Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[Austat]

Trident Clipper, Venturer, & Tycoon:

[Austat]

Ghia 450 SS:

[Austat]

Pars Khodro Sepand PK:

A Renault 5 with a Kia Pride floorplan (hence the widebody yo). Built in Iran from 1994 to 2005.

[Timewaster]

On 6/26/2021 at 3:56 PM, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

 

Nope not a Mercedes a unlicensed North Korean knock off named the Kaengsaeng 88.

 

I doubt North Korea had the technology to produce copies of 190s.

I would be more inclined to believe that they acquired a few and stuck their own badges on and paraded them about as an example of their output for propaganda. 

[martc]

5 hours ago, Timewaster said:

I doubt North Korea had the technology to produce copies of 190s.

I would be more inclined to believe that they acquired a few and stuck their own badges on and paraded them about as an example of their output for propaganda. 

This has sent me down a rabbit hole. The Kaengsaeng 88 was made at the Sungri factory,  as a direct copy of the 190, but without the heating system! It was also not air tight and was prone to flooding and/or intake of dust in to the seating area. 

Here's an interesting article on the North Korean car industry - https://chinacarhistory.com/2018/05/15/cars-of-the-dprk-north-korea/

They mainly make Chinese cars under licence, but there was at least one other attempt at out Mercedesing Mercedes via SSangyong with the DPRK version of the Ssangyong Chairman, itself based on the MB w124 - the Pyonghwa Zunma

There's plenty of DPRK cars you won't recognise, being Chinese, but here's two you might -

Hwiparam means 'Whistle' in Korean

They first made the FIAT Siena followed by the Doblo. Now FIAT is well known for setting up factories in less than democratic countries; the two models above were made from kits imported from Vietnam. The factory in Vietnam is a joint venture with FIAT but I can't determine whether the kits sent to North Korea were officially sanctioned or not.

[Timewaster]

2 minutes ago, martc said:

 Kaengsaeng 88 was made at the Sungri factory,  as a direct copy of the 190, but without the heating system! It was also not air tight and was prone to flooding and/or intake of dust in to the seating area. 

So I was partly right, they didn't have the technology! 

[somewhatfoolish]

8 hours ago, Austat said:

Pars Khodro Sepand PK:

 

A Renault 5 with a Kia Pride floorplan (hence the widebody yo). Built in Iran from 1994 to 2005.

That's... impressive parking. 

[bunglebus]

11 hours ago, Austat said:

Pars Khodro Sepand PK:

A Renault 5 with a Kia Pride floorplan (hence the widebody yo). Built in Iran from 1994 to 2005.

I have seen those before on t'internet, very interesting creation. I'd love to inspect where the two halves meet

[1duck]

Mitsubishi ASX ,  guess it is mitsubishis attempt at the nissan juke...looks alright tbh, but i'd never heard of them and now mitsu are pulling out of the european market i bet spares are fun.

[Crackers]

Leyland Eight GE:

A design study that took the 3500 V8 placed in the middle and a "functional" bodyshell for testing purposes. Apparently 0-60 in ~7 secs and would go on to 140mph - that's pretty respectable for 1968!

The body wasn't really given much thought looks-wise, it was designed purely to send air where it was needed, hold a reasonable amount of luggage, and give the occupants enough space. That said, with a bit of refinement, that would probably have looked like a pretty cool car.

The back end wants a bit of attention, it sort of looks like it's the wrong way round - the tailgate wants to be a bit higher IMO - but I'd drive that!

More on it here:

http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Leyland-Eight-GE-Release.htm

[somewhatfoolish]

I'm not sure Spen King would have appreciated his efforts being disparaged thus; it wasn't a finished product by any means but nor was it a mule. Most references I've read call it the Rover BS(for buick sports).

[barrett]

Really? Everything I've ever read about that car over the years always makes the point that the body was just a rough lash-up to give an idea of how it could be packaged. It certainly doesn't look like it's been 'styled' in any way, it's a pig of a thing really. I'm sure there are drawings of what it might have looked like out there somewhere.

I've also never heard the 'Leyland Eight GS' name before, I've only ever known it as a Rover. Seems a bit confusing bringing back the name of Leyland's most embarrassing failure for a new project!

[Dobloseven]

3 hours ago, 1duck said:

Mitsubishi ASX ,  guess it is mitsubishis attempt at the nissan juke...looks alright tbh, but i'd never heard of them and now mitsu are pulling out of the european market i bet spares are fun.

The ASX was another joint venture with PSA. In some markets it was sold as a Peugeot 4008 and, I think, a Citroën C4 Crosser. They never made it over here, but the ASX sold quite well for a Mitsubishi. Daughters neighbour had one on Motability before it was replaced with an MG3. 

