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Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.


philibusmo

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On 10/26/2021 at 7:34 PM, martc said:

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

There's also a good book about the Hungarian motoring industry (in English) with details about all of these, although I can't seem to find a copy for sale at this moment
carsmadeinhungarybook.jpg

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On 10/24/2021 at 4:59 PM, bunglebus said:

Traction Avant based, home made

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cqFJtH6o5AWF-g3cFQkn5mhJHdCTDjEAImb-Ts5ev_v7pFA5AiuzGhrCRy52eEggw7Cqfqi5Jp6hQ8Ieq2LZyDCmWUCakeW9HZS7-qenMqnXneLcdkW66Bh0bInsCV_5M4lVEmmmICU=w1400-h491-no

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(no idea on the final pic)

This one was designed by Victor Bouffort, who built all sorts of unusual things over the years. Apparantly there were two, and both survive, but I've never seen them. There was also a roadster version

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He designed a folding scooter, which was sold in the states with a little success

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Which might explain this amazing picture of one of his self-built microcar prototypes on US plates

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There were lots of other microcars, from the 40s to the 70s, a nice 403-based roadster, military vehicles, an overland vehicle. There was a collection of Bouffort-designed stuff at Rétromobile a couple of years ago but he's still almost toally unknown outside of France.

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On 24/10/2021 at 16:59, bunglebus said:

 

 

eyBa26vm5nCerOth1YsrgznB4xdd9f2kp_zJ7o2npEHrsXi_dGzzgWOeRnIHZnxuFSxK7VFbBDlNLeYixNtcm4AnSIY7hdp3n6i0Ha5h5xtQk0-6wpPJqyPII0R4OsqWEn4eEV1HDeA=w1400-h414-no

(no idea on the final pic)

That final pic is the Berggren Future from 1951. Featured here https://driventowrite.com/2021/10/13/drop-the-subject-part-three/ 

Driven To Write has been on a roll lately. I’ve particularly enjoyed the recent features and discussions on 1970s Italian products.

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From the auction advert.......

2000 NISSAN SILVIA VARIETTA AUTECH. GUIDE £10000 - £12000. Chassis number S15500111 - One of only 1143 "Varietta" examples ever produced which makes these the rarest of all Sylvia variants. This generation of the Sylvia was only sold in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The Varietta was built by Autech a subsidiary of Nissan and was based on the Spec S Model.

May be an image of car and outdoors

May be an image of car and outdoors

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On 10/28/2021 at 6:53 AM, martc said:

image.png.b20f8e2a3b7efdd0c26d1c40e13f43f3.png

Moskvitch AZLK-2139 'Arbat' 1991. Scuppered by a) lack of enthusiasm from the politicians for such a bourgeois car aimed at the middle classes and b) the collapse of the Soviet Union by itself.

It is the FIAT Ecobasic Concept Car's mummy! 🙌🙌🎉

20211030_003141.jpg

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On 10/28/2021 at 4:12 PM, Asimo said:

One of these, in Morrisons car park. Making that fashionable gargling noise.  (Sounds like a Merc. With an AGM badge.)

B05174BB-22E8-4FE8-914E-8B01BF018CDB.thumb.jpeg.f6e7d41e00d8109bcda6e3122dadcbcc.jpeg

Funny enough, it literally is just a jacked up Aston with an AMG V8 engine. 

Was a few of the 'Launch edition' ones up my way last year. So generic I only clicked as to what they were when stuck behind in traffic, otherwise I'd think it  would think it was generic SUV No4...

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Gilbern are fairly mainstream, at least by our standards.  Fibreglass, self tappers and a Ford V6 was a good combination but in the ‘70s they tried to develop the T11.  A mid engined car using a Maxi motor.

image.thumb.png.55423f3e8b935856524d289ef9dc5751.png
 

The story of the car and how it was restored is here:

https://rarecomponentcars.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-welsh-wedge.html?fbclid=IwAR3Mjjl0-Kyc1GRoiTzeIADtGwnP7AHyRaJjH_Xg8yanoiA9IV7VdtHtTDk&m=1

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14 hours ago, DavieW said:

From the auction advert.......

