Mystery car pix

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  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    Here's a listing for a similar Empress style Bentley

    And one at Pebble Beach:

    image

    A number of Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars came stateside in the 60s and 70s, as they were thirsty old white elephants at home, so prices were low, and they had a lot of snob appeal in the colonies.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    That on has the unique C-post as the one in the old photo.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    On Sunset in the covered parking at far left, a Corvette Stingray, appears to be a convertible.
  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    edited April 2021
    EDIT
    Sorry - I crossed with Fintail when typing this,

    There were quite a few Hooper Empress models and they actually used the same name for some totally different designs too just to confuse..

    This one is closer to what I had in mind, its on an earlier Bentley Mk VI from 1950 rather than the R type but they offered it through to the late fifties too



    This is a larger RR Silver Wraith with the same basic design but on the larger four door - it actually dates from 1958 !



    Hooper also did the Bentley R type and mk VI in four door form too - i've got a photo in a book of one which looks like the RR above but with a shorter four door saloon from about 1953/4 I think
  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    Hooper were quite involved with Daimler for a time and even fitted one of the last Lanchesters ( a Dauphine ) with a similar body too - Lanchester were a separate make but owned by Daimler through to the mid fifties..
  • tmarttmart Member Posts: 2,414
    edited April 2021
    ab348 said:

    Another 1966 Ruscha pic from the Getty Museum which expands some. Amazing what you might find in the parking lot of a walk-up apartment on Sunset Blvd back then.


    Bullet Bird to the right of the Chevy. Bug at far right.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    Diverse assortment in Piotta (Switzerland):

    image
  • Lostwrench3Lostwrench3 Member Posts: 835
    1961 Olds 88.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    edited April 2021


    Bullet Bird to the right of the Chevy. Bug at far right.

    The Beetle is late 50s-early 60s.It has the larger rectangular rear glass seen on all post -1957 Bugs. By the mid '60s the tailights got a little bigger like those on my 1965 version>




    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    fintail said:

    Diverse assortment in Piotta (Switzerland):

    image

    I'm stumped by the red sedan between the 1958 Chevy and the Fintail Benz. Anybody know?
    I assume those are Swiss plates.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 20,483
    andys120 said:


    I'm stumped by the red sedan between the 1958 Chevy and the Fintail Benz. Anybody know?
    I assume those are Swiss plates.

    That looks like an Austin Cambridge to me. They spelled out both words on the chromed script applied to the trunk lid and this one seems to have that.

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  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    edited April 2021
    Yes, the maroon sedan is an Austin A60 Cambridge.


    The car to the left in the foreground is a Simca Aronde and there is a Peugeot 404 in the distance
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,161
    Lexus SC430, my nominee for 'most disappointing replacement for a really nice car'. And I'm not alone:

    "The SC 430 was featured in the Top Gear DVD, The Worst Car in the History of the World, in which Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May both agreed that the Lexus SC 430 is the 'worst car in the history of the world'."
  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    Here, those SC430s always seemed to be in red
  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    This one is from Dundee and about 1960 - it blows up quite well


  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    I think it was also one of the last cars available with a cassette player. The one in the pic is a later example with those wheels. Always gave me a Lucille Bluth vibe,
    texases said:

    Lexus SC430, my nominee for 'most disappointing replacement for a really nice car'. And I'm not alone:

    "The SC 430 was featured in the Top Gear DVD, The Worst Car in the History of the World, in which Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May both agreed that the Lexus SC 430 is the 'worst car in the history of the world'."

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    Background left I see a Morris Minor nosing into traffic (or perhaps parking). 100E Anglia/Prefect in front of it, and in front of that, a then-new Mini.
    magnette said:

    This one is from Dundee and about 1960 - it blows up quite well

  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    At first glance I thought this might be an American street, then I noticed the double-decked buses. I'll single out the MG-A FHC parked in front of the (Bedford?) van on the far side of the street.

    In front of the Carpets/Linoleum van on the nearside I see the back of a B-L ADO16. It may be the newest car
    (introduced in 1962).

    Hillman Minx/Sunbeam Rapier following A Minor Traveler in Left Lane.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,730
    fintail said:

    Diverse assortment in Piotta (Switzerland):

    image

    @fintail

    Is this MB in the same blue as your Fintail? I wondered if the film used made it
    look brighter than reality, or if there was another similar blue that was snappier?

