Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[sheffcortinacentre]

6 hours ago, GeordieInExile said:

Some loon has put a 450bhp W12 in the back of one of these!

https://www.fastcar.co.uk/cars/modified-vw-type-147/

 

 

Loon?  Can't see a problem.

[Wack]

The Aston Martin Puma 😄

I wonder if somebody in the Aston design department is going fuuuccckkkkk

[horriblemercedes]

On 7/3/2022 at 4:34 PM, De Selby said:

I'd never seen or even heard of a Mazda Tribute until one turned up down the road a couple of weeks back.

It is not the greatest car in the world, no

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Wack said:

The Aston Martin Puma 😄

I wonder if somebody in the Aston design department is going fuuuccckkkkk

There's a truck driver on here considering changing his username @Aston Martin

[angle]

Fiat Tempra coupe. Brazil only, came with either a 2.0 16v (the first car with a 16v engine in Brazil) or an 8v 2.0 turbo (the fastest car you could buy in Brazil at the time). Apparently Fiat considered selling them in Europe but were worried they'd take sales off the Fiat Coupe - I reckon they'd have sold at least twelve.

 

[artdjones]

On 7/2/2022 at 10:42 PM, wheel nut said:

The grille reminds me of some of the latest BMWs.

Oh, no, it's not that tasteless.

[Yoss]

Saw one of these today, in black. 

 

Also comes in coupé flavour. 

Obviously I'm well aware of the Peugeot 404 but never knew you could get a coupe/cabriolet. It's no great surprise as Peugeot have a lot of form turning there bread and butter cars into attractive coupés.

I didn't get a good look as it was coming off a roundabout as I was going the other way but as soon as I saw it I could see the 404 family resemblance but it just had that extra bit of class. I mean the 404 saloon is a handsome beast but these are stunning aren't they? I mean just look at it. I've just added a new car to my lottery win list. I haven't actually looked at any for sale yet but I can't imagine they are cheap. Off to have a look now. 

[High Jetter]

Lovely. 2 dr A60 should have been. I think the convertible looks better.

[Yoss]

8 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Lovely. 2 dr A60 should have been. I think the convertible looks better.

That's an MGB isn't it?

Anyway I've just found a decent looking 404 convertible in France (where else of course) for €26000. That doesn't sound too bad in the general scheme of things. I mean it's out of my league but with prices as they are at the moment it sounds reasonable. 

[D.E]

https://www.motor1.com/news/596693/volkswagen-phaeton-second-generation-revealed/

 

[barrett]

On 7/5/2022 at 10:53 PM, Yoss said:

Saw one of these today, in black. 

 

Also comes in coupé flavour. 

Obviously I'm well aware of the Peugeot 404 but never knew you could get a coupe/cabriolet. It's no great surprise as Peugeot have a lot of form turning there bread and butter cars into attractive coupés.

I didn't get a good look as it was coming off a roundabout as I was going the other way but as soon as I saw it I could see the 404 family resemblance but it just had that extra bit of class. I mean the 404 saloon is a handsome beast but these are stunning aren't they? I mean just look at it. I've just added a new car to my lottery win list. I haven't actually looked at any for sale yet but I can't imagine they are cheap. Off to have a look now. 

Obviously not paying enough attention to this forum then, my 404 cabrio was the longest-serving member of my fleet (seven years!) and was mentioned here regularly until I sold it at the end of 2020.

[lesapandre]

On 7/5/2022 at 11:09 PM, Yoss said:

That's an MGB isn't it?

Anyway I've just found a decent looking 404 convertible in France (where else of course) for €26000. That doesn't sound too bad in the general scheme of things. I mean it's out of my league but with prices as they are at the moment it sounds reasonable. 

About 2,885,000 Peugeot 404's were built worldwide.

About 600,000 BMC Farina's produced. 

You can see why BMC were struggling in the market to make a profit.

 

[Yoss]

52 minutes ago, barrett said:

Obviously not paying enough attention to this forum then, my 404 cabrio was the longest-serving member of my fleet (seven years!) and was mentioned here regularly until I sold it at the end of 2020.

Apologies. I was sitting at the back, looking out of the window. I promise I'll pay more attention. 

