Cars you didn't know existed...
Discussion
Jimmy Recard said:
Doofus said:
Not strictly correct.
The Maestro become Maestro, and the Metro became Metro. They didn't become Montego as well.
I’ve been wrong for decades then The Maestro become Maestro, and the Metro became Metro. They didn't become Montego as well.
You knew what I meant, ya b
d 
Doofus said:
Davyf said:
Sometimes I wonder where people have been, Either walking about with their face in a phone or else not getting out enough because they are addicted to gaming....
Davy! Where the fk have you been, man? Sixteen months, and you've only spoken eight times?!
BFleming said:
Doofus said:
Davyf said:
Sometimes I wonder where people have been, Either walking about with their face in a phone or else not getting out enough because they are addicted to gaming....
Davy! Where the fk have you been, man? Sixteen months, and you've only spoken eight times?!Point still stands.
Noesph said:
On Sunday I saw a clio mk1 camper van. With a bit of research I think I saw a "Stimson Sportique"
Does that roof unclip and rise up so you can stand up inside? A friend of mine had a Morris Marina Suntour with a roof that did that. About a dozen of us went to our secondary school graduation ceremony in it.
Noesph said:
On Sunday I saw a clio mk1 camper van. With a bit of research I think I saw a "Stimson Sportique"
[/pic]
Don't venture down that rabbit hole, horrors await! https://www.flickr.com/photos/7430965@N05/11449004...[/pic]
LuS1fer said:
ElectricSoup said:
Had forgotten that the placing of the name badges was arse about face.
They had a very cavalier attitude to badge placement.Despite Reliant putting the full name on one side, in the correct order, people still call them Robin Reliants.
Word 'BY' is usually obscured by the boot handle.
True fact.
The talk about Cavaliers a page or so back lead me to some wiki-walking. Vauxhalls/Opels are not what I'd consider my area of automotive expertise so I had a genuine "cars I didn't know existed moment" which might seem very obvious to some of you:
I had no idea that the Mk1 Cavalier was available as a Coupe. I knew about the Sporthatch, and I knew that that was a Griffin-ised Manta B CC. I also knew that the Manta B was available as a three-box coupe (the Berlinetta). I just never joined the dots to realise that Vauxhall offered a version of that, too.
So they stripped the Austin branding and adopted the weird 'marque-less' tactic. The cars were always technically Rovers, they appear as 'Rover Montegos' etc. on the V5s. The brochures adopted the Rover house style and the complete range-overview brochures had the M-cars tucked away on a couple of pages right at the back. The bonnet badges used the same moulding and style as the Rover longship, but with a logo with a cruciform shape reminiscient of the old Austin 'shield' badge which in turn was based on Herbert Austin's coat of arms and had been used on the Mini. But they put a lot of deliberate effort into distancing the ex-Austins from the new Rovers.
The Mini is even more complicated, because it was farmed off a sub-brand in 1969, re-joined the Austin stable in the early 1980s and was then de-Austin'ed with the rest of them in 1987 and becoming a hush-hush Rover product before being given its own brand identity again, with its own bespoke logo (still used by MINI, incorporating the wings from the old Austin badge and the roundel from the old Morris logo) and marketing just before the BMW takeover. This was at the same time that they ditched the low-spec 998cc City/Mayfair models and focussed solely on the 1275cc Coopers and special editions, thus making the Mini into the premium-priced urban fashion accessory with sporting cred that it has remained to this day.
I had no idea that the Mk1 Cavalier was available as a Coupe. I knew about the Sporthatch, and I knew that that was a Griffin-ised Manta B CC. I also knew that the Manta B was available as a three-box coupe (the Berlinetta). I just never joined the dots to realise that Vauxhall offered a version of that, too.
saaby93 said:
Just think - had the plan been successful there would have been whole Metro Maestro and Montego sub- brands with half a dozen models, like they did with Mini
I know you're not being entirely serious, but it's not that there was any plan to make any of the Austin M-cars sub-brands. It was simply that the Austin marque was so worthless that it was actively hampering sales of the cars. BL had rebranded itself the Rover Group in preparation for privatisation and, to the same end, had decided that its future lay as a lower volume, higher market mid-size manufacturer focussing on the relatively untarnished Rover badge (plus revitalised MG and Land/Range Rover, of course). The M-cars were too old-fashioned and downmarket to be sold as Rovers, but Rover Group needed still needed their sales and volumes until the new 200/400 co-developed with Honda came along to replace the Maestro/Montego and a new supermini replaced the Metro (which in the event never happened so the Metro was re-engineered, moved upmarket, Rover-ised and partially replaced with the introduction of the R3 'bubble' 200). So they stripped the Austin branding and adopted the weird 'marque-less' tactic. The cars were always technically Rovers, they appear as 'Rover Montegos' etc. on the V5s. The brochures adopted the Rover house style and the complete range-overview brochures had the M-cars tucked away on a couple of pages right at the back. The bonnet badges used the same moulding and style as the Rover longship, but with a logo with a cruciform shape reminiscient of the old Austin 'shield' badge which in turn was based on Herbert Austin's coat of arms and had been used on the Mini. But they put a lot of deliberate effort into distancing the ex-Austins from the new Rovers.
The Mini is even more complicated, because it was farmed off a sub-brand in 1969, re-joined the Austin stable in the early 1980s and was then de-Austin'ed with the rest of them in 1987 and becoming a hush-hush Rover product before being given its own brand identity again, with its own bespoke logo (still used by MINI, incorporating the wings from the old Austin badge and the roundel from the old Morris logo) and marketing just before the BMW takeover. This was at the same time that they ditched the low-spec 998cc City/Mayfair models and focussed solely on the 1275cc Coopers and special editions, thus making the Mini into the premium-priced urban fashion accessory with sporting cred that it has remained to this day.
Edited by 2xChevrons on Thursday 26th March 00:15
Plenty of American cars I have never heard of but one im liking lately is the Buick Riviera, '65 version with the funky headlights
And some older European cars that I am too young to remember, like the Audi 100 Coupe, these look pretty cool like Ford Capri, Datsun 240ish. Unfortunately though they were FWD, doing some reading on them it would seem Porsche used a few of them as 928 testbed where they were wider with a different floor and front-engined V8 RWD layout. Imagine if Audi had actually made that...
And some older European cars that I am too young to remember, like the Audi 100 Coupe, these look pretty cool like Ford Capri, Datsun 240ish. Unfortunately though they were FWD, doing some reading on them it would seem Porsche used a few of them as 928 testbed where they were wider with a different floor and front-engined V8 RWD layout. Imagine if Audi had actually made that...
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