Today, after yesterday’s Mini 25, a further trio of luxuriously equipped commemorative ‘milestone Minis’ from Techno Classica Essen, 2019. The Mini Thirty (maroon car), Mini 35 (car with bumper over-riders) and Mini 40 were released in 1989, 1994 and 1999 respectively to celebrate the launch of the original Mini in 1959.
Today, after the long sequence of posts on Dacia, we’re going about as far from Romanian budget motors as it’s possible to get with this beautiful Mercedes W198 300 SL ‘gull-wing” snapped at last year’s Techno Classica. This is a very early car from 1954, the first year of production in the rare (twelve cars) colour 543 strawberry red metallic. I think @richardknott posted a car in the same shade (possibly this actual one) last year.
Today, we’re sticking with the first-generation B1 Volkswagen Passat in the form of the ‘Variant’ estate/station wagon model. I snapped this 1974 example at Techno Classica Essen last year. This particular B1 is lovely but slow - 1.3 litres, 55 horsepower, 0-100 Km/h in 18 seconds. Top speed 145 Km. I’d still have one though. Going fast is so over-rated. Nine generations later, the current Passat is estate-only.
After doing the Volkswagen Passat CC the other day, I thought it would be interesting to feature some older Passats from a fiftieth anniversary display at last year’s Techno Classica in Essen. This first-generation 1973 B1 model is the oldest surviving Passat in existence (chassis no. 2). Note: this is a two-door fastback saloon/sedan, not a hatchback - hatches came later. More Passat-based nostalgia over the next few days.
Yesterday @keziacc and @BackFromTheDud both mentioned the popularity of the Peugeot 404 in Africa. No version of the 404 was better suited to the hard conditions there than the 1967 pick-up, snapped at #TechnoClassica in 2018. A ‘monoposto’ record-breaker, sophisticated cabriolets and coupés, an outstanding saloon and one of the best estate cars ever made - on top of that, a super-durable pick-up. Those are the many faces of the legendary Peugeot 404. #Peugeot#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
After yesterday’s Peugeot 404 Cabriolet, today we’re featuring its close sister model, the 404 Coupé, built between 1962 and 1968 with Pininfarina bodywork - that’s as in actually made by Pininfarina, not just designed by them. This marvellous example is just standing there looking fantastic at the 2014 #TechnoClassica show in Essen. #Peugeot#Pininfarina#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
Today, a Jaguar that’s not quite what it seems. Meet the E-Type Zero, which has an electric motor and 40kWh battery pack in place of the usual XK straight six. This was an official factory project and it was intended to sell conversions and fully-built Zeros commercially but the programme was subsequently cancelled. A huge effort went into preserving the weight distribution and balance of the ICE-powered original. Snapped at #TechnoClassica in 2019. #Jaguar#EV#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
🎂 Today is the one-year anniversary of my first #davidsdailycar. Thanks to everyone who has boosted, favourited or responded to the posts.
For post number 366, I’ve chosen the beautiful late 1940s Škoda Superb, snapped at #TechnoClassica 2023. This was only built in small numbers before the company began to concentrate on more modest cars under the strictures of a planned economy. The Superb badge was revived in 2001 for Skoda’s top-of-the-range models. #Skoda#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
Yesterday I featured the 2012 Seat Toledo, which was basically a rebadged version of the Skoda Rapid, a sort of scaled-down Octavia based mostly on Volkswagen Polo components (blue car, 2012 #ParisMotorShow). The grey car is the previous rear-engined 1984 Skoda Rapid (#TechnoClassica 2014), a coupé version of the Skoda Estelle, as it was called in the UK, with greatly improved rear suspension. More Skodas over the next couple of days. #Skoda#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
And this is the VW-Porsche 914, the joint successor both to the recently featured Volkswagen Big Karmann and the Porsche 912. Almost all 914s received the air-cooled four-cylinder engine from yesterday’s Volkswagen Type 4 (914/4) but a few, such as this one (#TechnoClassica 2019) got a mild version of the six-cylinder boxer engine from the 911 (914/6). With its mid-engined layout, the 914 foreshadowed the later Boxster in Porsche’s line-up. #Volkswagen#Porsche#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
I can’t move on from the Porsche 356 and the 356-powered Fletcher Flair and 597 Jagdwagen without featuring the Porsche 912. The 912 had the same body as the 911, but used the 356’s four cylinder engine instead of the 911’s six, and was initially the better-selling car. Snapped at #TechnoClassica in 2013 - the engine shot is from a second 912 at the same event. Both cars were reimports to Germany from the US, and were on sale for about €30K. Bargain. #Porsche#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
While the recently featured Porsche 356 powered Fletcher Flair and 597 Jagdwagen failed to sell to the American and German militaries respectively, the 356 itself saw uniformed service with the police. I snapped this unliveried but police-spec 356 at #TechnoClassica this year. Note the siren and windscreen-mounted blue light. Try out-running that on the Autobahn in your #Beetle or #Goggomobil. No chance. Price ‘on request’ but presumably fairly steep. #Porsche#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
Today, a Porsche-based vehicle you’ve probably never heard of, the Fletcher Flair off-roader. This was developed by the US aviation entrepreneur Wendell Fletcher, relying on his links to Ferdinand Porsche. Despite its Porsche 356-derived powertrain and innovations such as aluminium bodywork and amphibious capability, the Flair wasn’t taken up by the US military, so this prototype snapped at #TechnoClassica this year remains a one-off. #Porsche#FletcherFlair#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
