your model could have been torpedo-equipped.

ab348

tmart said:

No idea on the car, but the color is gorgeous!

I thought it was a black & white shot. My laptop doesn't render much color there.

qbrozen

ab348 said:

No idea on the car, but the color is gorgeous!

I thought it was a black & white shot. My laptop doesn't render much color there.

Odd. The background is b&w but the car is a fairly bold metallic blue/green (seafoam perhaps?).

ab348

qbrozen said:

ab348 said:

No idea on the car, but the color is gorgeous!

I thought it was a black & white shot. My laptop doesn't render much color there.

Odd. The background is b&w but the car is a fairly bold metallic blue/green (seafoam perhaps?).

Ahh. My red/green color-blindness must have kicked in. It is very annoying. For years I had a suit I wore to work sometimes that I assumed was gray until one day I got a compliment on my nice taupe suit.

texases

Bonus for what's the main difference between this and what it looks like:

Mr_Shiftright

Could it be a ZAZ? (Ukraine I think). They had a history with Fiat. Just a WAG.

texases

Nemaye! (no)

Mr_Shiftright

OK, how about a SEAT?

omarman

Ok how about something which looks like a fiat 500 but with a metal ROOF?

Michaell

Innocenti?

texases

Nope/nope

texases

Hint - no Romance languages involved...

Mr_Shiftright

Aha, I was on the right track at least the first time.

texases

Ja!