The "WTF is that?" thread

[Spiny Norman]

I'd go with the Carina, quite distinctive tail lights.

More telling is the '3/-3d' price of petrol. About 16p..

[Metal Guru]

  On 03/11/2022 at 21:21, bunglebus said:

Presumably Japanese car having a hose inserted into its posterior, in front of the Mini?

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Can date this photo quite accurately. 
Pre- decimalisation , so before 15th Feb 1971, and there is a Mk3 Cortina at the head of the queue. This was launched at the Earls Court motor show 14-24 October 1970, so none would have been sold before that, and earliest sales were probably at least a month afterwards.

3/-3 a gallon = 4p a litre.

[Spiny Norman]

I remember going  to the garage with my Dad on a Saturday where he'd get his Renault 16 filled up with a pound's worth of petrol and the man would check the tyres and oil, some days we'd go through the fancy new car wash.
We knew how to make our own entertainment in the early 70s...

[stendec]

3/3 a gallon - those were the days!

 

When I started driving in 1978 petrol was still under £1 a gallon and I could fill the tank for less than a tenner, in fact I think my Riley Elf took less than a fiver.
 

Whats the dark car behind the Bedford CA (?) van?

[Mr Pastry]

  On 04/11/2022 at 07:32, stendec said:

Whats the dark car behind the Bedford CA (?) van?

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Fiat 128?

[stendec]

  On 04/11/2022 at 08:16, Mr Pastry said:

Fiat 128?

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Yes, that's it, I had forgotten about the 128, I had thought 1100 but the door frames weren’t right, which was also the problem with everything else I could think of.

[stendec]

  On 04/11/2022 at 07:32, stendec said:

When I started driving in 1978 petrol was still under £1 a gallon…

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It didn’t stay that way for long, I had forgotten how quickly it went up, but Hansard gives the following average prices in an answer to a question in Parliament:

pence/gallon
Date	four-star	derv
15 April 1978	75	84
15 April 1979	88	92
15 April1980	132	135
15 January 1981	132	140

Almost doubled between April 78 and Jan 81, diesel wasn't quite as bad.

[High Jetter]

  On 04/11/2022 at 08:16, Mr Pastry said:

Fiat 128?

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It does look like it, not big enough for a 124/5 but hard to be sure. Dad had a new 128, surprisingly nippy but he moved on to Renners after that.

[Metal Guru]

  On 04/11/2022 at 07:32, stendec said:

3/3 a gallon - those were the days!

 

When I started driving in 1978 petrol was still under £1 a gallon and I could fill the tank for less than a tenner, in fact I think my Riley Elf took less than a fiver.
 

Whats the dark car behind the Bedford CA (?) van?

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I first started buying my own petrol in about 1983. The prices were still for gallons , and a gallon was about the same as it is now for a litre, so 4.5x as much. However, inflation over that period is 411% , so pretty much the same.

[Spiny Norman]

Car in the foreground behind the van definitely an early 128. Fabulous wee cars, shame they dissolved after a few British winters.

[MiniMinorMk3]

The price of fuel in that shot is 33 pence. The Carina did not start European sales until October 1971, 8 months after decimalisation.

I remember my dad used to get about 3 gallons for a £1 back in 1969 or 1970 in his nice new Hillman Imp.

Also i agree with 128 in foreground, you can just about make out the square raparound indicator.

[stendec]

  On 04/11/2022 at 10:17, Metal Guru said:

I first started buying my own petrol in about 1983. The prices were still for gallons , and a gallon was about the same as it is now for a litre, so 4.5x as much. However, inflation over that period is 411% , so pretty much the same.

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Interesting, a 4.5 times increase between 1983 and now, so around 39 years.  Based on a 1971 date for the above photo and a price was around 33 per gallon (it looks like it has just gone up from 32p as a small '3' appears to have been stuck over what looks like a '2') there was a 2.3 times increase between the start of 1971 and April 1978 or just over 7 years which would give an equivalent rate of 12.8 times over 39 years.  It shows the impact of the 1973 oil crisis when OPEC introduced an oil embargo in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur war.

