Mystery car pix

imidazol97 · August 2009

stephen987 · August 2009

I believe the London Taxi is a Carbodies FX4. The GTO is either a '66 or '67.

hudsonthedog · August 2009

The first car is obviously a 1966 or 1967 Pontiac GTO. The car in the rear is either an Austin FX4 or an LTI Fairway, depending on the year.

imidazol97 · August 2009

The GTO is a 67.

The British car I know nothing about.

Does a picture of the rear help?

fintail · August 2009

Ha...could two cars have any less in common?

imidazol97 · August 2009

I thought the carrier would be traveling today, but when I was back by it was there and the cars had traded places. From that I infer they belong to different owners and the white GTO will be dropped off first so the driver switched cars today while he was at home somewhere near the shopping plaza where he parked them overnight.

Is the British car a rare one? Value?

And

andys120 · August 2009

fintail · August 2009

Nope, the British car isn't particularly valuable...kind of the limey equivalent of a Checker. It's probably 70s vintage, a curiosity.

imidazol97 · August 2009

Thank you.

british_rover · August 2009

The yard has 180 days to take any part off the car but the engine. The law is a little vague on the rest of the drive train but the Engine cannot be reused at all and most be shredded for scrap metal.

We had one 1991 300SE clunked but it has 221,000 miles according to my inventory tracking system.

I only saw from across the lot so couldn't tell if it was in good shape or not. I can't imagine it would be all that great with those kind of miles.

fintail · August 2009

On most of these cars, the engine will be the least valuable component anyway. Worn out and labor intensive to salvage. Good used MB engines can easily be found for under 2K...I have to believe the others are much cheaper. The little bits are where the money is.

I would imagine in your area, where rust is not unknown, a 221K mile 18 year old car would have some issues. It's sad to see a W126 meet an early grave, but at the same time, nobody would save it anyway. The good ones won't be clunked.

I looked on youtube for Mercedes C4C videos...I found an early W124 with issues - retail maybe $1500 on that car. There was a ca. 1987 124 wagon on a C4C holding lot, condition unknown. And in one video a sadly nice looking W126 420SEL was claimed to be in the program...it looked good, but I don't know the story behind it.

jlbl · August 2009

Renault Mégane Sport Tourer, or so it looks to me.

Regards from the old Biscay,
Jose

Edit: I believe these London black cabs pictured in other post are made in China since 2008 by the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which is the Chinese major private car builder.

andys120 · August 2009

Renault Mégane Sport Tourer

Yup.

andys120 · August 2009

texases · August 2009

urnews · August 2009

My guess is a Studebaker, maybe a 1958. Scotsman comes to mind but that might not be it.

texases · August 2009

Close enough, it's a '57 Champion Scotsman.

stephen987 · August 2009

Ford Cortina, ca. 1964?

andys120 · August 2009

That's about right, the Ford Consul Cortina mk I was made from '62-'66

andys120 · August 2009

stickguy · August 2009

1985ish Toyota Cressida. With a pod attached to the back...

davethecarnut · August 2009

So the Ipod adapter was mounted in the trunk back in the 80's? :P

au1994 · August 2009

I really liked those cars back then. I tried to get my parents to buy one, but they went with a Cutlass Ciera instead. My Dad was still totally against imports at the time and was a loyal Olds guy to boot. Drives a Camry now btw...

andys120 · August 2009

Yup, it's an '85 Cressida.

andys120 · August 2009

stephen987 · August 2009

Opel Manta A, US model, 1974-75

michaellno · August 2009

The '85's still came with an inline-6 and the option of a manual transmission, correct? When did they switch over to the V6 engine?

guyfuson · August 2009

Thanks for the photo -- but no, this thing was NEW. It was a pearlescent pinkish-champagne, in good shape all over -- which means it would have to be fairly new (Mongolia is hell on wheels, but not the way it is usually meant).

I'll check into Wartburg (never heard of it) and Tatra - I thought it may also be Chinese, though I'm at a loss on that as well.

Dang, I wish I'd taken a picture...

andre1969 · August 2009

Those '85-88 era Cressidas were good cars, but expensive. My 1985 Consumer Guide has a test of one, and I think it MSRP'ed at around $17,600. And I'm sure most of them went out the door at sticker, or close to it. In contrast, I think my grandparents' 1985 LeSabre Limited, just about fully-loaded, was around $16,200 out the door. Back in those days, a lot of people still equated value to size, so it must have been quite a shock to see a compact Toyota that priced out higher than a full-size Buick or Olds!

Now in its defense, I think that $17,600 included a power sunroof, leather, and alloys, three things that would have been very rare on a 1985 LeSabre or Delta 88. And I think that Cressida was the highest-rated car in that Consumer Guide issue.

How long did your Dad's Cutlass Ciera last? There's a guy here at work who had a late 80's Cutlass Ciera with a Chevy engine. Can't remember if it was a 2.8 or 3.1. I think he got rid of it in 2004 or 2005. He drives a Camry now, too.

fintail · August 2009

It very well could be some Chinese nightmare. I am sure there are some iffy small-scale models being produced there that nobody here is familiar with.

Wartburg and Tatra have been out of the carmaking business for ages. Tatra still makes trucks, that's it.

texases · August 2009

Yes, I think all Cressidas in the US had the I6 and RWD. They changed to the v6/FWD with the Avalon. My folks had one of those '85 or so Cressidas, but I drove it very little, so I don't have much of an impression of it. Seemed nice.

au1994 · August 2009

I do recall that the Cressida was fairly loaded. I thought they looked classy and so much different (in a good way) from the domestic offerings of the time.

