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Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.


philibusmo

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On 29/02/2024 at 19:43, EyesWeldedShut said:

I rather liked my P reg Mussolini despite being fugly, and my wife still covets a 2000 era Korando just because it’s so ugly only a mother could love it 😊 

She didn't teach Spanish in Ludlow did she?  Presumably not a massive coincidence if another couple had that pair of cars.

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1 hour ago, catsinthewelder said:

She didn't teach Spanish in Ludlow did she?  Presumably not a massive coincidence if another couple had that pair of cars.

Nope - just one of them there co-incidences thingies.
I'm trying to convince her that the MB 4 cyl petrol in the old Korando is exactly the same as in an SLK and she'd not notice the difference in handling.....

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From Faceache:

The car actually had its origins in France in the late 1940s, where aircraft designer Gabriel Voisin had designed a minimal car called the Biscooter. The playful name implied that it was about the size of two motorscooters, or a scooter with four wheels. The design drew no interest from either manufacturers or consumers there, however, and he eventually licensed it to Spanish firm Autonacional S.A. of Barcelona. By the time it was introduced in 1953, the marque had been hispanicized to Biscúter. The first car had no formal model name and was called simply the Series 100, but it soon became known as the Zapatilla, or little shoe (clog), after a low-heeled peasant slipper popular at the time

FB_IMG_1710056529357.jpg.cab4c3ce86799e0ffd448b5e3943a724.jpg

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On 27/02/2024 at 16:58, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Voisin Biscuter

92.jpg.04901aac3b64ad8aeb31ab5e303931c4.

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

From Faceache:

The car actually had its origins in France in the late 1940s, where aircraft designer Gabriel Voisin had designed a minimal car called the Biscooter. The playful name implied that it was about the size of two motorscooters, or a scooter with four wheels. The design drew no interest from either manufacturers or consumers there, however, and he eventually licensed it to Spanish firm Autonacional S.A. of Barcelona. By the time it was introduced in 1953, the marque had been hispanicized to Biscúter. The first car had no formal model name and was called simply the Series 100, but it soon became known as the Zapatilla, or little shoe (clog), after a low-heeled peasant slipper popular at the time

FB_IMG_1710056529357.jpg.cab4c3ce86799e0ffd448b5e3943a724.jpg

 

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Quite a few cars I didn't know existed turned up at Rustival, not least this, which doesn't look like any Ford Escort I'd ever seen.

W956RPR.thumb.jpg.11d46479ef13e7e9fe8258e14815d2ef.jpg

W956RPR1.thumb.jpg.e25135aaac96deef97316a25f8fd401d.jpg

It's an American Escort ZX2, which was their replacement for the Probe, and seems to have nothing in common with the European Escort, mainly Mazda 323 running gear with a 2-litre Zetec.

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On 10/03/2024 at 07:14, quicksilver said:

Quite a few cars I didn't know existed turned up at Rustival, not least this, which doesn't look like any Ford Escort I'd ever seen.

W956RPR.thumb.jpg.11d46479ef13e7e9fe8258e14815d2ef.jpg

W956RPR1.thumb.jpg.e25135aaac96deef97316a25f8fd401d.jpg

It's an American Escort ZX2, which was their replacement for the Probe, and seems to have nothing in common with the European Escort, mainly Mazda 323 running gear with a 2-litre Zetec.

 

The Ford Escort ZX2 sat below the Probe, both in size and price.  As was the case with other 1990s North American Escorts, the chassis was taken from the Mazda 323/Australian Ford Laser.  It used the same 2.0 Zetec as the Mondeo and Focus.  The ZX2 was actually a belated replacement for the old North American Ford Escort EXP Coupe, discontinued a decade earlier.

The 1999-2002 Mercury Cougar (exported to the UK as the Ford Cougar) was the quasi-replacement for the Probe.  The front-drive Cougar was originally intended to become the Mk III Probe (the UK didn't get the Mk I Probe) but was hastily rebranded as a Mercury in the US just prior to launch, after Lincoln-Mercury dealers complained they were being starved of product.  Ford threw them a bone by giving them this new "Cougar" as a consolation prize for Mercury losing the Capri, Tracer, Mystique, and the old rear-drive Cougar in rapid succession without being replaced.  This new downsized Cougar was radically different from previous Cougars did not sell in the numbers anticipated.  Traditional Cougar buyers wanted nothing to do with the new car.