[Aston Martin]

We all know the SX4.

 

But I was behind a bootleg Kizashi version on the M62. 

[barrett]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

About 2,885,000 Peugeot 404's were built worldwide.

About 600,000 BMC Farina's produced. 

You can see why BMC were struggling in the market to make a profit.

 

Also because Peugeot 404s are genuinely brilliant cars, and BMC Farinas...

[lesapandre]

...were the usual flawed brilliance - both design, construction and quality flaws. Lever-arm dampers....etc etc.

 

 

[Aston Martin]

This is interesting, VW just released photos of the Phaeton 2 that they made in 2016, but they've only just released pictures.

[Supernaut]

1 hour ago, Aston Martin said:

This is interesting, VW just released photos of the Phaeton 2 that they made in 2016, but they've only just released pictures.

I saw an article on that yesterday, and because of that article I learned of the existence of the VW Phideon.

Essentially a facelifed Phaeton for the Chinese market.

[artdjones]

On 7/7/2022 at 1:20 PM, barrett said:

Also because Peugeot 404s are genuinely brilliant cars, and BMC Farinas...

Tbf, I think the Farinas probably made quite a decent profit, also the ADO16, it was the Mini that let the side down.

[lesapandre]

The excellent AROnline covers the whole profit saga here:

https://www.aronline.co.uk/opinion/essay-the-bottom-line/

Yes I'm sure the Farinas were a steady income stream for BMC - not sure how much profit was made on each one (probably BMC did not know either). They certainly had fewer warranty claims I expect than the 1800 which had all kinds of teething troubles which must have dented profits.

The other end of the BMC saga is that they were paying out too big a share dividend each year instead of investing profits in modernisation.

This is good if you really want to look at the issue:

'The British Motor Industry, 1945-94 - A Case Study in Industrial Decline' - by Timothy Whisler.

In other words macho companies overvaluing their stock - I'm looking at you Mr Musk.

With BMC it led to severe cashflow problems by 1967.

With Tesla it may lead to severe cashflow problems by....😆

[lesapandre]

Bussing - a brand of German lorry/bus manufacturer - taken over by MAN. This one is for sale on LeBonCoin - €5000.

New to me.

[martc]

18 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Bussing - a brand of German lorry/bus manufacturer - taken over by MAN.

Phun Phact - the lion, which is the emblem of the city of Braunschweig, seen on MAN's to this very day is actually the Bussing logo which MAN adopted when they took them over.

'The new corporate logo was intended to acknowledge Heinrich Büssing as a visionary in commercial vehicle engineering and reveal the achievements of Büssing AG and its employees.'

https://www.mantruckandbus.com/en/innovation/the-man-lion-evolution-of-a-trademark.html

[martc]

Another phab phact - many of Bussings lorries had 'underfloor', flat diesel engines which were so popular with their customers that MAN continued to build them well into the 1980's, which wasn't bad as Bussing developed them in the early '30's!

Look below the spare wheel - there's an engine.

[sdkrc]

This is a bizarre wheelchair car. I feel it looks like a tiny, mid 2000s bus or a train. 

I'd put a uniform on, a small kitchen stool in it and pretend I'm driving a tram in Zagreb. 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, sdkrc said:

This is a bizarre wheelchair car. I feel it looks like a tiny, mid 2000s bus or a train. 

I'd put a uniform on, a small kitchen stool in it and pretend I'm driving a tram in Zagreb. 

Looks sensible, tho?

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, sdkrc said:

This is a bizarre wheelchair car. I feel it looks like a tiny, mid 2000s bus or a train. 

I'd put a uniform on, a small kitchen stool in it and pretend I'm driving a tram in Zagreb. 

You'd have to paint it blue though.

Trams in Zagreb... 

Sorry, couldn't help myself. These are all Tatras by the way. Proper class. 

 

[jmsguzzi]

Anybody know the model name of this Abarth?

[sdkrc]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abarth_Simca_2000

[artdjones]

Never seen one of these before.

For sale in Westmeath for €5600

[SteersWithThrottle]

5 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abarth_Simca_2000

Seems to be a 2000 with a 1300 front end...

Or maybe the other way around, as DVLA list it as being a 1200cc...