The "WTF is that?" thread

[JimH]

I love the photo of them all gathered round proudly but no one could get it together to blow the front tyre up.

[JimH]

I've just come across this. Apparently the driver is Sidney's brother, Leslie, who is undertaking early testing of the Clipper's underpinnings. Why they are testing it in a field is not recorded. 

 

I still maintain that the reason Britain's position as the workshop of the World went into reverse when we stopped wearing trousers which were as accommodating as the ones sported by Leslie there.

[Metal Guru]

9 hours ago, artdjones said:

Suitable for pinhead families.

The indestructible body? Wow! Why didn’t the motor industry go with that ? Insurance would be pennies.

[Rod/b]

11 hours ago, JimH said:

I've just come across this. Apparently the driver is Sidney's brother, Leslie, who is undertaking early testing of the Clipper's underpinnings. Why they are testing it in a field is not recorded. 

 

I still maintain that the reason Britain's position as the workshop of the World went into reverse when we stopped wearing trousers which were as accommodating as the ones sported by Leslie there.

And, lo, the Red Bull soapbox event was born. 

[Madman Of The People]

17 hours ago, JimH said:

I've just come across this. Apparently the driver is Sidney's brother, Leslie, who is undertaking early testing of the Clipper's underpinnings. Why they are testing it in a field is not recorded. 

 

I still maintain that the reason Britain's position as the workshop of the World went into reverse when we stopped wearing trousers which were as accommodating as the ones sported by Leslie there.

 

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

 

[chodweaver]

The indestructible body? Wow! Why didn’t the motor industry go with that ? Insurance would be pennies.

Isn't there a story that Henry Ford was planning on making the Model T body out of gutta-percha until America's steel producers paid him a visit and threatened to make his family disappear?

Anyway, there's little profit in making cars with indestructible bodies when the world's manufacturers could guarantee a solid income for their children and their children's children with steel ones that failed their first MOT. Still, at least steel ones crash well*

[inconsistant]

Gutta-percha is a sort of plant based natural rubber, used to coat early transatlantic cables etc, so I doubt it would be used for a car body, as too heavy and not structural enough.

Pre ww2 Henry Ford was exploring ways to combine agriculture & chemical industries, he developed a ’bio-plastic bodied’ car, actually a mix of I think flax fibres, (EDIT: soybean) and thermoplastic, something like phenolic resin. He made a couple of prototypes, then war broke out, then he died, and the project disappeared. 
 

 

There are vids/photos online of him hitting the bodywork with a sledge hammer and it bouncing off. But then I remember when CDs were launched seeing them on tv  smeared with jam and still playable but that didn’t make them indestructible like we were told at the time. 
 

Edit: More info here:

https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/soy-bean-car/

[uk_senator]

Saw this on the M40 this afternoon, no idea, it looked like a Jag XK120 customised by a mental Yank from a distance, but this was as close as I could get thanks to average speed cameras..

[chodweaver]

Gutta-percha is a sort of plant based natural rubber, used to coat early transatlantic cables etc, so I doubt it would be used for a car body, as too heavy and not structural enough.
Pre ww2 Henry Ford was exploring ways to combine agriculture & chemical industries, he developed a ’bio-plastic bodied’ car, actually a mix of I think flax fibres, (EDIT: soybean) and thermoplastic, something like phenolic resin. He made a couple of prototypes, then war broke out, then he died, and the project disappeared. 
 

 
There are vids/photos online of him hitting the bodywork with a sledge hammer and it bouncing off. But then I remember when CDs were launched seeing them on tv  smeared with jam and still playable but that didn’t make them indestructible like we were told at the time. 
 
Edit: More info here:
https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/soy-bean-car/

I was being slightly facetious about the rubber, but thanks!

[Missy Charm]

Any ideas in regards to the blue car?  Footage is from Bromley circa '83.  Not entirely clear from there, but it's got plain steel wheels and is RHD (male driver gets out in the film).  I'd hazard a guess at Japanese, possibly Nissan, but the Cherry and Sunny coupes of the era don't quite match it.  

[sheffcortinacentre]

Stanza?

[chaseracer]

56 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Stanza?

Yep.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Missy Charm said:

Any ideas in regards to the blue car?  Footage is from Bromley circa '83.  Not entirely clear from there, but it's got plain steel wheels and is RHD (male driver gets out in the film).  I'd hazard a guess at Japanese, possibly Nissan, but the Cherry and Sunny coupes of the era don't quite match it.  

Toyota GT or Colt Sapporo?

Um, no, think Stanza is good call, dammit!

[Datsuncog]

Wasn't there someone on here with a 3 dr Stanza?

Rare things, even at the time - and like the non-sporty version of the 3 dr Sierra, never really a big seller in Blighty.

[inconsistant]

The 1980s What Car? long term facts storage and recollection part of my brain thinks the Stanza was the last Nissan sold in the UK as a Datsun. Why do I think that several decades later, is it true?

[Missy Charm]

12 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Stanza?

Thank you.  Got to be a Stanza by the look of things, all the details match.  I'd completely forgotten the existence of that model!  

