Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[vulgalour]

Chery Amulet

At first, I thought this was some sort of modified Astra, or maybe a 90s Seat Toledo, and the more I looked the more I realised it wasn't any car I knew at all so I had to find out more.

 

 

 

 

Having a crash is never a good idea, having a crash in a Chery Amulet even less so.

[John F]

I've just noticed that the Colt has those irritating spacky opposed windscreen wipers... I genuinely thought they were a fairly recent introduction. I WAZ RONG.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That Amulet thing is a Mk1 Seat Toledo like the blue one I had for a while

[dollywobbler]

I've just noticed that the Colt has those irritating spacky opposed windscreen wipers... I genuinely thought they were a fairly recent introduction. I WAZ RONG.

 

Mercedes-Benz had been using 'claphand' wipers since 1961. Earlier than that, they generally didn't overlap, leaving a huge unwiped section in the middle of the screen. See many American cars, Morris Minor etc. Early Mazdas had overlapping wipers, as did the Opel GT.

 

Chevrolet Corvette used overlapping opposed wipers well into the 1990s. The C3 had this ridiculous powered flap mechanism too!

 

More recently, the Citroen Picarsehole reintroduced them to family transport, then picked up by the Peugeot 307, 407, Citroen C5 and C6, Ford Focus, Honda Civic etc. The French naturally make sure the driver's wiper on the RHD ones is shit and doesn't cover as much screen as the one on the other side of the car. 

 

I take too much interest in wipers...

[Volksy]

Had you noticed that the Seat Leon's ones park along the A pillar rather than across the scuttle?

[dollywobbler]

Yes. Altea does that too. It upsets the natural order of things. I'm not sure I like it. I also wonder whether it leads to water just running back up the windscreen when the wipers are parked.

[Asimo]

Renault Alpine GTA: daftest wipers ever. They actually sweep less area than a single blade would. They are slow because they have to overlap a bit in the middle without colliding. Infuriating.

 

(Pic. from one of Hertz's posts)

 

 

[Pillock]

Yeah if you cover up the gopping front end, the Amulet looks identical to a Toledo in that photo.

The back end is even more of a half-hour rehash than the front.

 

 

Inside is all-new, and looks hideous as a result where the Toledo used an Audi A3 dash which at least looked and felt nice. Wikipedia suggests that it's related to the Toledo in a "they knew we were doing this" way, rather than just blatant copying. The crash videos are somewhat shocking, although they claim it's built on a Mk2 Golf chassis - was the Toledo based on such an old design? 1984 that was released...

 

Claiming the car is high quality is never going to work when at 0:46 into this video 

there's a shot of an assembly line worker smacking the bonnet with a mallet to line it up, just like the BL videos you see.

[320touring]

My first car was a mk1 seat toledo..

 

Its a mk2 jetta platform. Scary pictures

[John F]

dollywobbler, on 21 Jan 2015 - 2:04 PM, said:

Mercedes-Benz had been using 'claphand' wipers since 1961. Earlier than that, they generally didn't overlap, leaving a huge unwiped section in the middle of the screen. See many American cars, Morris Minor etc. Early Mazdas had overlapping wipers, as did the Opel GT.

 

Chevrolet Corvette used overlapping opposed wipers well into the 1990s. The C3 had this ridiculous powered flap mechanism too!

 

More recently, the Citroen Picarsehole reintroduced them to family transport, then picked up by the Peugeot 307, 407, Citroen C5 and C6, Ford Focus, Honda Civic etc. The French naturally make sure the driver's wiper on the RHD ones is shit and doesn't cover as much screen as the one on the other side of the car. 

 

I take too much interest in wipers...

 

Ewwww. Right, that's the Opel GT added to the list of cars I don't like.

 

And the Corvette, which up until now had the dubious distinction of being the sole occupant of the list of american cars I actually do like.

[Bucketeer]

I saw a Lancia Zeta earlier today. A member of the Synergie/Ulysse/806 family that I never knew existed.

No chance for a photo so here's a web image.

 

 

Whilst I was reading up on the Zeta I also stumbled across two more Lancia busses I'd never heard of.

 

Lancia Musa.

 

 

Lancia Phedra.

[Slappy]

Phedra looks like the successor to the Zeta.

 

The Musa without looking anything up looks like the same sort of shape as the Fiat Idea, of which most of us won't have heard of either, but was apparently sold in the UK (alongside such luminaries as the Sedici).

[Timewaster]

Sedici is so named as it is Italian for 16

Which is what 4 X 4 equals.

 

Apparently.

 

Edit: I mean apparently that's how it got the name. Four fours are definitely 16

[Lacquer Peel]

[tooSavvy]

I take too much interest in wipers...

 

Hillman IMP pressing of the scuttle has 4 holes... 2 for wipers + 2 for washers.

 

 

SWAPPED equally for LHD........

 

I feel yrr pain 

 

 

TS

[AnthonyG]

Saab 9-3 4wd estate (like a Audi Allroad or Volvo XC70) did these have some Subaru connection?

 

Saw a 10 plate one today, never seen one before.

[AnthonyG]

 

I take too much interest in wipers...

You live in West Wales, it's natural....

[Tayne]

Ottoman of Turkey or Santana of Spain?

 

Leaf or coil?

[Lacquer Peel]

Morattab of Iran, they made Santanas under license and this is the modern version with a Mitsubishi V6 and leaf springs.

[Volksy]

Saab 9-3 4wd estate (like a Audi Allroad or Volvo XC70) did these have some Subaru connection?

 

Saw a 10 plate one today, never seen one before.

 

It's a Saab 9-2X which was Impreza based. 9-3X was their own design I believe

 

[Volksy]

They also did for the US market, the 9-7X, which is based on the Chevy Trailbazer.

 

[Pillock]

The Musa without looking anything up looks like the same sort of shape as the Fiat Idea, of which most of us won't have heard of either, but was apparently sold in the UK (alongside such luminaries as the Sedici).

I was going to post the Idea up in here but completely forgot. They were sold around 2004-2005, so been around ten years in which time I'd seen zero examples until two turned up on the same day at the Cannock Burgerfest and Auction Game.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

 

IIveco Massif not Santana not Land Rover

[Lacquer Peel]

Morattab of Iran, they made Santanas under license and this is the modern version with a Mitsubishi V6 and leaf springs.

 

 

COILZ!

[kinkersaab]

In stock at the moment i have a fiat idea, a subaru tribeca a daihatsu materia an old model outlander a terracan a suzuki kizashi and a peugeot 4007 all carefully selected by me...none of them are flying out the door so to speak....... I like diferent stuff.

[320touring]

In stock at the moment i have a fiat idea, a subaru tribeca a daihatsu materia an old model outlander a terracan a suzuki kizashi and a peugeot 4007 all carefully selected by me...none of them are flying out the door so to speak....... I like diferent stuff.

Kinkershite cars: 'didne ken they made thosewans, pal'

[John F]

Lacquer Peel, on 23 Jan 2015 - 8:47 PM, said:

 

COILZ!

 

How do they get its bonnet open??

[320touring]

How do they get its bonnet open??

No need, the subframe falls out from underneath..

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Just been reading about those Santanas, looks like the company is defunct now, bit of a shame I must say, sounds like they did a few interesting deals and did well to last as long as they did.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santana_Motor

[Skut]

This little oddity lives round the corner from my girl friends flat.  Was quite a puzzler as its debadged and on Romanian plates but it turns out to be a Daewoo Tico.