Happy unofficial start of the summer weekend! Those of us in the northern section of country can now officially open our swimming pools, grill some dead animals, and wear khakis without judgement. And we can also drive with the top down and not totally freeze.
Top-down driving is the theme of today’s reader supplied (thanks, Mike! and you’re automatically excluded from guessing, obviously) mystery car. Make and model, please. You can try bribing Mike for tips if you get desperate.
It took yous a while to identify last week’s car but in the end someone named mdharrell prevailed. He even gave the proper trim and engine – Zenos E10 S with the 25ohp turbocharged Ford EcoBoost engine. I’ll do an article on that vehicle shortly.
By Kamil Kaluski
East Coast Editor. Races crappy cars and has an unhealthy obsession with Eastern Bloc cars. Current fleet: Ford Bronco, Lexus GX 470, and a Buick Regal crapcan racecar.
“thanks, Mike! and you’re automatically excluded from guessing, obviously”
You’re welcome! I’m also grateful for your implied vote of confidence that I can correctly identify this.
Peekaboo Targa is a great stripper name. I have no idea what car this is.
Well, if the good Doc submitted “This” (and I do mean the verrrryyyyy loose “this”) than I’m sure it’s nothing I’ve ever heard of.
Let’s see – maybe Lithuanian made, probably powered by a 2 stroke, single cylinder that burns kerosene and rear, no mid-engine powering the front left and the right rear wheels. This is the even more rare Landau edition featuring the finest leather from Vilnius. Am I close?
Nope, way off. The 1923 Sekine powers the LEFT rear wheel. Nice try, though.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb8c78cd4b867a9699398f66433c7312cc1be622e1fdff9201ff877326836a09.jpg
I thought the same thing
I bet that’s a Baur conversion.
I agree it has that look to it, but no.
Something home made?
I agree it also has that look to it, but no.
Did they make more than one?
The dashboard is probably the key clue here but I can’t place it exactly.
VW Golf landaulet limousine?
Yes, they made more than one.
For what it’s worth, this is a photo I took myself, although Kamil cropped it. Identifiable photos of these vehicles do, however, exist out there on the Interwebs, should anyone need to confirm a guess.
That might help someone work it out, thanks
I Googled “dual targa sunroof” and got lots of pictures of 911s. I tried “dual targa limousine” and the best I could find was this stalled 914 limo project at the 914world.com forums.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-209-1492463513_thumb.jpg
Hmm. The dashboard vent looks a lot like a Morris Marina dashboard vent. But surprisingly, a search for Morris Marina Limousine doesn’t return much data. There is however a Leyland Princess hearse for your entertainment: https://www.imcdb.org/i043008.jpg
Nicely spotted with the vent. A search of “Morris Marina convertible” instead of limousine would have done it.
I think it’s a Morris Marina convertible made by Crayford for W. Mumford Ltd. Probably built around 1975.
We have a winner. Brilliant.
Not only are you correct, but that’s a photo of this very car from its days in Great Britain. It’s now in British Columbia and has been converted to left-hand drive by its current owner.
Cool! The left hand drive was indeed a little confusing.
I would have photographed a RHD specimen but there wasn’t one handy. I assumed it would be identified primarily by its windowed padded dual roll bar targa arrangement instead of by what was visible of the dash. That’ll teach me.
The LHD conversion is a nice touch; it adds to the intrigue. Actually, what gave it away was the small bit of rear window visible. Before noticing that, I assumed the car was a 4-door, same as Vairship.
That special craftsmanship gave it away as British, and the dash style screamed ’60s or ’70s, so that narrowed it down to the very best years of BL. I just thought it was a Landaulet, and couldn’t imagine anyone spending the money to make a Marina into a Landau. But hey, I never would have imagined anyone turning a BL Princess into a hearse either, so clearly people are crazier than I think.
Congrats on the win!! I’m sure you can’t wait to get the glorious prize of, er, ever-lasting Hooniverse fame!
Thank you! I shall cherish this victory forever. Though It was you who realised it was a marina.
I wonder how many of these things they shifted. The conversion added £550 to the cost of the car. That’s about a third the price of a Marina at the time.
I’m thinking Bristol?
I’m also thinking Bristol more often that I should, but Mr.Roadrage has solved the Mystery Car.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2c1d4088577f9f912bffbe0c7c5a048af60d51a6ce4e7050c42684fc4307c827.jpg
Bristol 412
That was my first guess too. Just not obscure enough.
You people frighten me. The knowledge and power of the “Hive Mind” is amazing. I wanted to contribute something. So standing on the shoulders of giants so tall they needed padding on their targa roofs, I did a search for “Crawford Marina” and thereby turned up proof that they did indeed
sellat least produce more than one of these. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e614a7380e80ae638ec48e6e5a919f2c0e6defe40033f5634366fdb22c995c85.jpgThe picture was taken at mdharrell’s wedding? 😉
No, ours was a traditional elopement to Reno, sans entourage.
As far as we know, no one made a Marina Six convertible, that might be nice?
And providing a connection to the Austin Princess Hearse above. ‘E’Series six.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/1973_Leyland_Marina_262_Six_%2821075654394%29.jpg/800px-1973_Leyland_Marina_262_Six_%2821075654394%29.jpg
http://www.ozmarina.com/owners/vic/kilsythvic/3.jpg
Sort of like a BMW 320 Bauer Cabrio, done on a budget.You’ll need one of these to start with. Australia/NZ only.