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Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.


philibusmo

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Not sure if I’ve posted this before but if not… say hello to the Sungri Paektusan - potentially the only car uniquely designed in North Korea:

91949A0F-1F91-4EEC-AAAD-B9C1C0F8C060.webp.c222f55c765472bd32ed7c3e12fa9285.webp

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Manufactured for a short while between 1978 and 1982, there’s pretty much no technical information about it - but it’s generally believed that it’s a rebodied GAZ 24 Volga. What’s more, none have been spotted since the mid 80s - so it’s very likely extinct too.

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1 hour ago, MiniMort said:

Not sure if I’ve posted this before but if not… say hello to the Sungri Paektusan - potentially the only car uniquely designed in North Korea:

91949A0F-1F91-4EEC-AAAD-B9C1C0F8C060.webp.c222f55c765472bd32ed7c3e12fa9285.webp

9B2F7889-03D7-4696-BE08-05557E266155.webp.14860bd2928be519d304e3d132f991a1.webp

E8851727-0BA3-48B2-BC4B-3C968BB5AF18.webp.e37f054b587ae67f696ce9addbe94242.webp

Manufactured for a short while between 1978 and 1982, there’s pretty much no technical information about it - but it’s generally believed that it’s a rebodied GAZ 24 Volga. What’s more, none have been spotted since the mid 80s - so it’s very likely extinct too.

From the fascinating ChinaCarHistory.com - I was reading the article about the Paektusan just the other night. Check out that site for a load more cars you didn't know existed from the wacky and wonderful Chinese motor industry. I started looking at Morris Itals, found a reference to a Chinese Ital that led me there and soon ended up down a rabbit hole that consumed several hours!

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8 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

From the fascinating ChinaCarHistory.com - I was reading the article about the Paektusan just the other night. Check out that site for a load more cars you didn't know existed from the wacky and wonderful Chinese motor industry. I started looking at Morris Itals, found a reference to a Chinese Ital that led me there and soon ended up down a rabbit hole that consumed several hours!

Ah that’s a great site. I’m pretty sure Chinas made pretty much every car to ever exist at this point.

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For instance, here’s a Qinghua 7, a Daf clone made by a university. The Chinese magazine that talked about it mentioned that production began in 1958, and if that’s true that means it was built before the original Dutch version.

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11 hours ago, MiniMort said:

Ah that’s a great site. I’m pretty sure Chinas made pretty much every car to ever exist at this point.

AEB2016F-A914-4B85-BB82-0A59F9FB91B9.webp.44a97d8a4823af8400f8b0f674a09451.webp

For instance, here’s a Qinghua 7, a Daf clone made by a university. The Chinese magazine that talked about it mentioned that production began in 1958, and if that’s true that means it was built before the original Dutch version.

Wiki is confusing. The English version says the year of production for the 600 is from 1959 and the Dutch one says it was presented at the Dutch car show in 1958- But is it a copy?

image.thumb.jpeg.fbe895e96e38a50131ad2cdfcf4b4d58.jpeg

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9 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

Wiki is confusing. The English version says the year of production for the 600 is from 1959 and the Dutch one says it was presented at the Dutch car show in 1958- But is it a copy?

image.thumb.jpeg.fbe895e96e38a50131ad2cdfcf4b4d58.jpeg

I’m assuming the article wasn’t all too accurate. The Daf was probably on display in ‘58 but deliveries wouldn’t start until 1959 - and from there the Chinese university heard about it, imported one and made their clone. Then again you know what they say about assume…

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4 hours ago, stendec said:

Just stumbled across this whilst looking for something else: a quartic steering wheel well before the Allegro

0F9E61CF-12A0-42B4-9723-FCAD845F3CED.thumb.jpeg.e8033f60b161640591f018c28afec75f.jpeg

The 1963 Bertone designed Chevy Corvair Testudo concept car

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Strange that it seems to have Smiths gauges in the dash seeing as it's American.

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On 11/11/2022 at 9:47 PM, MiniMort said:

Ah that’s a great site. I’m pretty sure Chinas made pretty much every car to ever exist at this point.

AEB2016F-A914-4B85-BB82-0A59F9FB91B9.webp.44a97d8a4823af8400f8b0f674a09451.webp

For instance, here’s a Qinghua 7, a Daf clone made by a university. The Chinese magazine that talked about it mentioned that production began in 1958, and if that’s true that means it was built before the original Dutch version.

If you re-read it, the article is describing all the different car built by Qinghua Universtiy between 1958 and '61 - none of the others look anything like the Daf. I think safe to assume this car was built in 1960 or 1961 (and almost certainly not actually 'produced', if they made more than one at all).

The Chinese car industry is like the one last unknown area of motoring research, it's a totally closed world with virtually no surviving information about what was being produced right up until the 1980s. Imagine, a whole country's car history which has been entirely wiped out and will likely never be fully understood! China has had a draconian 'lifespan' rule for vehicles (iirc it's 20 years, but I could be wrong) whereby cars have to be scrapped once they reach a certain age. Obviously a few examples (mostly of state limousines) have survived in museums, but 99% of all historic Chinese cars were destroyed as a matter of course. This just makes it all the more fascinating to me - no physical evidence of any of these things, plus virtually no historical record of them. I bet there are still scores of vehicles built in China, particularly during the 1950s Great Leap Forward, about which no trace whatsoever remains. Brilliant.