Side note: The Mk I Probe was intended to replace the Fox-body Ford Mustang in 1988.  But as soon as Mustang fans heard the next iteration of their favourite car was going to be based on a front-wheel-drive Mazda 626 and there would be no V8 engine, they bombarded Ford's Dearborn H.Q. with "strongly worded" letters expressing their outrage.  I'm willing to bet these letters contained plenty of anti-Japanese xenophobia, too!  The letter-writing campaign achieved it's goal and Ford's bosses relented.  With the new car's development already at an advanced stage, Ford had too much money invested to cancel it, so it was rebranded as the Ford Probe.  Ford lost years of development time on the new Mustang and, as a result, the Fox-body Mustang had to soldier on until 1994, fifteen years after it had been launched!

 

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6 hours ago, Madman Of The People said:

 

The Ford Escort ZX2 sat below the Probe, both in size and price.  As was the case with other 1990s North American Escorts, the chassis was taken from the Mazda 323/Australian Ford Laser.  It used the same 2.0 Zetec as the Mondeo and Focus.  The ZX2 was actually a belated replacement for the old North American Ford Escort EXP Coupe, discontinued a decade earlier.

The 1999-2002 Mercury Cougar (exported to the UK as the Ford Cougar) was the quasi-replacement for the Probe.  The front-drive Cougar was originally intended to become the Mk III Probe (the UK didn't get the Mk I Probe) but was hastily rebranded as a Mercury in the US just prior to launch, after Lincoln-Mercury dealers complained they were being starved of product.  Ford threw them a bone by giving them this new "Cougar" as a consolation prize for Mercury losing the Capri, Tracer, Mystique, and the old rear-drive Cougar in rapid succession without being replaced.  This new downsized Cougar was radically different from previous Cougars did not sell in the numbers anticipated.  Traditional Cougar buyers wanted nothing to do with the new car.

Side note: The Mk I Probe was intended to replace the Fox-body Ford Mustang in 1988.  But as soon as Mustang fans heard the next iteration of their favourite car was going to be based on a front-wheel-drive Mazda 626 and there would be no V8 engine, they bombarded Ford's Dearborn H.Q. with "strongly worded" letters expressing their outrage.  I'm willing to bet these letters contained plenty of anti-Japanese xenophobia, too!  The letter-writing campaign achieved it's goal and Ford's bosses relented.  With the new car's development already at an advanced stage, Ford had too much money invested to cancel it, so it was rebranded as the Ford Probe.  Ford lost years of development time on the new Mustang and, as a result, the Fox-body Mustang had to soldier on until 1994, fifteen years after it had been launched!

 

Vanilla Ice was still happily rollin' in his 5.0 in 1991 

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RDT_20240317_2043595355344657575218301.jpg.7e4d49dc6b0a085da6d2c3d2f8af3249.jpg

RDT_20240317_2044122740254277774337576.jpg.ae6123f8047f111dde1bfc964c7ffcaf.jpg

AC Schnitzer X-Road BMW 325xi

I walked past this exact car in Brussels earlier this year with barely a second glance; I just assumed that it was a model that they got in Europe that we didn't get in the UK.

It was only when I got home that I began to question why BMW wouldn't sell an Audi Allroad equivalent here that I uncovered the truth - only 25 X-Roads were built!

This particular one has over 300,000km on it and was for sale as of 2 months ago for an unnamed price.

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6 hours ago, GR8 PL8 M8 said:

RDT_20240317_2043595355344657575218301.jpg.7e4d49dc6b0a085da6d2c3d2f8af3249.jpg

RDT_20240317_2044122740254277774337576.jpg.ae6123f8047f111dde1bfc964c7ffcaf.jpg

AC Schnitzer X-Road BMW 325xi

I walked past this exact car in Brussels earlier this year with barely a second glance; I just assumed that it was a model that they got in Europe that we didn't get in the UK.

It was only when I got home that I began to question why BMW wouldn't sell an Audi Allroad equivalent here that I uncovered the truth - only 25 X-Roads were built!

This particular one has over 300,000km on it and was for sale as of 2 months ago for an unnamed price.

Much better than an X3.

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