[stendec]

  On 04/11/2022 at 11:12, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The price of fuel in that shot is 33 pence. The Carina did not start European sales until October 1971, 8 months after decimalisation.

I remember my dad used to get about 3 gallons for a £1 back in 1969 or 1970 in his nice new Hillman Imp.

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Ah, so not 3/3 but 33p per gallon.  Not as good as 3/3 (which, I think converts to 16.25p) but I would still settle for it.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Here's how the price of cars went up from December 1969 to June 1980, almost a five fold increase during the turbulent '70s.

[stendec]

Yep, my rusty memory seems to recall that a Mini was £2k when I arrived in the UK as a young lad in 1978.

[Metal Guru]

  On 04/11/2022 at 11:34, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Here's how the price of cars went up from December 1969 to June 1980, almost a five fold increase during the turbulent '70s.

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I remember my Dad got a Cortina 2.0XL in 1976 for £2450. ( it was metallic Roman Bronze and went over his company car limit of £2400, so he had to pay the £50).

My parents always were saying that it cost more than their house bought in 1960.

[Missy Charm]

  On 31/10/2022 at 08:24, D.E said:

Paris, 1960. What is the silver sports car?

 

 

https://digitalcollections.iu.edu/concern/images/zw12z602r?locale=en&query=paris+seine

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I've had a flick through one of my old books and the mystery car does resemble a Frazer Nash Targa Florio:

The short front overhang, open mouth and round headlights fit, as does the very flat rear deck and upright windscreen.  The mystery car also has a central air intake, a la Frazer Nash.  

[RayMK]

  On 05/11/2022 at 18:04, Missy Charm said:

I've had a flick through one of my old books and the mystery car does resemble a Frazer Nash Targa Florio:

The short front overhang, open mouth and round headlights fit, as does the very flat rear deck and upright windscreen.  The mystery car also has a central air intake, a la Frazer Nash.  

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The mystery car looks more 'homebuilt' as Barratt suggested.  The front and rear wheel arches look amateurish and the proportions are different.  Perhaps the FN Targa Florio MK2 was the look that the builder was aiming for.  

[High Jetter]

Yes, the mouth of the mystery is more oval than the FN. I think the bonnet bulge is not central.

[Pieman]

Spotted in a field demolition derby in the Netherlands - anyone know what this is please?

[D.E]

  On 09/11/2022 at 17:34, Pieman said:

Spotted in a field demolition derby in the Netherlands - anyone know what this is please?

 

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Opel Olympia van...

[Pieman]

Thanks - strange looking thing when un-stripped too!

[MiniMinorMk3]

[SteersWithThrottle]

  On 05/11/2022 at 22:08, High Jetter said:

Yes, the mouth of the mystery is more oval than the FN. I think the bonnet bulge is not central.

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Also the A-pillar appears to be further forward on the mystery car. The front end in particular is sitting very low, there's no gap between the top of the tyre and the arch at the least.

[billy_bunter]

Apologies for the shit picture.

This appeared on my daily commute. Think he owns the Kak as well.....

 

 

[J R Hartley]

  On 10/11/2022 at 19:56, billy_bunter said:

Apologies for the shit picture.

This appeared on my daily commute. Think he owns the Kak as well.....

 

 

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Matra Murena. Features three abreast seating. 

 

[J R Hartley]

Here's a couple of pictures of one from the Moffat car show in July. 

 

[bunglebus]

  On 10/11/2022 at 16:07, MiniMinorMk3 said:

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Opel Olympia panel van

[stendec]

Seen on the 'bay, photo from a "working newspaper archive"

back of photo has the following and listing under the title of Innocenti Stelliva

Edited November 11, 2022 by stendec
Correct my bad typing

[stendec]

Not sure how accurate the archive indexing is, I've just come across two photos advertised as being pictures of an Autobianchi A112 but the featured car is clearly a Peugeot 504 convertible with the lion of Sochaux clearly visible.

Edited November 12, 2022 by stendec
Typo corrected