You learn something new... - Cars you didn't know existed, until now!

[Tornado]

I've seen a few SUSs around here, 2nd and 3rd generation. Every one of them had those white letter knobbly off road tires like the Jurassic Park Wranglers and looked fantastic:

Though none of them are as clean as that one.

 

[bdj57]

Geely Emgrand GT

Saw one of these leaving a parking space, that's looks far better than any other Chinese cars i've spotted on the road. Who knows? Maybe we could see Chinese Cars becoming the next Hyundai and Kia.

Why it looks better than previous cars Geely have made is because they are the current owner of Volvo, and so Geely decided to ask Volvo chief designer if he willing to help designing their cars and he agreed. The result is as what you can see above and you will notice there is design influence as usually seen in the recent Volvo cars as well.

 

[Turbo]

I had no idea there was a second-generation Tommykaira M13:


[URL='http://tommykaira.blog.so-net.ne.jp/archive/c54478-8'][/URL]

 

[bdj57]

Idk if there is W140 S-Class estate before :

This one belong to Brunei's Royal Family :



Also, here is Lamborghini L30, designed by Horacio Pagani in early 90's as successor to Countach, but the whole thing is scrapped and instead the Diablo was born. You can also see these design had influence to the later Zonda :

 

[ScottPuss20]

Also, here is Lamborghini L30, designed by Horacio Pagani in early 90's as successor to Countach, but the whole thing is scrapped and instead the Diablo was born. You can also see these design had influence to the later Zonda :

So, the Zonda before the actual Zonda... There really are a lot of similarities. Nice find!

 

[Turbo]

1971-1974 Intermeccanica Indra

Intermeccanica was a small Italian automobile company, which made both original sports cars and replicas of existing sports cars. The Indra, named for a Hindu goddes, was one of Intermeccanica's original creations. It came in coupe, notchback and convertible form. This car was constructed using mostly Chevrolet and Opel parts, and most Indras were sold in North America. Only 125 of these were made.​

 

[CSMDuty11]

How about the BMW H2R concept?

If anything, it's atleast a... ...unique take on the concept of a hydrogen car.

 

[Tunerguy21]

Celica SS-III. I was well aware of the SS-II, but I just booted up my NTSC-J copy of GT2, went to the Toyota used section and sure enough, not one, not two, but three Celica SS-III's show up. And I don't remember ever seeing it in the game before, and didn't know it was a thing. Apparently they came with BEAMS 3Ss, similar to the limited run MR-Spyder.

 

[SVX]

Celica SS-III. I was well aware of the SS-II, but I just booted up my NTSC-J copy of GT2, went to the Toyota used section and sure enough, not one, not two, but three Celica SS-III's show up. And I don't remember ever seeing it in the game before, and didn't know it was a thing. Apparently they came with BEAMS 3Ss, similar to the limited run MR-Spyder.

View attachment 667100 View attachment 667101 View attachment 667102

@GDII could probably correct me on this but I think the SS-II also came with the BEAMS 3G.

 

[NFSCARBON1]

Also, here is Lamborghini L30, designed by Horacio Pagani in early 90's as successor to Countach, but the whole thing is scrapped and instead the Diablo was born. You can also see these design had influence to the later Zonda :

So the demise of the Countach spawned the Diablo, the Cizeta V16T, the Pagani Zonda.

 

[bdj57]

So the demise of the Countach spawned the Diablo, the Cizeta V16T, the Pagani Zonda.

It is all make sense, since Gandini (the one who designed the Cizeta) and Pagani work together in Lamborghini during that year.

 

[McLaren]

Also, here is Lamborghini L30, designed by Horacio Pagani in early 90's as successor to Countach, but the whole thing is scrapped and instead the Diablo was born. You can also see these design had influence to the later Zonda :

This was actually designed to be a 30th Anniversary model for Lamborghini; Horacio was the designer behind the Countach 25th Anniversary, so the project was again pinned by him. Money was very tight back then, so Chrysler & their investors decided on going with a new Diablo model instead to celebrate.

The Diablo was spawned by the Cizeta design as seen by P132, contracted to Gandini immediately following the 25th Anniversary car.

It ended up working out in the long run as the Diablo shed away a lot of Countach similarities would not have aged the car as well as it has today.

 

[GDII]

@GDII could probably correct me on this but I think the SS-II also came with the BEAMS 3G.

Well both the SS-II and SS-III came with the BEAMS redtop after December 1997.

Here is an SS-III. Part number 11101-88560 is a BEAMS head. Chassis code ST202-0131002.
http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_J_199807_TOYOTA_CELICA_ST202-BLMZF_1104.html

Here is an SS-II with the same part number for the head. Chassis code ST202-0131003.
http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_J_199807_TOYOTA_CELICA_ST202-BLPVF_1104.html

I picked the chassis codes to force toyodiy to tell me exactly what the car had from the factory rather than listing all 3 heads.

The Redtop came in the JDM only GEN5 SW20 G-Limited from December 1997 to September 1999. The MR-Spyder had either the normal GEN3 3SGE or as they were made after 1997 they would get the BEAMS but very rare as the only made 93ish of the cars over about 4 years or so. Most were auto.

