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The Belmont Factor.


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Posted

 

Weird thing is, it just gets uglier and uglier the longer you stare at it. I'm surprised they sold any at all.

 

Think it was more for the European market than the UK, think I've seen two so far on the roads, and one of those was Polish.

 

You must hang around in posh places. I've seen quite a few Fabia saloons about, including one not far from here. Maybe having a shit ugly car makes the scenery even nicer or something?

Posted

The Seat Cordoba and VW Polo saloons were nice looking,so I don't understand quite how the Skoda became the ugly duckling

Posted

verona.jpg

 

I know a chap who got one of these shells and fitted it with an RS Turbo body kit, wheels and interior along with Turbo Technics Sierra XR4x4 running gear. That was a bloody weird car. Quick though.

 

He did it before the thing was registered in the UK (although it was done here) and had a nightmare trying to get it on a "normal" reg instead of a Q.

Posted

From that lot, I think we can concur that modern "Mr Blobby" shaped cars look bloody awful as saloons, whilst older, sharper edged designs look just dandy.

Posted

A four door saloon version of the Ford Fiesta called the Ikon was available in India:

 

o8gwsl.jpg

 

Looks quite good from the angle the photo was taken from.

Posted
Is that a two door orion, Pete?

 

It's a Ford Verona, which is basically a 2dr Onion, yup.

Posted

Looks very different to an Orion. More like an Escort trying to be a Sierra Sapphire. I approve.

Posted

This is apparently at Gaydon.... (Pic stolen from Flickr.... Thankyou Austin7nut, whoever you may be!)

 

5422941976_bb3ae6b474_z.jpg

Posted
This is apparently at Gaydon.... (Pic stolen from Flickr.... Thankyou Austin7nut, whoever you may be!)

 

5422941976_bb3ae6b474_z.jpg

 

I always assumed this was a photoshop...

Posted

Is there a rear picture of that 'Metro saloon'?

 

Mazda 323

4476329471_6e4c67971a_z.jpg

Posted

Well, bugger me sideways. I seriously always thought that the side-on pic of it was a photoshop. I'd even convinved myself that I could see where the boot had been joined.... :oops:

Posted

Here in the States, saloons tend to outnumber hatches but that's been changing recently.

 

Lots of MK I Focus saloons knocking about.......

 

2001_Ford_Focus-3.jpg

 

 

You can also get the new Focus in a saloon.

 

2012-ford-focus_.jpg

 

 

And you see plenty of Hyundai Elantra saloons, too.

 

33489320001_large.jpg

 

 

Not to mention the awful-looking Chevrolet Aveo (nee Daewoo Kalos) saloon.

 

113-chevrolet-aveo-pics.jpg

 

 

As for me, I'll take the hatch every time!

Posted

Goingback to the 306 cabrio/306 sedan comparisons, only the bumper and bonnet swap - the front wings have a different curvature compared to the rest.

Posted

Always been a fan of VW Jetta/Vento/Bora - hence owning one!

 

DSC_0221Large-1.jpg

Posted

Are the Mk 3/4Ford Orion, Mazda 323 and Mk 1/2 Mondeo the only saloons ever sold with a rear wash/wipe?

 

I'm racking my brains here.

Posted
Are the Mk 3/4Ford Orion, Mazda 323 and Mk 1/2 Mondeo the only saloons ever sold with a rear wash/wipe?

 

I'm racking my brains here.

 

No, the 306 Sedan and 406 had them for a limited period in both models.

Posted

Have a Nissan Micra/March saloon on me:

 

800px-Nissan_March_sedan_001.JPG

Posted

Subaru Impreza and Honda Prelude have also had rear wipers on a saloon body. I'm sure there's other J-tin as well. Never really looks right.

Posted
Here in the States, saloons tend to outnumber hatches but that's been changing recently.

 

When I went to Florida in 2009, our rental car was a Kia Rio 'sedan' - we only get the hatchbacks here so I was really excited to drive it and thought it was great. :D

 

800px-2nd_Kia_Rio_sedan.jpg

 

 

KNADE223596505013-1c.jpg

 

 

KiaRio2_Sedan_06.jpg

Posted
...saloons...sold with a rear wash/wipe...

 

As well as those mentioned, many Lancers and Galants were so equipped. It was mostly the Jap stuff.

 

Here are a few of my Thai spots:

 

P1220809.jpg

 

Several angles for your ridicule / delectation.

 

P1220812.jpg

 

I think it's shit.

 

P1220811.jpg

 

That's closely related to the Mazda 2:

 

P1220578.jpg

 

Which looks only slightly less odd.

 

An afore-mentioned Aveo:

 

P1230186.jpg

 

Lanos by Daewoo...

 

P1230885.jpg

 

I actually saw one of these here in Malham this week, which was nice.

Posted

I didn't realise my knowledge of rear wipers was so limited. How embarrasing.

 

I remember being impressed in Tokyo, when I saw my first side window wiper, on a Toyota Chaser.

Posted

I have a lot of love for 4 door medium sized saloon cars like the Belmont. Out of the 7 cars I have owned, 4 have been saloons and 3 have been 5 door hatchbacks so I have owned high quota of saloons thus far - 57% in fact. 2 were classic Minis, 1 Fiat Tempra and this Escort diesel saloon I was smoking around in a year ago:

 

escort005.jpg

1994 Escort - a year after the 'Onion' name was dropped - just to give Escort sales an uplift in the 1990s sales charts, no doubt. :mrgreen:

 

I have wondered why 4 door saloons have never been popular compared to hatchbacks (or even MPVs or 4x4s these days) in the UK. One theory I have is our crowded on street car parking situation in residential areas. Saloons are a right bugger to reverse park - more so any one that hasn't got PAS like my old shite spec Tempra (and it's 'letter box' rear window and high bootline didn't help matters either). It is easier to work out where the end of a car finishes on a hatchback.

 

The Corsa saloon pic posted a few pages ago looks like a mark 1 Vectra that has shrunk in the wash! :mrgreen:

 

In the mid 1990s the cheapest saloon car on sale was the Lada 1500E saloon, which was about £4k or thereabouts. Having recently looked into this, it is now the Proton Gen2 at £11,600 (iirc). :)

Posted
Could these be considered the forebear of them?

 

wolseley-hornet-clubman-rear.jpg

 

 

Bloody hell! Denovos! :shock:

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

I've always liked the sharp cut-off style of the rear end of my Corolla EE80

 

ee805-1.jpg

 

But then I discovered the saloon version

 

images.jpg

 

Now which came first ???????????

 

Did they graft a boot onto mine or chop a boot off the saloon ?

Posted
I've always liked the sharp cut-off style of the rear end of my Corolla EE80

 

 

images.jpg

 

 

my mum had one of them, did her proud..... she upgraded to a ovlov 360 gle

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