Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[sheffcortinacentre]

11 hours ago, bunglebus said:

There was a lightly* modified one at the Pod last year. I think like Sierras, the UK wasn't seen as a good place to market bigger two door cars, more mainland Europe

 

Supposedly UK buyers of larger cars didn't like climbing in to the rear  & signified lower spec .

[Missy Charm]

16 hours ago, andy18s said:

Geo Metro convertible? *

*or possibly Suzuki Swift as they were the same

[Aston Martin]

No picture, because I was driving.

 

I saw a mk2 astra gte..... 5 door. If it was real, apparently quite rare.

[martc]

Labelled as '1969 Mercedes-Benz C111, 1970 Mercedes-Benz C111-II and C-111 prototype' I guess that's in order back to front but I didn't know about any of them so your guess is as good as mine.

[Dan the van]

Triple(or quad,I can't remember) rotary engine.My fave car in my Observers book of cars 1969.

[chaseracer]

26 minutes ago, martc said:

Labelled as '1969 Mercedes-Benz C111, 1970 Mercedes-Benz C111-II and C-111 prototype' I guess that's in order back to front but I didn't know about any of them so your guess is as good as mine.

Used for testing rotary engines, then later - with BFO diesels - record breaking.

[Remspoor]

53 minutes ago, martc said:

Labelled as '1969 Mercedes-Benz C111, 1970 Mercedes-Benz C111-II and C-111 prototype' I guess that's in order back to front but I didn't know about any of them so your guess is as good as mine.

I had one when I was a kid.

https://www.dbcollectables.com/corgi-388-mercedes-benz-c111-mint-in-excellent-original-box

[Dan the van]

And me.🙂

[FakeConcern]

Still have mine...

[MiniMinorMk3]

2 hours ago, martc said:

Labelled as '1969 Mercedes-Benz C111, 1970 Mercedes-Benz C111-II and C-111 prototype' I guess that's in order back to front but I didn't know about any of them so your guess is as good as mine.

Car with plate is 1969 C111, Car with big Benzo star on front is 1970 C111-II, car at rear is test mule. 12 C111s were built. The last two C111-III and C111-IIII were diesel powered and broke speed records at Nardo in the late 1970's

1976 C111-II D

1977 C111-III

1978 C111-IIII

 

We had a discussion last month in the Shite in Miniature thread

 

[SteersWithThrottle]

Looks a bit like a stretched Allegro to me, which may be why it never made it past the concept stage...

[MiniMinorMk3]

And here's the original inspiration

[SteersWithThrottle]

Gah... bloody photoshoppers. It's only funny when I do it...  🤦‍♂️

[MiniMinorMk3]

This is my larger booted version

[MiniMinorMk3]

Bolwell Mk VII. It used parts from the Holden HR

[Austat]

Hyundai Taunus 20M

[mintwth]

11 minutes ago, Austat said:

Hyundai Taunus 20M

I didn't know Hyundai was spelt F O R D

😉

[SteersWithThrottle]

On 1/22/2023 at 3:01 PM, MiniMinorMk3 said:

This is my larger booted version

Where's the fist-shaking emoji?

You crazy kids! Get off my lawn!

[MiniMinorMk3]

3 hours ago, mintwth said:

I didn't know Hyundai was spelt F O R D

😉

Hyundai started building Ford Cortina and Taunus saloons under licence in 1967. They built them up until 1976. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

VAZ-Porsche 2103 from 1976

In 1975 Porsche’s chairman Ernst Fuhrmann met with the Soviet automotive industry minister Viktor Polyakov and agreed on a three-year partnership where Porsche would help design Ladas. This is the failed result of that partnership.

[chaseracer]

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Hyundai started building Ford Cortina and Taunus saloons under licence in 1967. They built them up until 1976. 

...then continued doing so with the Stellar, which was essentially a rebooted Cortina (in its original form)...

[barrett]

23 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

VAZ-Porsche 2103 from 1976

In 1975 Porsche’s chairman Ernst Fuhrmann met with the Soviet automotive industry minister Viktor Polyakov and agreed on a three-year partnership where Porsche would help design Ladas. This is the failed result of that partnership.

I'm sure the Porsche bits are underneath, but on the surface I'd say that's quite a poor use of three years of development time. I'd be pretty disappointed with that if I was Lada.

Arguably, Lada were a bit more technologically advanced than Porsche was in 1975 - wasn't that around the time it was messing around with Rotary engines, etc? Whilst Porsche was still building cars based on a 1938 design in 1975, Lada was bang up to date with a 1966 car.

[inconsistant]

Thought it was one of those mini Mitsubishi Shogun thingys but badge says it’s a Nissan Kix.

No, me neither.

[Remspoor]

Some Fiats.

 

[RayMK]

28 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

Some Fiats.

 

The X1/75 would have interested me.  I wonder why they did not risk producing it?  Perhaps 1 sale doesn't do it for the accountants.

[Formula Autos]

19 hours ago, inconsistant said:

Thought it was one of those mini Mitsubishi Shogun thingys but badge says it’s a Nissan Kix.

No, me neither.

After a quick look up of Shoguns on Wikipedia, this does appear to be a badge engineered version of the Shogun/Pajero Mini/Pinin’s second generation. 
 

This did also lead to another Nissan oddity - the Kicks. Which isn’t the Kix in the picture, but yet another SUV of some sort. Recycling and mangling of a nameplate by Nissan? - like Ford did with Cougar/Kuga? Only this time Nissan appeared to have reverted to the correct spelling with the later model.

[bunglebus]

Glas 1304. New one on me

[somewhatfoolish]

Didn't Glas get swallowed by BMW? If I squint it could be a shrunken 2002 Touring.

[martc]

On 1/27/2023 at 4:55 PM, MiniMinorMk3 said:

VAZ-Porsche 2103 from 1976

In 1975 Porsche’s chairman Ernst Fuhrmann met with the Soviet automotive industry minister Viktor Polyakov and agreed on a three-year partnership where Porsche would help design Ladas. This is the failed result of that partnership.

 

The partnership did continue however and Porsche helped to develop the brand new FWD engine used in the Samara. The internet also suggests that they had a hand in designing the body work as well.

[martc]

45 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Didn't Glas get swallowed by BMW? If I squint it could be a shrunken 2002 Touring.

Yes they did, and when they were taken over their more sophisticated models, including the 1304, were re-named as either BMW or BMW-Glas. And Glas's former factory, at Dingolfing, is now BMW's biggest works, they make Rolls Royce bodies there.

Here's some speculation about the origins of the 2002 - https://www.bmw2002.co.uk/history-of-the-02/glas-bmw-tourings/

 https://www.bmwgroup-werke.com/content/dam/grpw/websites/bmwgroup-werke_com/dingolfing/unser-werk/PR_2203_Plant Profile_BMW_DGF_EN.pdf