Cruelly Axed Before Their Time

[warren t claim]

.I'm sure we all agree that the history of motoring is full of cars that were either axed before their time or were never given a chance to reach their full potential.

 

I'm thinking of this...

 

It only had a lifespan of 7 years and with further development could of been the beginning of a line of profitable "Lifestyle" cars. I believe it had to be axed to make production space for the Espace at the Matra factory.

 

Or how about this?

 

I understand that Chrysler wouldn't want a Ford powered car but surely they could of made a Chrysler engine fit?

[dollywobbler]

The Rover/Alvis P6BS. Didn't even make it to production. Imagine if it had! Mid-mounted V8, low and sleek styling (this is just a prototype without stylist input, yet it still works!).

[Pete-M]

Continuing the "proper" Rover theme, Graber P6 Coupé. They should have done this.

 

 

If they did a V8 RWD one of these, I reckon they'd have sold by the bucketload.

 

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The entire Daihatsu range!

 

There are a lot of interesting prototypes that never quite made it to production, such as that Rover/Alvis.

 

However, let's try and focus on the cars that did reach production but got withdrawn too early.

 

I nominate the Dacia 500!

 

 

With a really easy-to-build layout, a rust-free (fibreglass) body, and a fuel consumption of just 3.3 lt/100km (86mpg), it could have been Europe's Tata Nano before Tata even had the chance to think about going into passenger car production. However, as you'd expect from 1991 Romania, quality control wasn't that hot, and they never got round to exporting them, either, which means they ended up only selling 6500 of the things.

[dollywobbler]

 

1990 Range Rover CSK.

A sporty looking, high performance Range Rover with uprated suspension that predated the BMW x5 by 9 years, the Cayenne by 12, the RR Sport by 14 and the Evoque by 21.

It took nearly 18 months to sell the 200 that they built.

 

And they're now worth a bladdy fortune! I bet those that scrapped one years ago due to the usual rot are kicking themselves now...

[Justin Case]

Swallow Doretti by Charles Dawson, on Flickr

 

Swallow Doretti, made just along the road from me at Walsall Airport by a company owned by Tube Investments. Stunning styling for 1953, and oily bits courtesy of Triumph would have made it a great success, especially in the USA, where it was originally commissioned by the American distributor and given an Italianised version of his wife's name (I suppose Swallow Dorothy wouldn't have the same ring to it )

 

Unfortunately it was too good and after only 275 had been built it was killed off by jealous rivals (ie Jaguar) putting pressure on TI who were also their suppliers. My dream car, especially with a local registration like this one, but with only 54 in the UK and a price tag of about £25K, I fear it will remain so.

[eddyramrod]

 

I understand that Chrysler wouldn't want a Ford powered car but surely they could of made a Chrysler engine fit?

 

Apparently they tried. Chrysler had a perfectly acceptable 4.4 litre V8, later seen in 5.2, 5.6 and 5.9 sizes, and it's my understanding that serious efforts were made to fit it into the Sunbeam chassis. However the dimensions were slightly different to the Ford so it simply wouldn't fit. Rather than continue using the Ford engine, the Tiger was dropped.

[R9UKE]

That 75 Coupé looks smarter than a Bentley Continental.

[Autoplas]

Continuing the "proper" Rover theme, Graber P6 Coupé. They should have done this.

 

 

If they did a V8 RWD one of these, I reckon they'd have sold by the bucketload.

 

 

These two look great but that Alvis thing is hideous