[MisterH]

Hindustan Contessa, turns out the FE Victor lived until 2002!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_Contessa

[Remspoor]

Nissan with amps. makes for a Lectra. Ageing wheels is missing out.

 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

https://blogautomobile.fr/peugeot-2008-par-la-carrozzeria-castagna-milano-un-peu-de-couleur-241175/amp

Check this beauty* out. The Alfa' SV bases one off is interesting too:

https://topclassico.com/en/vittoria-the-one-off-that-gave-new-life-to-carrozzeria-castagna/

Edited July 8, 2021 by Leyland Worldmaster
Link added!

[catsinthewelder]

Is the black car a Micra with a funny grille or something else?

Apparently the pictures from Russia.

[somewhatfoolish]

It's apparently easy to cowp tanks off the back of transporters, especially if your breakfast includes a 5th of vodka. Is the ugly car not a Lancia of some kind?

[Formula Autos]

I keep seeing VAG group crossovers that I didn’t know existed. Skoda and VW in particular seem to have a bewildering array of almost identical looking models. Plus there’s now the Cupra range, where there seems to be some kind of overly-styled crossover that doesn’t have a corresponding model of SEAT. The only coherent range of crossovers in the VAG group seem to be Audi’s, where at least the number following Q in the model name gives an indication of its size, relative to the others in the range. 
 

Yesterday I saw a two door convertible VW crossover. The badge on the back seemed to say T-oss, or something ….

[Madman Of The People]

17 hours ago, catsinthewelder said:

Is the black car a Micra with a funny grille or something else?

Apparently the pictures from Russia.

 

The far east of Russia is chock full of ex-Japanese chod.   Bargain-hunting Russians don't seem to care about the steering wheel being on the wrong side.

The car on the left looks to be one of those Mitsuoka monstrosities.  Estate on the right looks to be yet another Japanese spec model, with the Euro-sized Russian number plate not fitting inside the Japanese-sized number plate frame and having to overlap the inner portion of the tail lights as a result.

 

[martc]

On 7/12/2021 at 9:30 PM, catsinthewelder said:

Is the black car a Micra with a funny grille or something else?

Apparently the pictures from Russia.

Yes it's Micra based, but before we get to the money shot -

Being RHD in Russia certainly implies it's an import, I don't think it would be a Lancia as the only RHD versions similar to that is the Chrysler Ypsilon and the lights aren't right for that -

Mitsuoka's Micra atrocity is more like a Jaguar than a Lancia - 

But I'll tell you what it is  - it's a Nissan March Bolero (March is what the Micra is known as in Japan)-

https://www.goo-net-exchange.com/catalog/NISSAN__MARCH/10041290/

Just think yourself lucky it wasn't an earlier model, the nervous should look away now -

 

[AnthonyG]

On 6/28/2021 at 6:31 PM, barrett said:

I've also never heard the 'Leyland Eight GS' name before, I've only ever known it as a Rover. Seems a bit confusing bringing back the name of Leyland's most embarrassing failure for a new project!

It purports to be information from an American market press release, from ‘Leyland North America’.

I’m pretty sure the American BL importer was only ever known as ‘British Leyland North America’.

There is only a scan of the letterhead, not the complete press release.  

Whoever wrote this also makes grammatical errors and there’s a reference to Leyland’s ‘Perry Thomas’. It doesn’t read like the real thing to me. 

All the information on the car on the ‘BritishV8.org’ site appears to be from this press release.

Rover sold cars on the American market at this time,  whereas nothing badged Leyland was ever sold there. I suspect a very high level of total bullshit. 

[Austat]

1969 Opel CD concept:

and the 1969 Opel Diplomat Frua CD concept:

 

[Wack]

Rover 75c 

[High Jetter]

^^^ That was in the mag a while back. I thought it looks superb.

[Remspoor]

8 hours ago, Wack said:

Rover 75c 

 

Read about it here https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=302318

Same guy who had done a coupe conversion.

https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=233411

[Wack]

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

^^^ That was in the mag a while back. I thought it looks superb.

If they'd made that in house at Rover BMW would've crushed it

 

Still makes me laugh that even with what must be 100s of hours of design and fabrication the bonnet still looks open

[Remspoor]

Your last ride in an Airstream

https://www.airstream.com/blog/history-spotlight-the-airstream-funeral-coach/

[bunglebus]

Ora Punk Cat - China obvs and totally not a Beetle

 

[bunglebus]

The Lightening Cat is also totally not a Porsche either