Mystery car pix

tmart

Food cost is highway robbery!

andys120

Yup,it's a 1966 Ford Fairlane GT/390

andys120

stickguy

Shelby series 1 with the Aurora engine?

andys120

stickguy said:

Shelby series 1 with the Aurora engine?

Yep, MY 1999.

Mr_Shiftright

magnette

That is an Audi 50 - mid 70's - and the badge on the grille probably indicates a tuning kit of some sort. The plate is Belgian.

We didn't get imports of the Audi 50 here, as VW just concentrated on theVW Polo for the UK market.

andys120

magnette said:

That is an Audi 50 - mid 70's - and the badge on the grille probably indicates a tuning kit of some sort. The plate is Belgian.

We didn't get imports of the Audi 50 here, as VW just concentrated on theVW Polo for the UK market.

We didn't get the Audi 50 in the USA either, we got a version of the Audi 80 sedan that was sold here in the 70s as the Audi Fox (2 or 4 drs).



To further confuse things a Brazilian-built hatchback wagon was later imported as the Volkswagen Fox, a name which was also later used extensively outside the USDM.

Mr_Shiftright

VW management wasn’t keen on Audi sending a full size sedan over to the USA, but they did— the Audi 100.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

VW management wasn’t keen on Audi sending a full size sedan over to the USA, but they did— the Audi 100.

This year it's the 60th anniversary of the intro of the Audi 100LS the USDM

fintail

Uh that's a pretty modern looking car for 1958

andys120

fintail said:

Uh that's a pretty modern looking car for 1958

Doh!

andys120

omarman

andys120 said:

fintail said:

Uh that's a pretty modern looking car for 1958

Doh!

Ha, the smallest typo.

ab348

andys120 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

VW management wasn’t keen on Audi sending a full size sedan over to the USA, but they did— the Audi 100.

This year it's the 60th anniversary of the intro of the Audi 100LS the USDM

Nice shot of a young couple looking for the nearest garage/towing service.

I know that is a Euro image but was the 100 ever sold in a 2-door version over here? I only recall the 4-door.

texases

I'm surprised to see that 100 with a black vinyl roof. Was that big in Germany back then?

fintail

Yep I am pretty sure the 2 door sedan was sold in the US anyway, for a short time. How many were on the road past 1980, that's another story. There was also an Audi 100 fastback coupe that we did not receive.

texases

I'm thinking the 100 a prof had at college was the 2 door.

Mr_Shiftright

I actually owned an Audi 100 for a short while. I liked the car and thought very highly of it at the time--but then, mine didn't have the chronic problems over overheating and early transmission failure. I bought mine used, and flipped it after 6 months or so. It was a great winter car, though, and with studded snows worked quite well in the Colorado front range. It had good power, lots of room inside, and handled and braked very well. Compared to domestics of the time, it was certainly different. I would say it compared best to a BMW of the same era--smoother and more comfy than a Benz. More like a Peugeot 504 perhaps.

Audi took a long time to shake off its reliability problems. Audis were still dropping like flies well into the early 2000s. Shameful, really. Then I guess some unforgiving, cruel, task master of a Kommandant was put in charge of quality control.

qbrozen

Mr_Shiftright said:

Audi took a long time to shake off its reliability problems.

Wait ... Audi shook off its reliability problems? I must have slept through that.

Mr_Shiftright

Well it's all relative, isn't it? Now they are no more glitchy than their competitors. Audis were a disaster in the 1990s and early 2000s. You might as well have just slit your throat rather than buy an early Allroad.

magnette

Given we had British Leyland through the era of the Audi 100 etc they were seen here as paragons of reliability.

Mr_Shiftright

Well perhaps paragons of DURABILITY, i.e., build quality, that's for sure.

BL is a pretty low bar to measure things by though.

magnette

So were Moskvitch

Mr_Shiftright

Sure, BL wasn't as bad as those commie cars?

andys120

I had a couple of first Gen Audi A4/B5s and got good service from them. I'd say they were almost as well built as the pair of Hondas I owned.

Mr_Shiftright

At least an Audi door went THUNK when you closed it---not THWANG!

andys120

fintail

I don't know about Moskvitch, but I think old Ladas are fairly rugged - you'll just be wrenching a bit.

That blue thing, what a car.

magnette

When I was in college in London in the late 70's the chap that used to fix the various wrecks I was driving - who was a repair man working out of the garage at the back of his house - he used to run a Moskvitch 427 estate and a Fiat 500 Estate. Had no trouble with the Moskvitch as he could just fix it when it went wrong -they are tough technically or you would die in Siberia, and it had a full tool kit - but the tailgate was rusting when it was a two year old car and I expect it lasted no longer than about six years.

They were fairly common in Britain in those days because you got a lot of car for the price of a basic Mini. More common in our equivalent of the Rustbelt - declining manufacturing towns with old heavy industries like mining and steel works. Plenty of them then in South Wales where I am from originally.

fintail

When in Germany several years ago, I saw a 60s era Moskvitch parked on the street:

magnette

I've seen a few at car shows but not in everyday use for about the last fifteen years - more likely in Germany as they had thousands after reunification I would imagine.

andys120

lostwrench1

1950 Buick.

andys120

Yep, a 1950 Buick Super. Kinda fierce looking w those big teeth in that grille. You see that in your rearview you're gonna pull over.

Love the windshield mount antenna.

andys120

stickguy

2nd generation Toyata MR2. I looked at a used one of these a few years back. fun car. I would be happy to have a nice clean one still.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

2nd generation Toyata MR2. I looked at a used one of these a few years back. fun car. I would be happy to have a nice clean one still.

There was a silly low mile turbo on BaT recently. I didn't watch where it wound up but I think it was over $13k when I saw it.

andys120

stickguy said:

2nd generation Toyata MR2. I looked at a used one of these a few years back. fun car. I would be happy to have a nice clean one still.

It's a 1992Toyota MR2

andys120

texases

'75-'77 Scirocco, the later ones had combo turn signals/side marker lights.

andys120

texases said:

'75-'77 Scirocco, the later ones had combo turn signals/side marker lights.

Article I took it from doesn't give exact MY but I'm sure you're correct, it's a Euro-spec Volkswagen Scirocco TS from Italy.

ab348

qbrozen

good grief. I hope there is no more than 1 of that in the world.

Mr_Shiftright

We generally don't allow "one-offs" in the Mystery Car topic.

Mr_Shiftright

I'm rather stumped at the moment, although I am having some dark, frankenstein-like memories.

The car has a Facel Vega air about it.

fintail

I recognize the badge.

Mr_Shiftright

Some kind of LaGonda?

texases

Some sort of Lagonda?

fintail

Hint, a now quite desirable car supplied the ideal and some parts for this one.