Mystery car pix

kyfdx · April 2005

Not mine.... it had a '69 engine swap, so they probably converted to 12-volt then..

Also, big dual Webers that probably came off of a 911.. Bogged a lot until you got going, then did pretty well..

I bought it off of a BMW mechanic that "restored" it (if you define that term loosely). I was naive and paid way too much, but not so much that it mattered in the long run..

An independent Euro repair garage brokered a sale for me, when I got rid of it.. The guy that bought it, had them put a new Metric Mechanic engine and 5-speed tranny it.. I saw him going down the road in it about a year later... It was still sharp looking... A poor man's 3.0CSI

regards,
kyfdx

andys120 · April 2005

I thought my '65 VW bug was the last car to have a 6-volt system.

andys120 · April 2005

I'll bet it was only six volts too.

rsholland · April 2005

MG Magnette Farina MK III, circa 1959.

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/farina/

Bob

kyfdx · April 2005

That sucks... My friend that only lives a half-mile from me has one of those, and I didn't even recognize it...

Of course, his is still in pieces... :surprise:

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

They made an Armstrong Siddeley that looked just like that, too. Not a swell car.

rsholland · April 2005

for this style of Magnette; the top two images, not the bottom one.

http://www.philseed.com/mg-magnette.html

Bob

kyfdx · April 2005

Okay.. now I see why I didn't recognize the other Magnette... My friend has one of those top two.. I thought I was losing it for a minute... Even in pieces, I should be able to tell...

andys120 · April 2005

rsholland · April 2005

Aston Martin Lagonda, circa 1976.

Bob

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

nasty looking thing. I hear tell that when the Star Wars dashboard craps out you can just about junk that car.

lancerfixer · April 2005

I still like 'em, and I know exactly why. In 1982, I was in second grade; I saw a picture of a Lagonda in a school library magazine and was hooked..."Knight Rider" had just premiered and the idea that KITT (or a close relative, anyway) existed blew my young mind. I'm liked them ever since. Yes, I know it's ugly to the modern eye. I also know the electronics are ghastly expensive and fragile. I don't care; it's not a car I'll ever be able to own, but I'm glad something as outlandish as this exists.

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

Oh you could own one. There are plenty people wanting to sell them...you give shifty a suitcase full of cash in the amount of....oh....$18,000...(for to tempt the seller and lowball him) .and he could find you a very decent car....not show but quite tasty. Might take a few months though as they only made maybe 600 or so of these....er....items.....

This sale of course would not include...ahem...a warranty....

lancerfixer · April 2005

Sure, for $18,000 I'd have a lovely garage queen. To keep it running is another ball of wax entirely! This would be part of my "if I won the lottery" stable (along with some more "acceptable" cars, don't worry!) :P

kyfdx · April 2005

Ever notice how we always want the cars we thought were cool when we were kids? Or, the cars our parents drove (I'm talking to you here, andre)?

I still get chills every time I see a '67 Bonneville 2-door.... the big long monster fast-back one... My mother bought one brand new, when I was eleven. White with white leather interior.. Then my aunt bought one just like it, only in navy blue.. I thought that was the coolest car in the whole world..

fintail · April 2005

I did like 126s when I was a kid...I didn't like fintails when I was young though, I thought they were quite ugly and awkward.

My parents cars though...bah. For mom it was white on white 76 T-Bird, then Ciera, Tempo, and several Taurus. For dad, Horizon, 1st gen Audi 5000, Blazer, Exploder, T&C, Ram....no thanks on any of it. I grew up in a bad time for cars.

lancerfixer · April 2005

I wouldn't want the cars my parents had, either (I suspect we're about the same age; I'm 30.)

All the cars my parents owned with me around, staring at (my) birth:

1972 Plymouth Gran Fury
1976 Toyota Corona wagon
1978 Toyota Corona wagon
19?? Beetle (like model years matter with these ghastly little piles)
1982 Chevy Citation (dad's company car)
1985 Olds Cutlass Ciera (Iron Duke four...oh, yeah!)
1986 Mazda B2000 (replaced the '78 Corona)
1988 Camry (replaced the Ciera)
1988 GMC 2500 (bought for dad's landscaping business...subsequently, uh, rolled by a 17 year old lancerfixer...thank God for seatbelts)
1995 Honda Accord (I'd moved out by this point, it replaced the Camry, which went 212,000 miles)
2001 Tacoma (replaced the '86 Mazda)
2003 Tacoma (dad traded his '01 in for a different color...the first impulse buy I've ever seen him make.)
They've still got the Accord.

Edit: and I've still got my Accord, too. It. Won't. Die.

lancerfixer · April 2005

That isn't a '76 Lagonda. It's a Series 4 model, as evidenced by the elimination of the popup headlights (these also had different dashboards than earlier cars...the instruments were displayed on CRTs, like on early "glass cockpit" aircraft, rather than the earlier "Knight Rider" digital displays. I think the last one was built in '86...?

Edit: I just checked here. Looks like these were produced until 1989.

andre1969 · April 2005

here's a list of what my parents had...

