The "WTF is that?" thread

[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

[barrett]

3 hours ago, stendec said:

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

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

Stellina. The first Italian all-fibreglass production car, dontcha know. Not pretty, but interesting

Do you have a link to the seller?

[Metal Guru]

12 hours ago, barrett said:

Stellina. The first Italian all-fibreglass production car, dontcha know. Not pretty, but interesting

Do you have a link to the seller?

Looks like a poor attempt at an Alfa Romeo Spider rival.

[stendec]

13 hours ago, barrett said:

Stellina. The first Italian all-fibreglass production car, dontcha know. Not pretty, but interesting

Do you have a link to the seller?

Thanks barrett, I knew someone on AS could point me in the right direction.

The seller of the photo, IMS Vintage Photos, is in Iceland but the photos appear to come from a German archive.  The link to the photo sale is https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144788684156

[MiniMinorMk3]

Perhaps who ever crossed out the writing was unsure

Autobianchi Stellina

AUTOBIANCHI STELLINA prima italiana in vetroresina e qui storia e FOTO (autoemotodepoca.altervista.org)

 

From the rear it does look a bit like the Innocenti 950 S, which was based on the Frogeye Sprite

 

[stendec]

Ah, Autobianchi, not Innocenti!  Whoever corrected the photo caption was as confused as me!

I'm guessing that Stellina means star?

Edited November 12, 2022 by stendec
Corrected my misunderstanding!

[somewhatfoolish]

Sounds like a diminutive, so little star more likely.

[stendec]

Thanks!  
 

When I looked before Google translate gave me 'asterisk', Autobianchi Asterisk didn't really have a ring to it!

[High Jetter]

Another suggestion was 'starlet', which has different connotations! Anyway, an asterisk is a (very) little 2-dimensional star.

[brandersnatch]

Stella is Italian for star. Stellina is the diminutive. So it’s the Autobianchi Little Star. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

[stendec]

I wondered why I got a diiferent translation but ob checking, my browser was giving me the NMicrosoft translater, not the Google one

[bunglebus]

Saw this picture in a charity shop. Any ideas?

[D.E]

24 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Saw this picture in a charity shop. Any ideas?

Moskvitch 400.

[MiniMinorMk3]

26 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Saw this picture in a charity shop. Any ideas?

 

1938-1940 Opel Kadett K38

[MiniMinorMk3]

It could also be a Moskvich 400, as they used the old Opel to build the 400.

[bunglebus]

I was just Googling both and thinking they were separated at birth!

Only things that are bugging me are the end of the side trim that curves downwards, and those little lights next to the boot/rumble seat - can't see either on any Google images. Also the trim on the bonnet sides comes right up the front door unlike the Opel/Moskvitch

 

[artdjones]

It might just be the acute angle foreshortening the gap.

[TataBobu]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I was just Googling both and thinking they were separated at birth!

Only things that are bugging me are the end of the side trim that curves downwards, and those little lights next to the boot/rumble seat - can't see either on any Google images. Also the trim on the bonnet sides comes right up the front door unlike the Opel/Moskvitch

 

USSR got the Russelsheim factory line for K38 as part of the war reparation package, so pretty much the 400 is the K38, but assembled in soviet Russia.

[vulgalour]

Definitely the angle foreshortening things.  That rear section of trim looks like it's probably a front section from the opposite side, as shown a bit more clearly on this Opel version. 

The Moskvitch version seems to have an infinite selection of rear light options with owners fitting whatever is to hand and suits.

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

My grandfather's first car was a late 1930s Opel Kadett, it was 2-door and didn't have a boot lid either, which was a pain. It was bought around 1958 and served for several years as a daily and every summer it was loaded up with people and luggage and driven 1100 km round trip to where my grandmother came from. It had problems with the engine boiling when it climbed the many mountains on the trip, but it got them there and back home year after year. It was replaced with a beetle.

And while he owned it, the neighbor owned a Moskvitch 400 they were very common here.

[bunglebus]

Any ideas?

[RayMK]

39 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Any ideas?

Stimson Minibug seems likely.  

[High Jetter]

ADO 16 behind, bonnet up as usual

[artdjones]

And Leslie Crowther above, before he rolled his Rolls-Royce.

[MiniMinorMk3]

18 hours ago, RayMK said:

Stimson Minibug seems likely.  

Yep, Stimpson Mini Bug. That one is a Mk1 version. Later ones had a GRP screen frame and a roll hoop.

Mk1

Mk2

[Pieman]

Barry Stimson was also responsible for the Stimson Scorcher, which was basically a cross between a Mini and a sidecar outfit.

[skoda_fan]

On 11/21/2022 at 10:00 PM, Pieman said:

Barry Stimson was also responsible for the Stimson Scorcher, which was basically a cross between a Mini and a sidecar outfit.

Ah the memories of good old Hot Car mag! What museum is that in?

[Pieman]

Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum, Sussex.  Apparently no longer open to the public, sadly.

[Rust Collector]

2 hours ago, Pieman said:

Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum, Sussex.  Apparently no longer open to the public, sadly.

That's a shame. It's just down the road from me and it's probably one of the places that helped to shape my love of cars, my Nan would take me there regularly when I was little.