Cars you didn't know existed until very recently.

[face]

The passenger has very short legs.

[MiniMort]

How about the Kiira EV. Uganda's answer to the Tesla. And what an answer!

[Bfg]

.

^  I'm sure it would come out of the mould easily    Do they do one in Raspberry flavour ? 

[MiniMort]

4 minutes ago, Bfg said:

.

^  I'm sure it would come out of the mould easily    Do they do one in Raspberry flavour ? 

Just lime it seems

[sheffcortinacentre]

Ferguson's converted a 69/70 Mustang (still exists), 70/71 hemi cuda, at least 3 MK1 3.0 capris ( ford still own one), 1 MK3 3.0 Capri, triumph stag,a 3.0 scimitar, 2 pos 3 vauxhall royale/ Opel senator s( ibelieve one was an estate too) at least one survives, unfortunately the MK3 Cortina est (3.0 V6) didn't get past design stage .

The zephyrs were 3.0 V6 normally reserved for zodiacs,rumour has it that ford had two zodiac estates converted one used as a tow/chase car by boreham competition dept.

The introduction of the range rover killed of the lucrative police market as it fullfilled all there needs at a cheaper price.

[jumpingjehovahs]

The Mercedes-Benz LA, which from all I can gather is factory.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bfg]

Lightburn zeta -

 

[egg]

Any old shite of that era got a Villiers chucked in it

re: the Zodiac, it was the matchbox that taught me about the under bonnet tyre

[JeeExEll]

^ Wow, that takes me back.

Reminds me of this.

The Corgi rally Hillman Hunter. It had little flip down jack things so you could take the wheels off (and lose them). There was a little sheet of decals to stick on it too.

The toolbox on the roof had an opening lid but unfortunately the tools inside were fixed in position. They were a bit tiny anyway. Swivelling 'searchlights'.

All these cars in the pics are missing the spare wheel from the roof.

Mint complete ones are worth quite a lot these days. My one got smashed flat with a hammer around 1979, just to see what it would look like.

[egg]

On 5/30/2019 at 4:30 PM, MiniMort said:

How about the Kiira EV. Uganda's answer to the Tesla. And what an answer!

That has led me to the Kiira EV smack!

http://kiiramotors.com/new/wp-content/uploads/Kiira EV SMACK Magazine.pdf

[bunglebus]

Early Suzuki Carry

 

Which lead me to

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then onto  the "Sooty van"  we all know

 

[JeeExEll]

Prototype VW Golf.

 

And another one.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Has that one been crash tested?

[martc]

17 hours ago, egg said:

That has led me to the Kiira EV smack!

http://kiiramotors.com/new/wp-content/uploads/Kiira EV SMACK Magazine.pdf

What a find! If a vehicles name reflects it's looks Smack cannot be a higher 'compliment'. Or it's a description of the substance abuse the designer partook in before putting pen to paper. It's worth seeing it from different angles...

 

 

 

The bloke on the right can't believe what's turned up in his carport.

[JeeExEll]

Another Golf prototype, the EA 266 from around 1969.

For some reason they've got the bloke out of Vanishing Point to come and have a look at it. I don't think he's too keen on it.

Mid mounted 1600cc in-line water cooled four mounted on it's side under the rear seat.

VW made 50 and they were great fun to drive.

[quicksilver]

I thought that was a Honda Z600. No wonder Vanishing Point guy isn't impressed, it doesn't look anything like a Golf.

[JeeExEll]

More strange goings on at VW. This was to have the rear flat-6 from the 911, and similar suspension. I really like it.

Codename EA 128 if anyone wants to check it out.

[martc]

Looks like someone at Tatra had a peek at the VW EA128 before coming up with the 613.

 

[Timewaster]

I wonder what the roads would look like now if VW had produced the mid engine effort or one of those other turds instead of the Golf?

 

Not full of silver VAG dullness I'm sure.

[Yoss]

34 minutes ago, martc said:

Looks like someone at Tatra had a peek at the VW EA128 before coming up with the 613.

 

Seems only fair seeing as the Beetle was a rip off of the Tatra T97. What goes around...etc

[lesapandre]

The VW 4-door is remarkably similar to the Rootes rear engined 'Swallow' project that was developed up to 1963 and then axed following the disappointment of Imp sales and Rootes ongoing cashflow problems. They plumped for the more conventional Arrow range.

 

[lesapandre]

The 1969 Brazilian VW 1600 also takes some of the styling cues. 

[lesapandre]

The Golf prototype ideas resurfaced a bit in the 1980 VW Gol which featured the air-cool  Brazilian flat 4 in a fwd hatchback!

[lesapandre]

Our transatlantic friends at Curbsideclassic have the low-down if you want more info:

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1971-vw-1600-tl-turns-out-the-brazilian-type-3-isnt-really-a-type-3-its-the-ea97-reincarnated/

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-volkswagen-gol-the-difficult-mission-to-replace-a-legend/

Not sure how many of these ever escaped to Europe.

[lesapandre]

And for all-out rear-engined wacky-ness try the rear engined Studebaker Lark try-out.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.motor1.com/news/78288/the-rear-engined-studebaker-with-the-heart-of-a-porsche/amp/

 

[lesapandre]

3 hours ago, Timewaster said:

I wonder what the roads would look like now if VW has produced the mid engine effort or one of those other turds instead of the Golf?

 

Not full of silver VAG dullness I'm sure.

The 411/412 produced from 1968 pointed in a different design direction for VW - but was in fact the end of a long design road. Even this car sold in big numbers (relatively) - 367,000 in 6 years. This is the notchback that never made production. And after that all fwd in Europe I think.

I had a Type 3 Variant and after that a 412 estate when they were just bangers. The latter always felt a bit of an unwieldy barge and not great mpg I recall - though I liked the Type 3 a lot - bit more compact and actually much nicer to drive. Was a 1600 and would cruise very nicely at 80mph all day long.

[lesapandre]

A bit of Zephyr 'barge-ness' in that VW too?

[JeeExEll]

Can you imagine the reaction if the Zeff/Zodiac Mk4 had been introduced with an Essex V6 (or a flat 6) in the boot? A compact 2-litre V4 for the Zephyrs.

'Bonkers? Not arrf mate'.

Loads of luggage space in the front though.

[lesapandre]

On 6/3/2019 at 10:16 AM, JeeExEll said:

Prototype VW Golf.

 

And another one.

How different it might have been for VW profits if they had proceeded with one of these ungainly Golfs.  They remind me of BMC/BLMC efforts - where they seemed just to go ahead and sell cars that would have benefited from more careful styling to drive sales. The top two pictures are not bad - a bit of a Fiat/Renault feel about them - but not a patch on the finished Golf IMHO. But even by 1967 they did realise the 2-box hatchback was the way to go - something completely missed with the later Allegro for example.

Is the top car still rear-engined? Note the odd position of the fuel filler for example.

[adw1977]

29 minutes ago, JeeExEll said:

Can you imagine the reaction if the Zeff/Zodiac Mk4 had been introduced with an Essex V6 (or a flat 6) in the boot? A compact 2-litre V4 for the Zephyrs.

'Bonkers? Not arrf mate'.

Loads of luggage space in the front though.

The V4 and V6 engines used in the Mark 4 probably would fit in the boot! 

This picture of an early Mk4 design (from Michael Allen's excellent book on the subject) shows what happened when the bonnet matched the size of the engine :

Which is why the Mark 4 ended up with the spare wheel under the bonnet!