Mom:
1957 Plymouth (she doesn't remember the series, body style, engine, or anything, other than it was gray, and a window shattered on it when someone slammed one of the doors)
1959 Rambler station wagon
1966 Pontiac Catalina convertible
1968 Impala 4-door hardtop (the first one I remember)
1964 Ford Galaxie 4-door (Granddad got it for us so we could have an extra car)
1975 Pontiac LeMans coupe (I hated this car when I was a kid...kinda odd considering I just bought one that's not too different!)
1980 Chevy Malibu coupe (ended up being my first car)
1986 Monte Carlo (I ended up with this one, too)
1991 Nissan Stanza (she and my stepdad got this one together. They offered to sell me this one or give me the Monte. I took the Monte...good choice because the Stanza was starting to crap out)
1998 Ford Expedition (shared with stepdad)
1999 Nissan Altima (shared with stepdad)
2003 Ford F-150 (shared with stepdad)

My Dad had...
1964 Ford Galaxie 500 hardtop coupe. I think it had a 390-4bbl
1963 Chevy Impala SS409 hardtop
1965 Chevy Impala SS(396?) hardtop
1962 Corvette (don't get too excited, it was a clapped out POS)
1964 GTO 2-door sedan (again, don't get too excited...it was a pile as well. Engine blew...granddad helped my Dad put a Chevy 400 or something like that in it)
1970-71 Ford Torino 4-door (inherited when great-granddad passed away)
1966 Pontiac Executive 4-door hardtop
2003 Buick Regal LS

Here's one thing I noticed, that's kinda disturbing....
Mom had a '57 Plymouth. I bought a '57 DeSoto
Mom had a '66 Catalina convertible. I bought a '67
Mom had a '75 LeMans coupe. I bought a '76.

Good lord, am I turning into my MOTHER?! :surprise:

I think one reason that I like the cars from my youth is that for the most part, we were able to avoid the cars that were really crappy. Mom's '75 LeMans was an okay car, until Dad ran it into a tree one night! :mad: It was repaired, but never ran right after that. The only car from the 70's I can really remember giving any of my family members fits was a '75 Dart that my grandparents on my Dad's side bought. It would stall out randomly, at any time, place, speed, etc. Come to think of it, I had an aunt and uncle that had not one but TWO Datsun 510 station wagons. Contrary to the reputation the 510 might have today, these were NOT good cars! These were more mid-70's though, so they weren't the boxy little "poor man's BMWs", but just the generic, goofily-styled, slow to accelerate but fast to rust typical mid-70's piece of junk.

I have tended to fixate on cars that I thought were cool when I was younger, though. For instance, I always thought a '67 Pontiac was cool, ever since I was a little kid. And I think "Smokey and the Bandit" turned me on to the '76-77 LeMans. It wasn't that different from a '73-75, but I liked the rectangular quad headlights and toned-down beak much better than the single round headlights and larger schnoz. I think the movie "Christine" is what turned me on to late 50's Mopars, and when I finally saw a picture of a '57-59 DeSoto, I wanted one...bad! As for the Chrysler R-body, I can't explain that one. I guess I just always liked the style of them. Angular and squared-off, but still smoother, cleaner, and more of a long-and-low look than a competing Ford or GM product of the time.

I also tend to get claustrophobic, so that might be one reason that I never got into smaller cars. I always liked stuff like the Camaros and Trans Ams and other sporty (or sporty looking) cars, but they would be more of something that I'd admire from afar, rather than have any desire to own.

fintail · April 2005

About those Lagondas, if I had to have one, I would want an earlier version. I think they are better looking, although probably a lot less reliable. The Brits sure had a fascination with the wedge design theme.

Seems my parents had their cool cars (2 56 Crown Vics, Ford retractable, 61 Impala convert, Mustang MachI, etc) before I was born. My dad also had a few special interest cars (60 Ford wagon, 68 Fairlane) when I was a teenager.

andre1969 · April 2005

my Dad's Corvette, but I do remember the GTO. I was actually afraid to ride in that car! I remember the night he went to pick it up. We were following him back home, and sparks were showering from under the car as the exhaust dragged along the road. Scared the hell out of me!

I also remember Dad taking me to nursery school in it one day, and he ran out of gas about 500 feet down the road from the Shell station!

lemko · April 2005

Dad:

1950 Ford coupe
1955 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Starfire convertible
1961 Chevrolet Biscayne
1962 Volkswagen
1965 Pontiac GTO convertible
1968 AMC Javelin
1970 Ford Torino
1972 Ford LTD Country Squire
1978 Ford Granada coupe
1981 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau
1989 Chrysler LeBaron coupe
1991 Ford Aerostar
1997 Mercury Mystique

Mom:

1987 Dodge Omni
2005 Chevrolet Aveo

Of all the cars Mom and Dad have owned, only three were desirable in my eyes: the '55 Olds convertible, '61 Chevy, and the '65 GTO.

