The "WTF is that?" thread

[Mr Pastry]

13 minutes ago, martc said:

Any idea what the black car is? I think we're in Italy.

Autobianchi Bianchina, based on Fiat 500.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Mr Pastry beat me to it.

 

It's an Autobianchi Bianchina Berlina

[bunglebus]

Dashcam capture - any ideas?

[artdjones]

31 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Dashcam capture - any ideas?

Looks like a Lincoln MKZ

I 

[Rod/b]

It is. And it has a number plate to match

[DSdriver]

All moderns look the same... as we have been saying for ever. 🙃

[martc]

On 03/06/2024 at 18:54, DSdriver said:

All moderns look the same... as we have been saying for ever. 🙃

Talking of which...

Any idea what this is? The photo is titled 'Third Avenue, Manhattan NY (ca. 1962)'. As noted all modernz look the same - this has the look of a Rover or Daimler or similar middle class British bourg-mobile  but could well be a (smallish) yankee. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

1 hour ago, martc said:

Any idea what this is? The photo is titled 'Third Avenue, Manhattan NY (ca. 1962)'. As noted all modernz look the same - this has the look of a Rover or Daimler or similar middle class British bourg-mobile  but could well be a (smallish) yankee.

It reminds me a bit of an early 50's Dodge or Plymouth but I'm not quite sure.

Plymouth Cranbrook? These are 4 doors, but 2 doors were also available?

[MiniMinorMk3]

The rear lights are Plymouth. Dodge models had lights that were taller.

The body shape was used from 1950 to 1952 on the Plymouth De Luxe, which was renamed in 1951 as the Cranbrook and Cambridge. All were available in 2-Door configuration

[Urko]

On 14/02/2024 at 15:13, quicksilver said:

Please tell me I'm not the only one who on seeing an old photo instinctively looks for cars to date it. Even better if there's a numberplate visible as that can give you an earliest possible date, which is often later than other people who aren't into cars thnk.

I got a very frosty reception on a local Facebook group of old photos fro pointing out just such a thing once.  It got worse when I found the source of the photo was an archive site with the correct date shown - the bloke who posted it was still arguing his date was right........

[Pieman]

8 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

It reminds me a bit of an early 50's Dodge or Plymouth but I'm not quite sure.

Plymouth Cranbrook? These are 4 doors, but 2 doors were also available?

A '51 Plymouth Cambridge appeared in the film Carry On Constable, used as the wage thieves' getaway car.  Seemed quite an odd choice for a gang wanting to elude the police, when it was possibly the only one of its kind in the UK!

[chaseracer]

The Plymouth Cambridge was the reason why the 'Farina' Austin A55 had to be called the Cambrian in the States.  Not that they sold more than about a dozen*...

[martc]

Right here's another one. One I'm sure I should know, but I can't place it. The pale green one on the right, is it a Taunus?

[Dyslexic Viking]

2 minutes ago, martc said:

The pale green one on the right, is it a Taunus?

Yes it is a Taunus.

[Rocket88]

3 minutes ago, martc said:

Right here's another one. One I'm sure I should know, but I can't place it. The pale green one on the right, is it a Taunus?

Yup, that’s a Taunus…. Would hazard a guess at a 15M…..

Far better than the equivalent British Fords of that era

[MiniMinorMk3]

On 07/06/2024 at 19:35, martc said:

Right here's another one. One I'm sure I should know, but I can't place it. The pale green one on the right, is it a Taunus?

It's a Taunus P3 17M, know as the "Badewannetaunus" (Bathtub Taunus) since it's introduction.

When you see the front you can see where the inspiration for the Corsair came from. the UK equivalent.

[sheffcortinacentre]

The inspiration for the pubic hair was the early 60's thunderbird.

Ford UK & Germany were two separate entities who didn't share anything until the first joint project ( under the ford Europe banner) with the transit van ( not to be confused with the German taunus transit which used the fwd running gear from the M cars).

Even then the transit like the MK1 Capri still wasn't wholly European as they had their own engs UK built ones used imperial  Kent i4 & Essex V4 engs etc while in Germany it was metric V4/6 cologne engines  with matching gbox/axle combos.

[artdjones]

3 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

It's a Taunus P3 17M, know as the "Badewannetaunus" (Bathtub Taunus) since it's introduction.

When you see the front you can see where the inspiration for the Corsair came from. the UK equivalent.

There's an element of mk3 Zephyr in there as well.

[LightBulbFun]

On 03/06/2024 at 17:39, bunglebus said:

Dashcam capture - any ideas?

just a 2L Petrol! far cry from the big V8's of yesteryear, very curiously been here since new tho! but that seems to jog a memory, the small engine size and here since new, weren't there a bunch of Lincoln's destined for China or such that somehow ended up stuck here in the UK and where being flogged off for cheap?

[lesapandre]

On 07/06/2024 at 20:35, martc said:

Right here's another one. One I'm sure I should know, but I can't place it. The pale green one on the right, is it a Taunus?

Dunkerque - Place Jean-Bart. Like a lot of middle-market hotels in French town centres the 'Arcades' now long gone - so has the traffic.

With a local number '59' - Nord Department registration plate the Ford is likely to have come from 'Flandres-Auto' (1965 Michelin Red Guide).

[RoadworkUK]

2 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Dunkerque - Place Jean-Bart. Like a lot of middle-market hotels in French town centres the 'Arcades' now long gone.

Same building, though, and looking quite nicely preserved. Converted into apartments, perhaps. Penthouse level is nicely glazed.

[martc]

'Aug. 13, 1969: New York City welcomes Apollo 11 crewmen in a showering of ticker tape in a parade termed as the largest in the city’s history blah blah.'

But what is the car our heroes are travelling in? (I really ought to gen up on yank tanks).

[lesapandre]

It's a Chrysler designed by Virgil Exner:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Imperial_Parade_Phaeton

It was a very big deal the moon landing event in 1969 - watched in on TV - they landed mid-evening on the 20 July UK time and stepped on the moon 6 hours later on the 21st. Amazing stuff.

The British TV tech itself was interesting.  Live television coverage in the UK was made possible by an antenna nicknamed ‘Arthur’ at Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall - which was at one point the largest satellite station in the world. ‘Arthur’ intercepted signals being sent back live by Apollo and transmitted them to London, where the Post Office Tower distributed them to the TV networks.

[EyesWeldedShut]

26 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

It was a very big deal the moon landing event in 1969 - watched in on TV - they landed mid-evening on the 20 July UK time and stepped on the moon 6 hours later on the 21st. Amazing stuff.

Live TV was all the rage - I was 7 years old and I can just recall getting dragged out of bed and downstairs to witness this important event on our Radio Rentals, Redifusion powered B&W telly. Another one was David Hemery winning gold in the Mexico Olymipcs. Mum & Dad felt such things were important - not sure I appreciated it at the time, a bit bemused by it now tbh.

[martc]

Any idea what the light blue van (?) is on the left?

[RoadworkUK]

Innit just a lightweight Mk1 Tranny?

[martc]

1 hour ago, RoadworkUK said:

Innit just a lightweight Mk1 Tranny?

 

I'm a bit of a derr brain. The crease below the window in rear doors looked far more pronounced, the shadow under it emphasised the angles and the fact it looked like it was on stilts put me off, honestly.

[RoadworkUK]

52 minutes ago, martc said:

The crease below the window in rear doors looked far more pronounced, the shadow under it emphasised the angles and the fact it looked like it was on stilts put me off, honestly.

Mustard mitt, the two extremes of the Transit range always did have very different visual characters, as that pic (uncropped) lays bare.