Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[bunglebus]

Emme Lotus 422t, Brazilian bitsa

[Knotty Ash Towers]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Emme Lotus 422t, Brazilian bits a

 

Shame it looks like a Volvo...

[lesapandre]

Or a Citroen C5...

[Leyland Worldmaster]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Emme Lotus 422t, Brazilian bitsa

Aha! The original Peter Horbury Volvo Concept Car seems to have made production somehow!🤓

https://www.below-the-radar.com/volvo-ecc/

[martc]

A Renault 5 TS adorned with Gordini wheels and questionable coachwork alterations by Wood & Pickett; outside Montpelianos restaurant in Montpelier Street, that London, 1979. 

?????!

[martc]

The 1948 Alamagny-SIMCA 5, of which only a single example would be made, was created by a former Renault engineer Marcel Alamagny (1894-57). It has a diamond shaped chassis and was powered by a SIMCA Cinq engine, placed in the centre of the car and mounted transversely. Both the front and rear wheels were steered which gave an impressively tight turning circle, but unsurprisingly the roadholding and handling are said to have been lamentable. Bodied by Carrosserie Pourtout of Rueil-Malmaison

[martc]

In 1971, FSO’s engineers built a wildly futuristic 2+2 coupé on the humble PolskiFIAT125p platform. It had the same floor pan, same basic mechanics, but a completely new low, wedge-shaped body with huge glass surfaces, a sharply cut Kamm-style tail, long doors and those distinctive slanted aluminium 'B-pillars'. The design was by Zbigniew Watson, after his stint at Fiat’s Centro Stile in Turin.

The 1500 cc engine was tuned to approx 90 hp and had twin carburettors, good for roughly 170 km/h. It had integrated headrests, a smaller 'safe' padded steering wheel, a wide sloping dashboard with Fiat 125 instruments and a floor-mounted gear lever instead of the usual one on the column.

Two prototypes were built, one with a plastic body, one in steel; because of limited factory capacity and licence constraints with FIAT, the 125p Coupé stayed a one-off experiment. The surviving, incomplete prototype is in the National Motor Museum in Chlewiska.

[RayMK]

35 minutes ago, martc said:

In 1971, FSO’s engineers built a wildly futuristic 2+2 coupé on the humble PolskiFIAT125p platform. It had the same floor pan, same basic mechanics, but a completely new low, wedge-shaped body with huge glass surfaces, a sharply cut Kamm-style tail, long doors and those distinctive slanted aluminium 'B-pillars'. The design was by Zbigniew Watson, after his stint at Fiat’s Centro Stile in Turin.

The 1500 cc engine was tuned to approx 90 hp and had twin carburettors, good for roughly 170 km/h. It had integrated headrests, a smaller 'safe' padded steering wheel, a wide sloping dashboard with Fiat 125 instruments and a floor-mounted gear lever instead of the usual one on the column.

Two prototypes were built, one with a plastic body, one in steel; because of limited factory capacity and licence constraints with FIAT, the 125p Coupé stayed a one-off experiment. The surviving, incomplete prototype is in the National Motor Museum in Chlewiska.

When I saw the narrow track, rear drive (diff is visible) and rear leaf springs, FSO did come to mind as a first guess.  (IMO) With wider track front and rear it would have been a better looking body than  the Polonez but I always preferred the Fiat 125 based styling although people were by then going for hatchbacks rather than saloons or estates.

PS: Just noticed that the prototype does not seem to have a hatch.

Edited December 14, 2025 by RayMK
PS. added.

[sheffcortinacentre]

2 hours ago, martc said:

A Renault 5 TS adorned with Gordini wheels and questionable coachwork alterations by Wood & Pickett; outside Montpelianos restaurant in Montpelier Street, that London, 1979. 

?????!

Seem to remember street machine magazine having something to do with this or another one.

[Bear]

4 hours ago, martc said:

A Renault 5 TS adorned with Gordini wheels and questionable coachwork alterations by Wood & Pickett; outside Montpelianos restaurant in Montpelier Street, that London, 1979. 

?????!

That roof appearance but like a tent = the Renault 5 Cleveland Cabrio I had in 1992-3

[High Jetter]

6 hours ago, martc said:

Malmaison

Bad house...

[NorfolkNWeigh]

On 14/12/2025 at 19:50, sheffcortinacentre said:

Seem to remember street machine magazine having something to do with this or another one.

