Automobiles you don't see everyday...

KariFS wrote:Quite a mystery!

To me it looked first like some kind of a turbine car concept, definitely American with a Ghia vibe. Something like this, but older:



But then again, look at the doors. Front door is suspiciously small, and the rear door window… Well, how will the door open? The chrome fins near the center of the rear lid are not symmetrical, and something is off with the inboard side of the right ”jet exhaust” too. The front wheelwell looks like it’s completely empty.

Some kind of prop for a movie, or maybe even an AI creation?

Chrysler built 55 examples of that turbine car, beautiful and I remember it well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car

I saw this Mercedes AMG Gtr in Reims a few week ends ago.

Looks like a cat ready to pounce. Contrast with the little Fiat? in front.

Speaking of Fiats, that new 500 is a small car, but the old one is really tiny. I was riding to work a few years ago, and spotted these on the parking lot of a tyre shop:



A rare sight, three of them at the same time. No idea what it was all about, none of them had Finnish licence plates, actually I think only the middle one had any plates at all.

I took a different route to home, and a couple of days later when I rode by, they were gone.

Yes, Kari, that is a march down memory lane. Thanks for sharing. Who remembers the early 1960's Renault Dalphine?

Back in the early 1970's, similar Fiats, their 850 sedan model was selling in Hawaii. They were competitively priced, but reputation was not good as they had a tendency to overheat in the Hawaiian moderately warm temperatures. It was then that Fiat had hastily added smog equipment and tuning that made them run hot, to meet stringent US emmisions standards. Most were standard transmission, which was a common occurrence then.

Nowadays you hardly see standard transmission vehicles, but back then there were more standard than automatic transmission cars in Hawaii, especially the imports: Mazda, Datsun (Nissan), Toyota, VW, Saab, Isuzu (some were diesel), Volvo, Fiat, Renault, etc.

Even the American manufactured cars could be purchased with a standard 3 speed column shift transmission.

Today in Continental US, a Fiat 850 would basically use secondary roads similar to motorcycles (a local preference - who is in a hurry? wake up and smell the flowers ), because one would wear them out very quickly on the open highway traveling closer to their red line RPM's.

(Remember President Carter's problem with OPEC and we had gas rationing with the long lines (even-odd license plates - even-odd fueling days), who also dropped highway speed maximum to only 55 MPH (90 KM/H) ? When Reagan became President, he upped the speed to 65 (107 KM/H). When Clinton became President, he upped it to 75 (123 KM/H).)

Besides, most (at least those in Hawaii) lacked air conditioning because those heavily taxed their small engines. In Hawaii, hottest usually is 88° F (31° C) so one could open the windows and live without it.

I doubt the little 2-cylinder, 500cc, 16 horsepower engine of the 500 could even turn an A/C compressor and move the car at the same time Fortunately these have the large fabric sunroof. Not many of these were imported to Finland back in the day, but the larger (or less tiny) water-cooled 600 was very common in the ’70s. In addition to the original Fiat, there were some variations, like the licence-built Neckar from Germany, and the SEAT branded version from Spain.

VW and Mini, along with the 600 were the most common European economy-class cars in Finland back then. The 2CV was also popular, like the Renault 4. If you wanted a larger car for the same, or a little additional money, the only alternatives were the Eastern Bloc vehicles, like the Lada from Russia (based on Fiat 124), Skoda from Checkoslovakia or Wartburg from East Germany. There was also the Russian Moskvich, but it was so lousy, that one had to be a bit of a communist or rather gullible to buy one new There was a campaign where a buyer of a new Moskvich would get a complimentary can of beluga caviar with the car, but even that did not attractive the more bourgeois buyers

Finland was the first country in Europe where Japanese cars were imported in larger scale. The Corolla and Datsun 100A became more and more common, and proved to be quite dependable cars. Not many of those left anymore either.

OVERLORD wrote:I saw this Mercedes AMG Gtr in Reims a few week ends ago.

I saw a heap of these racing today at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit.  Their twin turbo V8 gives them a distinctive growl, quite a lot quieter that their naturally aspirated classmates, but still impressive.

George writes - Who remembers the early 1960's Renault Dalphine?

In 1960 I was in Pensacola Florida, a newly married 19 year old kid driving a rusty old 1951 Studebaker. A couple of my sailor buddies drove by in a brand new Dalphine laughing and pointing at the Studebaker. But I think I had the last laugh. I bet the Studebaker was still running while that Renault was rusting away in some junkyard.

I had two Fiats, both 1974's. I bought a 124 sedan for my daughter, while I drove the 124 Sport. Both fine cars that gave great service.

rsv1cox wrote:George writes -  Who remembers the early 1960's Renault Dauphine?In 1960 I was in Pensacola Florida, a newly married 19 year old kid driving a rusty old 1951 Studebaker.  A couple of my sailor buddies drove by in a brand new Dauphine laughing and pointing at the Studebaker.  But I think I had the last laugh.  I bet the Studebaker was still running while that Renault was rusting away in some junkyard.

