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Mystery Car on Pistonheads (Via the blue forum)


mk1_4dr

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Based on how tiny the wheelbase looks and how low it is, my guess would be someone has gone to great effort to modify a Berkeley.  The drivers seating in relation to the rear wheels looks about right.  The bonnet line just looks very low to have a sidevalve munter in there.(Probably all wrong)

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  • 1 year later...

Junkman will know. He is omnipotent in such matters.

 

Although I'm flattered that my name has been mentioned on several forii regarding this car, I must pass.

However, most of the suggestions provided all over the interwebs are bordering ridiculousness,

especially for those who know their cars.

 

The car has enough unprofessional touches to outrule it was made by a car maker, even a small scale one.

Having said that, whoever cobbled it together in his garden shed had a keen eye for shapes.

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  • 3 years later...
3 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I was thinking "yeah yeah" but it does sound very plausible

the only problem is RAFxxx was issued in May 1953, but the Ford 7Y according to Wikipedia was only produced from 1938-1939

so that does not quite add up as that would be some 14 years late registration madness!

(unless the registration mark itself was already a private registration mark by then, but im not sure why someone would transfer it to such an old vehicle then abandon it) 

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Intriguing reading. I'd be inclined to assume that 'alfgarnett' is a bored fella who wants to wind up a load of blokes on tinternet though. 

Why's he not posted since? Why doesn't he give a few more clues about the last remembered address? Who is his 'son' who saw the PH thread and encouraged him to reply?

It smells like a gone-off kipper to me. I want to believe it, but the whole scenario has too many ifs and buts for me. 

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Look, let's be honest.

The story sounds plausible, but this is the internet. It can't be believed.

In lieu of any other credible evidence, I stand here before you all right now with the answer.

It's a new Tesla, the first with Toyota, as a GT86 replacement, from the year 2050 and it's a time travelling Musk looking for some hash. Or a personality. 

Either way case closed m'lord. 

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17 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

the only problem is RAFxxx was issued in May 1953, but the Ford 7Y according to Wikipedia was only produced from 1938-1939

so that does not quite add up as that would be some 14 years late registration madness!

(unless the registration mark itself was already a private registration mark by then, but im not sure why someone would transfer it to such an old vehicle then abandon it) 

Yeah, as soon as I saw the registration thing I thought that's right up your street. Not sure if you can gather any more information from anywhere on that plate or if all leads will be dead now?

It does seem to be a hole in the story doesn't it as if it was built in the early60's it wouldn't be very old when it was laid up if it was the type of car that he got wrong and it was actually a 1953 model? 

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23 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

Yeah, as soon as I saw the registration thing I thought that's right up your street. Not sure if you can gather any more information from anywhere on that plate or if all leads will be dead now?

It does seem to be a hole in the story doesn't it as if it was built in the early60's it wouldn't be very old when it was laid up if it was the type of car that he got wrong and it was actually a 1953 model? 

well AF indicates its a Cornwall issued mark, but thats about it in terms of extra info I can provide

 sadly RAF33 does not turn up on any tools

(which would make sense if it came off the road in 1977, as even if it was computerised by 1977 which it could of been, if its been inactive since then/ie seen no activity after 1983, then it would only exist in the DVLA's offline archive)

 

if I was giving the chap the benefit of the doubt, then perhaps rather then a Ford 7Y it could of been a sit up and beg Ford popular or something such which I understand to be a direct descendent of the Ford 7Y and as such outwardly does look quite similar and was in production until 1959(!)

 

otherwise for what its worth RAF32 is curiously on a 1977 Peugeot 504 thats been tax due since 1984, and looks to have had this private registration since either new or very early on (as they started to Date V5's in about 1979)

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and RAF44 is on a Messy Ferguson that survives still :) and was registered in May 1953 which backs up what I found for when that registration series was issued

1269167161_Screenshot2021-06-22at14_02_15.thumb.png.ae7271f6808ec8d3d09a5243b252bb0e.png

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just seen this mentioned again elsewhere. 

One observation. Many are suggesting the car has been 'shopped into the image. I've just read that the photo was taken from a book titled Buses, Trolleys and Trams which was first published in 1967. 

Surely that debunks the whole 'it's a photoshop' theory? 

Looks like it's been discussed in many places, too:

https://postcardsforpetrolheads.co.uk/car-mystery/

 

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Screenshot_20210713-220123_Chrome.jpg

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59 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Even if it is cut/paste, there must have been a car to photograph in the first place - although it could have been shortened with the people hiding the join 

You'd need to be really bored/jobless to fart around with that sort of level of trickery. 

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  • 11 months later...

Well, not being one to take no for an answer, I offered the bloke cash money and he gave me an hour to get there as he was leaving for 2 weeks holiday.  

To cut a long story short,. I am now the proud owner of my very first very french slightly cassé bagnole.  I'm not normally one to name cars, but this is called le Merde d'Or.  New thread incoming shortly.

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3 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Looks like it's still dragging on on the pissarseheads forum...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=140&t=1555306&p=117

It doesn't seem any further forward.

The only things you can deduce safely from the photo are that the wheels are 15" diameter and the wheelbase is about 78".  This makes it a very small car (a Sprite is 80" wheelbase) and rules out the most common donor vehicle/kit car chassis of the time.   It is also unlikely that such a low- slung car would be built on an ex-saloon chassis  if the job was done properly, as the chassis rails would intrude too much on the cockpit space.

The photo can be dated quite accurately to 1962 from the buses.  Incidentally if trying to scale from the leading bus, it is an RTW which is 96" wide.

And the photo predates the book by several years so probably wasn't taken specially, but found in a photo library somewhere.  There is some obvious retouching under and around the car, so it is quite likely that the car itself has been retouched.

Anything else is guesswork. 

 

 

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Looks like the answer is on this Facebook group although the bloke has specifically said not to post this on Pistonheads, that makes him a sound chap in my eyes👍
image.thumb.png.b3449920953f3ca47cef4edbe55561de.png

This is a 3D model he’s created and got the proportions from scanning the street and going from there.  Mind boggling geekiness level which I love.

He’s also found an advert for what is probably the actual car in Autosport magazine from 1964

Image and brain power from Stuart Brown on CAD Car

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2 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

In my opinion he has manipulated the proportions to show what he wants it to be.

I would like to see the ad referred to.  Does it include photos?  1964 Autosport, probably not.

 

 

It doesn’t include photos, nor does it include the line “it will be in that obscure book about buses and on Pistonheads one day” so it’s all circumstantial I suppose.

 

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