In the very early days they did a Golf project car with similar opera window/ padded roof , buggered if I can find a picture of it though.

[Barry Cade]

4 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

In the very early days they did a Golf project car with similar opera window/ padded roof , buggered if I can find a picture of it though.

This one was on show in a museum 😆

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Found this dodgy photo on an eBay listing

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

This one was on show in a museum 😆

Where is this Museum of AwfulPaint  Jobs?

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

Found this dodgy photo on an eBay listing

That's probably what I was thinking of.

[Barry Cade]

10 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Where is this Museum of AwfulPaint  Jobs?

Sinsheim in Germany.

[martc]

The Bouffort City Car, from France.

Here is Basil Cardew testing it in 1952, it's looking a bit battered. Looks like we're in the UK judging by the reg numbers of the background cars - note the Citroen (?) LXV232.

Bouffort made other city cars and a rather smart coupe, based on a Peugeot 403 - https://www.allcarindex.com/brand/france/bouffort

Bouffort JB

Bouffort Enville

Bouffort Transville https://smallcarsclub.com/catalog/bouffort/bouffort-transville/

[Peter C]

About ten years ago, maybe more, someone was selling a Mk1 Golf Cabrio that featured a removable roof that comprised of various solid separate pieces. The look was similar to the ones above. I saw the ad on Retro Rides but I doubt it still exists. 

[Volksy]

 

I seem to remember that too. Was it this one?

 

A bit of googling says it's a Vilkus Hardtop

[GeordieInExile]

That seems impressively pointless...

[Peter C]

3 hours ago, Volksy said:

 

I seem to remember that too. Was it this one?

 

A bit of googling says it's a Vilkus Hardtop

Not sure it was that exact car but it was a Vilkus top - well done that man!

[martc]

I actually know about these, but I thought this was the best place for the only Shanghai SH760B outside of China. This is the run out model. Shanghai, also known as SAIC the makers of MG, is also a specialist in JV's. The SH760B was replaced by the Passat, and this is why this one is in Germany, it was given to VW by the factory when they took on Passat production in China.

[quicksilver]

18 minutes ago, martc said:

I actually know about these, but I thought this was the best place for the only Shanghai SH760B outside of China. This is the run out model. Shanghai, also known as SAIC the makers of MG, is also a specialist in JV's. The SH760B was replaced by the Passat, and this is why this one is in Germany, it was given to VW by the factory when they took on Passat production in China.

Interestingly it's not the only Shanghai SH760 ever to have existed outside China. They wanted to export the pickup and tasked British company Locomotors with the development work, resulting in the prototypes being UK registered. The export idea never happened and they appear to have been sent to China where at least one of them still exists. China Car History tells the story.

[Heidel_Kakao]

From low cost big liability thread a Suzuki Kizashi. I have never knowingly seen one of these and didn't realise Suzuki made non small cars.

[delux]

18 minutes ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

From low cost big liability thread a Suzuki Kizashi. I have never knowingly seen one of these and didn't realise Suzuki made non small cars.

 

Worked on a few back in the day, genuinely nice car. First ones were all CVTs and that put people off. Manual ones came later but was too late. Pretty sure Japanese police bought loads of them but no-one else did!

 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

3 hours ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

From low cost big liability thread a Suzuki Kizashi. I have never knowingly seen one of these and didn't realise Suzuki made non small cars.

One of these is used daily in the Croydonshire area. Black.

[Remspoor]

8 hours ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

From low cost big liability thread a Suzuki Kizashi. I have never knowingly seen one of these and didn't realise Suzuki made non small cars.

Very popular on here

https://autoshite.com/search/?q=Kizashi&quick=1&type=forums_topic&item=18581

[lesapandre]

On 28/12/2025 at 16:40, martc said:

I actually know about these, but I thought this was the best place for the only Shanghai SH760B outside of China. This is the run out model. Shanghai, also known as SAIC the makers of MG, is also a specialist in JV's. The SH760B was replaced by the Passat, and this is why this one is in Germany, it was given to VW by the factory when they took on Passat production in China.

 Based on the 1950's Mercedes Ponton apparently - not aware Mercedes had any input.

Certainly a lot of likeness especially in the overall proportions, roof and glasshouse silhouette.

Imagine if Longbridge were still banging those out badged as MG's.

[lesapandre]

1964 original. Really quite cool.