    I note that the sky has a real bright blue tone and if I recall my photography and
    photofinishing at home in my sink days, some of the Kodak slide films or negative
    films enhanced the blue of the sky. AND in this case would have enhanced the
    blue of the MB in the picture.

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • xwesxxwesx Member Posts: 17,794
    Neat looking cityscape, though I strongly suspect it would not have been fun to be there at that moment in time.
    2018 Subaru Crosstrek, 2014 Audi Q7 TDI, 2013 Subaru Forester, 2013 Ford F250 Lariat D, 1976 Ford F250, 1969 Chevrolet C20, 1969 Ford Econoline 100
  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    edited April 2021
    @andys120

    You are right about the MGA and it is indeed a Hillman Minx, but the car obscured by the Linoleum van is an Austin A40 (the Farina one) introduced in 1958.

    Also the "shed" in front of the Minx isn't a Morris Traveller - its something rarer - I think it is one of these - a 1947 Hillman Minx Estate




    I have now also looked up that number 40 bus and based on its registration number, although it looks prewar it turned out that in 1947 Dundee City Council had twenty of these made on a Daimler chassis by a firm of coachbuilders in Newcastle and they were still running in Dundee until 1963 which isn't bad for such times

    If you look just to the right of the bus in the distance is a car crossing from right to left which I thought was an MG Magnette but it isn't - it is instead the larger Riley Pathfinder or its equivalent Wolseley 6/90

    I also found a really different vehicle - in the same area on the expanded picture below you can see the Riley/ Wolseley obscure by a cyclist, but look at the two tone rounded truck just beyond that cyclist - its a three wheeled tractor unit called a Scammel Mechanical Horse - our railways had lots of these doing deliveries from stations towing a trailer. - it was a model in early Matchbox toys I think.




    Here's one with its trailer




    I think the detail in this picture is quite good for a local newspaper ( it came from something like the Dundee Gazette or whatever) as you can even see through the windows in the bus and cars in the reflections on the shop windows too
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    I suspect it is the same color, and as you mention the colorization of the photo makes it look brighter. MB had maybe 8 shades of blue then, mostly darker than mine, but another was similar - "Delphin Blue" - which I have never seen on a fintail, mostly on 190SL. The Kodachrome effect, and a color that looks different in photos depending on the light.
    imidazol97 said:



    Is this MB in the same blue as your Fintail? I wondered if the film used made it
    look brighter than reality, or if there was another similar blue that was snappier?

    I note that the sky has a real bright blue tone and if I recall my photography and
    photofinishing at home in my sink days, some of the Kodak slide films or negative
    films enhanced the blue of the sky. AND in this case would have enhanced the
    blue of the MB in the picture.

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    That's right, there was a Mechanical Horse in the early Matchbox range, a small and slightly larger variant, I actually have both in my collection:



    magnette said:


    I also found a really different vehicle - in the same area on the expanded picture below you can see the Riley/ Wolseley obscure by a cyclist, but look at the two tone rounded truck just beyond that cyclist - its a three wheeled tractor unit called a Scammel Mechanical Horse - our railways had lots of these doing deliveries from stations towing a trailer. - it was a model in early Matchbox toys I think.

  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    edited April 2021
    Yes, in our attic I have a shoebox full of Matchbox toys and one of them is a small size Scammel too... - my recollection i it had a broken bracket for the front wheel, but I haven't got that box out for years - its been up there since I cleared the attic in my mother's old house in 2006 when she moved to a retirement home. I think mine had the beige coloured trailer rather than the grey one, in your photo.

    There are a number of these trucks preserved , not least because we have a lot of preserved railways and they tend to park them in the station yard etc.

    That picture of one in colour isn the livery our Nationalised railway, British Railways, their lorries and vans were mostly that cream over red like, no doubt, the one in the black and white scene from Dundee
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,161
    edited April 2021
    That looks a lot like (but not identical to) "Bunty's" car on "Father Brown", set in mid-50's England. Hers is a 1951 Sunbeam-Talbot 90.
  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    edited April 2021
    Makes me think of Grace Kelly - it's a Sunbeam Alpine, which was the car used in Hitchcock's To Catch A Thief, with Cary Grant, filmed on the French Riviera

    It was an export only car at first so comparatively few were sold in Britain, and I think it was the first Sunbeam of the post war period to dispense with the Sunbeam Talbot name... Made 1953/55
  • magnettemagnette Member Posts: 4,237
    To continue the theme - this is in the South of France too but a little later - circa 1972/3 I would think



  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    MB W108 (possibly a V8 car) facing away, W114/115 in the foreground, both with roof racks.
    magnette said:

    To continue the theme - this is in the South of France too but a little later - circa 1972/3 I would think


  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,161
    With a Renault R16 next to the W108, and a Pug 504 next to that.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    Green car @ far left: Fiat 128(special ed)?

