The "WTF is that?" thread

[SteersWithThrottle]

27 minutes ago, martc said:

 what is the silver car peeping out to the left of the wooden day van ?

Kadett B maybe? The slope of the wings is about the best clue to go on.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I think it's a Cortina like this one or simlar.

[High Jetter]

Not an easy spot. Audi 70? It's LHD, only one mirror.

[5speedracer]

On 4/17/2022 at 1:25 PM, Madman Of The People said:

 

I agree.  It's time for Oxford Bags to make a comeback!

 

Bit late to the party here but in @1975 I had a pair of 4 button waist, cargo pocketed, fawn coloured bags that could easily cover my size 11 feet. That included the ludicrous sole that extended about 8mm around the outside of the shoe for some reason. Wet tile floors were best avoided.

[martc]

Re Helsinki, thanks for the suggestions, of the three I think the Cortina mk2 is the nearest.

[sdkrc]

[Dyslexic Viking]

14 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

It looks like a bad Chinese copy of a Land Cruiser. Reminds me a bit of the Land Cruiser FJ55?

[sdkrc]

[Metal Guru]

4 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

It looks like a bad Chinese copy of a Land Cruiser. Reminds me a bit of the Land Cruiser FJ55?

The windows look like an original Range Rover.

[Spiny Norman]

No idea, inconclusive thread about it here too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthiscar/comments/xlqv00/from_the_80s/

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

15 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

The windows look like an original Range Rover.

You're right, but that's the only similarity I can find to a Range Rover, but it lacks a tow truck underneath it if it's supposed to be copying a Range Rover. 

[barrett]

My educated guess is it's a J55 Land Cruiser which has been 'modernised' to look a bit like a Range-Rover and I'd assume from the landscape it was an African effort so unlikely to be much chance of finding an answer. It's annoying the reg plate has been blurred as that could help tie it to a country at least.

[Rocket88]

21 minutes ago, barrett said:

My educated guess is it's a J55 Land Cruiser which has been 'modernised' to look a bit like a Range-Rover and I'd assume from the landscape it was an African effort so unlikely to be much chance of finding an answer. It's annoying the reg plate has been blurred as that could help tie it to a country at least.

Presumably re-engineered to explode at regular intervals…..

[Missy Charm]

No photo, I'm afraid, but a taxi related query in regards to something seen in episode two of the third series of The Sweeney, 'Selected Target' (1976).  During one of the many driving scenes that will be familiar to viewers of the programme, a strange looking black cab appears in shot for some time.  It is parked up and static throughout.  The car looks to be the usual black hackney in regular service and has a strong resemblance to the then ubiquitous Austin FX4.  The mystery taxi seems to be identical in size to the Austin, and has a very similar silhouette; my guess is that it has an FX4 chassis and special coachwork, therefore. 

The key difference is the front end: instead of the usual round, sealed beam headlights and traditional upright radiator grille, the mystery car has a full width chrome slatted radiator and rectangular quartz headlights.  That treatment gives the mystery taxi a flatter, more squared off frontal appearance that is more in keeping with seventies styling, but doesn't really blend nicely into the lines of the rest of the body.   It almost looks like an attempt to create the Metrocab long before such a thing existed.  Any ideas?  My guess is that it's a special or running design proposal for updates to the FX4.  Those updates never occurred, of course, as the good old black cab continued unaltered into the nineties...

[barrett]

16 minutes ago, Missy Charm said:

No photo, I'm afraid, but a taxi related query in regards to something seen in episode two of the third series of The Sweeney, 'Selected Target' (1976).  During one of the many driving scenes that will be familiar to viewers of the programme, a strange looking black cab appears in shot for some time.  It is parked up and static throughout.  The car looks to be the usual black hackney in regular service and has a strong resemblance to the then ubiquitous Austin FX4.  The mystery taxi seems to be identical in size to the Austin, and has a very similar silhouette; my guess is that it has an FX4 chassis and special coachwork, therefore. 

The key difference is the front end: instead of the usual round, sealed beam headlights and traditional upright radiator grille, the mystery car has a full width chrome slatted radiator and rectangular quartz headlights.  That treatment gives the mystery taxi a flatter, more squared off frontal appearance that is more in keeping with seventies styling, but doesn't really blend nicely into the lines of the rest of the body.   It almost looks like an attempt to create the Metrocab long before such a thing existed.  Any ideas?  My guess is that it's a special or running design proposal for updates to the FX4.  Those updates never occurred, of course, as the good old black cab continued unaltered into the nineties...

Do you mean a Winchester?

[D.E]

This? 

[Missy Charm]

10 minutes ago, barrett said:

Do you mean a Winchester?

 

8 minutes ago, D.E said:

This? 

Yes and yes.  Thank you; it's not the most attractive vehicle, is it!  

[chaseracer]

Slightly* better resolved than the Beardmore...

[martc]

Brushfield Street, Spitalfields E1, 1985.

Any idea what the mustard coloured lorry is in the back ground? Looks like it has a bonnet - could it be a Magrius Deutz?

Other contenders could be S&D or Dennis. Is that a Volvo diagonal strip?

[Dyslexic Viking]

13 minutes ago, martc said:

Brushfield Street, Spitalfields E1, 1985.

Any idea what the mustard coloured lorry is in the back ground? Looks like it has a bonnet - could it be a Magrius Deutz?

Other contenders could be S&D or Dennis. Is that a Volvo diagonal strip?

It is difficult to identify with such a poor picture. The Volvo N7/N10/N12 looks a bit similar, but I feel the truck in the picture is smaller and lower than these.

Edit

But is it a standard truck or cab over engine truck (coe) ? I'm a little unsure about that.

[martc]

13 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

It is difficult to identify with such a poor picture. The Volvo N7/N10/N12 looks a bit similar, but I feel the truck in the picture is smaller and lower than these.

Edit

But is it a standard truck or cab over engine truck (coe) ? I'm a little unsure about that.

As you say it's a bit small for a bonneted Volvo. S&D (Shelvoke and Dewry) made dustbin lorries and similar for local authorities, they had a slightly protuberant radiator grille, but the front design was 'fussier' than the one in the picture and they often had split windscreens... Dennis had square grilles at the time, but flush with the body work.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Scammell S24?

 

 

[martc]

2 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Scammell S24?

 

 

I think the grille is a bit bigger than the one in the photo; in fact the whole thing is a bit bigger! 

[Missy Charm]

20 hours ago, martc said:

Brushfield Street, Spitalfields E1, 1985.

Any idea what the mustard coloured lorry is in the back ground? Looks like it has a bonnet - could it be a Magrius Deutz?

Other contenders could be S&D or Dennis. Is that a Volvo diagonal strip?

Ford Anglican?  

[martc]

3 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

Ford Anglican?  

Oh yes, very clever, I see what you did there 11/10.

[martc]

I'm starting to convince myself it's a Dennis, perhaps one with a black grille, or with some sort of muff over the grille; it does look wintry.

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, martc said:

Oh yes, very clever, I see what you did there 11/10.

Yes, but Ital'ics needed.

[martc]

7 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Yes, but Ital'ics needed.

Groan.

[dikkehemaworst]

Me thinks its  a scania

[Missy Charm]

22 hours ago, martc said:

Oh yes, very clever, I see what you did there 11/10.

They used to say that the market trader hawks more if he drives a Ford Anglican...