I know I’m supposed to be back on the Nissans but yesterday’s Datsun 240Z got me thinking about its Toyota near contemporary, the 2000GT. Like the 240Z, the 2000GT combined a straight six engine and a sleek coupé body, and altered perceptions about the capabilities of its maker. One big difference - the 240Z was a huge seller, especially in the US but only 351 2000GTs were built. This one was on sale at #TechnoClassica 2023 for an eye-watering €890,000. #Toyota#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
Today we’re celebrating #FensterFreitag again with this rear view of the Lamborghini Espada, and in particular its second lower rear window. Set into the vertical tail panel of the car, this was intended to improve rearward visibility for reversing. While the original purpose of this feature is practical, I think it also adds quite a bit to the visual elegance of the Espada design. Snapped at #TechnoClassica in 2016. #LamborghiniEspada#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
Today, in celebration of #FensterFreitag, we’re looking at the Lancia Stratos, and in particular the spectacular curvature of its visor-like windscreen, designed to provide good all-round visibility for rallying. This Stratos was just sitting there looking fantastic at #TechnoClassica Essen in 2013. #LanciaStratos#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
After the dormer window style rear on the #SsangYongRodius featured a couple of days ago, #davidsdailycar is once again dipping into the lexicon of domestic vernacular architecture with this so-called ‘bay window’ Volkswagen T2. The bigger undivided curved windscreen was one of the main updates incorporated into the T2 compared with yesterday’s split-screen T1 but there was a great deal of carryover too. I think this is a Westfalia camper. Snapped at #TechnoClassica 2023. #VW#WeirdCarMastodon
A few days ago I featured the divided rear window on the early ‘Brezel’ #Volkswagen Beetle. Today, we’re looking at the split windscreen of the earliest Typ 2 T1 #VW Transporter. The Beetle’s rear window lost its split and got larger and curvier, and the Transporter’s windscreen underwent an analogous process of evolution over the years - but more of that tomorrow. For now, I hope you will enjoy these Splitties I snapped at #TechnoClassica 2013. #FensterFreitag#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
The third car @Pierrette mentioned from her childhood was a Veronese green Volkswagen Beetle. I tried hard to establish what precise shade that is, but opinions seem to vary! I hope these examples get close but if I’ve missed the target colourwise, I hope people will still appreciate these lovely Volkswagens anyway. Left, a closed Brezel (pretzel) rear window Beetle, and on the right, a convertible - both photos taken at #TechnoClassica in 2014. #VW#Volkswagen#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
Today the second of the cars once owned by the family of @Pierrette, an open-topped Fiat 500. The yellow car on the left was snapped at #TechnoClassica in 2014 and shows the Fiat’s distinctive style of convertible body: the side bodywork is retained, with an extended cloth sunroof providing the opening. This was repeated when Fiat introduced the 500C model of the revived 500 in 2009, as seen in the press photo of the old and new cars together (right). #Fiat#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
More exotic Mercedes-badged automotive Unobtanium today with the C111-IID. In 1976, the company adapted its (originally Wankel-engined) 1970 C111-II rolling test bed - previously featured on #davidsdailycar - to take a 190PS five-cylinder turbodiesel. During a 64-hour high-speed run on the Nardó test track in Italy, the C111-IID achieved an average speed of over 250km/h (155mph) and set sixteen international records. Pic from #TechnoClassica 2019. #Mercedes#Nardo#TurboDiesel#WeirdCarMastodon
The humdrum mainstream motors of #FOTU are now just a vanishing speck in the rear view mirror as we zoom further into the rarefied world of Mercedes super-exotics. This spectacular 1935 540K roadster, with its special streamlined coachwork by Erdmann & Rossi and straight-eight supercharged engine, was owned by King Ghazi of Iraq. It normally resides at the Technik Museum Speyer but I got the pic at the #TechnoClassica show in 2022. #Mercedes#TechnikMuseumSpeyer#WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
After I posted the #Frisky Sprint yesterday, @vwdasher said he thought it should be in a quirky sixties beach movie. As it happens, there are several vehicles that could be classed as sixties beach cars. I’ll take a look at some of them over the next few days, starting today with this #Fiat 600 ‘Jolly’ featuring a Surrey-style fringed canopy, which was converted by Ghia. A similar Jolly conversion was also available for the smaller 500. Pic: #TechnoClassica 2023 #WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
Yesterday’s #Mercedes W136 had its origins in the pre-war period, but its successor, the 1953 ‘Ponton’ was a much more modern affair. #Ponton (pontoon) is a reference to this car’s fully smoothed bodywork, without identifiably separate mudguards and so on. This #Binz conversion (#TechnoClassica 2023) is configured as a rare ‘civilian’ estate car for an American customer - most Binz coach-built vehicles were ‘working’ vehicles such as ambulances or hearses. #WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar
After yesterday’s 1967 #Ford P7a failed to resonate with German buyers, the company rushed out a heavily restyled version, the P7b, within less than a year. The main change was the adoption of bumpers with upturned ends flowing into the indicators (front) and tail-lights (rear), a design feature copied from the earlier P3/P5. Seen here in 17M RS form at #TechnoClassica 2023. In 1972, both the P7b and the British Zephyr/Zodiac were replaced by the Consul/Granada. #WeirdCarMastodon#davidsdailycar