Forgotten Cars

[sierraman]

On 3/19/2023 at 3:30 PM, lesapandre said:

"The name Vel Satis is a composite of elements of the words Velocity and Satisfaction"...really?

Loads for sale in France from 500€ upwards...

My uncle has one briefly with the diesel in, not sure which might have been the 3.0. Very odd car, typically French to ride in but inside a bit to Ikea for my liking. Had all the usual French gadgets at the time like the card which you could program all the seats and air con etc for. 

[quicksilver]

Toyota Paseo. Just seen one in dollywobbler's NEC video and it reminded me that they exist.

 

[Pieman]

A good friend of mine did a rallycross at Croft in one of those a few years ago.  Until she raced it I'd forgotten their existence too!

[JMotor]

Gonna offer up the Seat Toledo. The whole time line. They appear to be never thought about at all. 

Mk1 was quite a tidy design from start to finish of production. Subtle tweaks kept it fresh. 

The MK2 was a good looking car too. Rare for a booted hatchback. Again forgotten about. 

Then we got the MK3 version. Despite the radical design (imo looked bloody awful) , it was pretty much forgotten about as well.  Hardly see them at all. 

The latest Mk4 was a bit meh. About the dullest looking of them all. Specially when all I see is straight red ones with wheel trims running about as taxis. Still to see one owned by a normal person. 

[J R Hartley]

Lexus Sport cross.

 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

UK market FSO Polonez:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/anything-goes-throwback-thursday/polonez-1500-eastern-blocs-ford-escort-throwback-thursday

I. Didn't realise they were imported as early as 1979. I remember their mid-nineties marketing push... 

 

😎 

[chancer]

Anybody mentioned the Hyundai X2 yet?

[DVee8]

Have we had these?

The Nissan Sunny 100NX

The Nissan Bluebird SSS Coupe

 

[EyesWeldedShut]

On 3/17/2023 at 10:22 AM, lesapandre said:

Always amusing how manufacturers seem to shamelessly copy each other - I think the Vel Satis came first?

Add Vel Satis to this list of disappeared cars - very very few in UK in first place.

One at the NEC classics auction went through for £750 + 15% commission today

[EyesWeldedShut]

14 hours ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

 

I. Didn't realise they were imported as early as 1979. I remember their mid-nineties marketing push... 

Depends where you lived maybe - there were a few of them knocking around the Stranraer area back then - that and the odd Lada and Estelles too 

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

One at the NEC classics auction went through for £750 + 15% commission today

About what they are making in France.

[sierraman]

A mate had a V5 Toledo, was completely pointless, not all that quick and drank a fair old amount. Very underwhelming, I don’t know if I showed my unenthusiasm when I left a kebab in the footwell for 3 months. It was that dull nobody realised. 

[lesapandre]

First gen Citroen C4 - seemed to come and then go without very much attention. Can't remember the last time I saw one.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Audi 50

[J R Hartley]

The Caliber

 

[AnthonyG]

On 3/25/2023 at 10:21 PM, Leyland Worldmaster said:

UK market FSO Polonez:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/anything-goes-throwback-thursday/polonez-1500-eastern-blocs-ford-escort-throwback-thursday

I. Didn't realise they were imported as early as 1979. I remember their mid-nineties marketing push... 

 

😎

FSOs were sold all through the 1980s, together with the 125p. They were badged as Polski Fiat for a while but this changed to FSO circa 1983 or so, probably after a ‘polite’ request from Italia Fiat! 

The 125p pick-ups were popular with farmers, in Hereford/Shropshire anyway, as they were the cheapest on the market for more or less the whole decade. There were a few Polonez running about as well but FSOs seemed generally pretty unloved and definitely seemed inferior to Ladas or even Skodas. 

I remember seeing 5 to 6 year old FSOs in scrapyards but Ladas always seemed to soldier on for quite a bit longer, most lasted at least a decade. Some Ladas even lasted long enough to head home to Russia in the 1990s! 

I suspect the Lada dealer network was quite a bit better, the whole Lada Uk operation was generally more professional than whoever was importing FSOs. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

16 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

FSOs were sold all through the 1980s, together with the 125p. They were badged as Polski Fiat for a while but this changed to FSO circa 1983 or so, probably after a ‘polite’ request from Italia Fiat! 

 

Fiat licenced FSO to build the 125P in 1969. FSO developed the Polenez from the 125 and started building them from 1978. The change of name from Polski Fiat was done because the licence from Fiat ran out in 1983. As FSO could not afford a new licence, the planned 2.0 Fiat engined Polonez was never built.

[chaseracer]

20 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

Some Ladas even lasted long enough to head home to Russia in the 1990s!

Allegedly, many were taken as backloads onto Russian ships visiting English North Sea ports and stripped for spares on the way back to the Motherland, with the shells and any unwanted debris thrown into the Arctic Sea.

[J R Hartley]

Toyota Urban Cruiser

 

[Skut]

The Fiat 133 was sold here for a bit.  Almost totally forgotten.

 

[Ohdearme]

Bit more pricey and niche but spotted this in Amsterdam last week.

Fisker Karma.

 

 

[goosey]

On 3/25/2023 at 9:24 PM, quicksilver said:

Toyota Paseo. Just seen one in dollywobbler's NEC video and it reminded me that they exist.

