Eye-catching black and whites

[Skut]

2 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

^  Aye, those gorgeous Fiat 124 coupes were popular too.  Twin cam 5-speed, priced a little bit more than a 3-litre Capri.

This looks like a cross between a Fiat 131 and a HA Viva.

What is it? 

[JeeExEll]

Allcarindex says it's a 'Variant 700', from Russia.  Google doesn't want to know today.  

Link to source.

https://www.allcarindex.com/soviet-index/by-alphabet/V/

(Loads of interesting wormholes from this site).

[JeeExEll]

Three security bods in the back of a two door Rangey?  They're not going to be of much use in there. 'Excuse me Ma'am, could you tip your seat forward please so I can deal with this situation?'.

[lesapandre]

10 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

KUV 1 is now on a new DAF LF 250 FA truck - so company owned by the look of it. 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

19 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

^  Aye, those gorgeous Fiat 124 coupes were popular too.  Twin cam 5-speed, priced a little bit more than a 3-litre Capri.

This looks like a cross between a Fiat 131 and a HA Viva.

I do wonder if that Rome photo might have been taken as part of the 124 coupe launch event, or something. It seems a lot of a coincidence to have 3 of them in the same shot, yet no other newish  or nice cars, even other Fiats. As you say they weren't cheap , even in Italy . 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Just realised my theory is bollocks as one of them is an early car with single rear light and a second series car with double horizontal tail lights !

[JeeExEll]

?

[JeeExEll]

Base spec.

[JeeExEll]

[JeeExEll]

[Remspoor]

[JeeExEll]

Crime.  It's a menace.

[JeeExEll]

 

'Fancy a peh ?'.

('In'  Scottish joke).

[JeeExEll]

There must be some sort of door on the other side.  Or on the roof.

[JeeExEll]

[JeeExEll]

[JeeExEll]

[JeeExEll]

Cortina Mk4 looks very odd with round headlamps.

[JeeExEll]

Aerodynamic.

[martc]

On 12/9/2019 at 7:59 AM, Remspoor said:

Looks like the head taster has worked one overtime shift too many.

[somewhatfoolish]

1 hour ago, JeeExEll said:

There must be some sort of door on the other side.  Or on the roof.

@dollywobbler will have words to say about those wipers.

[sheffcortinacentre]

The door appears to be above the waste line on the above vehicle is it amphibious?

That MK4 Cortina is one of three built for the tour of Australia two survive I have a series of articles in an Australian musclecar Mag on it they where extensively strengthened to cope on the event.

[JimH]

Someone asking about a lathe set me off on my semi-regular search to see if anyone was selling a suitable boring machine. Instead I found this story of an unsuitable one.

[lesapandre]

That ought to be an annual award. Like Horse of the Year Show or Sports Parsnip of the Year. 

[JeeExEll]

Some sort of prototype Pug 106?

It's the Ford Ghia 'Blue Car' design concept from 1971.  In black & white.

[JeeExEll]

Some sort of Russian thing.  I hope it can fly too when required via a control-lever you can just pull back.

[JeeExEll]

[lesapandre]

Austin 1800 - I think this is the Pininfarina design that was rejected by BMC in favour of their own design - that they then got Pininfarina to tidy up.

Another car the market did not really want with predictable smaller than projected sales. They probably never made any real money out of them.

Up against the Cortina and significantly more expensive to buy and run - did not really stand a chance.

[ETCHY]

9 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Austin 1800 - I think this is the Pininfarina design that was rejected by BMC in favour of their own design - that they then got Pininfarina to tidy up.

Another car the market did not really want with predictable smaller than projected sales. They probably never made any real money out of them.

Up against the Cortina and significantly more expensive to buy and run - did not really stand a chance.

Yep the 1800 was so good in many ways but just didn't hit the mark with the punters. Part of the trouble was Issigonis, no doubting the guy was an engineering genius but he was very single minded/stubborn when it came to the design & features of cars. This worked great with the Mini & the 1100 (although thankfully Pininfarina styled the 1100) but didn't translate well into bigger cars as basically they were very similar to a Mini inside (space is great but a dashboard similar to a Mini & controls you can't reach ain't acceptable on a big car). The steering was also heavy & the car looked ungainly. Plus advanced engineering comes at a price.

Unfortunately IMO you can really see the 1800 as being the point where things started to go wrong with BMC . A pity as it is basically a great car but like so many others unfortunately missed its target market.

[lesapandre]

You hit the nail on the head - absolutely. A great concept but the 1800 engine was too thirsty and the car, at the time, slightly too big for the market segment - thats and lots of other things led to really disappointing sales. Great bit of design but flawed.

Another what if...the Farina look makes for a more desirable car IMHO.

Issigonis and co did very little market or in-depth prototype testing - did not seem to be the BMC way.  There were reliablity and quality problems too.

Friends had on in the 60's so travelled a bit in it. Heavyweight steering and an interior as austere as a Trappist  monastery I recall. Fuel consumption pretty dire - they only kept it a shortish time and replaced with a 1300GT which they did like a lot.