Odd Cars....did you own one?

[sacajaweeda]

This is a really bad pic but it's the only one I have of it. That's my buddy Don's Chevelle Super Sport behind us (that's him on the right - I'm the one on the left "posing" for the camera - ha ha). That was taken about 15 years ago. I believe it was either a '69 or a '70. Can't remember. Fast, fast car though. My Trans Am couldn't keep up with it on it's best day, and my car was pretty damned quick.

[ViRaL1]

Is that a mullet?

[Heywould3]

and a lavender shirt? :P

[Leoslocks]

The Thing

First car I owned was a 59 Fiat. It looked like a pregnant VW. 4 door with 4 speed on the column. 1100cc castiron block/aluminum head waiting for a melt down.
Back door opened from the front.

The car I wish I had.



James Garner's (in background with white turtleneck) Lola won the race.

[BJ_M]

Anybody remember this one?

The VW Thing .. still a number of them around ..

[sacajaweeda]

Hey it was the 80s....sue me :P

[BJ_M]

they are just jealous

[p_l]

The first car I owned, in 1979, was my father's hand-me-down 1974 Fiat 128.



But in 1980 I sold it and bought this baby. I drove it through the streets of Montreal for the decade that followed.

[BJ_M]

'64 Valiant ?

went backwards a few years ?

i remember driving a dodge dart , a 65 or so (maybe a 67) .. had super skinny tires on it and some big assed engine and was my grandma's car - rode like a rock and would burn out tires at every light ... i think she had those tire at 70lbs or something ..

[Leoslocks]

Correction to James Garner winning the 68 daytona 24 Hr of Endurance.

It was the 1969 race and Garners Lola (Ford GT40) finished 2nd, 30 laps down.


FEBRUARY 2, 1969 - Daytona Beach, Florida...In a race that saw the Porsche and Ford teams collapse, the Daytona 24 Hours World Sports Car Championship race was taken by the Roger Penske entered Lola of Mark Donohue/Charlie Parsons...despite spending over 2 hours and 10 minutes in the pits with fuel, oil and exhaust problems. The Donohue/Parsons Lola fell as far back as 7th and as many as 54 laps behind. The Porsches were slowed by split manifolds filling the cockpits with smoke, then fell out when their camshafts broke. Jacky Ickx crashed a John Wyer Ford GT40 while leading on Sunday morning and the David Hobbs/Mike Hailwood Wyer Ford GT40 led before retiring with a cracked cylinder head. Donohue/Parsons averaged 99.27 mph and ran 626 laps (2,383.75 miles) for the 24 hours. It was Lola's first long distance win. The James Garner owned Lola of Lothar Motschenbacher/Ed Leslie finished 30 laps behind in second with a Pontiac Firebird of Joe Ward/Jerry Titus third. 1966 USRRC champ Parsons was a late replacement for Ronnie Bucknum, who had broken a finger in a recreational motorcycle accident 2 weeks earlier.

[sacajaweeda]

My buddy had one of those "Swinger" Darts. Plain Jane as all get out to look at but it had it where it counted. Total sleeper.

[BJ_M]

My buddy had one of those "Swinger" Darts. Plain Jane as all get out to look at but it had it where it counted. Total sleeper.

yea -- my grandma 's dart was a swinger edition , it had the little decal on the fender... and was olive green (just like kitchens then) ..

if only she had proper tires on it !!!

[p_l]

'64 Valiant ?

Right you are! Mine was fire engine red on top and midnight black along the bottom, and had fat tires in back. It was just for show, though, as the old push-button automatic transmission (look at the last picture, on the dashboard, to the left of the steering wheel) and unkillable slant-6 engine, not the V8 described here, would take it from 0 to 60 ...in about 60 . But I thought it sure looked good.

[tgpo]

I drove my '89 Ford Festiva for 6 years before replacing it. What a piece of crap!!!

[hech54]

Anybody remember this one?

