The "WTF is that?" thread

[sheffcortinacentre]

8 hours ago, jim89 said:

I'll add  another Reddit image w fuel filler maybe? Looks awkward mind....

Do keep up Richard 

[jim89]

37 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Do keep up Richard 

Oh! Is it solved* already ... Worrisit then?

[sheffcortinacentre]

Can't remember if it was,but was posted ages ago

[martc]

Is the white convertible a Vauxhall Wyvern? We're in Irlam.

[RayMK]

On 10/12/2025 at 12:46, martc said:

Is the white convertible a Vauxhall Wyvern? We're in Irlam.

It's an E Series, either a  Wyvern or a Velox .  The roof looks like a standard hard top to me. Externally they are very similar, the Velox usually having a bit more chrome here and there.  The script on the bootlid does not feature on any of the photos on a quick Google search so it may be an owner or dealer addition.  

[adw1977]

I think it's actually an E Series Cresta, which was available with two tone paint.

Just a darker roof colour making it look a bit like a convertible.

[vulgalour]

The pale blue-grey car on the left of the photo, any ideas?  It's the 1960s, so that does narrow things down a bit.

[Dyslexic Viking]

4 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

The pale blue-grey car on the left of the photo, any ideas?  It's the 1960s, so that does narrow things down a bit.

Datsun Bluebird/510?

[chaseracer]

Looks like it.

Where's the pic taken?  Doesn't 'feel' like the UK, thought the street sign is in English.  South Africa?  Somewhere in the Antipodes?

[Knotty Ash Towers]

41 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

Looks like it.

Where's the pic taken?  Doesn't 'feel' like the UK, thought the street sign is in English.  South Africa?  Somewhere in the Antipodes?

Could be Johannesburg, as the TJ part of the black car's registration number denotes Transvaal Johannesburg.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

1 hour ago, chaseracer said:

Looks like it.

Where's the pic taken?  Doesn't 'feel' like the UK, thought the street sign is in English.  South Africa?  Somewhere in the Antipodes?

I wonder if it was taken somewhere in Zimbabwe?

[sheffcortinacentre]

The original owner of my MK3 cortina bakkie brought it to the UK in 79 when he returned here to retire the reg started CFM ,he lived in west Somerset which isn't far from capetown in the south.

Used to know someone with a sierra XR8 that had T for Transvaal as he knew a fare bit of it's history.

[adw1977]

The coat of arms on the rather funky lamp post (of interest to @LightBulbFun ?) could be the old coat of arms of Johannesburg, although it's too small and grainy in the picture to be sure.

Also the street sign uses the abbreviation Str for street, which works in both English in Afrikaans (Straat) but is unusual in English.

[RayMK]

16 hours ago, adw1977 said:

I think it's actually an E Series Cresta, which was available with two tone paint.

Just a darker roof colour making it look a bit like a convertible.

True, it could be but the two tone on Crestas extended to the body flanks. In the light colour of the photo it's just the roof and pillars getting the treatment and none of the chrome trim of a Cresta. They did rust very quickly. Perhaps the trim had already fallen off.  I can't remember seeing an E series in a pale colour.  Most were in a dark metallic looking grey or less commonly in black or other darkish colours. Grandad had an L type Velox.  He did not like the later cars and kept it until he died in 1968. It disappeared without trace in Clifton, Nottingham when his wife sold the car a few years later, still in excellent condition and running.    

[adw1977]

The split for the two tone paintwork seems to have changed each model year, but never seems to have matched that in the original photo, although dark roof over light body was possible:

Maybe the car photographed was a home brew attempt at making a Wyvern look more like a Cresta!

[bunglebus]

This bus was used in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, various celebs were carried in it including Russel Brand - which might explain why it's now rotting away in Scotland somewhere 

What I can't find out is anything about how it came to be in the first place - it's presumably a custom body but what's under it?

[quicksilver]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This bus was used in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, various celebs were carried in it including Russel Brand - which might explain why it's now rotting away in Scotland somewhere 

What I can't find out is anything about how it came to be in the first place - it's presumably a custom body but what's under it?

