Yet another mystery car

[Pieman]

Found this photo on Pissedonheads earlier - this was taken in Fareham, Hampshire in the early 60s.  What is the fairly big fastback parked between the Mini and the 100E?



My guess is a Tatra or something similarly Eastern European, and a popular guess on PH is a Lancia, but I'm not sure.

[garethj]

Definitely not a Tatra

[RayMK]

I thought Lancia Aurelia but would have preferred to see a bit more of it to be sure.  

[Six-cylinder]

Lancia B20?

[Pieman]

Aurelia seems a popular guess but the rear side windows look a bit too big to me for that.

[Tommyboy12]

Doesn't look like an Aurelia to me. Roof line is too tall and the side/front glass area doesn't look right.

[Spottedlaurel]

I was looking at that today, it has a rather sturdy look to it that's somewhat un-Aurelia. Not sure if it's the angle, but does it maybe have a split screen?

[RayMK]

8 minutes ago, Pieman said:

Aurelia seems a popular guess but the rear side windows look a bit too big to me for that.

....and the front wheel and arch seems further back than a Lancia's.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Aurelias are gorgeous. 

On a different note, it's not that Fuckington is it? 

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

21 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

.... does it maybe have a split screen?

I think it's a split screen. It might even be an American import.... Did Hudson build fastback coupés like this, for example?

[vulgalour]

Puts me in mind of a GAZ Pobeda.  It's not one of those, it just has that sort of look and feel about it.

[Crackers]

I'm focusing on the very front of the car:

It looks to me like it has a large grille/other protrusion from bumper to bonnet height.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

51 minutes ago, Crackers said:

I'm focusing on the very front of the car:

It looks to me like it has a large grille/other protrusion from bumper to bonnet height.

The closest thing I can find at the moment is a Pontiac Torpedo 6 coupe, and even that's still not quite right:

[bunglebus]

Not a clue but I'm leaning more towards Eastern Europe than America

[Pieman]

Now I can see the wheel in more detail..is it a VW Type 3 fastback?  A Facebook friend just suggested that.

[Crackers]

10 minutes ago, Pieman said:

Now I can see the wheel in more detail..is it a VW Type 3 fastback?  A Facebook friend just suggested that.

Roof profile after the b-pillar is wrong. 

[Mrs6C]

Home-made special using the side glass and rear screen from a Broadspeed GT? See the rear screen and sliding windows of the Mini parked next to it...

Could also be a clever bit of Photoshop!

[barrett]

It's another home-made one-off, not a production car of any sort. Another one we'll probably never know the answer to.

Don't show the Pistonheads wankers or somebody will start building a replica out of a Sunbeam Alpine...

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, Pieman said:

Found this photo on Pissedonheads earlier - this was taken in Fareham, Hampshire in the early 60s.  What is the fairly big fastback parked between the Mini and the 100E?



My guess is a Tatra or something similarly Eastern European, and a popular guess on PH is a Lancia, but I'm not sure.

Sod that, and minis, farinas and angle boxes. An Olivers shoes, H &C stores and a Classic? Is it really not a Tatra?

[martc]

9 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Not a clue but I'm leaning more towards Eastern Europe than America

Probably more for elimination from the search than confirmation, but my first thought was a FSO Warswaza -

But the wheel arches aren't squared off and the bonnet is flatter. The utilitarian roof rack is more suited to the FSO than a Lancia though...

The Warswaza and the Tatra are the only 'fastback' East Europeans that I can think of, and it's probably neither. Should we have eliminated the yanks from this search? What about France or Spain?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

I'm guessing at something built between 1947 and 1956; still think it looks more American than anything else 🤔

[barrett]

5 hours ago, martc said:

Probably more for elimination from the search than confirmation, but my first thought was a FSO Warswaza -

But the wheel arches aren't squared off and the bonnet is flatter. The utilitarian roof rack is more suited to the FSO than a Lancia though...

The Warswaza and the Tatra are the only 'fastback' East Europeans that I can think of, and it's probably neither. Should we have eliminated the yanks from this search? What about France or Spain?

No, because:

13 hours ago, barrett said:

It's another home-made one-off, not a production car of any sort. Another one we'll probably never know the answer to.

Honestly. I know what every production car from every country (okay, maybe not every one from Japan) 1948-1970 is. That's not a boast, I just do. The mystery car isn't one of them.

[martc]

14 minutes ago, barrett said:

No, because:

Honestly. I know what every production car from every country (okay, maybe not every one from Japan) 1948-1970 is. That's not a boast, I just do. The mystery car isn't one of them.

Could it be Japanese then? (ducks, grabs coat, leaves)

[Spottedlaurel]

14 hours ago, barrett said:

Don't show the Pistonheads wankers or somebody will start building a replica out of a Sunbeam Alpine...

Too late! That's where it came from.

36 minutes ago, martc said:

Could it be Japanese then? (ducks, grabs coat, leaves)

I know your suggestion was tongue-in-cheek, but I can't think of anything they were offering that looks like it. And the chances of it being here would be incredibly slim.

What's odd is the fastback rear which is usually seen on older cars with slightly separate front wings (Peugeot 203, Volvo PV544, various Americans etc) mixed with the late '50s grey porridge front end. The split screen and what look like sliding door windows are also dated, yet the whole thing looks quite well-resolved. It seems like an odd thing to build as a special.

[HMC]

i think it may have sliding rather than winding side windows by the looks of it- overall the vibe of a home brew bitsa from a shed owner with a post war Hudson fixation.
 

 

[barrett]

27 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

What's odd is the fastback rear which is usually seen on older cars with slightly separate front wings (Peugeot 203, Volvo PV544, various Americans etc) mixed with the late '50s grey porridge front end. The split screen and what look like sliding door windows are also dated, yet the whole thing looks quite well-resolved. It seems like an odd thing to build as a special.

It is odd, but people did build odd things. I think any unusual proportions are usually a result of inexperience in the designer/builder. The 'specials' which have survived today, or were publicised when new, tend to be on the more sporting spectrum, just because sports cars are more likely to be preserved, but there were just as many, if not more, odd little homebrew cars, or cars built by tiny coachworks, which have been forgotten because they weren't very attractive, or sporting, or well-made etc. I have reams of this shit, and the stuff I really can't identify is frustrating, but I've made my peace with it.

Anyway, as a taster, when I first saw the photo in the top of this thread a few weeks ago I wondered if it was related to this, which is actually the product of a professional coachworks (although not one anyone has heard of). The general shape is very similar, but it's definitely not the case. Could be a product of the same hand, perhaps?

Likewise this is a very awkward shape, and again a 'professional' job. Only because it did a couple of events was it photographed and listed at all, otherwise we would probably never know what it was

This one is a complete homebrew (the bonnet is unoriginal). Not bad looking, but certainly not a typical 'special' as we think of them now

This one... I mean, who knows. I don't - it's Morris-based, and it survived at least until the 80s. Otherwise a total unknown

And this, another recent online mystery. Again, awkward shape, not at all 'sporty', but obviously put together with a fair amount of skill (those double curvatures are impressive). Lost entirely in the midst of time

And an example of English vernacular coachwork c1955.  Nice, neat, attractive but slightly 'off'. Luckily this one is a survivor

[quicksilver]

Fascinating stuff there @barrett. I have no idea what any of them are but there's shades of Bristol in the first, Jowett in the second and Sunbeam-Talbot in the fifth so it's easy to see how specials in grainy old photos could be mistaken for production cars.