 

[-Fred-]

Well I learned something right there, I thought the BEAMS 3SGE was only available in the Altezza.

 

[Michelin Man]

Lancia Stratos HF RX

​

Well, as it turns out the Stratos was also used as a rally-cross machine. Funny that this one has escaped me, considering how aware I am of it's rallying heritage, but also the fact that I have a better knowing of the Stratos' whereabouts as a group 5 silhouette machine, and even it's history as a Le Man 24H racer, before knowing it was a proper RX beast .

Though looking at it now, I suppose it makes a fair bit of sense to evolve it into a rally-cross machine from a "standard" rally car, given it's ability. And I suppose it did then in the 70's, even when considering that RX was still a relatively "new" thing. And Austrian Andy Bentza was the guy responsible for said project.

And it seems like it worked, as his then teammate Franz Wurz; father of Alex of course, managed to take the inaugural European Rally-cross title in '76 when it was regonised as an official championship by the FIA, and then the GT class title in Bentza's hands 2 years later.

Also interestingly (bonus nerdy fact alert ), whilst both cars used the same 2.4L Dino V6 as the rally car, one of them was eventually fitted with a tuned 3.0L version of the same engine , which was initially used by Wurz, before Bentza took over and used it right up until 1983. And as a result, it's apparently the only Stratos to use a 3.0 Litre version of the Dino V6. Can only imagine it would've been even more of a handful (and even quicker), than it already was .

Oh and for another random interesting fact, Bentza kept the car for another 30 years after he stopped racing it, before selling to no other than Alex Wurz, who then restored it and put it back in it's original spec and Memphis livery, as per 1976. Pretty neat stuff if you ask me.

 

[GDII]

Well I learned something right there, I thought the BEAMS 3SGE was only available in the Altezza.

Here's more on the BEAMS 3SGE.
The Redtop in the MR2 and Celica is a GEN4 3SGE. There is also a Greytop that the Caldina GT had which makes 10hp less. It has a black valve cover but has a grey intake plenum so to differentiate between the GEN5 Altezza BEAMS 3SGE with it's black valve cover it's called a Greytop. The GEN5 3SGE in the Altezza sits straight up and down vs the GEN1-4 3SGE. It also has dual VVT-i where the GEN4 has single and the 1-3 had nothing.

GEN1 3SGE

GEN2 3SGE

GEN3 3SGE

GEN4 Redtop

GEN4 Greytop

GEN5 Blacktop

 

[MedigoFlame]

Just picked up GT Pro Series for the Wii. Never knew this existed until I started playing the game. The Nissan Presage.

 

[ToyGTone]

Just picked up GT Pro Series for the Wii. Never knew this existed until I started playing the game. The Nissan Presage.

I wonder if I saw one of these on the traffic or just mistaken some Nissan Elgrand or several Toyota and Honda JDM vans for that.

----
Isuzu 117

I know the older pre facelift look from GT4 but wasn't aware of the facelift one.

Now I finished my talk, where's my body lotion?

 

[VXR]

I like to consider myself a Porsche enthusiast (if you cant tell from my screen-name and avatar...) but I still sometimes learn about Porsches. For example, did you know about the 2.7 Carrera MFI? I didn't! Or I chose to ignore it, I dunno. The MFI (which stands for Mechanically Fuel Injected) has the same engine as the legendary 2.7 RS of 1973, but the MFI had the "G"-series impact bumpers.

The 1974 2.7 MFI had the ducktail from the RS (with a wing delete option):

The 1975-76 one had the whale tail (with a wing delete option):

They even made some Targa versions:

Very little that comes up here is new to me, but this is.

 

[StreetHawk555]

Passport/Asuna.

Passport was a Canadian car dealership network owned by General Motors in 1988.

This way they can sell their imports in Canada, from Isuzu to Saab, and its own branded car, the Optima.

It is yet another blatant rebadged Opel Kadett/Daewoo LeMans to cut costs of making a new car from scratch. Bearing striking similarities to its U.S. sibling, the Pontiac LeMans and offering the same exact body styles.
3 or 5 door hatchback

And 4-door sedan

Hell, there was even a GSi model that nobody payed attention to.

Although it got 52mpg on the highway, the Passport Optima never caught on with buyers as it was very slow and didn't last long, as well as the company. It was axed in 1991 and GM rebranded it as Asuna in 1993, renaming the Optima as the Asuna SE and GT.

It still looked the same as the LeMans but it had a restyled front fascia and the sedan had different looking tailights.

Asuna sold other cars but just like these above, they were badge engineered too.
Sunfire (Isuzu Piazza) Fun fact: The name of the car was later brought over to the J-body Pontiac Sunfire replacing the Sunbird.

Sunrunner (Suzuki Escudo/Geo Tracker) It took the place of the other obscure Tracker clone, the GMC Tracker. It was marketed as an upscale model as it had no base model. It was equipped with all the GMC Tracker SLE's standard features.

