Mystery car pix

Michaell · November 24

stickguy said:
Red Torino wagon.

Silver foreign job is stumping me.

BNW coupe of some sort, to my eyes.

Lostwrench3 · November 24

BOAC ! 1940-1974.

Oops. This isn't mystery airline pix.

bhill2 · November 24

I'll be the one to shoot fish in a barrel. Front and (kind of center) a 65 Chevy Impala 4-door hardtop.

Michaell · November 24

Lostwrench3 said:
BOAC ! 1940-1974.

Oops. This isn't mystery airline pix.

"Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC...."

kyfdx · November 25

Michaell said:

stickguy said:
Red Torino wagon.

Silver foreign job is stumping me.
BNW coupe of some sort, to my eyes.

I don't think it's the BMW 2000 CS. The taillights aren't quite right. But, it's a similar look.

andys120 · November 25

stickguy said:
Red Torino wagon.

Silver foreign job is stumping me.

Silver car is likely a BMW 2000CS or 2800CS.

ab348 · November 25

The Ford wagon looks huge until you realize there is an even bigger Chrysler fuselage wagon ahead of it.

I am also stumped by the silver car - I thought at first it was a BNW but now don't think so. It appears to have a pair of body pillars bisecting either end of the rear window. Stumped.

This appears to be the intersection of Veteran Ave and Santa Monica Blvd, now very different. Today there is a Porsche dealership at that corner, and the rail lines are gone.

texases · November 25

kyfdx said:

Michaell said:

stickguy said:
Red Torino wagon.

Silver foreign job is stumping me.
BNW coupe of some sort, to my eyes.
I don't think it's the BMW 2000 CS. The taillights aren't quite right. But, it's a similar look.

I agree, the taillights are different, along with the two bars in the rear window:

explorerx4 · November 25

Saw a couple of not often seen trucks around the corner the other day.

stickguy · November 25

That is 2 ends of the spectrum.

fintail · November 25

I think the foreign car in California is a Fiat 2300 coupe, sold in very small numbers in the US but I think a handful made it over. I had a toy car of one when I was a kid, it was an old toy even then.

texases · November 26

@fintail said:
I think the foreign car in California is a Fiat 2300 coupe, sold in very small numbers in the US but I think a handful made it over. I had a toy car of one when I was a kid, it was an old toy even then.

Looks like you got it:

andys120 · November 26

Yup, I failed to notice the bars in the rear window of the silver coupe. Those were a defining characteristic of the Fiat 2300 Coupe . The 2300 Coupe was the top of the line for regular production Fiats. There were wagon, sedan variants and special-bodied versions br Allemano, Abarth, Ghia and others.

I'm pretty sure I have seen a few way back in the 60s or early 70s.

ab348 · November 26

Ah, that is it.

In looking it up, it was based on an unfortunately-styled 6-cylinder boxy sedan that reminded me of an Austin Cambridge with a less attractive-looking front end. The coupe had a different design up front that looked better, and seemed irresistible to Italian coachbuilders, who produced a few of their own variations of it, all of which looked better than the Fiat versions.

kyfdx · November 26

I cheated.. as I owned a '67 2000 CS for 5 years in the '80s.

sda · November 26

@kyfdx said:
I cheated.. as I owned a '67 2000 CS for 5 years in the '80s.

Did it have a small inline 6? Sweet car.

kyfdx · November 26

sda said:

@kyfdx said:

I cheated.. as I owned a '67 2000 CS for 5 years in the '80s.

Did it have a small inline 6? Sweet car.

No, the 2000 was a 4 cylinder (like a 2002).

The 2800 or 3.0 had the six cylinder

fintail · November 26

The Fiat 2300 sedan definitely resembles a BMC Farina, as ab points out:

Kind of an Italian fintail. The somewhat angular finned Pininfarina-based styling was thing in Europe for a few years on either side of 1960 it seems.

fintail · November 27

A busy day in the Gastown area of Vancouver BC, mid 60s perhaps, zooms enough to pick out many, something here is unlike the others:

explorerx4 · November 27

Is that a Mercedes 600 facing front near the center of the picture?

fintail · November 27

explorerx4 said:
Is that a Mercedes 600 facing front near the center of the picture?

Yep, W100 "Grosser". iIRC those were around 25K USD when new.

This classic Top Gear segment has some good scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3SVQEGIrnk

Lostwrench3 · November 27

1959 Pontiac.

bhill2 · November 27

explorerx4 said:
Is that a Mercedes 600 facing front near the center of the picture?

And right behind is a Volvo 120 series. From the sublime to the mundane.

tmart · November 27

Mustang and 59 Ford (or Canadian version)

fintail · November 30

Life in Camelot (could also be a background scene in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World), Thousand Oaks CA, 1963, zooms fine:

Michaell · November 30

DuPars Restaurant! Quite the attraction back in the day. TO was just over the hill from where I grew up.

I know that’s a Pontiac up front - Bonneville?

Lostwrench3 · November 30

I don't see the big doublya.

ab348 · November 30

Ooooh, a ‘59 Imperial convertible! Also, some poor soul who bought an Edsel.

stickguy · November 30

Chevy pickup. I get a kick out of these vintage shots where a pickup is a rarity, and obviously a basic work truck when there is one.

ab348 · November 30

One other thing shown there that you don’t see these days: there’s a Chevy wagon lurking behind the Imperial’s tailfins, sporting the full-width mudflap across the rear end that was once de rigeur for such wagons. Why, I’m not sure. Maybe it was thought it would help keep the rear window clear.

fintail · November 30

Wagon with mudflap maybe a 61 Chevy? I can attest from my own car that the rear is the dirt magnet of the car.

bhill2 · November 30

There is a wagon peeking out behind the Pontiac that is, I believe, a 56 Ford Parklane. The counterpart to the Chevy Nomad of the same year.

andys120 · December 1

bhill2 said:
There is a wagon peeking out behind the Pontiac that is, I believe, a 56 Ford Parklane. The counterpart to the Chevy Nomad of the same year.

Doesn't have the round tailights a '56 Ford should have. I think it's an Edsel wagon.

fintail · December 1

This is the wagon:

i see a 56 Ford profile too.

explorerx4 · December 2

2nd commercial is for 1960 Ford wagons.
I enjoyed that last ad too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4So2npuMWj4

fintail · December 2

Houses in the background of the 60 Ford look like the Warner Bros ranch - Christmas Vacation houses.

Mystery car pix

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