Looks like a Bedford C-type truck chassis with a Duple Super Vista body. The overall shape and butterfly grille are right but the side trim doesn't match any photos I've found, although it could vary from year to year and operator to operator so that might help narrow down an identity.

[DSdriver]

On 11/12/2025 at 11:22, adw1977 said:

The coat of arms on the rather funky lamp post (of interest to @LightBulbFun ?) could be the old coat of arms of Johannesburg, although it's too small and grainy in the picture to be sure.

Also the street sign uses the abbreviation Str for street, which works in both English in Afrikaans (Straat) but is unusual in English.

Are they SU dashpots? triple carb action!

[chaseracer]

6 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This bus was used in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, various celebs were carried in it including Russel Brand - which might explain why it's now rotting away in Scotland somewhere 

What I can't find out is anything about how it came to be in the first place - it's presumably a custom body but what's under it?

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1098544/london-2012-closing-ceremony-bus-on-ebay

[Missy Charm]

6 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This bus was used in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, various celebs were carried in it including Russel Brand - which might explain why it's now rotting away in Scotland somewhere 

What I can't find out is anything about how it came to be in the first place - it's presumably a custom body but what's under it?

Judging by this image:

and the footage of the thing in action: 

I'd hazard a guess that the 'bus' is just an empty shell on a chassis rigged up with a milk-float motor or similar to make it move the short distance required for the part in the ceremony.  There don't appear to be any conventional driving controls and the entire side is hinged to allow the entire vehicle to open like a scallop.  

If it is just a prop, there are probably some random 'real' bus bits in there, too.

[quicksilver]

4 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

Judging by this image:

and the footage of the thing in action: 

I'd hazard a guess that the 'bus' is just an empty shell on a chassis rigged up with a milk-float motor or similar to make it move the short distance required for the part in the ceremony.  There don't appear to be any conventional driving controls and the entire side is hinged to allow the entire vehicle to open like a scallop.  

If it is just a prop, there are probably some random 'real' bus bits in there, too.

Looking at it again, the wheels don't look right for a Bedford. I'd say it is a real Duple body or at least large parts of one, but no longer on its original Bedford chassis, extensively modified and plonked onto some random bits just to make it mobile enough for the ceremony.

[martc]

Any ideas? The picture is described as 'a prototype in Hamburg November 1949'. The registration plate shows it is in the 'Hamburg Occupation Zone (BH)'.

Comments about the photo suggest it could be a DKW underneath, the visible headlights could be from a 1937 Ford Taunus.

[Missy Charm]

Should be an easy one, but I can't quite place the car parked beside the building:

It looks Maestro-y or Talbot-y or possibly even Fiat-y.  Tip of the tongue stuff.

Interestingly, the photograph forms part of a fairly recent Rightmove listing, so the mystery car is more than likely still in the land of the living.  Unfortunately, said listing doesn't have any more exterior shots, so can't shed any further light.  

I walk past the building, Maw Hall in Colchester, on a semi-regular basis, but have never seen the mystery car in the vicinity in real life.  It could even belong to the estate agent!  

Found the listing as was looking for information about Maw Hall.  Not much came up, other than a doomed effort to turn the place into a tattoo parlour (why?).   

[S2000]

Talbot Samba

[Pieman]

That's a Talbot Samba.

(edit) bollocks, beaten to it!  

[Missy Charm]

10 minutes ago, S2000 said:

Talbot Samba

Of course it is!  Thank you .  Kept thinking Talbot, but that confirms things - haven't seen one in real life for so long that I'd forgotten what they look like.

Wonder if such a thing is a rare car these days?  

[vulgalour]

I don't have the first idea what any of these are.  Caption on the original post has it as the Guardsmen Golden Gate Races of 1952, in San Franciso.

[lesapandre]

Two left cars possibly Allards. Black car French or Italian I'd guess. Front car could be another Allard special of some kind.

The Allards used stonking Cadillac V8's and were made in Clapham London.

[Pieman]

Results of those races are here but no photos:

https://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Golden_Gate-1952-05-31a.html

https://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Golden_Gate-1952-05-31.html

Blue and red car does look like an Allard J2, not sure about the others.

[D.E]

The black car looks like a Simca 8 Sport, the white is an Edwards R26.