But alas, they all sold poorly as Asuna shut its doors in 1994, making it the most short lived marque from GM.

 

[StreetHawk555]

Renault's 17 is possibly now one of my new favorite cars of the 1970's.

Funny enough, very few of these were sold in the United States until 1979 during the early years of AMC's team-up with Renault.

Gordini models were available with 5spd transmissions, a sliding roof, and the 95hp 1647cc 4 cylinder. It even won a "Press-on-Regardless" WRC rallycross in the US in '74.

 

[Tornado]

The second Impulse always fascinated me. They put so much effort into designing a striking, aggressive front end.


Then didn't even pretend to bother styling the rear. It always stuck out so much to me. The taillights don't even look for that car.

 

[StreetHawk555]

Another batch of forgotten American cars!

Pontiac Astre. A Canadian Chevy Vega, brace yourselves as this isn't the only rebadged car from Pontiac.

Pontiac Firefly

Pontiac Sunrunner. After Asuna folded in 1994, the Sunrunner name was converted into another confusing Tracker clone.

Pontiac Sunburst

Pontiac Wave

And lastly, the Pontiac Pursuit.

Sweet cheese and crackers , Pontiac sure had a foothold in the Canadian market.

This one bears the same name, but way cooler. 1987 Pontiac Pursuit Concept.

It really blows that the name of that slick beauty machine was later used for a cookie-cutter Chevy Cobolt lookalike.

 

[StreetHawk555]

Continuing this onslaught of oddball Canadian cars, you'll be flabbergasted to discover that Lada actually sold cars in North America. CANADA to be precise.

LadaCanada started importing in 1979. The first model was the 2106 (1500/1600) with a 1500cc motor.

The Niva 4x4 came with the choice of two engines, a carbureted 1.6 OHC 75hp I4 or a fuel injected 1.7 80hp I4. Interestingly, the single-point fuel injection system came supplied from General Motors.

Speaking of GM, the pickup model had taillights that were taken directly from the Chevrolet Astro & GMC Safari.

The Riva was renamed the Signet as it was briefly sold as the "Dennis Signet" after the importer Peter Dennis Motor Corporation. With a sticker price of $4,998, it was the cheapest car you can buy in Canada at that time.

And the last one was the Samara. It competed with cheap hatchbacks with the likes of the Nissan March, Toyota Tercel, and Hyundai Excel.
One thing that the Samara has going for is that the 75hp 1,499cc I4 was developed by Porsche. Yeah, i'm not making this up, the head was developed in Porsche's co-operation which echoes a similar thing they did with the MK1 SEAT Ibiza.

Surprisingly they sold pretty well and lived on until 1998, and sightings of these are a rare spot with a small number of running examples rolling around. Heck, there's even a couple up for grabs on Kijiji. https://www.kijiji.ca/b-cars-vehicles/canada/ladas/k0c27l0
Those are getting me the urge to go up to Canada to drive one of these to seach for other rarely seen Canadian cars and save them from extinction.

Somehow a tiny number of 110s snuck their way into Canada for reasons unknown.

To make it even more outlandish, Lada is returning to Canada in 2019.
http://www.guideautoweb.com/en/articles/42206/lada-to-return-to-canada/

We'll see if Lada can live another life in Canada or quickly vanish like every other car company in Canada.

 

[Tornado]

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/vint...an-caper-road-track-tests-five-cheap-imports/

Related.

 

[SVX]

At the yard I found a GW Capella/626 with a Cusco strut bar and Mazdaspeed shocks - this lead me to research further to see the extent of their offering for it. Was talking to importer Rupewecht, resident 626/Capella fanatic and discovered they made a Mazdaspeed version:

Did some more digging and found out there was a full kit for it that... looks pretty good, actually.

http://www.protegefaq.net/accessories/99mazdaspeed.pdf Rest of the .pdf here for anyone interested (surely @Tunerguy21 )

 

[Tunerguy21]

At the yard I found a GW Capella/626 with a Cusco strut bar and Mazdaspeed shocks - this lead me to research further to see the extent of their offering for it. Was talking to importer Rupewecht, resident 626/Capella fanatic and discovered they made a Mazdaspeed version:

Did some more digging and found out there was a full kit for it that... looks pretty good, actually.

http://www.protegefaq.net/accessories/99mazdaspeed.pdf Rest of the .pdf here for anyone interested (surely @Tunerguy21 )

Ah, the Mazdaspeed 626. I found out about that while digging for info about turbo KLs. I thought it was only a concept car, with a twin turbo KL-ZE and AWD.

And yes, I am interested in that PDF. Thanks.

 

[05XR8]

1959 Renault Caravelle

 

[TexRex]

Spotted an Mk2 Jetta with unusual front end styling in the background while watching a report on the news. Built for the Chinese market well after the Mk3 was introduced elsewhere was the Volkswagen Jetta King. Another facelifted Mk2 Jetta was sold in that market until 2013, called the Jetta Pioneer.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

Yeah those are everywhere in China. They were used by taxis and police a couple years ago.