Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[bigstraight6]

50 minutes ago, anonymous user said:

The four door Devon was always more popular with customers. The two door Dorset was popular with hot rodders in the 1970s. I remember one  in a magazine at the time, with a big V8 which had the reg ROD 401 arranged ROD 40! It looks like it still exists and is on SORN.

Found pic

Being boring, but both of those Austin’s have a Devon reg number.

[martc]

The Sachsenring P240 Representative, 2 were built in the late '60's for open top parades for the celebrations of the 20th year anniversary of the foundation of the DDR.

Apparantly there's a 1956 vintage Wartburg underneath.

[barrett]

On 12/24/2022 at 4:58 PM, martc said:

Apparantly there's a 1956 vintage Wartburg underneath.

Surely it's a Saschenring P240 underneath...

[Dyslexic Viking]

Dodge Dakota convertible

[Austat]

Volvo 242 GTC prototype:

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

They made two of these

[chaseracer]

12 hours ago, Austat said:

Volvo 242 GTC prototype:

 

Spare 262C shells to use up?  Bit of a Firenza/Viva E vibe... 😉

http://escapetotheseventies.com/70s-cars/vauxhall-viva-e-coupe/

[martc]

On 12/26/2022 at 1:37 PM, barrett said:

Surely it's a Saschenring P240 underneath...

You're right, of course, my source was wrong. Turns out 'Saschenring' was one of the Horch factories, left behind the iron curtain, and went on to become Trabant; the Horch name couldn't be used as the western part had become part of Auto-Union who made it very clear, through the courts, that the Eastern factory couldn't use the Horch name or badge. Hence the 'S' symbol on the P240 steering wheel which looks very similar to the Trabant logo rather than H. Anyhow, the cooking P240 is also new to me along with the P2...

The P240, a very early one as it still has the H badge.

The P2.

The Representatives in action.

 

[bunglebus]

McMurtry Speirling

Very fast electric hypercar. Looks like a Batmobile that's shrunk in the wash. It's an ugly little spud but it has some clever stuff under the surface - two tons of downforce at standstill?

[somewhatfoolish]

My landrover develops 2t of downforce at standstill. 🤣

[High Jetter]

It's mass. Not the same as a Catholic Mass.

[somewhatfoolish]

The only way that thing is generating 2t of downforce while stationary is by weighing 2t, not even with a dozen hail marys.

[wuvvum]

Unless it's got a couple of dozen Dysons mounted underneath sucking it down onto the road surface.

[horriblemercedes]

8 hours ago, martc said:

You're right, of course, my source was wrong. Turns out 'Saschenring' was one of the Horch factories, left behind the iron curtain, and went on to become Trabant; the Horch name couldn't be used as the western part had become part of Auto-Union who made it very clear, through the courts, that the Eastern factory couldn't use the Horch name or badge. Hence the 'S' symbol on the P240 steering wheel which looks very similar to the Trabant logo rather than H. Anyhow, the cooking P240 is also new to me along with the P2...

The P240, a very early one as it still has the H badge.

The P2.

The Representatives in action.

 

Not that it matters, but surely it's Sachsenring rather than Saschenring

[Spiny Norman]

23 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Unless it's got a couple of dozen Dysons mounted underneath sucking it down onto the road surface.

Pretty much has. Faster up the Goodwood hillclimb than an F1 car and everything else that's ever been up there.
 

 

[Jazoli]

7 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

Pretty much has. Faster up the Goodwood hillclimb than an old F1 car on treaded tires and everything else that's ever been up there as pukka hillclimb cars or modern F1 cars are not allowed to run the hill

 

Fixed that for you

It was still mightily impressive though.

 

[martc]

18 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

Not that it matters, but surely it's Sachsenring rather than Saschenring

Yes it's Sachsenring, 0/10 to me.

[martc]

1969 Bertone Autobianchi A112 Runabout.

[DavieW]

1 hour ago, martc said:

1969 Bertone Autobianchi A112 Runabout.

Was there not a Dinky/Corgi/Matchbox model of that?

[bunglebus]

19 minutes ago, DavieW said:

Was there not a Dinky/Corgi/Matchbox model of that?