I had two Fiats, both 1974's.  I bought a 124 sedan for my daughter, while I drove the 124 Sport.  Both fine cars that gave great service.  

You gottah wonder what was on those sailor's minds with the Renault. Probably because they were in something new and you starting a family in an affordable beater upper?

From https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/renault/dauphine/2715068.html in Portugal.

I remember a family that had just bought a house on the rim of the upper plateau in Gallup, NM that had two restored Renault Dauphines. This was in the late 1990's before we moved to Clovis. Wikipedia says it had an 845 cc engine, which is roughly 50 cubic inches at 32 HP (US import model). Shoot, my 1987 Suzuki LS650 Savage motorcycle had 33 HP (40 c.i.). It was a minimalist cruiser at standard US highway speeds.

I could keep up with traffic, but there was not much reserve for passing power, although I did it. Motorcyclists would tell me that it was tiny. (Riding it, I don't need those "blue pills" mentioned in https://www.coxengineforum.com/t18239-flow-control#233371 to prove I can ride motorcycles.)

That's a Dauphine Gordini, very powerful for a car that size. The most powerful Dauphine was the 1093 which had the bigger headlights of the Fregate. They were sold in white only and had 2 blue stripes

OVERLORD wrote:That's a Dauphine Gordini, very powerful for a car that size. The most powerful Dauphine was the 1093 which had the bigger headlights of the Fregate. They were sold in white only and had 2 blue stripes

Thanks, Lieven for the clarification. Then the Gordini would be what US manufacturers would label a US car as the "GT" (gran turismo - Italian for "great tourer"), with a special hopped up engine and suspension package and a few others goodies to drive the price up.

That is also interesting that they were selling a rally version also.

Here in US, until fairly recently driven by federal law, it was the big block V-8's that dominated for a long time. Versus turbo powering, US manufacturers compensated power using larger engine displacements. Reason for this is the open highways with very long distances to travel at high speeds, and then the cheaper gasoline prices. Higher fuel consumption then was affordable.

Recently traveling on the Interstate 44 in Oklahoma, there was a portion of the highway marked with maximum 80 MPH (131 KPH).

When I was in Okinawa, most of the speeds on the island was 55 KPH (34 MPH) and 75 KPH (46 MPH) in rural areas. In the city, it was 40 KPH (24 MPH), and residential/inner downtown lower than that. The toll way was 110 KPH (67 MPH), but I wasn't in a big hurry and thus used the surface streets for travel.

In such a setting, these small economy cars would have felt at home. Today in US, they are more of a collector curiosity or relegated to museums.

A long-time friend asked me for help restoring this 1952 mgtd
This is the car he inherited from his deceased father

For me it's a first, the oldest car I've worked on was from the 80s, the 50s are a long way off, I imagine having to find tricks to restore the original parts as much as possible because the parts must be very hard to find The car is dismantled but we should have all the parts, it's his dad who dismantled it more than 10 years ago Tink the cars was in perfect condition it was for repaint he did this tink

Contact Moss Motors - 800-667-7872 - moss motors.com

I have a rotary powered neckar jagst 2
does that count

robot797 wrote:I have a rotary powered neckar jagst 2
does that count

Yes, Yes, and Yes. I love that little car and have been looking for one.

Mazda also made a rotary powered Pick-up truck, been looking for that one too.

My 1984 RX-7, a work in progress.

rsv1cox wrote:Contact Moss Motors - 800-667-7872  -  moss motors.com

I'll take a look at this site thanks I like rotary engines but I never owned one but I remember playing with an old sach engine When I was young In the basement of a motorcycle garage It was filled to the ceiling with old things Parts of all kinds, even complete motorcycles

rsv1cox wrote:
Yes, Yes, and Yes.  I love that little car and have been looking for one.  

Mazda also made a rotary powered Pick-up truck, been looking for that one too.

I am sorry but this is the only one in the world
its powered by a sachs km914A btw
its a custom build

Then I'm mistaken. But there is a similiar European model rotary engined car NSU perhaps? that I confused it with.

rsv1cox wrote:Then I'm mistaken.  But there is a similiar European model rotary engined car NSU perhaps?  that I confused it with.

fiat and all its versions never made a rotary powered car

maybe you mean the nsu spider?

robot797 wrote:

rsv1cox wrote:Then I'm mistaken.  But there is a similiar European model rotary engined car NSU perhaps?  that I confused it with.

fiat and all its versions never made a rotary powered car

maybe you mean the nsu spider?

Yes, thanks the NSU Spider. I have the NSU/Graupner/OS version of it.

From wikipedia

The Spider was the first Western production car in the world to be powered by a Wankel rotary engine.[2] The water-cooled single rotor engine and standard front disc brakes differentiated the car from other cars of similar type of the period.