ALMOST! Extinct Cars

[quicksilver]

3 hours ago, green200b said:

I spotted this today, but had no idea what it was. A number plate search suggests that it is a 1981 Lancia Trevi, which according to How Many Left suggests that it is one of seven left in the UK.

That's a well known car in Lancia circles and IIRC it used to belong to someone on here. Our very own @Six-cylinder has a very similar silver one too.

[Six-cylinder]

3 hours ago, green200b said:

I spotted this today, but had no idea what it was. A number plate search suggests that it is a 1981 Lancia Trevi, which according to How Many Left suggests that it is one of seven left in the UK.

 

25 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

That's a well known car in Lancia circles and IIRC it used to belong to someone on here. Our very own @Six-cylinder has a very similar silver one too.

Theo, the owner of FWK 874Y helped me a lot with getting my Trevi back on the road.

Mine is a 5 speed manual and Theo's is a Auto.

[Six-cylinder]

Maybe even rarer than the Trevi in the UK is my 1996 Mitsubishi Sigma 3.0 12v V6.

Currently off the road following an engine water leak that resulted in head gaskets failure.  @ianbmw is helping me with it and we are a long way towards getting the car running again.

[green200b]

5 hours ago, Mr Livered said:

Excellent thread resurrection skills @green200b! There'll be a lot of cars that have become almost extinct in the 12 years since the previous post.

It felt wrong to post it in the extinct cars thread since it was obviously almost extinct 😉 I have enjoyed reading this thread so I am glad to contribute to it.

[green200b]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Maybe even rarer than the Trevi in the UK is my 1996 Mitsubishi Sigma 3.0 12v V6.

Currently off the road following an engine water leak that resulted in head gaskets failure.  @ianbmw is helping me with it and we are a long way towards getting the car running again.

Is your Mitsubishi a UK-delivered car? There is another one on eBay at the moment but I didn't realise these were ever sold in the UK.

In Australia these are called a Mitsubishi Magna, there's still a few of them about.

[Six-cylinder]

39 minutes ago, green200b said:

Is your Mitsubishi a UK-delivered car? There is another one on eBay at the moment but I didn't realise these were ever sold in the UK.

In Australia these are called a Mitsubishi Magna, there's still a few of them about.

Yes this car was sold new in the UK and built in Australia.

Yes my Haynes Manual says Magna and I had to have it posted from Australia.

I believe in the USA the Diamante was also based on the same car.

[angle]

On 20/11/2025 at 18:14, Six-cylinder said:

 

Theo, the owner of FWK 874Y helped me a lot with getting my Trevi back on the road.

Mine is a 5 speed manual and Theo's is a Auto.

Ooh, who's is the green Escort? Dead ringer for my first car (D810PKJ) except shinier / less obviously rusty

[Six-cylinder]

9 minutes ago, angle said:

Ooh, who's is the green Escort? Dead ringer for my first car (D810PKJ) except shinier / less obviously rusty

Escort Bravo 1.6. A member of the Milton Keynes Modern Classic group owned it. It may have changed hands as I see since that photo was taken, it has had a new V5C in September 2024.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

Escort Bravo 1.6. A member of the Milton Keynes Modern Classic group owned it. It may have changed hands as I see since that photo was taken, it has had a new V5C in September 2024.

To my mind it's interesting how the 'special' additions make it stand out from the adjacent 3dr

[Richard_FM]

The Trevi & later Betas had a funky Swiss cheese dashboard!

[Six-cylinder]

3 hours ago, Richard_FM said:

The Trevi & later Betas had a funky Swiss cheese dashboard!

Mine was taken apart and expertly cleaned by @Zelandeth

[sheffcortinacentre]

Don't remember beta getting that dash.