Matchbox and Corgi - and no doubt others 

[MiniMinorMk3]

And eventually it turned into this. Note the pointed recess in the bonnet, and the B-pillars echo the pillars on the runabout

[martc]

This is a 1978 Volkswagen EA489 Hormiga (Spanish for 'ant') built in Puebla, Mexico. It has a front mounted 1.6 litre flat four engine, driving the front wheels (so I guess it's you're generic Beetle engine/transmission moved to the front) and an off set rear window - maximum vision for minimum cost?

[Three Speed]

I've never paid much attention to Minis. I was surprised to see this at the Haynes Museum - one of 3 prototypes designed by Issigonis in 1967 as his idea for a replacement to the original. 3 inches wider, 4 inches shorter and roomier inside and with 42% fewer components (and therefore cheaper) you can see why Issigonis would see it as what was needed. And yet it still has sliding windows and external seams and hinges and looks almost identical to the 1959 car. Interesting - I wonder which parts Issigonis decided were not necessary.

[MiniMinorMk3]

That is one of Issigonis' development cars from the 9X project.

He started it in 1967. It had an OHC alloy engine.

It was a great concept which would of put BL ahead of it's European rivals. But due to the mess that BL was, and the fact that their larger cars were shite, the project was canned. Issigonis kept on developing the concept using old Mini shells, but BL never used the ideas. Instead we got the Metro with it's archaic A-series engine and hacked about Allegro suspension. I guess all us Mini enthusiasts should be thankful for BLs cock up, otherwise we would have run out of A-series lumps years ago and the Mini would just be a little blip in the history of British cars.

Here's all the 9X cars at Longbridge in 1987

The full story can be read here (beware this site has a lot of adverts on it, so it could mess with your cookies)

BMC 9X prototype Mini replacement (aronline.co.uk)

[somewhatfoolish]

Nothing wrong with the A series at the time other than the machinery they were building them on was shagged out and sitting on a sump full of whiny gears; attached to a proper gearbox they were performance competitive up to the end of the 80s.

[wuvvum]

On 12/28/2022 at 1:15 AM, Spiny Norman said:

Pretty much has. Faster up the Goodwood hillclimb than an F1 car and everything else that's ever been up there.
 

 

OK, that's quite nippy.  I love how it made the marshals jump when it took off!  Sounds fucking horrible though.

[FakeConcern]

@somewhatfoolish

I keep seeing this

and keep wondering what it is, could be I didn't know it existed so please tell me...

Anyway onto the main reason for posting...

I saw this out of the corner of my eye on the way to my mum's today and thought it might be a Piaggio Hijet/Porter and if so @High Jetterwould be interested.

So I stopped on the way home...

However a check on Free Car Check (as suggested by @LightBulbFun) shows it to be a DFSK Loadhopper, which I'd not heard of until I googled it. Also  found it to be the little van that originally had a BMW lookalike grill, which I'd seen before.

This one isn't a van though...

Again google told me it's a Big Cab Tipper, with those extra side windows without being a double cab...

It was parked close to a hedge so I nearly missed this surprise tucked under the back...

[barrett]

11 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

@somewhatfoolish

I keep seeing this

and keep wondering what it is, could be I didn't know it existed so please tell me...

I specifically remember it was the Sovam 850/1100 he was talking about. Can't remember what I had for dinner yesterday etc

[somewhatfoolish]

It might have been, probably something else from this thread if not; I don't recall. If I was forced to guess I'd have gone for a Hudson kit car, which fits the renault mechanicals and 'empty bath' criteria.

Edit to add; by the powers vested in me by the AS search engine, it was a comment by @Yoss about the Sovam, just as @barrett remembered.

[Yoss]

34 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

It might have been, probably something else from this thread if not; I don't recall. If I was forced to guess I'd have gone for a Hudson kit car, which fits the renault mechanicals and 'empty bath' criteria.

Edit to add; by the powers invested in me by the AS search engine, it was a comment by @Yoss about the Sovam, just as @barrett remembered.

Was it?! News to me. I don't doubt you, I just don't remember. And we all know @barrett had a special kind of memory. Your knowledge of shit cars, particularly rare and plastic ones is second to none.

Happy new year by the way, Mrs Yoss has handed me a very large glass of prosecco and gin, sloe gin to be precise so this may be the last coherent thing I type today.