    White car partly visible past Pug 504: Citroen BX, next car maybe a Citroen Ami Break>


    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    IIRC the beige trailer was only on the slightly upscaled version, made from ~1957-61.

    Also in France, orange/red car in the foreground is a Ford Taunus coupe. Citroen between the 504 and apparent Ami Break is a GS, which was pretty new at the time.
    magnette said:

    Yes, in our attic I have a shoebox full of Matchbox toys and one of them is a small size Scammel too... - my recollection i it had a broken bracket for the front wheel, but I haven't got that box out for years - its been up there since I cleared the attic in my mother's old house in 2006 when she moved to a retirement home. I think mine had the beige coloured trailer rather than the grey one, in your photo.

    There are a number of these trucks preserved , not least because we have a lot of preserved railways and they tend to park them in the station yard etc.

    That picture of one in colour isn the livery our Nationalised railway, British Railways, their lorries and vans were mostly that cream over red like, no doubt, the one in the black and white scene from Dundee

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    Stockholm, 1965 - something here is a little unusual:

    image
  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 53,839
    Is that a Chevy wagon next to the closest MB?

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  • Lostwrench3Lostwrench3 Member Posts: 835
    edited April 2021
    stickguy said:

    Is that a Chevy wagon next to the closest MB?

    Side rear view mirror is too far forward.

    Olds F-85?
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 11,161
    Is that a '65-ish GAZ-21R Volga following the Benz?
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    Yep that's it, a GAZ M21 Volga taxi behind the fintail in the foreground. I know they were sold in small numbers in Western Europe at the time, never seen one in traffic like this, especially as a taxi. IIRC they were in some ways reverse engineered from a 52-54 Ford.

    Car beside the fintail in the foreground is a Ford Taunus P3 Turnier, I think.
  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    Most of these cars are readily identifiable, the exception might be the redcar nosing in from the right. I believe it's an Opel Kadette, do you agree? (can be enlarged)


    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,659
    Yep I agree, Opel Kadett.

    Possibly green MGB in the driveway at center.
    andys120 said:

    Most of these cars are readily identifiable, the exception might be the redcar nosing in from the right. I believe it's an Opel Kadette, do you agree? (can be enlarged)

  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 20,483
    edited April 2021
    Red 1964 Buick Sportwagon (based on the Skylark) in the driveway adjacent to a '65 Impala (was hoping that one was painted Evening Orchid but it looks more like light green).

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  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    The kids are leaning on a 1963 Dodge Dart GT.

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • sdasda Member Posts: 7,678
    edited April 2021
    Years ago one of my Scoutmasters had a Kadette wagon, white. He parked on a slope in a field where we were having jamboree activities. When he was ready to go he couldn’t get the car to make it up the hill. The tires were not spinning so no lost traction, it just didn’t have enough power to make it up the hill. A host of Scouts to the rescue and helped push it up to the road where he drove off. Fun times.

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  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 53,839
    MG C GT? The v8 (Rover) model. Based on the hi-rise hood.

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  • ab348ab348 Member Posts: 20,483
    edited April 2021
    That is indeed a MGC. No Rover V8 in them though. It used a BMC lump of an inline 6 which made the car handle and ride worse without providing much of a performance increase.

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  • stickguystickguy Member Posts: 53,839
    ah. I knew the C hood and bigger engine. But I thought it was the V8.

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  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    It's captioned on BAT as a 1969 MG-CGT but can't be MY '69 as it lacks the side marker lights mandatory after MY 1967 but it certainly has the straight six that makes it an MG-C.

    As for the V8, 2 different versions were made, neither needed a bulged hood to clear the compact Buick Rover V8.>

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_MGB#MG_RV8

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675
    The green GT-C was listed in BAT as a 1969 MGC-GT but it lacks the side markers mandatory on USDM cars after MY '67.

    Two different MG V8 models were made but neither required a hood modification to clear the compact Buick-Rover 213V8.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_MGB#MG_RV8

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

  • andys120andys120 Member Posts: 23,675

    2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93

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