[Bmwdumptruck]

Not a car but when did anyone last see a Bedford Astramax van?  Not seen any in some time and there doesn’t appear to be any around for sale etc.  Are the last few buried in the old proverbial barns or are they all bean tins now.  
Always wanted one when they were current, but the VX/Bedford premium pushed me into a Renault Extra Diesel instead, which in reality was a better van, bigger and more powerful engine too.  But I’d have one as a classic now quite happily. 

[Six-cylinder]

14 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Don't remember beta getting that dash.

I don't think they were on right hand drive cars. My friend had a Beta 1600 LHD with that holey dash.

[Richard_FM]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

I don't think they were on right hand drive cars. My friend had a Beta 1600 LHD with that holey dash.

The picture I posted above looks like a mirror image of this one.

[Richard_FM]

3 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Not a car but when did anyone last see a Bedford Astramax van?  Not seen any in some time and there doesn’t appear to be any around for sale etc.  Are the last few buried in the old proverbial barns or are they all bean tins now.  
Always wanted one when they were current, but the VX/Bedford premium pushed me into a Renault Extra Diesel instead, which in reality was a better van, bigger and more powerful engine too.  But I’d have one as a classic now quite happily. 

Like the estates they were popular in the building trade in the 1990s & probably lugged heavy loads around until they were worn out!

[Mr Livered]

There's a bar owner in Exeter that runs around in a red Astramax that he's had signwritten with his bar logo. From memory I think it might be D reg

[sheffcortinacentre]

Funny name for a bar.

[warren t claim]

9 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Not a car but when did anyone last see a Bedford Astramax van?  Not seen any in some time and there doesn’t appear to be any around for sale etc.  Are the last few buried in the old proverbial barns or are they all bean tins now.  
Always wanted one when they were current, but the VX/Bedford premium pushed me into a Renault Extra Diesel instead, which in reality was a better van, bigger and more powerful engine too.  But I’d have one as a classic now quite happily. 

 

[EyesWeldedShut]

We used the AstraMax back in the day but then the Corsa equivalent became a thing, they were smaller and also cheaper - by '93 (when Clarkson's one is reg'd) we were 100% using Corsas - we were also getting the first of the Mk 3 Astra Cars with EFi - they were quite the thing (we thought, back then)

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Funny name for a bar.

All Bar One isn't funny?

[Billy - Medhurst]

1995 Fiat Punto van in decent nick appeared near here. Cant remember seeing many when they were new!

[dozeydustman]

On 23/11/2025 at 11:10, Bmwdumptruck said:

Not a car but when did anyone last see a Bedford Astramax van?  

According to howmanyleft there are altogether 5 Astramax vans accounted for, all SORN as of summer 2025. I hadn’t checked Vauxhall.

In comparison, there are are still 115 6cwt Beford HA vans still in existence, so the astramax is a rare beast.

I know howmanyleft isn’t 100% accurate, and won’t account for those with missing paperwork.

It was probably when I stopped working at Brands Hatch 2006 when I last saw an Astramax, it was one of the maintenance crew vehicles, J reg and was on about 9000 miles as it barely left site.

[Gompo]

There's still this AstraMax Chairman laid up, off the road since 2010 I think. 

 

[neil72]

Local Astramax that has been in the same spot for years.

[neil72]

And talking of almost extinct, here's the last Renault 9C on the road, well known in London.

[Bmwdumptruck]

2 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

According to howmanyleft there are altogether 5 Astramax vans accounted for, all SORN as of summer 2025. I hadn’t checked Vauxhall.

In comparison, there are are still 115 6cwt Beford HA vans still in existence, so the astramax is a rare beast.

I know howmanyleft isn’t 100% accurate, and won’t account for those with missing paperwork.

It was probably when I stopped working at Brands Hatch 2006 when I last saw an Astramax, it was one of the maintenance crew vehicles, J reg and was on about 9000 miles as it barely left site.

Vauxhall Astramax seems to show 8 still Taxed.

[dozeydustman]

4 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Vauxhall Astramax seems to show 8 still Taxed.

Did it say how many SORN?