Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[Richard]

Myreton is a great wee museum, I keep meaning to organise an Autoshite day out there, with the Museum of Flight in the afternoon.

[320touring]

Myreton is a great wee museum, I keep meaning to organise an Autoshite day out there, with the Museum of Flight in the afternoon.

I've had a unit 2 miles away for 7yrs..never been

[sierraman]

Chrysler Sebring saloon. Just followed one home. Reviews aren't good, apart from being cheap, it feels cheap, looks stupid and by all accounts not especially reliable. Topped off with being expensive to tax, beggers the question why would you buy one new? It must be financial suicide.

 

At some point they must have sat round at the Chrysler UK HQ and thought 'mmm I think we've got a class leader here'

 

Taking all this into account I've now decided I must have one, if only to recall how shite it was 20 years down the line.

[Junkman]

The Albany Motor Carriage Company made Edwardian-style vehicles in Dorset from 1971 to 1997, using a variety of components & engines from the BL parts bin.

 

Surprisingly many components & engines from the 1971 to 1997 BL parts bin were pretty period correct for Edwardian-style vehicles.

[Skut]

The Hope Whisper. Danish electric car from the 80s which the driver managed to crash into its own inagural motor show stand. Looks like a tiny mental citroen

[Junkman]

Ever heard of this make?

 

[chaseracer]

Nope.

 

[Largactil]

 

In a similar vein to the Astra Saloon available in Ireland, you can also buy one of these in RHD...New shape Ford Focus

 

Anyone know the history of why the Irish love small saloons, and why Ford / GM bother engineering them in RHD to sell to a tiny market?

[JohnDeere]

 

In a similar vein to the Astra Saloon available in Ireland, you can also buy one of these in RHD...New shape Ford Focus

 

Anyone know the history of why the Irish love small saloons, and why Ford / GM bother engineering them in RHD to sell to a tiny market?

Small saloons also popular in India, South Africa and Oz.

[Vin]

I passed a W reg Honda Logo on the M180 today. New one on me...

 

 

 

 

And a few months ago, I saw a Renault Maxity in Leeds...

 

[Slappy]

That's weird, because I've known of the Maxity since that version came out, what 5-6 years ago, but only ever saw 1, about 5 years ago. And this week, lo and behold, 1 turns up in Portsmouth as a mini removals van.

 

Sales must have been fantastic*.

[quicksilver]

Never seen or heard of a Maxity before. It's obviously a badge-engineered and even less popular version of the Nissan Cabstar but you don't even see many of them these days. Crash protection looks GR2.

[quicksilver]

Mitsubishi Lancer Liftback, 60 reg, weird lumpy thing. Never seen one of those before and I thought the only Lancer available by then was the Fast N Furious spec Evo Eleventy-whatever Barrymobile. Can't even find many pics - it was like this but more giffer and less Barry

 

[MarvinsMom]

saw a new shape land rover discovery this morning, so sorry no pictures was driving...

 

just the same if larger than a range rover ewok, I'm afraid I don't think very much of them, and I suppose that the new Disco will be in the same vein, good for posing to the other mothers outside Quintin's school, fuggin hopeless for anything else!

[holbeck]

Yep, Spanish. Seems Nissan bought them for their commercial expertise, and there are lots of indigenous Nissans floating about still which were originally Ebros. I think that's the factory where they build all the hi-top Trafics/Vivaros/Primastars because Luton is too low. Terranos previously too perhaps, but I could just be talking out of my anus on that one.

 

Didn't think I'd ever see a photo of an existing RHD one though. It's got a bit of a squished VW LT look about it.

I'm a bit late to this but...

 

I visited Nissan Iberica in Barcelona a couple of times as a supplier around 2000 / 01, The Ebro Trade (pronounced 'Tra-day', just like the 80's singer Sade) was still in production then for the domestic Spanish market.

ISTR it was fitted with the Nissan CD20T engine as used in the Primera Diesel.

 

Also in production at the time were Terrano / Maverick, Serena  and its van derivative (and LDV Cub!) plus  low volume CKD assembly of the Nissan Patrol

[cms206]

saw a new shape land rover discovery this morning, so sorry no pictures was driving...

 

just the same if larger than a range rover ewok, I'm afraid I don't think very much of them, and I suppose that the new Disco will be in the same vein, good for posing to the other mothers outside Quintin's school, fuggin hopeless for anything else!

Will be a Discovery Sport; one of the mothers at the school I serve has a 15-plate one.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

saw a new shape land rover discovery this morning, so sorry no pictures was driving...