VW Thing.....easy one...

[hech54]

Here's another of my STRANGE cars:

Ever seen one? I edited out the name on the car.

AMX, right?

Right church....wrong pew.

No guesses?
Time for bed here guys....I'll let you chew on this one overnight...

i thought someone said it already ... it is a AMC Ambassador

I can't believe nobody got this one.
This one is a LATE 70's Plymouth Arrow. This one is a Fire Arrow (2.6 liter) to be exact. I owned a 1977 Plymouth Arrow but with a 1.6 liter.
It was RWD and pretty damn slow. It had "almost" a full frame like the old full sized cars. The Fire Arrow was pretty quick though.
It was actually made by Mitsubishi.....and Plymouth out their name on it.

[hech54]

I drove my '89 Ford Festiva for 6 years before replacing it. What a piece of crap!!!

Festivas were JUNK. My dad bought one because he thought it would be another Ford Fiesta.....boy was he wrong.
The Festiva was one of the first Kia's in America.

[hech54]

Here's one that I WISHED I had owned:

Anyone care to guess?

[sacajaweeda]

Early 80's Plymouth Sapporo, if I had to guess. I grabbed a pair of those style aluminum rims off one in a junkyard once when I was a teenager and put them on a '72 Ford Maverick.

[hech54]

VERY GOOD....Plymouth Sapporo or Dodge Challenger...also made by Mitsubishi with Chrysler badges on them like the Arrow.

[hech54]

What's wrong with THIS picture?

[p_l]

VW?

[hech54]

VW?

Yep.....the VW Taro. A Toyota with VW badges. Still see some floating around to this day but only in Germany.

[hech54]

Remember the 1980 Fiesta from the first post?

Fiesta(top photo) was built by Ford Werks in Germany.
The Volkswagen Polo is on the bottom.
The Fiesta was dubbed the "World Car" because alot of manufacturers has something to do with it's design and construction...pretty easy to see where the body design came from...

[offline]

The Fiesta was dubbed the "World Car" because alot of manufacturers has something to do with it

I was going to say it looked like a VW Golf (called Rabbit in Europe I think) Nice car, but too pricey for the size

[BJ_M]

Here's another of my STRANGE cars:

Ever seen one? I edited out the name on the car.

AMX, right?

Right church....wrong pew.

No guesses?
Time for bed here guys....I'll let you chew on this one overnight...

i thought someone said it already ... it is a AMC Ambassador

I can't believe nobody got this one.
This one is a LATE 70's Plymouth Arrow. This one is a Fire Arrow (2.6 liter) to be exact. I owned a 1977 Plymouth Arrow but with a 1.6 liter.
It was RWD and pretty damn slow. It had "almost" a full frame like the old full sized cars. The Fire Arrow was pretty quick though.
It was actually made by Mitsubishi.....and Plymouth out their name on it.

ok -- got that one wrong -- but compare it to a pic of a AMC Ambassador , exact same rear quarter window ...

[hech54]

"Rabbit" was America and a Rabbit was a Golf to Europe and most everywhere else.
The VW Polo is smaller than the Golf....but not much. The Polo came before the Golf actually....LONG ago.
There is also one VW smaller than the Polo called a Lupo. So as far as size goes.....from the smallest ....it goes:
Lupo
Polo
Golf
Rumor has it the Lupo is discontinued. Shame too....the little 1.3 16V GTi version is cool...

[BJ_M]

the pic you have there also makes it look a lot bigger than it is really is .. :

[hech54]

ok -- got that one wrong -- but compare it to a pic of a AMC Ambassador , exact same rear quarter window ...

It's hard to judge from a picture....but I'm pretty sure an Arrow can fit in the hatchback of an Embassador.....IF there was a hatchback version.
I really liked some of the Embassadors......especially the SST...

[hech54]

The O-Riginal Odd but COOL car:

Never owned one....wish I had.
The car and company has a weird history too.