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

[FPV MIC]

Leyland Mini Clubman GT, apparently unique to Australia and New Zealand.

I like the striping but it seems the arches are standard and that's a little disappointing.

I don't know about elsewhere around the world but here those arches on the Clubman GT came out a couple of years before they were on later models. One of my friends had one.

 

[TumeK5]

The Alfa Romeo 164 Procar

This car is like the embodiment of "don't judge a book by its cover"

Absolute monster

 

[05XR8]

Lemans W126

From an ad a Mercedes-Benz dealer made the real thing.

 

[05XR8]

Holy smokes and gee whiz!

BMW's Australian-only, title-winning inspired, limited edition 323i

BMW was a serious player with a heavy involvement in Australian motorsport in the 1980s through its factory-backed John Player Special touring car team –

www.v8sleuth.com.au

 

[05XR8]

It's Christmas time. So, of course me and my family are watching the requisite Die Hard-Hime Alone-National Lampoon's-Jingle All the Way flicks.
While looking up the cast of Home Alone, I see this pic of Catherine O'Hara.

Checked a couple more images and she's with other Canadian actors in and ON different cars.
The particular car she is sitting on in the above photo is a car(trim) I didn't know existed.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/tork.buzz/carnews/Catherine-OHaras-Hidden-Gem-A-Classic-Lincoln-with-Timeless-Appeal-20240911-0007.html

That's pretty darn cool.

"Merry Christmas you filthy" animals.

 

[SVX]

1990 Subaru Legacy LSi - Japanese market.

Shortly after the release of the BC Legacy, Subaru World Trading, a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries brought over either 30 or 50 (I can't find solid production numbers) of the USDM Legacy, LHD and all, and sold them within select Subaru dealerships.

While I'm not incredibly surprised - Honda were doing this at the time on a much larger scale with their Honda of America offerings, but I had no idea until now. All of them were 2.2, which was an engine not offered for the Japanese market cars at the time.

 

[05XR8]

Something else about the Legacy in Japan. Bruce Willis did ads for the Legacy.

What’s also interesting is the ads reminded me of this article, back to the Gran Turismo initial concept Kazunori had. Almost seems like he got inspiration from some of those ads.

Proposal for Original Gran Turismo Revealed in Kazunori Yamauchi Interview

This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet: Proposal for Original Gran Turismo Revealed in Kazunori Yamauchi Interview An interview with Kazunori Yamauchi posted recently to the official PlayStation Blog in Japan has revealed more about the origins of Gran Turismo, including the...

www.gtplanet.net

 

[SVX]

Yep, and De Niro, Mel Gibson, Rod Stewart...

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

1990 Subaru Legacy LSi - Japanese market.

View attachment 1418019

Interesting, is there a reason they did this? Was it just an experiment to see if Japanese buyers would spring for a larger engine that would put it in their higher registration/tax bracket, or something else entirely? I know Honda offered US market stuff over there as you mentioned, and I believe Mitsubishi sold the Eclipse as is over there too, but those have far more of a USP and reason to be marketed than what is a mostly identical Legacy.

 

[SVX]

Interesting, is there a reason they did this? Was it just an experiment to see if Japanese buyers would spring for a larger engine that would put it in their higher registration/tax bracket, or something else entirely? I know Honda offered US market stuff over there as you mentioned, and I believe Mitsubishi sold the Eclipse as is over there too, but those have far more of a USP and reason to be marketed than what is a mostly identical Legacy.

Honestly, that would make the most amount of sense.

 

[GranTurNismo]

1988 Mercury Concept 50

​

The successor to the Ford EXP/Mercury LN-7 that never was, probably due to overlapping with the Probe which had been in development years earlier. The Concept 50 had clean cab-forward styling resembling that of the 1989 Probe, and its 102.6-inch wheelbase, 177.4-inch length, and the 50.6-inch ride height were very similar dimensions. The Concept 50 featured a multi-valve V6 engine and even AWD. The car was shown at the 1988 Montreal Auto Show and was supposed to make a more official debut at the 1989 Detroit show, but this never happened.​