Niche versions which outlived the base car

Niche versions which outlived the base car

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Mound Dawg

1,915 posts

173 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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S0 What said:
The Mk4 escort cab stayed in production untill a K reg(ish) whilst Ford made the Mk5 escort stiff enough to make a cab out of it (2-3 years extra).
The Mk4 cortina estate carried on for the full Mk5 production run with Mk5 front end and rear bumper(3 years extra).
The cortina Mk5 carried on as the P100 until an E reg alongside the sierra untill ford made a sierra version (5 years extra).
The Mk6 escort van carried on till a 52 plate (ish) until Ford made the connect (3-4 years extra).
You obv get late sold vehicals like A/B/C reg cortinas, M reg sierras and 51 plate escorts but production is a differant issue.
They did the same with the Mk 2 Escort van and estate. If you look you can see that the nose gradually morphs into the square edged version but from the windscreen back its pure Mk 1.

DrainTheSpuds

367 posts

180 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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As well as the MK3 Cabriolet, the MK3 Golf Estate carried on for a year or so after the MK4 was launched until the new MK4 Estate arrived in 1999, although it didn't get the MK4 front or the interior upgrades that the Cabriolet did.

Also, the Rover 200 Coupé, Cabriolet and 400 Tourer continued until 1998 alongside the new 400 which came out in early 1995.

ch108

1,127 posts

132 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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gazzarose said:
I think the Escort van carried on for a fair few years after the Escort turned into the Focus.
I remember a pal of mine had a hired Escort van on a 51 reg, must have been one of the last.

The Mk5 Astravan outlived its car variants, as did the Peugeot 305 van and 504 pickup.

luckystrike

536 posts

180 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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As previously mentioned the Citroen C15 van was always the one that stood out the most to me. The Viva was discontinued in 1988 but the C15 was around until 2005 - 17 years!

8potdave

2,280 posts

212 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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njd27 said:


There were a bunch of Austin Maestros which were bought back from Bulgaria around 1999/2000 when UK production originally stopped in 1994.
You've just cleared up something which has niggled me for years biggrin I used to see one of these on my way to work every morning and always thought "well if you're going to put fake plates on don't take the piss to that extreme" and wondered why it was never pulled over and removed from the road. Now it all makes sense!

rtz62

3,340 posts

154 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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I'm not sure if this qualifies, but the Met Police ordered a good number of Rover SD1 3500's when the end of production was announced, and placed them in storage.
As existing patrol cars reached the end of their service life, a car was taken out of storage, and fitted up with lights, livery, radios etc.
As an aside I wonder if anyone knows how many SD1s the Met actually bought and had in storage?

Would the Ferrari 458 Speciale count, as the model has been superseded by the 488, yet is still advertised on Ferraris own website to configure, order and buy?

colonel c

7,888 posts

238 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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I believe the P38 Range Rover was launched in 1994 although sales of the 'classic' Range Rover continuing in parallel until 1996.

The P38 was never the looker, in my opinion.




Bucketlist

11 posts

138 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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What about these horrid things?


RenesisEvo

3,602 posts

218 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Bucketlist said:
What about these horrid things?

Good point - based on the W203 and face-lifted and called the CLC, and sold alongside the later W204 C-Class. This was available up to 2011 when the C-class saloon/estate was completely re-freshed in 2007.

Fury1630

393 posts

226 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Surely the obvious one (two actually) is the sit-up-&-beg Anglia that continued as the bargain basement Popular when the 100e Anglia came in, which in it's turn became the Pop when the 105e Anglia (with the reversed rear window) was made. I have seen a photo of a pre-production Mk1 Escort badged "Anglia" so perhaps the plan was to do it again at some stage?

Edited by Fury1630 on Wednesday 10th February 12:29

Huff

3,141 posts

190 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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colonel c said:
I believe the P38 Range Rover was launched in 1994 although sales of the 'classic' Range Rover continuing in parallel until 1996.

The P38 was never the looker, in my opinion.



Added to which - howabout Range Rovers with four doors, not the standard two!