Grandpop and Uncle Daniel had more my taste in cars:

Grandpop:

1941 Chevrolet Special Deluxe
1947 Hudson Commodore
1953 Plymouth Cambridge
1958 Chevrolet Impala
1962 Plymouth Valiant
1964 Chevrolet Biscayne
1967 Chevrolet Bel Air
1974 Chevrolet Impala
1980 Chevrolet Impala
1989 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham

Uncle Daniel:

1962 Chevrolet Corvair
1968 AMC Rebel SST
1970 Chevrolet Impala Custom
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1973 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1975 Lincoln Continental

My next door neighbor really influenced me the most:

1970 Chrysler New Yorker
1972 Chrysler New Yorker
1973 Chrysler New Yorker
1975 Imperial
1978 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham
1981 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1984 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1987 Cadillac Brougham d'Elegance

michaellno · April 2005

...but, to recap

Mom:

'60 VW Beetle
'67 VW Squareback
'73 Toyota Corona
'72 MB 220D
'84 Toyota Celica
'91 Toyota Camry
'03 Hyundai Sonata

Dad:

'53 Ford pickup
'70 Chevy pickup

andre1969 · April 2005

your neighbor's list of cars made me think of something. My grandmother's cousin had a, umm, I guess you'd call the term "man-friend"? who always bought a brand-new car every year or so. Back in the day, he always bought Imperials, and then New Yorker Broughams after the Imperial went away. For some reason he never got an R-body, but around that timeframe did have a Chrysler Cordoba LS and a Dodge Mirada. After that, though, he went Cadillac all the way. I'm guessing that those K-car Mopars scared a lot of the traditional Mopar buyers away, and made them go to Cadillac or Lincoln.

My grandmother's cousin still has one of his old cars...a dark reddish/burgundy '89 Coupe DeVille.

rsholland · April 2005

Well I remember them in this order:

Black '41 Buick Special 2-door fastback sedanette.
Gray '50 Dodge Meadowbrook 4-door sedan.
Cream/brown '57 Mercury Montclair 2-door hardtop.
White '62 VW sunroof.
Blue-gray '67 Chevy II
Yellow '72 (?) Datsun B-210.

Bob

kyfdx · April 2005

I saw one today.... 2-door.. They are almost non-existent these days.. Gone the way of the Pinto and Mustang II.

kyfdx · April 2005

I don't think the B-210 came out until later.. like '76 or '77... I remember driving a co-worker's.. It had the most gutless engine.. You didn't even have to lift off the accelerator to shift... It wouldn't even wind up in neutral..

andre1969 · April 2005

that just jogged my memory. Yesterday I saw this gorgeous pale yellow sedan with blackout trim. It has color-coordinated wheel covers, and looked very upscale. Not sure what it was. It said "ESS" on the side. I think it was some kind of Benz model! :P

rsholland · April 2005

Yeah, it was a miserable car, and I think you're right about the year. IIRC it was their Honey Bee model, or something like that.

Bob

bhill2 · April 2005

Aaackkk! That wasn't a Benz, it was a Ford Granada (unless someone else tuned out an ESS model but I don't know of any).

andre1969 · April 2005

looked an awful lot like a Benz to me!

But, the more I think of it, it could've been a Cadillac Seville!

:surprise:
:lemon:

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

It's the one without the pieces falling off it!

andys120 · April 2005

This one looks like a shrunken '59 Lincoln.

rsholland · April 2005

1960 Shamrock.

http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=101962

Bob

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

gonna see if this link works:

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

andys120 · April 2005

Recognize this car?

stickguy · April 2005

kyfdx · April 2005

An Alfa, right?

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

No, not Alfa......there is something frightening about the car in the back of my mind but I can't place it....

kyfdx · April 2005

If not Italian, then British? Or Swedish? I'm really narrowing this down.. Actually, the body shape reminds me of a 240Z.

lancerfixer · April 2005

...but something about it also says "Datsun..." I can't quite place it.

lancerfixer · April 2005

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the car isn't Swedish. Can't speak for the model. :shades:

rsholland · April 2005

The image is from Brazil.

Bob

andys120 · April 2005

Imagine it with a notchback instead of the fastback. It only came as a
notchback in the US.

kyfdx · April 2005

I'm terrible at this.. Ford Cortina?

fintail · April 2005

"Imagine it with a notchback instead of the fastback. It only came as a
notchback in the US. "

It's some kind of Audi, I believe a 100

andys120 · April 2005

Here's the four-door that was imported ca. '69-'74 (ours had four round h/ls), we also got a two-sedan (notchback)

...and a frontal of the Euro only fastback, a pretty attractive car for it's day IMO.

Mr_Shiftright · April 2005

Now I know why I had that sinking feeling. Evil car, very evil car--but decent looking and somewhat ground-breaking. Probably the first real "euro sport 4 door sedan" in America. Liked to overheat and blow head gaskets regularly. Whoa to all who bought one.

andys120 · April 2005

Didn't they go thru brakes like crazy as well? IIRC they had inboard rotors that didn't get enough cooling. The Audi 100LS was also the first premium front drive sedan sold in the US.

Mystery car pix

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