Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[Spottedlaurel]

There is/was at least one of those Anglias in the UK. I inadvertently got one in a photo taken at Enfield Pageant back in the '90s:

 

[martc]

Another FIAT limo.

[martc]

Just thought, those Italian Anglias have a look of a Viva HA about them, they were designed by Giovanni Michelotti. Any idea if he had a hand in the Viva design?

[Missy Charm]

On 29/11/2023 at 19:47, martc said:

Yeah, I know, it's a 504, one of the best cars in the world etc etc. But a Noo Yoik 504 Taxi? Who'd have thought that was a thing.

For obvious reasons, a few New York cab firms imported Peugeots to use during the oil crises.  The cars' diesel engines would have offered significant advantages in terms of fuel consumption, which in turn would have led to a wider profit-margin at the relevant time.  One assumes, however, that finding drivers would have been more difficult if the French cars were equipped with manual gearboxes.  The average cabbie might, then anyway, have been capable of handling a small engine and three pedals in Big Apple traffic, but would he have wanted to?  He may well have defected to another firm still running the familiar Dodges or Chevrolets or even Checkers*.  

That said, the Peugeot must have been in harness for some time.  The bustle back Seville with television aerial at the left of the photo dates it to the early eighties; the Chevy looks like an eighties one too.  

The Peugeot, despite being an outlier in the photo, wasn't alone.  Here are some more photos of Frenchmen in New York:

 and a 505:

 

Note the Federal spec bumpers, corner lights and sealed beam headlights.  They were diesel too, apparently, and, at one point, there were over 850 registered in NYC plying their trade.  How interesting!

*check out the air-conditioner on the roof of the Checker cab!  

[EyesWeldedShut]

44 minutes ago, martc said:

FIAT 2300 limo.

With early Slat Armour roof? Cool.

[Inspector Morose]

While looking for information on Brossels, I came across this:

I'll get the joke in now. C'est ne pas une Pipe.

They were one of Belgium's biggest motor manufacturers until the outbreak of the First World War when their factory was partially destroyed. They eventually resumed car production around 1921 but didn't get many sales, switching to making trucks instead under the Bovy-Pipe name. In 1930, they were taken over by Brossel.

Why Pipe? That's what the factory that owners Alfred and Victor Goldschmidt made until turning to the motorcar...

[MiniMinorMk3]

21 hours ago, martc said:

 

 

 

The Italian Ford Anglia, with body made by OSI  (Officine Stampaggi Industriali - 'Industrial Stampings Workshop') and oily bits from Dagenham. I've got to say I prefer this to the traditional Anglebox.

 

They had Anglia doors and windscreen. From the back it's like a Triumph 1300 with round tail lights. Also the front and rear arches are almost the same as the stock anglebox.

[lesapandre]

On 01/12/2023 at 21:03, Spottedlaurel said:

There is/was at least one of those Anglias in the UK. I inadvertently got one in a photo taken at Enfield Pageant back in the '90s:

 

WOW310T - like so many of these generation Nissans gone probably by 2001 - likely rust or the engine gave up and scrapped. 

[lesapandre]

2 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

They had Anglia doors and windscreen. From the back it's like a Triumph 1300 with round tail lights. Also the front and rear arches are almost the same as the stock anglebox.

Michelotti did that. Looks a bit like his DAF 66 from the rear.

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

On 01/12/2023 at 20:03, Spottedlaurel said:

There is/was at least one of those Anglias in the UK. I inadvertently got one in a photo taken at Enfield Pageant back in the '90s:

 

That's one for the Giffer Mods thread. Extra rubbing strip down the side, rubber aerial, phone aerial on rear window, dodgy JDM sized plate, red painted tow bar with chrome cover and a tap end for the exhaust.

[martc]

If a FIAT and a Suzuki made sweet, sweet music...

It's actually a prototype made by Steyr Daimler Puch to enhance the line of Panda 4x4's that they made for FIAT. Only one was made, which is a shame.

[quicksilver]

Just seen a few of these in a Talking Pictures film about the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally and wondered what on earth they were.

Amazingly a near-complete list of entrants is online, which told me they were Glas 1004 or 1204 saloons. I know about some Glas products but I'd never heard of these.