VolvoMariner

38 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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njd27 said:


There were a bunch of Austin Maestros which were bought back from Bulgaria around 1999/2000 when UK production originally stopped in 1994.
I remember this! I think there were a few hundred un-built kits - My memory was that they were bound for Mexico but were never assembled. They sold them for a pitiful amount - I can't remember whether it was £4k or £6k, but I remember seeing one on an X Plate, it just looked wrong!

I also remember before this, they were still on general sale at M Reg in limited specs, though I wonder if this was just the ones they couldn't flog from a big field where they kept them all. Montego's seemed to stop earlier though the Countryman soldiered on for longer. Can anyone remember the logic here - I would have said the Rover 200/400 that came out in 1990 (G) replaced the Maestro, but the Rover 200 seemed to replace a previous Rover 200. It all seems a bit random and confused to me.

Hooli

32,278 posts

199 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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VolvoMariner said:
njd27 said:


There were a bunch of Austin Maestros which were bought back from Bulgaria around 1999/2000 when UK production originally stopped in 1994.
I remember this! I think there were a few hundred un-built kits - My memory was that they were bound for Mexico but were never assembled. They sold them for a pitiful amount - I can't remember whether it was £4k or £6k, but I remember seeing one on an X Plate, it just looked wrong!

I also remember before this, they were still on general sale at M Reg in limited specs, though I wonder if this was just the ones they couldn't flog from a big field where they kept them all. Montego's seemed to stop earlier though the Countryman soldiered on for longer. Can anyone remember the logic here - I would have said the Rover 200/400 that came out in 1990 (G) replaced the Maestro, but the Rover 200 seemed to replace a previous Rover 200. It all seems a bit random and confused to me.
Unsold CKD kits rings a bell with me too.

Fermit The Krog

12,787 posts

99 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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In 1996/7 you could buy the then replaced Fiesta of this variant as the Fiesta 'Classic'. There's an oxymoron if you ever needed one.

JaguarsportXJR

235 posts

142 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Rover 200 Coupe and 400 Tourer carried on for a few years after the "bubble" 200 and 400 came out.

TrivsTom

129 posts

166 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Volvo 200 series 1974-1993 'replaced' by the 700 series 1982-1992
And of course, the Porsche 928 was supposed to replace the 911

Although I've just realised this isn't really what the thread is about, it's interesting nonetheless

Hugh Jarse

3,486 posts

204 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Fury1630 said:
Surely the obvious one (two actually) is the sit-up-&-beg Anglia that continued as the bargain basement Popular when the 100e Anglia came in, which in it's turn became the Pop when the 105e Anglia (with the reversed rear window) was made. I have seen a photo of a pre-production Mk1 Escort badged "Anglia" so perhaps the plan was to do it again at some stage?
Ancient history indeed!
BT vans based on a sixties viva 66 staggered into 83, which is a 17 yr overshoot.
This wins the thread, AICMFP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Viva
Main article: Bedford HA
A van version was marketed as the Bedford HA and was offered in 6 cwt, 8 cwt and, from 1972, 10 cwt variants.[6] It differed from the saloon in being taller, and thousands were bought by the GPO (later British Telecom), their bright yellow HA vans becoming a common sight. The HA Van was eventually supplanted by the Chevanne, but because of fleet orders, particularly from British Telecom, British Rail and the Post Office, the HA van remained in production, ultimately using the later HC Viva's engine and gearbox, all the way through to 1983.






eltax91

9,842 posts

205 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Didn't skoda continue to sell the taxi spec mk1 Octavia way into the mk2 production?

Dale487

1,334 posts

122 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Ali_T said:
Integrale? Or did the Delta really struggle on that long? I know the Prisma did.
I think Lancia got to the point where the Intergale was the only car they sold in the UK.

smilo996

2,755 posts

169 months

Wednesday 10th February 2016
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Polo hatchback.

Never seen the Polo saloon but it was much more popular as was the three door estate.

Same seemed to happen with the Golf hatch which outsold the original and more traditional booted Golf.