It's interesting, really.  There are loads of Japanese cars in the film, which is a real contrast to what would have been seen in the late seventies.  They really did achieve a lot in a short time.  Seventies Jap cars didn't tend to survive British winters, though, so there was probably quite a high attrition rate with the early stuff.

[barrett]

Our own Bramzmeister spotted this one a few years ago, since scrapped sadly. I believe there is now only one surviving Stanza 3dr in the UK, which has been offered for sale recently. Perhaps the ultimate Autoshite car for its mixture of extreme rarity and inherent dullness.

[Datsuncog]

11 hours ago, inconsistant said:

The 1980s What Car? long term facts storage and recollection part of my brain thinks the Stanza was the last Nissan sold in the UK as a Datsun. Why do I think that several decades later, is it true?

I thought the entire range swapped over in 1985 - for a couple of years prior to that, cars across the range had worn both sets of badging (my '84 Sunny Coupé said 'Datsun' on the front, 'Nissan' on the steering wheel and 'Nissan' on the tailgate - but Datsun on the logbook), but from '85 on the Datsun name was discontinued on all models and from dealership signage.

Some very early K10 Micras were apparently registered as Datsuns, and with Datsun badging on the grille. Now that would be a find...

[uk_senator]

2 hours ago, barrett said:

Our own Bramzmeister spotted this one a few years ago, since scrapped sadly. I believe there is now only one surviving Stanza 3dr in the UK, which has been offered for sale recently. Perhaps the ultimate Autoshite car for its mixture of extreme rarity and inherent dullness.

There was someone on the book of face who had a number of Stanza`s, including at least one 3 door. Dunno if he`s on here too?

[Wibble]

Wasn’t there a period of “Datsun by Nissan” badging (or the other way round) or am I imagining this?

[martc]

13 hours ago, Wibble said:

Wasn’t there a period of “Datsun by Nissan” badging (or the other way round) or am I imagining this?

This sort of thing?

[MKT]

On 4/27/2022 at 11:10 AM, Datsuncog said:

Some very early K10 Micras were apparently registered as Datsuns, and with Datsun badging on the grille. Now that would be a find...

One of those was up for sale on FBM recently.

[Wibble]

6 hours ago, martc said:

This sort of thing?

Exactly that! Thanks, glad to know I wasn’t imagining it!

[Spiny Norman]

My elderly aunt had the first Micra delivered in Glasgow allegedly, PGA 50Y. A silver automatic GL badged as a Datsun at both front and rear ends. Did 13,000 miles in it in about as many years.

[bunglebus]

13,000 years?

[busmansholiday]

On 4/17/2022 at 8:45 PM, uk_senator said:

Saw this on the M40 this afternoon, no idea, it looked like a Jag XK120 customised by a mental Yank from a distance, but this was as close as I could get thanks to average speed cameras..

MGA with an aftermarket hard top ?

[Datsuncog]

15 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

My elderly aunt had the first Micra delivered in Glasgow allegedly, PGA 50Y. A silver automatic GL badged as a Datsun at both front and rear ends. Did 13,000 miles in it in about as many years.

Oosh! July '83.

Never even seen a Micra on a Y-reg - Wiki reckons the Micra only hit the European market in June '83. Your aunt's would certainly have been one of the very earliest, so she could well have had the first one in Glasgow.

Also from Wikipedia:

Quote

"Because the Micra was launched during Nissan's rebranding effort to systematically phase out the Datsun name, a small "Datsun" (ダットン, Dattosan) appeared on the tailgate for the first two years, and in some European markets, the car was known as the "Datsun-Nissan Micra". The Datsun badges had disappeared completely by the end of 1984."

That seems to tie in with the observations upthread on whenabouts the Datsun name was entirely phased out.

[jmsguzzi]

On 4/27/2022 at 12:57 PM, uk_senator said:

There was someone on the book of face who had a number of Stanza`s, including at least one 3 door. Dunno if he`s on here too?

That’s my mate Chris, iirc he had the last remaining 3 door Stanza in the uk, a rare 4 door saloon with full red interior, and an immaculate 5 door with something like 30 thousand miles. I believe he sold them all as a job lot and bought an equally immaculate low mileage P10 Primera. He also has a Rover Tomcat and a Mk1 Laguna but doesn’t do Autoshite.

[Spiny Norman]

13 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Oosh! July '83.

Never even seen a Micra on a Y-reg - Wiki reckons the Micra only hit the European market in June '83. Your aunt's would certainly have been one of the very earliest, so she could well have had the first one in Glasgow.

 

Looking at that it was last taxed in 2001, I didn't realise she'd had it that long. Typical little old lady car, got driven (very slowly) once or twice a month and serviced by the main dealer she bought it from every year. I was given the task of selling it for her when her eyesight gave up and sometimes there were only 5-600 miles between annual services but she wouldn't hear of giving it up and taking a taxi everywhere which would have saved a fortune.
I'd borrow it occasionally when mine was out of action and whenever I gave her it back she'd always ask if I'd had it serviced 'Because it runs so much better' No, auntie, I just drove it at more than 27mph...

[uk_senator]

16 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

MGA with an aftermarket hard top ?

No, those fins are large, a good foot tall. Hard to tell from the pic, admittedly.