Rare car ID Test.

[Electric Leyland]

Hi Shiters,

 

A friend has unearthed a pretty amazing stash of knackered old classics in Italy. But what on earth are the following? They've got me stumped to be honest.

 

What's this one, anything German maybe?

 

I recognise this one straight away but have forgotten what on earth it is! Thought Glas / Goggomobile and first , again maybe something German?

 

Then this is a right oddity, some sort of Italian styling house coachbuilding work here....or is it a special?

 

Any ideas anyone?

[Cavcraft]

Is the red one a Midas of some sort? The back (white) lights look familiar, Renault 5 perhaps?

 

Ps if you go and visit your friend please bring me back the Piaggio Ape pick-up thing!

[Guest]

The first one is a Renault Floride \ Caravelle. Second one I'm not sure about, the third is Fiat based. Classic Cars did a feature on it.

[Guest]

OK, remembered. Your red car is a Abarth Scorpione 1300. 1968-71 by all accounts based on the 124.

[nigel bickle]

S'not a caravelle -front indicator units wrong (I have one in my garage, here at home)

 

Innocenti -I think

 

Lombardi 850 -I think -based on the Fiat 850 coupe but bouilt by a shady Greek.

 

Quite happy to stand corrected...

[Guest]

Mr Bickle, I think you're getting mixed up with Frixos Demetriou's Fiat Samantha. They share the same overbodied look.

 

Some more pictures of the Scorpione I found........

 

 

 

The design began life as a Fiat based Abarth (who was actually Austrian).

 

 

 

By the looks of things (especially the rear engine lid) yours is an OTAS Lombardi. They bought the rights to the design after Abarth had produced a few hundred. OTAS also built their own version of the car called the Grand Prix that looked pretty similar.

[kinkersaab]

Has the last one got Renault 5 reverse / numberplate lamps?

[The Liberator]

I think the middle one is a Vignale Fiat 850 Spider:

[theorganist]

Has the last one got Renault 5 reverse / numberplate lamps?

 

I think they are. IIRC they were the most effective reversing lamps I have ever come across, especially in the dark, really lit up what was behind you!!

[barrett]

First one is one of these:

HK-45-35 Neckar FIAT 600 Jagst Rivièra coupé [1963] by Bramari, on Flickr

 

I think Wat is correct about the Lombardi being a very late OTAS example, and Mr. Liberator looks on the money for the second one. It's definitely 850 based!

[Station]

That Scorpioninini is a beaut, what a lovely rear end.

[Guest]

That Scorpioninini is a beaut, what a lovely rear end.

 

Yeah, they are ace little things. I particularly like the central instrument pack full of Veglia Borletti dials.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

It looks like the dashboard has been chopped up and reinstalled sideways! Fuggin pasta munchers.

[flat4alfa]

That's no dashboard. That's a cockpit.

[Electric Leyland]

Sterling work chaps! All three cars positively identified within 3 hours, great stuff.

 

1. Neckar FIAT 600 Jagst Rivièra coupé (so Neckar were German, but building Fiats domestically under licence)

2. Vignale Fiat 850 Spider (gorgeous car!) The photo angle made it look like it had overhanging body outside the wheelbase, which it now clearly has not.

3. OTAS Lombardi (flight-simulator).

 

I wonder how many of these three examples survive in the world, and if they are valuable.

 

A howmanyleftintheworld.com would be a useful project for someone. Me, if I didn’t have a proper job.

 

Hats off to you all.

[Vin]

 

Then this is a right oddity, some sort of Italian styling house coachbuilding work here....or is it a special?

 

Any ideas anyone?

 

OMG. THREAD RESURECSHUN.

 

I missed this thread the first time . For reasons that I will digress at a later date, I've being doing a bit of reading up on the Lombardi Grand Prix. This is how this thread came to my attention.

 

I definitely agree that this beauty is a Lombardi 850 and ended up being produced in various different specifications. But I reckon this example is just a basic 'Francis Lombardi - Grand prix 850 special'. It's an 843cc Fiat 850 special floorpan and running gear with a coachbuilt body. From the details I would say it's a 'type 2' version. They were sold through Fiat dealers.

 

You can click the links on this page to see the descriptions of the different versions.

 

http://www.francislombardi.org/

 

The Abarth Grand Prix had the later 903cc engine, whilst the Abarth Scorpione had uprated rear suspension and a 1300 engine out the 124. The OTAS version was primarily for the US market. As to how many Grand Prix are left there are 11 pages of survivor examples here:-

 

http://www.francislombardi.org/index.ph ... grand-prix

 

There was also a plan, that came to nothing, to anglicise the Grand Prix with an Imp sport floor pan, running gear and engines.

 

http://www.imps4ever.info/specials/lombardi/index.html

 

Francis Lombardi also made lovely 4 door versions of the Fiat 850 and 127 called the 'Lucciola'

[Mr Lobster]

Has the last one got Renault 5 reverse / numberplate lamps?

 

I think they are. IIRC they were the most effective reversing lamps I have ever come across, especially in the dark, really lit up what was behind you!!

 

Same lights were also used on Peugeot 504 pickups, some lateish Ivecos and one or two others as well.

[Vin]

Looking at the pics on the Francis Lombardi site, all the type 2 cars that have the two number plate lights (Type 1 only had one) have chrome bullet shaped ones.

 

Small image, but like this.

 

The Renner ones are probably a later fix.