[RayMK]

3 hours ago, quicksilver said:

Just seen a few of these in a Talking Pictures film about the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally and wondered what on earth they were.

Amazingly a near-complete list of entrants is online, which told me they were Glas 1004 or 1204 saloons. I know about some Glas products but I'd never heard of these.

When we lived in Germany in 1966-69  these were quite common, as were the earlier T600 Isar models.  We rarely spotted the little 2 stroke Goggomobiles or the later Glas sports cars over there, whereas in England, I've only ever seen the 2 strokes and the very occasional Glas 1300GT and 1700GT

[Madman Of The People]

On 01/12/2023 at 14:44, Missy Charm said:

For obvious reasons, a few New York cab firms imported Peugeots to use during the oil crises.  The cars' diesel engines would have offered significant advantages in terms of fuel consumption, which in turn would have led to a wider profit-margin at the relevant time.  One assumes, however, that finding drivers would have been more difficult if the French cars were equipped with manual gearboxes.  The average cabbie might, then anyway, have been capable of handling a small engine and three pedals in Big Apple traffic, but would he have wanted to?  He may well have defected to another firm still running the familiar Dodges or Chevrolets or even Checkers*.  

That said, the Peugeot must have been in harness for some time.  The bustle back Seville with television aerial at the left of the photo dates it to the early eighties; the Chevy looks like an eighties one too.  

The Peugeot, despite being an outlier in the photo, wasn't alone.  Here are some more photos of Frenchmen in New York:

 and a 505:

 

Note the Federal spec bumpers, corner lights and sealed beam headlights.  They were diesel too, apparently, and, at one point, there were over 850 registered in NYC plying their trade.  How interesting!

*check out the air-conditioner on the roof of the Checker cab!  

 

For a brief period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, diesels experienced a boom in popularity in America.  This accelerated in the wake of the second Arab oil embargo in 1979 combined with instability brought about by the overthrow of the Shah of Iran.  America's short lived love affair with diesels coincided with Peugeot's most successful years in the US, peaking at just over 20,000 units sold in 1984.  Nearly all Peugeots sold in America during this time were diesels.  The same can be said for Mercedes-Benz, too.  The Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf Mk I) diesel was a big seller, and nearly every manufacturer selling cars in the US offered diesels in their range.  But Americans soon soured on diesels, thanks mostly to GM's catastrophically unreliable 5.7 litre diesel V8 tarnishing the reputation all diesels in the eyes of consumers.  The return of cheap petrol by the mid-1980s hastened diesels fall from fashion .

Those New York Peugeot taxis were part of an effort by the late 1970s to find a more efficient alternative to the aging  Checker Marathon taxi, which was over 20 years old by this time.  But is was the Chevrolet Caprice which became the preferred model of taxi companies going into the 1980s, no doubt due to taxi mechanics familiarity with the engines since the Checkers also used Chevrolet engines.  The Caprice, however, was a lighter and more modern body as opposed to the 1950s era Checker body, which gave the Caprice an advantage in terms of fuel economy.  The Caprice would remain an American taxi mainstay until the model went out of production in 1996, effectively ceding the taxi market to it's arch rival, the Ford Crown Victoria.

 

[Richard_FM]

Some Checker Marathons were fitted with the 5.7 Chevrolet diesel, but didn't catch on.

[bunglebus]

[GeordieInExile]

I like the YRV. Did they not do a sported up version of it?

[Missy Charm]

6 hours ago, GeordieInExile said:

I like the YRV. Did they not do a sported up version of it?

They did: the YRV Turbo.  One was (possibly still is) up for sale at a garage just off the A12; it's been there for years.  Was vaguely interested myself at one point, but then decided I wasn't upon learning all the turbo models are automatic.  What's the point of that?  They weren't big sellers, for obvious reasons.  

[Bmwdumptruck]

On 11/03/2018 at 23:38, vulgalour said:

Fiat Tipo.  No, no, not that one.  THIS one.

 

 

I've never seen one in person, or if I have I've probably mistaken it for something else like a Golf or whatever. They've been on sale since 2015, we didn't get them until 2016, apparently.

These Tipos are rebadged Vx Astras. If you compare the Estates it’s even more obvious from the chrome trims at the rear of the roof. 

