Jump to content

Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.


philibusmo

Recommended Posts

Scan_20210515-2.jpg?w=768&ssl=1

 

Yes, I knew this type of Dacia exists. Looks like the 1307 (based on the regular pick-up) and the 1309. It's not. The rear door is square, as is the rear door glass. All romanian Dacia pick-ups have the rear door rounded for the wheel, as you can see here: http://www.automobileromanesti.ro/Dacia/Dacia_Pick-Up/

 

The site where the picture is from is a right mine full of obscure shite. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not much of a one for supercars, but a chance marketstall encounter this morning pointed me towards a car I never knew existed...

346525035_IMG_20211022_0810232.thumb.jpg.1a370793e8c4113edf61c21d626a40a7.jpg

A 'MIG Georgia Centenaire' - WTF?

Apparently this started off as a carbon fibre supercar with a Lamborghini-derived engine, designed in the late 1980s by Italian F2 driver Fulvio Ballabio, and built by his company Monte Carlo Automobile (MCA) as the Monte Carlo GTB Centenaire.

Monte_Carlo_GTB_1.jpg.620feba1c78dbe27fa2a8570a7bf6567.jpg

Monte_Carlo_GTB_2.jpg.2e47ae0abaae46da94e442eccb412355.jpg

Monte_Carlo_GTB_3.jpg.3b4d690efac64261e49f85725158731c.jpg

Mega Monte Carlo GTB 1992 Test (roadandtrack.com)

Sales weren't especially great though, with only five apparently built - including one gifted to Prince Rainier of Monaco. The rights to the project were then bought up by a Georgian businessman in 1993, with designs on racing at Le Mans, and a further car was built, badged as the MIG M100 Centenaire - with 'MIG' apparently standing for 'Migrelli and Georgia'. The effort was, according to Wikipedia, "a complete failure", with the MIG failing to qualify for Le Mans. 

The design then passed to French manufacturer Aixam-Méga, who built an undisclosed number of examples under the name Méga Monte Carlo GTB, now with a Mercedes V12 fitted, between 1996 and 1999, before quietly discontinuing it.

Quite why Bburago bothered to make a model of this oddity is anyone's guess, but still... I never knew it existed until today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I'm not much of a one for supercars, but a chance marketstall encounter this morning pointed me towards a car I never knew existed...

346525035_IMG_20211022_0810232.thumb.jpg.1a370793e8c4113edf61c21d626a40a7.jpg

A 'MIG Georgia Centenaire' - WTF?

Apparently this started off as a carbon fibre supercar with a Lamborghini-derived engine, designed in the late 1980s by Italian F2 driver Fulvio Ballabio, and built by his company Monte Carlo Automobile (MCA) as the Monte Carlo GTB Centenaire.

Monte_Carlo_GTB_1.jpg.620feba1c78dbe27fa2a8570a7bf6567.jpg

Monte_Carlo_GTB_2.jpg.2e47ae0abaae46da94e442eccb412355.jpg

Monte_Carlo_GTB_3.jpg.3b4d690efac64261e49f85725158731c.jpg

Mega Monte Carlo GTB 1992 Test (roadandtrack.com)

Sales weren't especially great though, with only five apparently built - including one gifted to Prince Rainier of Monaco. The rights to the project were then bought up by a Georgian businessman in 1993, with designs on racing at Le Mans, and a further car was built, badged as the MIG M100 Centenaire - with 'MIG' apparently standing for 'Migrelli and Georgia'. The effort was, according to Wikipedia, "a complete failure", with the MIG failing to qualify for Le Mans. 

The design then passed to French manufacturer Aixam-Méga, who built an undisclosed number of examples under the name Méga Monte Carlo GTB, now with a Mercedes V12 fitted, between 1996 and 1999, before quietly discontinuing it.

Quite why Bburago bothered to make a model of this oddity is anyone's guess, but still... I never knew it existed until today.

I had that Burago when I was younger. It was badged MCA Centenaire, so I guess Burago thought it would be a winner and tooled up, then re-branded it to suit the change of ownership/name. I wonder which (toy) is rarer?

16 minutes ago, Austat said:

I'll look into Pichon-Parat a bit more, they had some interesting coach-built designs.

There's a very good book (in French) about P-P which is worth having if you're interested

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I was a behind a Hyundai Ioniq 5 earlier. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I appreciate the very 80s concept car style lights and flush handles. The future is now

20211022_103240.thumb.jpg.78a10964cbe18264057902cf9e6b5bf1.jpg

 

For some reason the back end styling reminds me of the Lada 112.

0501370.jpg

I'm not sure why as there's not a great deal of resemblance there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Austat said:

The Pichon & Parat coachbuilt Citroen DS models from the early 1960's:

picton-parat_01-ds.thumb.jpeg.4e3162352134f4b9f02fcdce434e463c.jpeg

13508995_251346871900323_2162864759262575189_n.jpeg.75f1274bc8725c577427c5043d4c18fa.jpeg

13450155_251346868566990_2077707933777964310_n.thumb.jpeg.d7d20e43dd39a2b3f799b574035607cb.jpeg

... who built coupés...

477_001.thumb.jpeg.184c94454384e4ec69f173ce2ad0e78a.jpeg

picton-parat_02-ds.thumb.jpeg.ce2214d1da144e2d40909560b07cbd81.jpeg

and cabriolets...

Citroen DS 19 cabriolet usine, ailes Pichon-Parat 1961

3279_10622209_0.thumb.jpeg.bcde38810afc4dcbeb2442977009dc6b.jpeg

I'll look into Pichon-Parat a bit more, they had some interesting coach-built designs.

 

That is not an improvement. Why would you pay presumably a considerable amount to make your car look worse. For the individuality I guess but I'd rather have a standard one and keep the money but what do I know? It's nothing new I guess, the world's entire kit car industry is based on making things worse for money. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

 

That is not an improvement. Why would you pay presumably a considerable amount to make your car look worse. For the individuality I guess but I'd rather have a standard one and keep the money but what do I know? It's nothing new I guess, the world's entire kit car industry is based on making things worse for money. 

I agree. The DS was a beautiful design, both aesthetically and mechanically / hydrauliclarly. That is abysmal. I was offered a DS and an Audi 70 when I was 20, too scared to take either on though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Hungarian micro car industry. Did you ever think such a thing existed? Well it did and it was very busy indeed - below is a link and some choice pictures (I've shoved a few in the BW thread as well). The industry started as a way of circumventing Comecon restrictions on car production in the Bloc. Hungary had no tradition of building cars and so was not allowed to build them. But they wanted to build them and so came up with a whole slew of home grown micro-cars which where not covered by the regs. Also, like the rest of Europe, there was a shortage of cheap transport in the '50's.

https://www.vintag.es/2018/01/vintage-photos-of-creative-postwar.html

image.png.8c0e2c73a7773cb48ade192186e286dd.png

image.png.60e0c2c21ddff4aae1569e8c3b40a1aa.png

image.png.22c45abaae5617208aff3385ffed7ad3.png

image.png.44e55ef7ba963b0dd47744bcf58768b6.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...