Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[bunglebus]

Apparently a 1937 Fordson, not seen this body style before 

[bunglebus]

Peugeot P4

Very G Wagon/VW Iltis 

[barrett]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Apparently a 1937 Fordson, not seen this body style before 

Currently being restored by somebody I know, I think it's gonna be really cool when it's done

[MiniMinorMk3]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

 

That one has coach work by Holland Coachcraft of Govan. 

R H Patterson were in Newcastle and the surrounding area. They were one of the longest running Ford franchises in the UK, but have no gone.

[vulgalour]

On 18/01/2024 at 12:40, barrett said:

 

 

 

Those are some weird looking tyres.  I thought they might be perforated solid rubber except that they don't seem to have light showing through all the way. Some sort of middle type between solid tyres and pneumatic tyres?

[Tayne]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Peugeot P4

Very G Wagon/VW Iltis 

 

License built G wagon with peugeot engines to get around French military procurement rules.

Never sold new to civvies but likely GR8-4VEG if you can find a demobbed example.

[martc]

4 hours ago, Tayne said:

Never sold new to civvies but likely GR8-4VEG if you can find a demobbed example.

They did sell a civilian version but the arrangement with Mercedes put severe restrictions on how many could be sold and where they could be sold (mainly French Overseas Departments) so as not to compete with the G-Wagon.

https://timelessdriving.com/news/2023/02/The-curious-story-of-the-Peugeot-P4-the-French-G-Class-that-existed-until-recently/

This link also includes info on other curious French 4x4's.

[martc]

The Volvo '245 Transfer'.

[bunglebus]

WANT

[martc]

This ZAZ van, made for the USSR postal service, had it's steering wheel on the right side for easy/safe access to roadside post boxes, letter boxes etc. If they went as far as making RHD ZAZ's why didn't they try to sell them in the UK? They were made at the same time as microcars and I reckon would have sold for a similar price - surely they would have sold them quite easily.

[martc]

Talking of microcars, we all know about Bond Minicars right? But did you know they made a left hand drive version and exported them to Canada (at least)?

This Bond Minicar Mk A was presented to the people of Montréal, Québec, by the local dealer Budd & Dyer Limited.

A quote from the local paper, La Presse, that printed the news on the 10th of  June 1950, 'jusqu’à 110 milles au gallon' ('up to 110 miles per gallon').

There's a little bit about the Canadian business somewhere in here - https://ingeniumcanada.org/channel/articles/a-microcar-designed-in-a-time-of-austerity-the-bond-minicar

Budd and Dyer also imported Alfa Romeos.

 

[barrett]

I consider myself something of a microcar nerd, but I only recently found out they also sold Bond Mincars in the USA (or tried to, at least), where it was marketed under the name Sharp's Bear Cub. Who knew?

[Richard_FM]

On 20/01/2024 at 17:20, martc said:

The Volvo '245 Transfer'.

I heard these were used in rural Sweden as school buses, possibly with another row of seats in the boot.

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, barrett said:

I consider myself something of a microcar nerd, but I only recently found out they also sold Bond Mincars in the USA (or tried to, at least), where it was marketed under the name Sharp's Bear Cub. Who knew?

would you believe me if I said that I already knew of those?   

Charles Gold in the US owns a LHD  one, 

https://www.facebook.com/charles.gould.18/posts/pfbid0TjXopWHNEqQUA62rEeNtMQDara4ZRsykkkHgqXHskEANijLEztbjBJSNQG8oMNmJl

and heres a couple others I have come across in the past

https://www.facebook.com/groups/950689934973969/posts/4752441661465425

https://www.facebook.com/groups/950689934973969/posts/2725898090786469/

 

there was also a few 4 wheeled Bond Mini cars, but I think those where specials put together for a movie or something along those lines

 

 

Charles Gold also owns an Invacar Model 70, so no surprises how i know about the LHD Mini car LOL

[vulgalour]

They're so narrow it's almost pointless doing the conversion really.

[kevins]

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

They're so narrow it's almost pointless doing the conversion really.

also not likely to be overtaking very often!

[martc]

Like many car-vans this avoided VAT as it was a commercial and attracted a certain parsimonious following in France apparently.

[Metal Guru]

4 hours ago, martc said:

Like many car-vans this avoided VAT as it was a commercial and attracted a certain parsimonious following in France apparently.

Somewhat similar to the window tax of 1696 - 1851.

