Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[quicksilver]

1 hour ago, JeeExEll said:

Interesting looking old car. Wonder what the front looks like.

 

Whooooahhhh!! Didn't expect that. It looks like a dolphin.

The Davis Divan.

Wiki quote -  

'The company's assets were liquidated in order to pay back taxes, while Gary Davis himself was eventually convicted of fraud and grand theft and sentenced to two years at a "work farm"labor camp'.

Oh dear.

According to Wiki he was formerly a used car salesman. He sold dealership rights to 350 dealers across the US and raised $1.2 million in the late 1940s. Total car production was 13 cars, including 2 prototypes. (PMSL at that).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Divan

The Davis, especially when painted light green, reminds me of the Planet Express ship from Futurama.  The styling and three wheels suggest it should be a microcar when you see it with nothing else for scale but it's actually enormous and can seat four abreast. There was even a 3-wheeled utility version that Davis proposed as an alternative to the Jeep!

[Timewaster]

51 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

It's a Grancar Futura.  Not a Renault component in it anywhere.

This is a Grancar Futura. 

 

I had no idea they existed until you mentioned them.

But your photo IS an Espace.

[wuvvum]

Well this is awkward. 

[Tamworthbay]

Espace or Futura? Only one way to find out..........

[sutty2006]

Yeah all the signs in the room point to Renault..... sorry lol 

[Timewaster]

In fairness to wuvumm, I had to Google it and the site I found had several crappy pictures of the Futura and that Espace pic.

[Sudsprint]

13 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Never knew these were a thing until today.

I don't recognise any of the other cars around this Futura/Espace...

[Timewaster]

The yellow one behind it is an F1 Espace

The red one is another Espace?

No idea about the gold one though.

[Tamworthbay]

They should have put that into production.

[High Jetter]

7 hours ago, Timewaster said:

No idea about the gold one though.

Could be a Floride?

[shedenvy]

This should really be in the mistery watizit thread but today I saw this:

The front end is a Piaggio Typhoon and obvs back end is a wheelchair ramp. Guessing it's an air cooled 125cc.

[lesapandre]

Renault 5 by Alpine. I saw the hatch version whilst away in France in August. This roof conversation is probably by them too. Not bad looking - by sloping the rollover they have given it some style. Must be rare - I'd never seen an Alpine 5 before. Not my photo.

[lesapandre]

Citroen Traction Avant re-bodied by Beutler. Not much of the original left by the look of it. Imagine if Citroen's overall design had gone in this direction instead of creating the DS.

[lesapandre]

Well you might have ended up here. This is by Frenay for de Gaulle. A presidential car. He swapped to DS enlarged by Chapron later on.

[lesapandre]

And what if the DS had a Detroit-style annual style refresh. This? They are actually aftermarket add-ons.

[lesapandre]

Very odd...but everybody was  into fins at the time...

[meggersdog]

14 hours ago, shedenvy said:

This should really be in the mistery watizit thread but today I saw this:

 

 

The front end is a Piaggio Typhoon and obvs back end is a wheelchair ramp. Guessing it's an air cooled 125cc.

Yep 125cc.It's called a Nippi , used to see a few at BCA motorcycle auctions a few years ago.

 

[lesapandre]

A couple of later Presidential limos. Bottom one an SM. Both may be by Chapron - I think so.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

10 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Renault 5 by Alpine. I saw the hatch version whilst away in France in August. This roof conversation is probably by them too. Not bad looking - by sloping the rollover they have given it some style. Must be rare - I'd never seen an Alpine 5 before. Not my photo.

 I thought that was what the home market got when we got the 5 Gordini, and later Alpine Turbo/ Gordini Turbo. Probably because in the UK we still associated Alpine with Sunbeam.

[Yoss]

I saw this yesterday. It confused me a bit. 

 

It's an Opel Ranger. 

[Snipes]

Looks like it could be a Manta A with a Magnum front end. 

[bunglebus]

4X4!

 

20190830_192146 by RS, on Flickr

20190830_192159 by RS, on Flickr

20190830_192136 by RS, on Flickr

[lesapandre]

I would have said that was done for some European fire service or utility. But RHD? Super vehicle tho. What's it used for now?

[bunglebus]

Was at Santa Pod so I guess it tows a race car

[anonymous user]

On 9/1/2019 at 10:45 AM, meggersdog said:

Yep 125cc.It's called a Nippi , used to see a few at BCA motorcycle auctions a few years ago.

 

There was one on Facebook marketplace up the road from me this week, unfortunately too wide to go through my cellar door or I would have bought it for going up the shop while sat in an armchair .

[quicksilver]

8 hours ago, lesapandre said:

I would have said that was done for some European fire service or utility. But RHD? Super vehicle tho. What's it used for now?

It was new to Greater Manchester Fire Brigade, they had a few of them

[martc]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

It was new to Greater Manchester Fire Brigade, they had a few of them

Used by their inshore rescue team (very inshore judging by Manchester's location miles from the sea).*

* or perhaps its for the canals?

[egg]

OK, not cars, but motorcycles...

Thanks to Facebook I now know Villiers engines were made in France under licence by Monet-Goyon (motorcycle company I don't know, went bust in '59).

[Supernaut]

On the topic of 4x4 vans, I went for a walk earlier and noticed a Spanish registered Hyundai 4x4 van of some sort parked up nearby.

 

It was debadged, so I did a search for "Hyundai 4x4 Van" and found the Starex 4x4.

[Aston Martin]

On 9/1/2019 at 10:45 AM, meggersdog said:

Yep 125cc.It's called a Nippi , used to see a few at BCA motorcycle auctions a few years ago.

 

Just seen a black one in Bradford. Driven by a young lass. She seemed happy.