Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[somewhatfoolish]

The Toyota Corolla Griffith; some loony dealer in the US decided that the world needed a floppytop Corolla and made 200 of them.

[Pieman]

Spotted a nondescript SUV thing in Italy today badged as a DR 4.0

Googling reveals it is an Italian-built rebadging of some Chinese thing.

[GeordieInExile]

5 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

The Toyota Corolla Griffith; some loony dealer in the US decided that the world needed a floppytop Corolla and made 200 of them.

The UK plate on that is rather exciting, to say the least.

[martc]

22 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

The Toyota Corolla Griffith; some loony dealer in the US decided that the world needed a floppytop Corolla and made 200 of them.

 

17 hours ago, GeordieInExile said:

The UK plate on that is rather exciting, to say the least.

The excitment rises to 11 -

[martc]

The 1977 Ford Megastar cocept made by Ghia.

[GeordieInExile]

2 hours ago, martc said:

The 1977 Ford Megastar cocept made by Ghia.

Yours for just $125,000!

https://www.dragoneclassic.com/inventory/p/1977-ford-ghia-megastar-concept

[Richard_FM]

4 hours ago, GeordieInExile said:

Yours for just $125,000!

https://www.dragoneclassic.com/inventory/p/1977-ford-ghia-megastar-concept

I remember the Usbourne Supercars book mentioned it with a picture.

[Wack]

Bertone B99 , a 2011 jaguar based concept car 

Jaguar must've been mad not to jump on that 

Scroll back to 2011 and Bertone had been in a parlous state for much of the previous decade. The arrival of this beautiful concept car at that year’s 2011 Geneva Motor Show proved that this hardy legend still had the ability to surprise. What’s more, it was styled by a Brit – the talented Adrian Griffiths.

While Jaguar was keen to distance itself from anything remotely retro, here was a styling masterclass that appeared classic without being clichéd. The B99 concept was also touted as a hybrid, with both a combustion engine and electric motors. Not only that, it was displayed next to a mocked-up racing version, complete with the mother of all rear spoilers. However, it came to nothing.

[bunglebus]

On 15/07/2023 at 23:06, GeordieInExile said:

The UK plate on that is rather exciting, to say the least.

It's on eBay

[Stinkwheel]

1 hour ago, Wack said:

Bertone B99 , a 2011 jaguar based concept car 

Jaguar must've been mad not to jump on that 

Scroll back to 2011 and Bertone had been in a parlous state for much of the previous decade. The arrival of this beautiful concept car at that year’s 2011 Geneva Motor Show proved that this hardy legend still had the ability to surprise. What’s more, it was styled by a Brit – the talented Adrian Griffiths.

While Jaguar was keen to distance itself from anything remotely retro, here was a styling masterclass that appeared classic without being clichéd. The B99 concept was also touted as a hybrid, with both a combustion engine and electric motors. Not only that, it was displayed next to a mocked-up racing version, complete with the mother of all rear spoilers. However, it came to nothing.

That’s bloody gorgeous for a ‘retro’ car design I don’t think you can get much better. 
jag were trying to kill off it’s old fashioned image, but still, I think that would have sold well 

[bunglebus]

Consulier GTP

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

[MiniMinorMk3]

These two had me stumped until I did an image search

On the left is an AMT Pirana, that was developed from the Marbon CRV-IV.

A condensed version of the CRV/Piranha story (c-we.com)

The car on the right is a Marbon Formacar

[bunglebus]

Built by an American called J Walter Christie - inspired by a recent post about a strange rear axle - here's a strange front axle

Mounted transversely was a four-cylinder 30-horsepower engine with the crankshaft serving as the front axle. Flywheels were coupled to the crank ends by leather-faced clutches and telescoping universal joints drove the front wheels.

[MiniMinorMk3]

20 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Built by an American called J Walter Christie - inspired by a recent post about a strange rear axle - here's a strange front axle

Mounted transversely was a four-cylinder 30-horsepower engine with the crankshaft serving as the front axle. Flywheels were coupled to the crank ends by leather-faced clutches and telescoping universal joints drove the front wheels.

I bet that burnt the clutches out quite quickly if taken for a drive in the country.

[Austat]

Citroën AX Turbo Danielson

[Remspoor]

Metropolitan Station Wagon.

There is a little bit about one of them on this page.

https://metpitstop.com/museum/

Along with details of another Metropolitan  this is a one off called the Astra-Gnome

[MiniMinorMk3]

I came across this picture on the interwebs and thought what is that?

Is it some kind of Italian thing? Maybe, but all th ecars in the background are German, and the plate is Swiss.

Turns out it is based on a 911.

Its a Diba GTC by Dietrich of Basel.

It was originally started by Werner Dietrich when he was a student at the Meisterschule Kaiserslautern in Germany, and completed after he moved to Basel.

There were plans to build 20 examples, but Porsche were not keen, so only one was built.

[MiniMinorMk3]

This will probably have the tweed jackets and leather elbow pads in the MGOC spitting out their real ale

The 2024 MG Cyberster, coming to a pub lunch near you.

[bunglebus]

Ford Capri

Just to really mess with your head, a Capri XR2

[bunglebus]

Saab Speedster concept

[MiniMinorMk3]

Whilst looking at the latest releases from Grand Prix Models, this turned up

This is the Volvo 1800 ESC Viking, built by Italian coachbuilder Coggiola in 1971

Lots of info here

Volvo 1800 ESC by Coggiola < Guido / Online > @guidof (fijen.se)

[Richard_FM]

48 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Whilst looking at the latest releases from Grand Prix Models, this turned up

This is the Volvo 1800 ESC Viking, built by Italian coachbuilder Coggiola in 1971

Lots of info here

Volvo 1800 ESC by Coggiola < Guido / Online > @guidof (fijen.se)

Looks quite good, especially as the P1800's styling was getting dated by then.

[somewhatfoolish]

Those seats belong in a Citroen SM. 

[bunglebus]

Green G Ecarry. But you knew that already of course

[nev_jr]

 

The Mercedes-Benz R63

A real life unicorn

[Remspoor]

On 7/24/2023 at 2:50 PM, bunglebus said:

Green G Ecarry. But you knew that already of course

https://allthatsinteresting.com/habsburg-jaw

[quicksilver]

This weird-looking thing is on a driveway up the road. No badges so I had no idea what it was other than JDM.

It's a Toyota WiLL VS apparently. I knew about the smaller WiLL Vi and Cypha but not these big ones.

[barrett]

I guess I knew this brand existed (again), although I wasn't sure they'd actually made any cars yet, and certainly didn't know any had been sold in Europe, so it was quite a surprise to see this lump earlier this evening

Not obvious?

What is point reviving dead brand nobody has heard of?

[D.E]

When rumours about a possible Borgward revival first emerged, some northwest continental magazines went wild with artist impressions based on nothing at all. New Isabella? Etc, etc.

Anyway, the final product turned out to be just another generic Chinese crossover with the quality being described as being average at best, and the enthusiasm quickly waned. Borgward was supposed to make a big reentry in the whole of Europe, but initial sales disappointed, and so far they're still only sold in only a few countries. 

[Remspoor]

17 hours ago, barrett said:

I guess I knew this brand existed (again), although I wasn't sure they'd actually made any cars yet, and certainly didn't know any had been sold in Europe, so it was quite a surprise to see this lump earlier this evening

Not obvious?

What is point reviving dead brand nobody has heard of?

Been several posts about these here.