Reminds me of one of my favourite bits of old-car writing about the guy who stole a copy of Georgano from his library and got obsessed with one of the Chinese cars listed in it (which turned out to be mis-captioned anyway) https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2008/05/auto-biography-in-search-of-the-east-glows/

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20 hours ago, stendec said:

Just stumbled across this whilst looking for something else: a quartic steering wheel well before the Allegro

0F9E61CF-12A0-42B4-9723-FCAD845F3CED.thumb.jpeg.e8033f60b161640591f018c28afec75f.jpeg

The 1963 Bertone designed Chevy Corvair Testudo concept car

A0473437-048D-4C45-B70B-2AC6B7F459E6.thumb.jpeg.0944a524aa492c3dbc96ed14da32bbd8.jpeg

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I saw that at the amazing exhibition at Compiegne just pre-pandemic. That's the best old car thing I've ever been to I reckon

20200207_144704.thumb.jpg.4e345057f00bbf405e2263149bcc6244.jpg

I actually don't particularly love the Testudo, but PF's second crack at a Corvair is lovely. This survives, too, but has suffered a horrible American restoration and is now bright red with wire wheels... Nice to see somebody was paying attention to Corvair tyre pressures when it was built.

stunning-corvair-concepts-by-pininfarina

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25 minutes ago, DavieW said:

Lancia Hyena Zagato

H13.thumb.webp.7d22a04512d3b551c5c430b288439b7a.webp

Oh, the Integrale coupe.  It's an aesthetically brave thing, but I prefer the five door.  Some of you may go looking for article in which the photo of the black car originally appeared.  If you find it, you will also find an image of the interior, which is as drab as the exterior is bold.  

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Interestingly, the car sports, in addition to the usual complement of controls, a button labelled 'CITY MATIC'.  What on earth is that?  Apparently, to save poking about, it was an early go at a stop/start system; the engine would stop when the car came to a halt and would start again when the clutch was depressed, something like that.  

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The Shanghai seems to be one of the most numerous and long-lived Chinese cars. We could have seen more of them in the west had plans to export the pickups come to fruition; they were developed by Locomotors in the UK and the prototypes were actually UK registered.

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Not sure how well they would have sold as it was already a 20-year old design, but stayed in Chinese production until 1994! It's ironic given China's modern reputation for shamelessly copying western designs that this was strictly forbidden in the early days as being "uncritical adherence to western ideas", hence the Shanghai being inspired by Mercedes yet significantly different.

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17 hours ago, Richard_FM said:

DE54.thumb.jpg.2eb564e41860fdaece384e0913ad2557.jpg

The Shanghai SH 760 is was a typical Chinese car before they started to licence older western designs.

Production was only around 10,000 a year in 1981, one per 100,000 people!

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The armoured version of that Stutz probably has the worst power to weight ratio of all time.  

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1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

No I mean Toyota Land cruiser, no idea why I wrote Nissan Patrol! Still haven't seen one as a pickup rather than a 5 door 

I think that's an Australian spec. Land Cruiser.  They still get the old shape one in all sorts of variants, including utes.  

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14 minutes ago, Missy Charm said:

I think that's an Australian spec. Land Cruiser.  They still get the old shape one in all sorts of variants, including utes.  

Yes, the 70 series is intended for Australia, Africa, etc. The UN, mining companies, guerrillas and terrorist groups love these as they are the most rugged and reliable 4x4 you can buy. A European Land Cruiser is called Prado elsewhere and is not considered a real Land Cruiser by some since it is softer and not as rugged.

35920710_Screenshot2022-11-1421_58_05.thumb.png.3646285172297478e4e32166bd8ec750.png

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10 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Yes, the 70 series is intended for Australia, Africa, etc. The UN, mining companies, guerrillas and terrorist groups love these as they are the most rugged and reliable 4x4 you can buy. A European Land Cruiser is called Prado elsewhere and is not considered a real Land Cruiser by some since it is softer and not as rugged.

35920710_Screenshot2022-11-1421_58_05.thumb.png.3646285172297478e4e32166bd8ec750.png

Hope Stjude doesn't read this! 

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1 hour ago, D.E said:

This Chrysler "Sport Saloon" was shown at the 1936 London motor show apparently. Can't find any more info or pictures...

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Very nice. That's technically the Eyston Super Power Chrysler Sport Saloon. It was a tie-up between Chrysler UK and (Land Speed Record contender) George Eyston. Carlton Carriage Company built six of them. One at least existed in the UK until the 1960s. I believe there is one survivor, although it's in the USA. Not sure if it's the same, or a second one and the UK car is still lurking somewhere out there.

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No, it would've been based on an utterly conventional Kew or Wimbledon with unique aluminium bodywork by Carlton. They actually did sell the Airflow in the UK for a time, although I'm not sure how successful it was. Probably more so, comparatively, than in the US given the low overall numbers of Chrysler products which found buyers over here.

 

Edit. Just remembered this amaxing pic of London traffic in the 1930s. I think this goes to show just how advanced the Airflow was at the time. The design is only two years newer than the next youngest car in the picture (the Ford V8). It's easy to forget just how shocking full-bodied, streamlined cars were at the time but this puts it nicely in context. And to think, the Airflow was far from the most radical car on the market at the time!

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