[martc]

A wonderful one off streamlined 1920s Bugatti Type 13 Brescia bodied by Rafael Lopez de Heredia of Haro, Spain.

[martc]

A Daewoo Super Salon based on the Opel Rekord E and was sold all over the world, except the west, this one is in Damascus. White is a very unusual colour for these apparently.

The first version was initially called a GMK Rekord, the acronym standing for GM Korea. After 1973, it was changed to Saehan. It's obviously a Rekord D;  there was also a  Royale version which was a Commodore. It was built from 1972-1978.

The second generation was of course based on the next generation Rekord E. As before, there was a four cylinder Rekord, and the six cylinder Royale. Until Nov 1984, its body panels were stamped at Holden, and then assembled in Korea. After that date, Daewoo started pressing its own panels for body manufacture. There were a confusing number of variants.

 Daewoo grew to the point of being able to design and press its own unique panels and we get the Super Salon as depicted at the top. The Daewoo Prince was a cheaper variation of the Super Salon, pictured below, this looks more Opel like -

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Fiat 128 Pulsar by Michelotti

[bunglebus]

I take it Citroen have decided DS is its own entity now

 

[horriblemercedes]

11 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I take it Citroen have decided DS is its own entity now

 

The rebranding happened around 2015 or so, I think. Citroen DS3 became simply DS3 around then, for example

[martc]

What is this? A prototype for the car destined to win the Monte Carlo Rally, hide in a cave for 200 years and start first time and was the apple in the eye of a certain small, angry Austrian? No it's not. It's a Chrysler Star Car built in 1935, under the direction of Ken Lee, it has a radial  five-cylinder water-cooled engine driving the front wheels which proved very reliable as the two prototypes built covered 200,000 miles.

[bunglebus]

What a shame that picture seems to be the only one online. 

Very Beetle-like, more so than some of the actual prototypes

 

[warch]

On 20/01/2024 at 08:02, bunglebus said:

Peugeot P4

Very G Wagon/VW Iltis 

If you like that, check out the armoured derivative the Véhicule Blindé Léger

Has space for three Les Squaddies, 200 Gauloises, 5 gallons of Chateau Lafite and a weeks supply of contraceptives. And a couple of bullets and guns and stuff.

[martc]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

What a shame that picture seems to be the only one online. 

Very Beetle-like, more so than some of the actual prototypes

 

Found another pic, but that seems to be it.

[EyesWeldedShut]

33 minutes ago, warch said:

Has space for three Les Squaddies, 200 Gauloises, 5 gallons of Chateau Lafite and a weeks supply of contraceptives. And a couple of bullets and guns and stuff.

There's a memoir by a guy called Alex Lochrie (Scots guy who buggered off to the French Foreign Legion in his thirties or so) in which he ends up punting one of those around Sarajevo. (The book itself is not that bad - much better than a lot of the BravoTwoZero wannabe blood and guts bollox, Freebie Kindle version pops up now and then).

I think* he calls it a Renault in the book - not sure - he's got a picture in there but, seeing as I had a Kindle version, no good. So I nicked the image below from 

https://pbase.com/zidar/sarajevo&page=all

[MiniMinorMk3]

50 minutes ago, martc said:

 

Found another pic, but that seems to be it.

 

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

What a shame that picture seems to be the only one online. 

Very Beetle-like, more so than some of the actual prototypes

 

The second of the two built

and an engine shot

Chrysler Small Cars That Didn’t Make it | Allpar Forums

Quote

One of Chrysler's earliest attempts was a small car known as the Star Car. The name was derived from the 5 cylinder radial engine the car had as its source of power. The engine was quite small, displacing only 66.6 cubic inches and developed the credible sum of thirty horsepower. The engine was water cooled and leaned back at a forty-five degree angle. As can be seen from the photo with the front end removed, it was also a front wheel drive vehicle as well. The wheelbase was just 98" and the frame was made of 2.5" square tubing. In spite of all of these revolutionary features perhaps the most remarkable was the fact that the entire power train-engine transmission and front wheels-was mounted to a separate stub frame and could be unbolted and removed from the car. The first version of this car wore a rather crude sort of sedan type body, but the coupe version built later and shown here was a much better finished vehicle. The first vehicle was scrapped shortly after testing was completed in 1936 but the coupe survived until World War II. R. Ken Lee was the chief engineer on this project and Ted Pietsch was chief designer.

 

[egg]

Carice TC2 (EV)

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/cute-carice-tc2-two-seater-convertible-netherlands