Cars you didn't know existed...

[P5BNij]

BiggestVern said:

Fast Bug said:

Hobbes003 said:

Aston Martin DBS Lagonda. 7 built 1974-76.

That looks really well proportioned, I like that. Shame they changed the grille though

I remember that from Top Trumps or maybe the Observer's Book of Automobiles (God I'm old). I had never realised they only built 7 though.

Tony Curtis went to Newport Pagnell to test drive one of them in '74...









And was driven away in a DBS...

[MarkwG]

^ Lagonda thread^ - lucky enough to have seen four of the seven since 1980, one parked up, two on the road, & the last one during a visit to the Gaydon factory

[tog]

One was restored and was in daily use around London about 10-12 years ago. It was featured at the time in Classic and Sports Car magazine. I saw it quite often.

[Down and out]

LuS1fer said:

cheddar said:

Chevette pick up

The Chevette was a great design. Always loved it.

I always thought the front lights were awful.

[P5BNij]

MarkwG said:

^ Lagonda thread^ - lucky enough to have seen four of the seven since 1980, one parked up, two on the road, & the last one during a visit to the Gaydon factory

There was also this one with the earlier DBS four headlamp styling which was used by David Brown as his daily transport for a while....

[Butter Face]

pigeyman said:

Cadillac BLS





Credit to Chris Parker on one of the UK Saab Owners Groups. I wasn't aware of the BLS until he listed his 1.9 TTiD Estate model for sale about a week ago.

Apparently it was Cadillac's attempt at entering the UK market, so they used GM's 9-3 as a platform. As far as I'm aware the BLS was only produced them from 2007-2009. They made a total mess of the dealer side of things and ended up throwing in the towel all together. As a result it's quite a rare car here in the UK.

Edited by pigeyman on Wednesday 18th December 11:09

I spotted one in the wild today!

[Wooda80]

Can anyone help with this?

I was waiting at a red light and a silver Mercedes SL ( R230 shape ) emerged from the side road on the left and turned right in front of me. I immediately thought there was something odd about the way that it looked. I couldn't place what was odd until after it had disappeared up the road behiind me but then the penny dropped - it had a black fabric soft top rather than the hard Vario roof.

How / what / why? etc

[Doofus]

Wooda80 said:

Can anyone help with this?

I was waiting at a red light and a silver Mercedes SL ( R230 shape ) emerged from the side road on the left and turned right in front of me. I immediately thought there was something odd about the way that it looked. I couldn't place what was odd until after it had disappeared up the road behiind me but then the penny dropped - it had a black fabric soft top rather than the hard Vario roof.

How / what / why? etc

R129 with an R230 bodykit.

[Wooda80]

@Doofus

Thanks - I would never have dreamt that there was such a thing but it fits the bill!
https://www.benzworld.org/threads/r129-r230-bodyki...

[pigeyman]

BFleming said:

pigeyman said:

BFleming said:

pigeyman said:

Cadillac BLS
...it's quite a rare car here in the UK.

321 left on the road. Mostly TiD (150) and TTiD (180) but some 175, 210 and even V6 petrols knocking about.

That's me told then lol

I'm surprised there are so many. I think they're awful.

They are. But they were cheap when new. On the up side, there are more of them getting scrapped as time goes on!

Excellent.

[Elesmart]

I stumbled upon this today - 1974 Ford Capri Stampede - 1 of 1 with a BOSS 302cu (5.0):


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-CAPRI-STAMPEDE-1-O...

[feef]

Elesmart said:

I stumbled upon this today - 1974 Ford Capri Stampede - 1 of 1 with a BOSS 302cu (5.0):


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-CAPRI-STAMPEDE-1-O...

With what looks like stock tyres, that should be, shall we say, 'interesting'

[talksthetorque]

Elesmart said:

I stumbled upon this today - 1974 Ford Capri Stampede - 1 of 1 with a BOSS 302cu (5.0):


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-CAPRI-STAMPEDE-1-O...

£50k for a top of the range 1 off Capri, and you still get a blanking plate in the dash.

[BFleming]

talksthetorque said:

£50k for a top of the range 1 off Capri, and you still get a blanking plate in the dash.

You can buy any current Porsche & look at the button blanks in the centre console & wonder what you could have ticked on the massive options list to fill that void!

[Digby]

Ferguson P99 - 4WD F1 car.



"Sir Stirling Moss nominated the P99 as his favourite of all the F1 cars he drove"

[rodericb]

talksthetorque said:

Elesmart said:

I stumbled upon this today - 1974 Ford Capri Stampede - 1 of 1 with a BOSS 302cu (5.0):


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-CAPRI-STAMPEDE-1-O...

£50k for a top of the range 1 off Capri, and you still get a blanking plate in the dash.

And wind-up windows and no Apple Car Play. No airbags or stability control either - enjoy your deathtrap, ladies!!!!!11

[Mr Tidy]

rodericb said:

And wind-up windows and no Apple Car Play. No airbags or stability control either - enjoy your deathtrap, ladies!!!!!11

But that isn't what a classic car is about - NCAP hadn't been invented then.

Although £50K for a MK1 Capri does seem crazy - even if it has a V8, it isn't that powerful!

Just depends what you want I suppose - if you want a V8 Capri that badly then good luck.

I had a couple of 2.8 Injections back in the 80s and they were great cars - even if I did blow the diff up in my 2nd one!

[GOATever]

Green F40?

[GOATever]

Long tail McLaren F1, but road spec.

[Auto810graphy]

Butter Face said:

I spotted one in the wild today!

Not sure how true it is but was told Enterprise Car Rental were the biggest customer for these when they were new as nobody wanted them so Enterprise did a deal on the stock.

It was a strange set up as just before they pulled the plug GM allowed Saab dealers to start doing warranty work on them, if only they had done this two years prior they might have started to build a dealer network.