This is a special edition of Mystery Car. Why is it a special edition you ask? Because its the first Mystery Car posting for me, but I can’t take all the credit. We received this very delicious posting from long time Hoon FacelVega (Thanks Man!) and I have to confess, I knew nothing about this car.
Every time we run this feature, our faithful fans seem to guess the vehicle within an hour after the post has gone live. Well, let’s see if you can guess this very obscure car without a hint (not even a little one). You know the drill- make, model, engine. Go forth and make me proud.
Kamil Kaluski
Mini Marcos
and that would be wrong…..
Humber Super Snipe?
Honda NSX.
Could it be a Panhard cd?
Short Answer? No.
My gut instinct was an early Isdera, which would be the Erator.
And I'll save you the trouble: that would be wrong.
It almost looks like a modified Porsche 911 but I don't think that it is.
Wow, I am shocked! A whole 30 or so minutes and nothing!
Well, I will wait to post pictures of a certain vehicle that looks nothing like this.
Edit: I will just bide my time until the next mystery car… I am pleased I get a call-out in the tags. Thanks Hooniverse!
I'm guessing Ginetta of some sort. Maybe one of the other British cottage manufacturers.
tick tock people!
That windshield screams Sabra to me, but I can't find any evidence of a Sabra with that character blister just aft of the flared wheel well.
That's the same reason I ruled out a Ligier JS2.
This car is so obscure there isn't even a wikipedia entry. If it isn't on the innerwebz it can't possibly exsist!
Is it a kit car?
No it is not a kit car…
Ummmm, no hints, OK?
[youtube I7gmTrPBlHg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7gmTrPBlHg youtube]
I wanted to say Matra of some sort but after some fervent yet fruitless googling, I'm ready to abandon that idea.
I had the SAME idea. I was hoping I could find a 530 variant with GT40-esque headlights. No dice.
Etceterini IDK
Sunbeam Harrington?
Suggested by a 'hoon' calling themselves Facel Vega? This is definitely something French.
Looks very close to an Alpine A110, but off just a bit.
THat was my first thought as well, but the area around the front of the door is wrong. The combination of the door going well ahead of the base of the windshield with that small horizontal bulge is very distinctive.
Another close but not quite right is the Toyota Sport 800…
I've gone through the Le Mans entry lists from 1964-1978 and turned up nothing.
I'm just half French. From New York.
Not an ASA 1000 either…
<img src="http://budd.bundy.free.fr/les%20vraies/les%20autres/ASA/asa1000GTrouge.jpg" width=500>
Just to narrow things down a tiny bit, the wheel cap says GT on it.
Yeah, but grand it isn't.
This is amazing! Could the Hooniverse be truly stumped?
Here is a blurry NSX for inspiration:
<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/515602744_d5ba438192.jpg">
Simca Abarth GT???
<img src="http://www.fotosdecarros.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/26/16/1964-Simca-Abarth-2000_verner_.jpg">
If that blister behind the wheel is fairing over a surface mounted hinge, I'd really like this to be an Alpine. But the pixelsnout doesn't seem to fit that…
Is it possible that's just a shadow, or a tricky bit of 'shopping? That feature, along with the very slim bit of fender between the back of the wheel and the door, are the distinctive characteristics that I cannot match to anything. Kudos to UD and FV for presenting a real stumper.
It's not a Malzoni GT or a Simca 1200S
Simca CG1200
<img src="http://www.carsablanca.de/files/medias/filename/Simca_CG_1200_1737_big.jpg">
I don't know… Alpine M63?
went through all the marcos cars on http://www.marcoscars.net/models.htm#TS500 and found nothing. MAN does it have a marcos vibe, though.
still no clue, but I did find this tasty number I'd never seen before: http://www.supercars.net/cars/3082.html
<img src="http://www.supercars.net/carpics/3082/1968_NeriBonacini_StudioGTDueLitri1.jpg" width="500">
Judging from the shape of the headlight doors and the diminutive size, I'm going with a Ford GT20.
I've never heard of the GT20.
It's about half the size of a GT40
Hahahaha.., Mr. Funny Guy
I think some people MUST be getting tantalizingly close. I thought I had failed in my google-fu, but then I found this, and even though I can't name the car in the picture, I now feel I am a winner leaving for home.
<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4479468493_3f2ccbc71e_o.jpg" width="485" height="308" alt="Carro Design" />
That's a Ford Pampa or Del Rey front with Kombi end
<img src="http://www.vrcarros.com.br/imagens/carros/gr/ford-pampa-1994-carro-12973694286770.jpg">
OK, I see that it's time for clue number one – It is French…… Good Luck!
Why, that's a Jidé sports car, I believe!
<img src="http://www.allsportauto.com/photoautre/2007_gpao/saloon_cars/2007_gpao_saloon_car_68_m.jpg" width="500">
So, so close with the Alpines and Matras; apparently this is of the same breed (and it's fiberglass, too!). Stumbled upon this great archive of it: http://debrito.chez.com/EvenementsJide.html through here: http://www.ritzsite.nl/Archive/0611.htm while working the wiki list of "French Car Manufacturers" from the top. Both great reads!
Good job! Never heard of this.
Me neither.
I knew I'd seen those lights before! here's a Jide Maxi on the well-travelled arthomobiles.fr: http://arthomobiles.fr/Echevannes09/coursecote09….
<img src="http://arthomobiles.fr/Echevannes09/Big/VEchevannes050709%20364.JPG" width="500">
I've seen a photo of this, but didn't know what it was. Thanks.
Beautifully done, and yes. Fittingly, when you got this I was teaching a bunch of design graduate students about French critical theory. I wish I could take credit for this, but the suggestion actually came from my (non-commenter) brother, a man who I am sure quietly snickers when it takes us more than ten minutes to figure out what a random mystery car is, when meanwhile he has already determined that the car in question must be a '68 and not a '67 because the photo shows that it has the late 9mm screw heads.
Good job, never heard of this ugly duck.