Mystery car pix

grahampeters · February 2014

@andys120 said:

Badge looks like an Abarth but I am not sure of the model. Lines look a little like a slimmed down mid 60's Ferrari

Cheers

GRaham

andys120 · February 2014

@grahampeters said:
Badge looks like an Abarth but I am not sure of the model. Lines look a little like a slimmed >down mid 60's Ferrari.

It's funny you should say that because when I first saw one I thought "baby Ferrari". It's an
Abarth-Simca 2000 ,they were amazingly small and quite fast. Mostly they were seen at places like Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and Mont Tremblant but some were street legal.

The alloy wheels are Abarth Elektrons. Carlo Abarth was a manufacturer of speed parts for Fiats and Simcas who eventually expended into building cars in small volumes. Abarth was based in Turin and eventually bought out by Fiat SPa. The name survives today on performance oriented Fiat models.

Abarth did their own styling and were quite good at it. My favorite Porsche 356 derivative was the Porsche-Abarth Carrera>

magnette · February 2014

@fintail said:
In 1967, Sweden finally moved to driving on the right instead of the left (cars were LHD, weirdly).

They banned sale of RHD cars from about 1960 as they prepared for the changeover - everybody with cars under seven years old had a car ready for the new rules - makes sense really as people could get used to driving on the wrong side of the car for a while.
I find driving on the other side of the road is easy after the first hundred yards or so, but as for us it coincides with picking up an unfamiliar hire car and trying to find our way out of an airport / city centre car park / etc, it tends to be the worst hundred yards of the trip....
It's easier if we rent an auto but we've only ever done that in the US - in Europe its a manual Fiat / Peugeot / Opel whatever...

magnette · February 2014

@fintail said:

That car on the extreme left in the "before" shot is a Vauxhall Victor FB - I think it's the VX4/90 model. Can also see a Ford Anglia coming towards us.

British cars did well in Sweden (not just before they went over to the dark side) because Britain and the Scandinavian countries weren't at that stage in what became the EU - we had been rebuffed by the French so we joined EFTA (European Free Trade Association) together with Ireland, Austria and I think Switzerland.
When the French gave in and we finally joined in 1973, it was effectively the end of EFTA.

magnette · February 2014

@magnette said:
When the French gave in and we finally joined in 1973, it was effectively the end of EFTA.

And in front of the Vauxhall it's an Opel Kapitan I think, looks too big to be a Rekord.

andys120 · February 2014

uplanderguy · February 2014

1962 Plymouth Sport Fury

fintail · February 2014

I know this isn't the same car, but seeing that Plymouth makes me think of this:

berri · February 2014

I think that convertible is actually a 62 Dodge Polara. IIRC Jane Hathaway on Beverly Hillbillies drove one. Her character looked a bit like a man, so maybe this is another side of the character.

grahampeters · February 2014

@fintail said:
I know this isn't the same car, but seeing that Plymouth makes me think of this:

G'day

Silly bits that you remember from movies! The deadbeat lifeguard stole it from his mistress's husband - name the movie and the characters!

Oh, a quick search suggests the flying convertible is a Dodge Dart 440

Cheers

Graham

Mr_Shiftright · February 2014

What the movies don't show you is what actually happens to a car when it "lands" after being airborne--usually it breaks.

tjc78 · February 2014

Yes, they do. I've also heard that many times there is a ramp they land on that is edited out. That is how they did many of the "turbo boost" scenes in Knight Rider.

Mr_Shiftright · February 2014

I don't recall how many cars they wrecked in Bullitt but it must have been plenty--or maybe they had lots of spare parts and welding equipment on site.

boyce · February 2014

I think the red convertible is from " Its a Mad, Mad,Mad, Mad World" and the driver is Dick Shawn. Spencer Tracy, Sid Caesar, and Phil Silvers were also in the movie plus many other well known stars.

fintail · February 2014

Yep, it's a Dodge Dart 440, per IMCDB. One of my favorite movies of all time, and an awesome car spotting experience. And yeah, it was Dick Shawn as "Sylvester" - when I see that red car, I can hear Ethel Merman's screechy voice saying his name.

Funny you mention the car theft bit - that scene is usually cut out of US TV versions of the film, but I think it exists on a special disc edition - one where they are also dancing to an instrumental song and not "31 Flavors" while the mother is calling.

There's also a scene in it showing a virtual twin to a cool old car my dad had in the 90s:

Also show in the background of the end sequence with the fire truck ladders etc, is a fintail:

@grahampeters said:
Graham

lostwrench1 · February 2014

As to car landing damage, check out the surprising number of Generals used in The Dukes of Hazard.

andys120 · February 2014

Movie still>

andys120 · February 2014

Is this thing on? No takers on my little white car, it's related to a US market car but it was sold under another name in non-US markets.

uplanderguy · February 2014

VW Fox?

fintail · February 2014

Definitely looks Audi 80/Fox related

andys120 · February 2014

You guys have the right idea. It's a ** 1975 VW Passat/B1** , the first car to wear the Passat name, it was sold in the US as the Volkswagen Dasher. It was essentially the same car as the Audi 80 (sold here as the Audi Fox) except for the sloping hatchback.

The later Volkswagen Fox was an entirely different car sourced from VW do Brasil.

andys120 · February 2014

Thing?>

grahampeters · February 2014

@andys120 said:
Thing?>

A remarkably straight looking Citroen Mehari. They were based off the Citroe Dyane 6 which was, in turn derived from the 2CV. The suspension was extraordinary on these Citroens. The body was some sort of plastic - I don't think fibreglass.

