What car did I spot?

[smithyithy]

One for a Thursday afternoon ponder..

I briefly spotted a car the other day and haven't been able to find out what it was.

It was most likely a kit car, or a very low production kit-esque brand. I'd say 1990's, maybe early 00's age (didn't clock the plate).

It was a small 2 door, I'd call it a coupe, but overall it was really small, in fact at first glance from a distance I though it was a Smart Roadster.

It was dark blue, I think it had 'Morette' style headlights, probably borrowed from another car, and it looked like it has a piece behind the window, only thing I can think of for reference is like the Mk2 Astra used to have, the slatted plastic piece..



I only saw it for a couple of seconds in detail as I was passing through traffic, so it's left me stumped..

Any ideas?

[Andy665]

Daewoo Nexia - a lightly reworked version of the Mk2 Astra

[bnseven]

Matra Murena ??

[CoolC]

GTM Libra?

[twing]

Mk2 Astra surely

[smithyithy]

Okay I've found it - it's a 'Midas'. The above suggestions were good and clicking through related images in the Google search led me to it..

Bit confusing though, there appears to be a few different models / variations, and I'm somewhat convinced that what I saw was a mix of these (which I guess is possible, being a kit car..)











The body shape I think was more like the first 2 cars, hence from a distance I thought something like a Smart Roadster, but the front was definitely the more 'modern' one, and it had those Morette-esque headlights as fitted to the car above. I'm still fairly sure it had some kind of styling piece where the rear side window was...

But either way, thanks, it was doing my head in

[markcoopers]

Andy665 said:

Daewoo Nexia - a lightly reworked version of the Mk2 Astra

Now that was a blast from the past…. Hired one of those in Cyprus once I think.

[smithyithy]

markcoopers said:

Andy665 said:

Daewoo Nexia - a lightly reworked version of the Mk2 Astra

Now that was a blast from the past…. Hired one of those in Cyprus once I think.

This is really sad but I always remember the Daewoo model range from that period

My parents had an Espero in the mid-late 90's, I actually really liked it as a family car, it was much nicer and better equipped than the Ford Orion that preceded it.. One of our neighbours also had a Nexia..

But we had loads of mechanical issues with the car so it was back at the dealers constantly - I think it was a problem with the steering rack / box or something that they were never able to properly fix.

As a result we went through the whole model range in courtesy cars - the Lanos hatchback, the Nubira (estate and 4 door), and even the 'luxury' Leganza when the ours went back for the 4th or 5th time..

I don't know what to do with this useful bit of knowledge

[anonymous-user]

smithyithy said:

Okay I've found it - it's a 'Midas'. The above suggestions were good and clicking through related images in the Google search led me to it..

Bit confusing though, there appears to be a few different models / variations, and I'm somewhat convinced that what I saw was a mix of these (which I guess is possible, being a kit car..)











The body shape I think was more like the first 2 cars, hence from a distance I thought something like a Smart Roadster, but the front was definitely the more 'modern' one, and it had those Morette-esque headlights as fitted to the car above. I'm still fairly sure it had some kind of styling piece where the rear side window was...

But either way, thanks, it was doing my head in

Wow...I saw one lf these the other day in Dundee. Great to see them used!!