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

[buickgnx88]

Brazilian version of the Chevy Suburban, called the Chevy Veraneio
60's:

80's:

 

[homeforsummer]

I must say, this one passed me by until recently -

Mazda REPU

Err... hang on, what was that last one again?

That must mean...

Yep. Crazy. And I definitely want one. I have mental images of taking a more modern B-Series truck and chucking in the engine from a scrapped RX-8.

Mazda also saw fit to rotary-up one of these:

 

[Apok]

Time for me to make my first contribution to this thread the ZIL-2906

Here is a video covering most the google images finds


Wikipedia says it was built specifically for the challenging task of recovering cosmonauts who landed in inaccessible areas.
Any other info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[benzoboy]

That ZIL-2906 is brilliant, I want one.

 

[ND4SPD]

Perfect vehicle for the zombie apocalypse!

 

[Rue]

That is so unnerving, the way it moves!

 

[-ultraflow-]

That ZIL-2906 is brilliant, I want one.

+1 👍

 

[Jim Prower]

Heh...gotta love Cold War craziness. Especially on the Soviet Side.

 

[Apok]

Heh...gotta love Cold War craziness. Especially on the Soviet Side.

True. Anyone looking for more cold war craziness should look in all the other videos that guy posted on his channel. Very cool stuff.

 

[adam46]

There was also a GT90...

 

[buickgnx88]

Heh, funny story on the GT90, I learned about it when my brother got a Snap Tite model of it back in the late 90's, and later found out that it was featured in the N64 game Rush 2!

 

[harrytuttle]

Heh, funny story on the GT90, I learned about it when my brother got a Snap Tite model of it back in the late 90's, and later found out that it was featured in the N64 game Rush 2!

Earlier than that: Need for Speed II! So fun...so very, very fun.... It was an awesome game for the time, but only because there was so little to compare it to. Even GT was still a few months away.

 

[Jetboy.]

See, I knew they made the Corvette Nomad for 1954 as a Motorama car.. But a Corvette Corvair? No idea. Lookie here, totally should have made it like this first time out.

And here's the Nomad

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

-> Just found this, a weird Atom-looking BMW...

BMW (Z21) Just 4/2 concept track car '95

(apologies for the VWL 5.5 format)

 

[-ultraflow-]

^^^

That new for me!!!

 

[Northstar]

Just saw this on a rerun of the Barrett-Jackson aution from 2005.

Oldsmobile F-88 Concept.

 

[Jondot]

How can this possibly exist?

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

How can this possibly exist?

Looks like someone crashed an old Golf convertible head on at 100 mph at an old Peugeot 205

 

[Rue]

Haha, if you put a pound coin in the back you could push it around Tesco.

 

[exigeracer]

Anyone have any more information or photos of this?

It appears to be an attempt at a cycling speed record. The bike's got insane gearing and the Porsche appears to be cutting the wind. Pretty neat document nonetheless.

 

[NotThePrez]

Couldn't really find anything, but apparently the Porsche was used in a bicycle land speed record attempt at Le Mans in 1977.

EDIT: Found another Porsche I had never heard of.

No, this isn't a 959, this is the Porsche 961, which is the version of the 959 used in Group B Sportscar racing. No not rally, a separate sportscar series. Probably explains why I once saw a video of a BMW M1 Procar on a rally stage.

 

[TheCracker]

Anyone have any more information or photos of this?

It appears to be an attempt at a cycling speed record. The bike's got insane gearing and the Porsche appears to be cutting the wind. Pretty neat document nonetheless.

That looks like Henri Pescarolo on the right.

No, this isn't a 959, this is the Porsche 961, which is the version of the 959 used in Group B Sportscar racing. No not rally, a separate sportscar series. Probably explains why I once saw a video of a BMW M1 Procar on a rally stage.

I think the 961 only ever raced at Le Mans (twice) it was fairly successful in it's class if i remember rightly. It ran one year in plain white and the following year in Rothmans colours i think.

 

[LeftyWright69]

I knew about the early toyot but not about the concept


1967-1970 Toyota 2000 GT

Spanish design firm SURE’s Toyota 2000SR Concept

 

[niky]

*shrugs*... design students and design firms do tons of "concepts" that never leave the computer screen.

 

[Paulie]

*shrugs*... design students and design firms do tons of "concepts" that never leave the computer screen.

Yeah, it doesn't actually count as a car. A car I never knew about until last year when I saw it racing in person was the Australian Skelta Spyder which uses a Hayabusa derived Hartley V8 producing some 460hp (IIRC) from 3.0L and man did this haul.

It was absolutely pasting the Porsche race cars it was up against, as well as all the other cars like a mega-horsepower Cobra with all the racing GT wings and splitters (it was also VERY quick), and it's very successful in road rallies like the Targa Tasmania as well, it got 2nd overall this year. Of course, road rallies are more about the drivers and how brave they are to push their cars faster when they'll die if they get it wrong. I quite like the look of this Spyder, but they also have a version called the G-Force, as soon as they add their B-Pillar or a roof it's hideous.

 

[Clark]

I think the 961 only ever raced at Le Mans (twice) it was fairly successful in it's class if i remember rightly. It ran one year in plain white and the following year in Rothmans colours i think.

I'm obssesed with the 961. It raced three times in total and only one was built, now at the Porsche museum. Despite the road-going 959's engine being very similair anyway, the 961 had a 962 engine with around 680bhp, weighed 1150kg and retained it's 4WD system. This made it the first (and only?) 4WD car to race at La Sarthe.

It first raced in the 1986 Le Mans 24 Hours (with an almost blank livery) and was entered in GTX class (as the only entrant), it won it's class obviously but also finished a very commendable 7th overall (also being timed at 207mph on the Mulsanne straight).

It raced again at the end of the year in race at Daytona, but had to be entered in the GTP category along with other full-on prototypes. It wasn't as fast as them and suffered tyre trouble on the banking.

It finally raced again in the 1987 LM24 in full Rothmans livery but crashed during the race and caught fire after running as high as 11th overall. As the car was not competitive enough to win overall, and Group B racing was cancelled in '86, the 961 project was cancelled.


----------------------------------------------
And the cycling pic car is a modified 935.

 

[exigeracer]

I was aware of Pininfarina's foray into the electric car segment way before it was trendy, but I didn't know of Fiat's. Who needs a Prius if you could drive this badass.

1972 Fiat X1/23 City Car concept:

 

[Rykon Zero]

I assume the real deal breaker was that if you stopped hard enough, the car would just start rolling anyway.

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

-> I like the design of the Fiat X1/23. Since American's in general despises hatchback-derived micro-cars (Smart, iQ, & Tango).

-> The Coupe-loving Yanks will like this.

 

[niky]

http://jalopnik.com/5547875/ten-most-obscure-cars-of-all-time/gallery/
Jalopnik's Ten Most Obscure Cars article is a good read for anyone interested in the subject. And it brought up one car that I'd honestly never heard of or seen:

Yes, silly, I know what a CR-X is, but this is a dealership sold Spyder version (yes, a stock car!) that they commisioned Straman to build. Less than two hundred built, I believe.