The opening credits of a Keith Floyd series, perhaps on food in France, had him driving one of these accompanied by The Stranglers music (possibly Golden Brown).

Cheers

Graham

andys120 · February 2014

@grahampeters said:
Citroen Mehari

Yup, from what I have read the Mehari, unlike the VW Thing (a Beetle dressed as a Kubelwagen) actually had some off-road capabilities and saw military service with French and other forces.
Most were FWD but there were also 4WD versions.

The bodies were ABS plastic except for a version made in Uruguay which used fiberglass bodies. A few were exported to the USA during the 1970 MY according to Wikipedia. The certainly fit the reputation of Citroen for making vehicles that are odd but cool.

stever · February 2014

I've had a lot of whitewater canoes over the years made with ABS. Same stuff that most Legos are made of. So that could explain why it's still "straight". The one maker of big ABS "sandwich" sheets (Royalex) for canoes closed their factory in Indiana last December, causing a minor uproar among the paddling crowd.

texases · February 2014

I had an Old Town 'Tripper' canoe made of Royalex, I think. 80 lbs, but sturdy...

andys120 · February 2014

stever · February 2014

@texases, my wife and I spent 3 weeks on a river trip in a borrowed Tripper "last century". The owner was a bit paranoid about beating it up (she knew how I abused my own ABS boats), so we treated it gently. The next winter it was stored in their yard under an eave and a big load of ice and snow crushed it. Old Town used to throw them off their three story factory roof back in the day to demonstrate their durability before they moved the company into a strip mall.

You can heat out lots of the dents if you care. Semi cabs were being made with Royalex, but like you say, weight is a problem. Unfortunately there's nothing else for whitewater open canoes that's as durable that's not even heavier.

@andys120, 1967 Mercury Cougar?

stickguy · February 2014

based on no side markers, it is a '67 Cougar. Maybe an XR-7 due to the hidden headlights?

actually, looks like hood pins. not an eliminator with no hood scoop. Maybe not stock, same with the wheels.

explorerx4 · February 2014

@Stever
I'm not an expert on Cougars, but the rear fender has a side marker light, so that means at least '68. The front doesn't so that means '67 or earlier. Maybe a '67 1/2?

stever · February 2014

lol, maybe it's a Johnny Cash version.

lostwrench1 · February 2014

67 Cougar. That is not a side light but a badge reading cougar and an image of one.

jwilliams2 · February 2014

I agree., it's a 1967 Cougar XR7 GT. I bought one just like it (Sage Gold) back in '67. 390ci with 335 HP or so. Wish I still had it. Great car.

texases · February 2014

Didn't they all have covered lights of that era? I worked on one owned by a friend of my dad. We had to 'test drive' it one Friday night...lucky I was able to clean it up the next morning!

andys120 · February 2014

It's being advertised as a 1967 Mercury Cougar XR-7/390 . I don't know what accounts for the rear only marker lights.

uplanderguy · February 2014

Actually, I think what you think is a rear market light is a nameplate "Cougar" just in a rectangular box. I think the car is a '67.

andys120 · February 2014

I buddy of mine has a '68 390 Cougar (it's spending the winter stored in my garage) which has markers front and rear.

andys120 · February 2014

I love the colors on this one>

uplanderguy · February 2014

1956 Oldsmobile. I don't know the model exactly, but I'll say "Eighty-Eight".

I always thought that was one of the prettiest Oldsmobiles.

stickguy · February 2014

I like the 67 Camaro in front of it better

andys120 · February 2014

@uplanderguy said:
1956 Oldsmobile. I don't know the model exactly, but I'll say "Eighty-Eight".

I always thought that was one of the prettiest Oldsmobiles.

You're a little off Uplander, it's a 1956 Olds 98 Holiday. You have to look close to notice it's a four-door hardtop.

andys120 · February 2014

The Flamingo, 195?>

isellhondas · February 2014

It looks like the two newest cars are 56's!

Mr_Shiftright · February 2014

Not a Ford in sight?

andys120 · February 2014

@MrShift@Edmunds said:
Not a Ford in sight?

Not much of anything else, I see only two MoPars, the white '55 (DeSoto?) and a black early '50s unit backing out on the left. No Packards, Nashes or Studes.

isellhondas · February 2014

Not to be nitpicky but the De Soto is one of the '56's.

Imagine Las Vegas during that time when few cars had air conditioning?

andys120 · February 2014

Looks like there's a GM dealer convention in town but not that many current model cars and no Pontiacs. I missed one MoPar, it's the cab at the curb, a 46-48 model, probably a DeSoto, all the cabs seem to be DeSotos back then, at least where I grew up (NYC area).

grahampeters · February 2014

G'day

The reference to the Olds 88 and 98 intrigues me. Did the Oldsmobile model numbers mean anything - perhaps wheelbase length?

Or was it just random

Cheers

Graham

andys120 · February 2014

@grahampeters said:
G'day

The reference to the Olds 88 and 98 intrigues me. Did the Oldsmobile model numbers mean anything - perhaps wheelbase length?

Or was it just random

I suppose it might have been tied to wheelbase at one time but by the 1950s wheelbases were a lot more than 88 or 98". Classic car database puts the '56 Holiday 98 at a 126 inch wb.

classiccardatabase.com/specs.php?series=5287&year=1956&model=27840http://

texases · February 2014

The numbers seemed to be like BMW or MB numbers - there used to be a 66, a 76, a 78, and a 98 around 1940, with 6 or 8 indicating number of cylinders. The 78 was replaced with the 88, then the lower numbers were eventually dropped. More info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_98

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