[LightBulbFun]

On 04/12/2023 at 22:53, Richard_FM said:

Some Checker Marathons were fitted with the 5.7 Chevrolet diesel, but didn't catch on.

some also had Perkins diesel engines   Im not sure which of the 2 diesel engines here is more Autoshite LOL

a good number of them where exported to where my mum hails from and she remembers them quite fondly from her childhood  

[Muniphobia]

5 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

These Tipos are rebadged Vx Astras. If you compare the Estates it’s even more obvious from the chrome trims at the rear of the roof. 

No, they use the Fiat SCCS platform as the Grande Punto and the Vauxhall Corsa.  The Astra J used a GM platform and was ridiculously heavy making the 1.4 Astra so underpowered it couldn't get out it's own way as anyone who has had the misfortune to drive one will know...

[Volksy]

10 hours ago, Muniphobia said:

No, they use the Fiat SCCS platform as the Grande Punto and the Vauxhall Corsa.  The Astra J used a GM platform and was ridiculously heavy making the 1.4 Astra so underpowered it couldn't get out it's own way as anyone who has had the misfortune to drive one will know...

Yes, I had the misfortune of renting a 1.6 NA Astra J. That was slow enough to not be able to accelerate up a motorway on-ramp. 

The Astra J weighs approx. 100kgs less than a Senator. 

[Muniphobia]

1 hour ago, Volksy said:

Yes, I had the misfortune of renting a 1.6 NA Astra J. That was slow enough to not be able to accelerate up a motorway on-ramp. 

The Astra J weighs approx. 100kgs less than a Senator. 

I have driven the 1.6 and while outgunned by just about anything else with a 1.6 the 1.4 really is awful - any slight upwards incline and the cruise control starts beeping because it can't hold the speed, had lorries sounding horns coming out of 50mph roadworks because although I had my foot to the floor in 3rd gear.  Once had someone stop on the sliproad in front of me and had to join the M5 on a down sliproad doing 35mph going flat out in peak time traffic the acceleration was that bad.

A guy I used to work with had a 1.6 NA Astra, I used to annoy him by asking him if he had driven anything else before buying it (he did actually, he test drove a 1.4 Astra and found it too slow).  When he came back from holiday in Cornwall he said he was getting nearly 30mpg, I told him I used to get more than that commuting into Birmingham with my Subaru 😄

[Missy Charm]

On 06/12/2023 at 15:08, Muniphobia said:

I have driven the 1.6 and while outgunned by just about anything else with a 1.6 the 1.4 really is awful - any slight upwards incline and the cruise control starts beeping because it can't hold the speed, had lorries sounding horns coming out of 50mph roadworks because although I had my foot to the floor in 3rd gear.  Once had someone stop on the sliproad in front of me and had to join the M5 on a down sliproad doing 35mph going flat out in peak time traffic the acceleration was that bad.

A guy I used to work with had a 1.6 NA Astra, I used to annoy him by asking him if he had driven anything else before buying it (he did actually, he test drove a 1.4 Astra and found it too slow).  When he came back from holiday in Cornwall he said he was getting nearly 30mpg, I told him I used to get more than that commuting into Birmingham with my Subaru 😄

I had an Astra as a hire car four or five years ago.  It had a badge on the back that said 'TURBO'.  I was initially quite excited because, as any fule kno, 'TURBO' means fast!  It didn't.  

[MiniMinorMk3]

Porsche 914/6 by Eurostyle

[MiniMinorMk3]

South African Chevrolet Chevair

[bunglebus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuderia_Cameron_Glickenhaus_SCG_003

[quicksilver]

33 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuderia_Cameron_Glickenhaus_SCG_003

Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus. What a strange combination of Italian, Scottish and German names, and it's none of those things (American, if you hadn't guessed). According to Wikipedia the company HQ is in Sleepy Hollow,  just to make the whole thing sound even more like a fairytale.

[martc]

The new 2CV Fourgonnette. There's a Berlingo under here, designed and made under licence by the Italian coachbuilder Caselani.

More details here - https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/citroen/berlingo/358880/citroen-berlingo-2cv-fourgonnette-revives-classic-2cv-van-style

[Shep Shepherd]

The Mitsuoka M55. Amazing:

https://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/m55concept

The world needs more car companies like Mitsuoka.