2000 NISSAN SILVIA VARIETTA AUTECH. GUIDE £10000 - £12000. Chassis number S15500111 - One of only 1143 "Varietta" examples ever produced which makes these the rarest of all Sylvia variants. This generation of the Sylvia was only sold in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The Varietta was built by Autech a subsidiary of Nissan and was based on the Spec S Model.

May be an image of car and outdoors

May be an image of car and outdoors

I’m in some varietta groups. They are rare beasts.

unfortunately, the only model they did was a type S which is NA, whereas the S15 to have is the turbo. The S15 didn’t sell in the UK, although there are quite a few imported.

There only 2 Turbo conversions I know in the UK. One of them happens to own an Mr2 and she lives near me. I’ve told her to call me if she ever wants rid, but it’ll take upwards of £20k to prize it off her. It’s dark grey. The other is a yellow one near Brum.

E4AFD71E-7F8E-44B8-B7CB-2CE1EF01D854.thumb.jpeg.670580c006212c7b526796ef2756ca02.jpeg

 

in true shitter style btw, the roofs leak like sieves. The seals all fail regularly, but because there weren’t many made, Nissan didn’t bother making many spares. So you can’t even order them from Japan. Every now and then a set come up and they’re worth hundreds,

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11 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Ora cat

Thanks for finding this, I'm after an electric car and the shortlist was Corsa or 208, but perhaps I'll be adding Ora. Can't find an official site on t'interweb at the moment which seems strange as they are supposed to be on sale early next year...

Incidently, before anyone says anything, I don't care that it's from Great Wall and it's a new brand with no UK track record, but they sell in the thousands at home and as far as electric cars go China is amongst the leaders. I'm not keen on the Cat name though, you can take the mick out of that.

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On 26/07/2021 at 21:49, bunglebus said:

Ora Punk Cat - China obvs and totally not a Beetle

1181257_81_108531_iWwYgXuWW.jpg

1181258_81_108531_sw5QymEmr.jpg

Ora Punk Cat Reveals How Much It Was Inspired By The Classic VW Beetle

beetle-rip-off-ora-punk-cat-is-now-patent-protected_9.jpg

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On 26/07/2021 at 22:12, bunglebus said:

The Lightening Cat is also totally not a Porsche either

000000001_src45-1024x576.jpgOra-Lightning-Cat-3.jpgput3sq2hpg5gnven0c2k.jpg

 

5 minutes ago, martc said:

Thanks for finding this, I'm after an electric car and the shortlist was Corsa or 208, but perhaps I'll be adding Ora. Can't find an official site on t'interweb at the moment which seems strange as they are supposed to be on sale early next year...

I did post the other two before, I would think they can't sell those outside of China as they'd actually have to respect copyright laws. I quite like the Punk Cat

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1 hour ago, martc said:

Thanks for finding this, I'm after an electric car and the shortlist was Corsa or 208, but perhaps I'll be adding Ora. Can't find an official site on t'interweb at the moment which seems strange as they are supposed to be on sale early next year...

Incidently, before anyone says anything, I don't care that it's from Great Wall and it's a new brand with no UK track record, but they sell in the thousands at home and as far as electric cars go China is amongst the leaders. I'm not keen on the Cat name though, you can take the mick out of that.

They are not taking orders yet. At the moment it is all about flooding social media to publicise the car and brand.

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On 30/10/2021 at 02:05, 17-Coffees said:

Funny enough, it literally is just a jacked up Aston with an AMG V8 engine. 

Was a few of the 'Launch edition' ones up my way last year. So generic I only clicked as to what they were when stuck behind in traffic, otherwise I'd think it  would think it was generic SUV No4...

Tell me that's not just a re-panelled GLE 'coupé'...

image.png

image.png

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