 

Would have been about 2000 last time I saw one of these, the accountant from my first ever job after leaving school had one in purple over silver, he called it the thinking man’s Celica, He would always proudly park it in the same spot in the works car park every day and I accidentally backed my mk2 escort into it leaving a small scuff on the front bumper which I didn’t own up too.  Seeing images of Paseos has bought all those memories back. 

[outlaw118]

On 3/23/2023 at 10:08 AM, quicksilver said:

Not a car I forgot but one I refused to believe ever existed. When I was at primary school, my mum's Metro got hit by what she insisted was an Allegro convertible and the owner said was the only one on the road. In those pre-internet days I had never heard of such a thing and mum not being a car person I assumed she was mistaken. Fast forward many many years and this appeared at the BL Autumn Rally.

 @Nev had this beast, based on the Equipe

[D.E]

4 hours ago, Ohdearme said:

Bit more pricey and niche but spotted this in Amsterdam last week.

Fisker Karma.

 

 

I was offered to opportunity to test drive one back in 2012. Nice thing, very pretty interior too. 

[martc]

16 hours ago, chaseracer said:

Allegedly, many were taken as backloads onto Russian ships visiting English North Sea ports and stripped for spares on the way back to the Motherland, with the shells and any unwanted debris thrown into the Arctic Sea.

More than allegedly - an actual fact. There was a place on Hedon Road in Hull which bought up old Ladas and flogged them to Russian sailors, the signage was in English and Cyrillic. There were regular sailings between Hull and Russia (actually the Baltic ports) bringing wood into the UK so there was a regular Russian presence in the port (Hedon Road is the road the docks are off). The collapse of the Soviet Union made it viable for the cars to be brought back as the chaos at home meant very poor supply of parts and the sailors also now had access to hard cash, which helped. I have seen, with my own eyes, Russian ships leaving port with RHD Ladas strapped to the deck. 

I've found this ace pic...

...which I'm pretty sure was the place, the Cyrillic sign was painted on a white board propped up on the flat roof. Note the Riva sneaking in on the left.

 Hull was the epicentre of all things Lada, the local taxis were all Ladas which really annoyed the council (but that's another story). They came in through Hull docks and then went up to Carnaby Industrial Estate near Bridlington were they were PDI'd - this was, as mentioned above, quite a professional outfit. The current Mrs Martc knew someone who worked there, their job was to try and make them 'euro' compliant (or whatever it was at the time), he mentioned trying fuel injection and, intriguingly, a 'GM' carburettor with various electronic controls, but it proved too expensive to meet the emissions regs and Lada pulled the plug.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Skoda Felicia Fun

[Pieman]

8 hours ago, goosey said:

He would always proudly park it in the same spot in the works car park every day and I accidentally backed my mk2 escort into it leaving a small scuff on the front bumper which I didn’t own up too.  Seeing images of Paseos has bought all those memories back. 

That's just reminded me of something too - I passed my driving test on the day I left sixth form ahead of doing A-levels, a couple of weeks later I drove to school to take one of the said exams, reversed my Rover 100 into a parking space and clipped the Peugeot 406 in the next space, leaving a scratch.  Panicked for a few seconds, then remembered that said 406 belonged to one of the deputy heads who was a complete tosser, so ignored it.  Got away with it too, and have never told anyone else about that before.

[artdjones]

20 hours ago, chaseracer said:

Allegedly, many were taken as backloads onto Russian ships visiting English North Sea ports and stripped for spares on the way back to the Motherland, with the shells and any unwanted debris thrown into the Arctic Sea.

I used to see grain ships returning from the pier at Kinsale with a load of them strapped down on deck. That would be 1992 and 93.

[artdjones]

4 hours ago, martc said:

More than allegedly - an actual fact. There was a place on Hedon Road in Hull which bought up old Ladas and flogged them to Russian sailors, the signage was in English and Cyrillic. There were regular sailings between Hull and Russia (actually the Baltic ports) bringing wood into the UK so there was a regular Russian presence in the port (Hedon Road is the road the docks are off). The collapse of the Soviet Union made it viable for the cars to be brought back as the chaos at home meant very poor supply of parts and the sailors also now had access to hard cash, which helped. I have seen, with my own eyes, Russian ships leaving port with RHD Ladas strapped to the deck. 

I've found this ace pic...

...which I'm pretty sure was the place, the Cyrillic sign was painted on a white board propped up on the flat roof. Note the Riva sneaking in on the left.

 Hull was the epicentre of all things Lada, the local taxis were all Ladas which really annoyed the council (but that's another story). They came in through Hull docks and then went up to Carnaby Industrial Estate near Bridlington were they were PDI'd - this was, as mentioned above, quite a professional outfit. The current Mrs Martc knew someone who worked there, their job was to try and make them 'euro' compliant (or whatever it was at the time), he mentioned trying fuel injection and, intriguingly, a 'GM' carburettor with various electronic controls, but it proved too expensive to meet the emissions regs and Lada pulled the plug.

They used to add a lot of equipment there, such as pop-up sunroofs, vinyl roofs and coachlines.

[Blunderguts]

This one is both forgotten and extinct. The first car conceived from the outset to be powered by a V8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_V-8_(1905)