Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[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. 

[somewhatfoolish]

6 minutes ago, Yoss said:

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. 

I failed to insert the link; now added.

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

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

The only 'ratification' that marque needs!

[FakeConcern]

4 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

I failed to insert the link; now added.

Thanks for all of that including the link. The quote makes total sense and I'd be happy to own a Sovam 850/1100 and anyway a Mini Marcos always looks to me like someone stood on the back end of it

[quicksilver]

Anyone ever heard of a Kraken? I would have assumed it was a one-off DIY build except there's two of them.

Q800 GFV shows as a red Zylch 599cc (never heard of that either) registered in 1988 and TBO 874S as a 1977 MG 1798cc so I'm guessing they're MGB-based.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

37 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Anyone ever heard of a Kraken? I would have assumed it was a one-off DIY build except there's two of them.

Q800 GFV shows as a red Zylch 599cc (never heard of that either) registered in 1988 and TBO 874S as a 1977 MG 1798cc so I'm guessing they're MGB-based.

I think they might be hill climbing cars. Name and appearance rings a bell! 

[High Jetter]

IIRC 'The Kraken Wakes' was an old Dr Who episode.

[lesapandre]

Simca 936:

https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/simca-936-french-mini-never-was

[MiniMinorMk3]

30 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Simca 936:

https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/simca-936-french-mini-never-was

Very similar to the Renault 6

[martc]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

IIRC 'The Kraken Wakes' was an old Dr Who episode.

Dunno about Dr Who but it's a novel by John Wyndham about aliens melting the ice caps and raising the sea levels with all the problems that that would cause. Very good yarn, almost as good as his masterpiece 'The Day of the Triffids'.

[lesapandre]

14 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Very similar to the Renault 6

Some Renault 5 in the greenhouse side view too...

[lesapandre]

12 minutes ago, martc said:

Dunno about Dr Who but it's a novel by John Wyndham about aliens melting the ice caps and raising the sea levels with all the problems that that would cause. Very good yarn, almost as good as his masterpiece 'The Day of the Triffids'.

"...melting the ice caps and raising the sea levels with all the problems that that would cause..." a totally implausible yarn...but wait...we don't need to depend on aliens after all :

 

[martc]

1 minute ago, lesapandre said:

"...melting the ice caps and raising the sea levels with all the problems that that would cause..." a totally implausible novel...but wait...we don't need to depend on aliens after all :

 

And Day of the Triffids is about mutant plants taking over the world (see GM plants for further details).

[somewhatfoolish]

iirc the triffids came from space and were exploited by evil corporations wanting to turn them into fuel.

[martc]

9 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

iirc the triffids came from space and were exploited by evil corporations wanting to turn them into fuel.

We are getting severely off topic here but the triffids were developed in the USSR as a plant that could provide cheap, high quality veg oil and cattle feed. A pilot was bribed to bring a box of triffid seeds over to the west (to be exploited by evil corporations). The plane was blown up in the upper atmosphere and the seeds spread around the world .

It was speculated that the blinding was caused by a malfunctioning military satellite. The plague which ripped through the survivors was also thought to be satellite based (perhaps the two collided?).

There was a lot of speculation about the potential evil uses of satellites/space at the time the book was written (1951).

I'm a bit of a John Wyndham fanboi.

 

[lesapandre]

(Excellent books)

Let's combine the two - Renault Goelette van from the 1963 film.

[EyesWeldedShut]

3 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Anyone ever heard of a Kraken? I would have assumed it was a one-off DIY build except there's two of them.

Q800 GFV shows as a red Zylch 599cc (never heard of that either) registered in 1988 and TBO 874S as a 1977 MG 1798cc so I'm guessing they're MGB-based.

Never heard of them but a spot of Googling gives either a USA based lot or a UK based lot - reckon is the latter as the former tweak EVOs and stuff
https://www.facebook.com/krakenmotorcarcompany 

[EyesWeldedShut]

39 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

(Excellent books)

Let's combine the two - Renault Goelette van from the 1963 film.

Geezer in hard to spot hat nicking a motor off Westminster Bridge
Full movie (below) I think that's maybe my evening's watching (reliving my 'hiding behind the sofa' from scary stuff youth  - like the Cybermen)

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Moskvitch 408 Tourist. It has a removable hardtop

[quicksilver]

51 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Never heard of them but a spot of Googling gives either a USA based lot or a UK based lot - reckon is the latter as the former tweak EVOs and stuff
https://www.facebook.com/krakenmotorcarcompany 

Lots of pictures but not a lot of info on that FB page. Looks like they started in 2020 making body/chassis kits that can be finished with whatever mechanical parts the builder desires and they've made half a dozen so far. Still no idea why the grey one is licensed as a Zylch as Google turns up, well, zilch for a car with that name.

[EyesWeldedShut]

41 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Lots of pictures but not a lot of info on that FB page. Looks like they started in 2020 making body/chassis kits that can be finished with whatever mechanical parts the builder desires and they've made half a dozen so far. Still no idea why the grey one is licensed as a Zylch as Google turns up, well, zilch for a car with that name.

Methinks they're being lazy or slow on the registrations?

[High Jetter]

6 hours ago, martc said:

Dunno about Dr Who but it's a novel by John Wyndham about aliens melting the ice caps and raising the sea levels with all the problems that that would cause. Very good yarn, almost as good as his masterpiece 'The Day of the Triffids'.

Thanks, memory is suffering. Jeff Wayne was excellent tho...

[Metal Guru]

5 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Never heard of them but a spot of Googling gives either a USA based lot or a UK based lot - reckon is the latter as the former tweak EVOs and stuff
https://www.facebook.com/krakenmotorcarcompany 

The Kraken was a massive sea monster, that is a tiny little funny car. Hardly the best name.

Its like someone calling their Yorkshire Terrier “Hellhound”.