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Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.


philibusmo

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Sort of knew about this but had forgotten about it.

WTF is it? Some sort of Fiat 131?

sqaru2T.jpg

No, it's the Enfield Safari. A low-volume production brought to you from the Isle Of Wight.

s5nUZZm.jpg

Is it a hardtop or is it some sort of convertible? And what's the bodywork made out of??

Fuck knows.

Based on the 70s Jeep Wagoneer-estate-thing chassis, with a AMC Jeep V8. It's a 2-door but looks like a 4-door. Cunning stealth design.

And why not :-)

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Ok, a couple of things from my holiday in southern Germany. Not only did I not know they existed, I'm still none the wiser, so what do we have here?

Not the T25 obviously, the Jeepy looking thing. 20190709100318_IMG_7570.thumb.JPG.21689b96772cb6f186a265a86fb137c9.JPG

 

And I can see this is a Dodge, but that's all I know. 20190709132332_IMG_7596.thumb.JPG.aede27e2473fa9aae484a28841cb2876.JPGI guess it's not something we get over here so why would I? 

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17 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

Sort of knew about this but had forgotten about it.

WTF is it? Some sort of Fiat 131?

No, it's the Enfield Safari. A low-volume production brought to you from the Isle Of Wight.

Is it a hardtop or is it some sort of convertible? And what's the bodywork made out of??

Fuck knows.

Based on the 70s Jeep Wagoneer-estate-thing chassis, with a AMC Jeep V8. It's a 2-door but looks like a 4-door. Cunning stealth design.

And why not :-)

According to this, it's electric. Possibly from same stable as the Enfield 8000. Which is correct?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1972_Enfield_Safari_YDL_150L.jpg

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Enfield 8000 was battery powered. Not based on a Jeep chassis. Quite a good looking little car, I like it.

pAIwB1M.jpg

It's given this bloke the confidence to try it on with this bird out of the 70s and her rather uninterested dog.

n4a8G2D.jpg

 

Check out the Enfield Safari's sister, the Neorion Chicago 4X4, also based on the Jeep V8. Some info on Wiki.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neorion_Chicago

5CcnxBO.jpg

Anyone want to buy one?

Found more info here ↓, which has a bonus vid in it :-)

http://www.thepetrolstop.com/2014/07/neorion-chicago.html

Includes the same couple from the Enfield 8000 pic above. Whahey!!! Smooth talker.

mwL3M0d.png

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2 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

It's given this bloke the confidence to try it on with this bird out of the 70s and her rather uninterested dog.

n4a8G2D.jpg

 

I think the bloke from the 70's may have his confidence knocked back if he sees the size approximation the burd from the 70's is signalling to her mate (out of shot).

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It is a rare occasion, especially with cars of this era, but I genuinely had no clue the Mazda Persona existed, or its sibling the Eunos 300 even though I was pretty sure I knew the Eunos lineup...

Its basically a midsize hardtop sedan, similar to the Corona Exiv or Carina ED which look so similar that i really though Mazda just badge engineered their own version. The Persona is  based on the 626 though, and now I want one. Flickr tells me theres at least one in the country!

Ãhnliches Foto

As the Eunos 300:

e414d5d43fba7842baf51d54a696406f.jpg

Loving the interior as well with the backseat integrated into the rear doors similar to what you could find in the Cosmo:

1988_ma_03_b.jpg

Corona Exiv and Carina ED of the same generation in comparison:

1989_exiv_t180_04_b.jpg

1990_ed_st180_13_b.jpg

I really wish these JDM exclusive bodystyles came over here as well.

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Similarities between models of the same manufacturers wasn't really that uncommon at all back then in Japan, especially with Toyota, due to their different sales channels that all wanted their own version of a particular car. Mazda building something for a niche segment that is so similar to a competitor's model, while not fitting at all within the design language of their own cars, is very odd to me though. The more I look at the Persona, the more I love it though. Mazda seems to have invested a lot of time in the details to make it stand out stylistically.

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That pillarless 4-door Mazda Eunos above is a good looking car.

Check this one out.

ljxzq6H.jpg

Looks American / Australian General Motors. Maybe powered by a 4 litre six or a 5/6/7 litre V8? A bit like something Kojak would drive.

But it has Mazda badges?

It's the Mazda Roadpacer from around 1975. A what???

It was powered by this.

tRkKIkE.jpg

A 1.3 litre low-torque high-revving rotary Wankel engine in a 1.6 ton car. Intended as an 'anti-pollution, low emissions' car. It did 9mpg.

Things didn't end well.

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I stumbled across an Enfield 8000 in the Lisbon Tejo power station museum last year, which I wasn't expecting.. Jonny Smith (him off Fifth Gear) also bought one recently and turned it into some crazy electric dragster - it's got its own website here. I recommend reading the blog he wrote about it from the start if you have some time to kill.

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That pillarless 4-door Mazda Eunos above is a good looking car.
Check this one out.
ljxzq6H.jpg
Looks American / Australian General Motors. Maybe powered by a 4 litre six or a 5/6/7 litre V8? A bit like something Kojak would drive.
But it has Mazda badges?
It's the Mazda Roadpacer from around 1975. A what???
It was powered by this.
tRkKIkE.jpg
A 1.3 litre low-torque high-revving rotary Wankel engine in a 1.6 ton car. Intended as an 'anti-pollution, low emissions' car. It did 9mpg.
Things didn't end well.


A Holden HJ Premier with a Wankle and wing mirrors, pure class.
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I barely know anything about those Tempo vans, I understood they had some sort of VW connection and assumed they were a rebodied Type 2 van affair.  Seems that's not quite correct, and the Jensen layer is an added bit of badge engineering complication?  Would like to learn more, at any rate.  Thanks to Schaefft I now want a Mazda Persona in red, four door hardtops with full width rear light bars and flat-top arches are the cars of winners, frankly.

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On 7/13/2019 at 2:00 PM, JeeExEll said:

 

Check out the Enfield Safari's sister, the Neorion Chicago 4X4, also based on the Jeep V8. Some info on Wiki.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neorion_Chicago

5CcnxBO.jpg

Anyone want to buy one?

Found more info here ↓, which has a bonus vid in it :-)

http://www.thepetrolstop.com/2014/07/neorion-chicago.html

 

There is (or at least was last year) one of them on the Isle of Wight, near Ryde. Thought it was an odd kit car, so rather surprised to find the truth, and that  it is so rare. Probably understandable though!

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