We kept the Ciera for about 3 yrs which was about typical for Dad at the time. It wasn't an bad car at all compared to some of the Olds we had, it had the 3.8 V6 so it had some get up and go. Was the Broo-ham model so it had all the bells and whistles down to the "wire" wheels and vinyl top.

This was Mom's car actually and was traded on a 91 626.

au1994 · August 2009

Same size I6 as was in the Supra at the time IIRC. Tuned differently obviously. Don't remeber if a stick was offered or not.

andys120 · August 2009

If it was new don't bother checking into Wartburg or Tatra, they haven't been around for decades.

andys120 · August 2009

au1994 · August 2009

a Polo variant?

texases · August 2009

If it follows recent VW naming convention, it's the 'Tiguanaroureg', or something like that.... :P

stephen987 · August 2009

Is it still called the VW Caddy?

nortsr1 · August 2009

I see you follow Autoblog, andys120. That Brazilian VW pickup also runs on ethanol or reg. gasoline.

andys120 · August 2009

That Brazilian VW pickup also runs on ethanol or reg. gasoline.

Yep, it's the new Brazilian-made Volkswagen Saviero a flex-fuel vehicle like
many in Brazil where cane-derived ethanol is plentiful and cheap. I think it's interesting that it gets slightly more power on ethanol.

wgrafer · August 2009

Maybe it's just my fuzzy monitor, but doesn't it say "TROOPER" on the side molding?

bhill2 · August 2009

We had an '88 Cressida. It had a slightly smaller (2.8 l vs. 3.0 l, destroked I think) version of the Supra I6. IIRC, the stick was available through '87, in any case ours was an auto. Anyway, it was indeed loaded, as in power everything, adjustable suspension, adjustable transmission shift point mapping (regular and sport [which I always used]), and much more. We drove it 150,000 miles without anything (and I do mean anything) going wrong. Finally we gave it to my stepson as a kid hauler and my idiot [step]daugher-in-law talked him into giving it away because she wanted to keep the POS Jeep CJ-7 that she still had from her single days. If I had it to do over again we would still have that car.

andys120 · August 2009

Good eyes, it does indeed say "Trooper", perhaps Trooper is a submodel as in VW Saviero Trooper? :confuse:

davethecarnut · August 2009

I guess the Camry took over the Cressida spot. It wasn't that much smaller than the Cressida....I think the Camry came out in 84 :confuse: ? But I don't recall if it had a 6 cyl option. But then Toyota launched the LS, so no need for the Cressida.

michaellno · August 2009

But, the Cressida was RWD, whereas the Camry was, in my mind, the replacement for the Corona and was FWD.

The Cressida was positioned against the Datsun 810 / Nissan Maxima, even though the 810 was RWD and the Maxima FWD.

If the Lexus LS series was meant as the replacement for the Cressida, why does Toyota continue to sell the Avalon, which succeeded the Cressida?

texases · August 2009

Well, the Avalon was the eventual replacement for the Cressida, being the optioned up 'luxury' Toyota. The first Camrys were not that kind of car.

andre1969 · August 2009

The Camry first came out for 1983, and it did replace the RWD Corona. It was smaller and lighter than the Cressida, but actually bigger inside. It was hardly a cheap car, but was still much less expensive than a Cressida. While my 1985 Consumer Guide's test Cressida stickered for around $17,600, the Camry they tested was something like $14,058. A very well-equipped car, but still just a 4-cyl, and no leather. Can't remember if it had alloys or a sunroof.

The Camry got restyled for 1987, but I don't think it was an all-new ground-up redesign. It was still pretty substantial, though. I can't remember when the V-6 was first offered, but they did have it by 1991. It was a small 2.5L unit.

The Cressida got redesigned around 1989 I think, and was a little bigger, a bit more luxurious, but just seemed more conservative. The previous generation seemed just a touch sporty in its angularity, but the more rounded style of the redesign just seemed to age it.

And then, of course, around that time, the Lexus lineup was introduced, and the Cressida sort of got squeezed out.

When the Avalon came out for 1996, IIRC, it was just a stretched-out Camry with a standard V-6. It was a foray into Buick territory, trying to go after customers who wanted something comfy and fairly roomy and without a sporting bone in its body. The ads even proclaimed "Experience the Tranquility", and I vaguely remember them playing soothing music and showing a lot of peaceful clouds and other soothing vignettes, reminiscent of the death chambers in "Soylent Green".

The Avalon was popular for awhile, but always seemed a step or two behind the Camry. The Camry would get redesigned and up-sized a bit, but then it would take a couple years before a new Avalon made the scene. And as the Camry gets nicer, it pushed the Avalon upscale too, where it sort of gets squeezed between the Camry and the ES350.

stephen987 · August 2009

Quite correct. What eventually killed off the Cressida was the Camry's 1992 redesign. The Camry became significantly larger, and available with more upscale equipment, so there wasn't much reason for US customers to spend more for the significantly more cramped Cressida.

Sort of the same situation that has occurred more recently with Nissan's Altima and Maxima.

lemko · August 2009

Shoot, Cressida still seems to have a stellar reputation. Maybe they should rename the Avalon to Cressida?

stephen987 · August 2009

Only if they bring back the inline six and RWD!

Mystery car pix

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