 

just the same if larger than a range rover ewok, I'm afraid I don't think very much of them, and I suppose that the new Disco will be in the same vein, good for posing to the other mothers outside Quintin's school, fuggin hopeless for anything else!

As CMS has pointed out its the Discovery Sport, which is the New Freelander and is the same underneath as the Freelander 2 and Ewok. It's more practical than the the Ewok and is available as a 7 seater,although how small you'd have to be to fit in there I don't know.

You'll be pleased to know the spirit of Rover,ARG,BLMC,BMC et al , lives on in the fucked up way only British companies could contemplate.

For the first 6 months DiscoSpurt's come with the old 2.2 Freelander/ Mondeo/PSA engine , once the Jag XE arrives with its fancy all new 2.0 Diesel,that will also go into the DiscoSpurt. So your £40,000 flash new status symbol will be obsolete before it's a year old.

Of course it may be that the Ingenium range of engines become the new K Series and in 25 years no one but Mr Bollox can repair them and the few hundred early 2.2's become the holy grail of classic Land Rover fanciers, bit of a long term punt though.

[Vin]

I posted this in the 'lazy spotters thread' but I thought I ought to post it here too, due to it being something I'd never heard of or seen before...

 

A Polonez 'Atu' - Caro saloon basically. This LHD Polish example currently languishes in a Scunthorpe scrapyard...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Timewaster]

there was a comapny in Newark-on-trent that made retro look ing vans using either ford or BL parts i nthe 80s as well ...

Ah yes, Asquith. They made ice cream vans mostly. transit or ldv running gear with a vintage looking body.

And according to a guy I knew who once worked there, Full of wob and self tappers from the factory.

[hennabm]

Ah yes, Asquith. They made ice cream vans mostly. transit or ldv running gear with a vintage looking body.

And according to a guy I knew who once worked there, Full of wob and self tappers from the factory.

The Newark company was Fleur de Lys. I worked there in 1984 soon after it started and left at chassis number 18.

FDL used their own chassis and 20" cast wheels. IIRC they cost about £16k when a "normal" Transit was about £7k. There were various problems with them from day 1. The designer was a chap called Len Terry who is better known for working/designing racing cars with Colin Chapman. AFAIK he is still alive.

In the time I was there it was all Ford running gear and all vans. They were developing a bus as I left as wel as an Ice Cream van in LHD.

 

The Asquith was made near Southampton and used the Ford chassis and smaller wheels. Top pic is the Asquith,bottom the FDL

[RoadworkUK]

The Asquith was made near Southampton and used the Ford chassis and smaller wheels.

 

If only it was based on a Reliant.

 

The Robin Asquith.

[HMC]

Ive just seen a Peugeot 405 estate 4x4 on e bay. Every days a school day.

[cros]

I saw two of these things at the Valor chocolate factory which is in southern Spain. They can only be used in winter or they'll melt.

[chaseracer]

^ The chocolates, or the vans...?
 

Full of wob and self tappers from the factory.

[philibusmo]

It's a Solara, but not as we know it...

 

The Mitsubishi Magna Solara. Incidentally, this is a very close relation (a slightly newer and less posh version) of the Mitsubishi Verada that Wuvvum posted a few pages back. A good mate of mine had a Verada until a month or so back, when the auto box failed in such a big way that it blew a hole in its casing. To be fair to the car, this was expected as it has been arriving at its destination in a cloud of ATF smoke for a couple of months previous.

[Aston Martin]

Saw one of these today.

 

 

 

Santana Defender, no idea why.

[stillOrange]

I am sure this is only me who never heard of or seen one of these...

 

Saw one today in Manchester centre.

 

 

I would love to own or hire one at some point just to see if I could fit in it and how it is to drive a car that is only 1 meter high.

 

 

[Coprolalia]

Vauxhall Cascada

 

Saw one of these on the M5 a couple of days ago.

They've obviously really pushed* the advertising.

 

The ugly offspring of the old Bertone coupe and a Movano van, with some cappuchino whip as a lube?

[Junkman]

Ive just seen a Peugeot 405 estate 4x4 on e bay. Every days a school day.

 

Buy it!

[anonymous user]

I am sure this is only me who never heard of or seen one of these...

 

Saw one today in Manchester centre.

 

1970_Lotus_Europa_S2_(Type_54).jpg

 

I would love to own or hire one at some point just to see if I could fit in it and how it is to drive a car that is only 1 meter high.

I think Breadvan72 had one (hence his moniker), so he could fill you in on the driving experience. I struggled to get in one years ago but failed to be able to  get in a position where I could shut the door and drive it, at least my Lotus 7 had unlimited headroom