Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[Remspoor]

The Pal-V ; The world's first flying car.

https://www.pal-v.com/en

[bunglebus]

Yes, there definitely weren't flying cars in 1949

[lesapandre]

18 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Matra P17

Which went on to be the Espace for Renault which were made by Matra for them.

[catsinthewelder]

34 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Yes, there definitely weren't flying cars in 1949

They've been made before but never really took off.

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, catsinthewelder said:

They've been made before but never really took off.

Like I posted about the Amphicar. Useless for both purposes. 

[Bfg]

On 05/04/2024 at 14:13, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Quintali - I didn't know that !  ....

"The quintal or centner is a historical unit of mass in many countries which is usually defined as 100 base units of either pounds or kilograms. It is commonly used for grain prices in wholesale markets in India, where 1 quintal = 100 kg."

..every day is school day.

[17-Coffees]

The Trident Iceni...

A car thats been in production hell (lack of funds) since the late 2000's.  Looks generic of the time sports car sporting a Chevy LS motor?

Nope, it's a 6.6 GM sourced V8 diesel! 

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, 17-Coffees said:

The Trident Iceni...

A car thats been in production hell (lack of funds) since the late 2000's.  Looks generic of the time sports car sporting a Chevy LS motor?

Nope, it's a 6.6 GM sourced V8 diesel! 

Looks a bit like I’d imagine a modern day E type to look like.

[Peter C]

[Tayne]

They also did that as a hatch or a a wagon.

[catsinthewelder]

Also as a pickup truck, there was one around here till relatively recently.

[Yoss]

2 hours ago, Peter C said:

It never entered mass production for some reason. It looks a bit clunky but there are weirder looking booted hatches in eastern Europe (mk2 Clio and Suzuki Swift spring to mind) so I'm sure it would have sold well. It was built at Bertone's place in Italy. 

Here are some senior Bertone and Škoda people leaning on its boot. 

 

Also never making it to production was the coupe. 

 

Or the planned face-lift which was badged as a Felicia before the actual Felicia came along. 

[Yoss]

Talking of Felicias, most of you are probably aware of the cube van, based on the pickup. 

 

But we never got the estate based Van Plus in both Favorit and Felicia flavours. 

And also some long wheelbase versions including this ambulance. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

11 minutes ago, Yoss said:

There was a van of these in Mandal Norway about 20-25 years ago, it is the only one I have seen.

Would love to have one but they are probably extinct here now, even the Favorit is rare here.

Don't know if you've seen this page about the Favorit?

https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/press-releases/skoda-favorit-entering-era-success-30-years-ago/

It has some history and pictures like this one below of the prototype for transporting disabled people.

[Yoss]

Then there was the MTX Roadster. MTX were a local coach builder, I don't think they were sold by Škoda. 

They looked okay with roof down, sort of vibes of Scimitar SS1, but they look terrible with the roof up. 

 

But it gets worse. When the Felicia came along they decided to keep the four doors. 

I mean when you open the rear door about a foot of the hood surround sticks out into the doorway. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 27/04/2023 at 16:42, MiniMinorMk3 said:

VW Beetles ran on 3*.

If I remember correctly 2* was 87 Ron, 3* was 91 Ron, 4* was 95 Ron and 5* was 100 Ron. 5 star was phased out sometime in the '70s. 

It is surprising how sensitive and old carburated and points ignition car can be to the wrong grade of fuel, especially when you go for a lower grade.

Two-star petrol has a minimum octane number of 90, three-star 94, four-star 97 and five-star petrol at least 100 octane

[EyesWeldedShut]

14 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

Quoting MM3

It is surprising how sensitive and old carburated and points ignition car can be to the wrong grade of fuel, especially when you go for a lower grade.

I used to half inch 2 star from the greenkeeper/groundsman job I had to put in my dad's Triumph Herald for when we went out on the (improbable) pull.
It pinked like crazy on long uphills and my poor old dad was driven batty by the 'problem'. 
I never did confess.

[AnthonyG]

Wasn’t 5 star the UK version of the super premium stuff you used to get in  the states before catalytic converters killed it off? Whatever ‘Hi-Test’ was? I have a vague memory of Jill StJohn asking for it for her Mustang Mach 1 in Diamonds are Forever. 

There was a Sunoco blend of this stuff which was fairly legendary amongst the muscle car crowd. 

Edit: looking at wiki, American super premium petrol, such as Sunoco’s ‘260’, was 102 Octane, so higher than British 5 star.

[Richard_FM]

My Dad remembers that cars that ran on 5 star had to be retuned to used 4 star when it was no longer available.

[sheffcortinacentre]

I think LPG is supposed to be equivalent of 105 octane.

[EyesWeldedShut]

Only cars I can remember having a 5* petrol sticker were the Rover P6 (particularly the V8 but that's because a local giffer had one) - there were probably more but any there were really not that many cars around - I'd guess less than 50% of households had one in our village and two? Two! Luxury, lad.
Converting 5* to 4* was just a case of retarding the timing and moaning about the poor performance. 

LPG has a higher octane rating but  less energy than unleaded (my last LPG/pezz car was ~10% down on LPG - 10mpg instead of 11mpg  ) 

[EyesWeldedShut]

I think we had this on a different thread but how about a Sierra Pezz Turbo?

 

 

[Westbay]

Dutton Surf ....

[Metal Guru]

57 minutes ago, Westbay said:

Dutton Surf ....

Probably as useless as an Amphicar but badly made. 

[bunglebus]

On 09/08/2023 at 12:52, bunglebus said:

Dutton Surf. Perfect for rising sea levels

 

2 hours ago, Westbay said:

Dutton Surf ....

Saw one on the road a while back, not yet spotted one on the water 

[sheffcortinacentre]

13 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

I think we had this on a different thread but how about a Sierra Pezz Turbo?

 

 

Mate has a late 2.9 twin turbo one second he's owned.

[Metal Guru]

13 hours ago, bunglebus said:

 

Saw one on the road a while back, not yet spotted one on the water 

Probably under water.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Front loading Bay Window Bus. These were used by the Belgian Police as radar speed traps. See the Rozzer Shite thread.

[martc]

On 09/04/2024 at 22:04, AnthonyG said:

Wasn’t 5 star the UK version of the super premium stuff you used to get in  the states before catalytic converters killed it off? Whatever ‘Hi-Test’ was? I have a vague memory of Jill StJohn asking for it for her Mustang Mach 1 in Diamonds are Forever. 

There was a Sunoco blend of this stuff which was fairly legendary amongst the muscle car crowd. 

Edit: looking at wiki, American super premium petrol, such as Sunoco’s ‘260’, was 102 Octane, so higher than British 5 star.

'Hi-Test' is the name given to 300 volume/100% hydrogen peroxide used as rocket fuel. It is incredibly dangerous. stuff https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/High_test_peroxide.html#:~:text=High test peroxide or HTP,mixture of steam and oxygen.

[martc]

The Moskvitch 1500 SL from 1980. Quite a smart facelift IMHO.