dw1603

It did for me! Unfortunately I had a lack of funds and a surfeit of young children to contend with, so it never got beyond the lust stage. Kids are all grown up, but now we have dogs so I'm still confined to an SUV!

The two cars that sprang to mind when I saw this were the Status Minipower, (the green one) and the Clan Crusader (red one). Both were the work of ex Lotus engineers in the early 70's, the Minipower featured a spaceframe, the Clan was a monocoque, but both were extremely light and stiff and both were designed by Brian Luff, who had a major role in the Lotus 72, (the John Player Special). The Minipower used a BMC Mini engine and transmission mounted transversaly, whilst the Crusader used a longitudinally mounted Hillman Imp power unit. The Imp engine could trace its ancestry back to Coventry Climax, whose engines won a Grand Prix or two in the 50's and 60's. Only eight examples of the complete Minipower were sold, but at least twelve more chassis were built to form the basis of race and hill climb cars. I don't know how many Crusaders were completed, but it carried on under several different manufacturers and in various forms for many years, indeed, it was recently rumoured that there were plans to put it back into production. Both cars were renowned for their crisp handling and brilliant performance on very moderate power outputs, and each could comfortably deal with a lot more horsepower. I believe that Brian Luff may have designed the Minipower whilst still at Lotus, with the intention that it would replace the Lotus 7. Obviously Colin Chapman did not agree.

I had no idea what it was, but the background in the pic looked sorta Australian ( a gum tree and a wire mesh fence!) add to that right hand drive and I had a reasonable basis for a search. I got it eventually, but I was surprised it was a Bolwell. Previous models had been very handsome, this one definitely looks like a kit car.

It reminds me of a couple of things, but obviously I can't say what.

I saw my first real 59 Chev in Nairobi, Kenya in 1961. This reminds me how important that moment was.

Pretty much what Bill said, but I didn't go straight for Kia. I thought that Kia were a recycler of Mitsubishi technology and they are, but only since Hyundai rescued them from bankruptcy. Previously , they had a fruitful relationship with Fiat, Peugeot, Ford and Mazda. Once again, Auto ID research has expanded my meagre knowledge base. If it goes on long enough, I will eventually be a genius.

Yeah, me too.

That's interesting, just did an image search as above for "car" - nothing. Do the same search for "cars" and there it is, you really have to be thorough with your search terms don't you?

In your PM to me you referred to it as "the Irish tbird" Well I don't know if every one does this, but when I'm reading, I tend to look at the first and last letters and let my subconscious fill in the gaps. In this instance, I thought you were particularly astute ?

This one was quite lively, thank you all for participating. It is, of course the Irish built Shamrock dating from 1959 to 1960. A fibreglass bodied four seater based on Austin A55 mechanicals, aimed at the American market. Sometimes referred to as The Irish T Bird, it was beset with problems and production ceased after only ten or so were built. Those who got it right were: Ace-Garageguy blunc GTJUNIOR Bad luck 13 bobthehobbyguy Matt Bacon Gee Bee (or George, as I call him?) Sky 88 kataranga A brilliant response, thanks to all who took part and congratulations to those who got it right. Thats me finished for now, but particular thanks theotherunicorn for letting me have a go. I have a much better appreciation of the effort that goes into Auto ID. Cheers Ken! It was fascinating to hear the search terms and techniques others use, I've filed a few of those away for future use. Best wishes to you all and thanks again, Dave

If you saw a picture of it with the roof on, you might think that it would be better if it didn't fit!

Well #199 was lots of fun so lets see how you all get on with this one. All replies to me please, and no reverse image look ups. Good luck, Dave 1959 / 1960 Shamrock

That's amazing. How did you come up with "bizarre red ford fairmont" and how on earth did it produce a result? Wonderful thing, Google.

This one was a toughie wasn't it? Those who got it right were: GT JUNIOR Badluck 13 bobthehobbyguy Well done all of you. As an experiment, I tried searching for it without using any insider knowledge and all I got was a headache. Thanks to everyone who gave it a go, Dave

I reckon it would work as is, the window height is not too great and there is enough room in the door to accommodate the drop and the rake. It is feasible. Or at least it was with the glazing bar in place, just read the rest of the thread and it ain't there anymore! Rear door quarter lights anybody?

You are right Bill, this one doesn't seem to respond to the usual "findums" does it? (and I know what it is!)

This seems to have gone a bit quiet, must be even more obscure than I thought.

Yes it did, but it never came with slot mags.....

Hi everybody, I made a couple of suggestions to otherunicorn and he invited me to have a go, so here I am. Sorry it is so late, but I'm sure it's still Sunday somewhere! Lets see what you make of this one: Usual terms and conditions apply, send your answers to me, no using image search etc, all will be revealed on Friday. Its a 1974 Neorion Chicago Good luck and best wishes, Dave

I read somewhere that In the Soviet days, Russian people would remove wiper blades to keep them from being stolen.

Sort of grows on you, doesn't it?

Haha! You've been outed Mr Engwer, you probably know more about Porsches and Porsche replicas than all of us put together. There doesn't seem to be much on line about the court case, but I found a 2004 claim that Porsche won. It was around this time that PGO opened their new factory and announced their intention to go from about 12 units a year to more than 50. No big deal, you may say, but they were going from being a small "kit car" producer to manufacturer of a modern, bespoke, two seat turn-key roadsters. Right at the time Porsche were pushing the modern, bespoke two seat turn-key Boxster. They'd gone from flatterer to competitor, albeit a small one, but a competitor never the less.

Really nice paint job. I went looking for pics of the car and I found the movie on YouTube, oh my goodness, I used to impatiently wait for each new Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello movie ( she was the main attraction, but the cars were a close second!) they didn't squander a lot of the budget on script writers did they? Oh well, it's still worth watching again for the period references (and Annette)

Hi Bill, This is purely a personal opinion, so don't take offence, but I wonder why they still rely so heavily on the 356 look? I believe they used to do something that followed the Porsche styling more closely but featured a modern, mid engined chassis. That would be pretty cool, classic look, modern performance and a warranty too? Great. There was reference to an unsuccessful Porsche lawsuit against PGO, could this be the reason they no longer produce a close visual copy of the 356? PGO clearly have some stylistic talent available to them, the updates on the Cevennes are well executed and the Hemera coupe, while not to my taste, is an impressive piece of work. It would be feasible for them to produce something retro, evocative and probably a bit more Gallic that captured their intentions without looking quite so obviously Porsche 356 based. As I said, just my opinion. Sorry I am not savvy enough to upload a picture of the Hemera Coupe (still trying to find my way around an iPad) but it well worth searching it out on the web, an interesting concept! (edit : follow the link in the post above to go to the PGO site, there are tabs for their other products on it) As an aside, PGO also do some pretty neat street legal buggies, I rented one once on vacation. Cool as h*ll to look at, but with its 150cc engine, barely fast enough to get out of its own way. If you don't release the park brake before you do up the four point harness, you ain't going anywhere and dew would condense into the seat pans overnight too. Great to look at, even better to be seen in but not very practical. Dave

Well I didn't find the actual image either, but where ugly is concerned, near enough is good enough.