[Ram]

ID:678 is a 1977 Matra-Simca Bagheera.

Mid-engined car named after Bagheera: the black panther from "The Jungle Book".

Cute sporty car. Used stock Simca engine, gearbox and suspension.
Body was made of polyester bolted on a steel understructure.
Had a single row of seats, three abreast!

Ram

[Ram]

ID:679.
Identify the year, make and model of this green sedan.

[rpmx1000]

A Wild guess but looks like one of the 1950's lancias to me.Not sure which one

[agspins]

1952 Kaiser Henry j Corsair Deluxe 2 door sedan Six cylinder....

[AltoHoncho]

Looks like a '52 Corsair DeLuxe. The bonnet should have "Henry J" scripting.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by AltoHoncho

it was one of the most wonderful cars of the 80s, beautiful headlamps, very much futuristic. I think Tata owned one.

Yes, it was a beautiful car. Karunakaran - the political maestro of Kerala - owns one. He once had an accident in that, and survived. He was taken out through the large rear window after breaking the glass.

[AltoHoncho]

I remember one with the Director of my school in Jaipur. He had a Premier President, Padmini NE, Standard 1000 and a HM Ambassador, This one used to be my personal fav among all.

[V-16]

Thats a Henry J Corsair Deluxe allright. Wish the rear blur was absent for to give details about the background.

Henry Kaiser made a great deal of money building Liberty ships for the US navy. They had a record of building a complete warship in four and a half days. Joseph Frazer had worked with Willy's, when the two met the Kaiser-Frazer was born. Kaiser Frazer introduced a small car in 51 named the Henry J and thought they had hit the sales charts with this one. The Henry although looked big, was only 9 inches longer, bumper to bumper, than the VW Beetle. It was also available with the GM Hydra matic automatic gearbox.

They advertised it as "A car every American could afford" and it was this very line that backfired. No American wanted to touch the car. The car was sold by the famous Sears Roebuck department store all over but this to could not bring in the sales. It was an inexpensive car and well built but the problem was the king sized American ego kicked in.

Which American wanted to admit that he could not afford a decent car. By buying this one, they would send out signals as if they were not in the position to afford better cars and as this was advertised as inexpensive they would be thought out as cheapskates if they purchased the car.

The cars were given various face lifts and name changes but sales just did not occur.

Eventually Kaiser took over Willy's Overland in 1953. The Frazer name now disappeared. It was here that the Darrin sports car was produced with a polyester body shell and sliding doors in the front wings. Howard "Dutch" Darrin was the designer. The Darrin was based on the Henry J chassis and running gear, i.e. a six cylinder side valve engine which also powered the Willy's Jeep.

Kaiser had built cars from 49 onwards in Europe at a factory in Rotterdam. The Dutch factory switched over in 1954 to producing the Willy's Jeep, Simca and Hillman. Alas this too did not do well. In 1955, the final Kaiser rolled off the line and was exported to South America. The company now concentrated on building the Willy's Jeep.

When Kaiser withdrew making the Kaiser Darrin in 54, Darrin continued by buying the 100odd Kaiser Darrin bodies, fitting them with Cadillac V-8 engines. There was also an option of having such a car fitted with a McCulloch turbocharger.

An interesting fact is that out of the 71,000 odd Henry Js that were built, only a magical figure of 8,888 were coupes, making them pretty rare and collectible in today's time. Not to mention the Darrin which is only seen in Museums.

[sidindica]

ID 680: Identify the year, make and model.

[predatorwheelz]

ID 680 is a 1959 Cadillac Cyclone (XP 74, model codename, to be precise)

The year was 1959. GM was the all powerful, cash rich American car icon producing land yachts with V8s that the public could not wait to lap up.

Aircraft design was the in thing at that time, and tail fins were the rage. GM capitalized the opportunity to come up with a series of car shows called "Motoramas". These were more than car shows. Popular auditoriums in posh cities were booked. Bands were invited to play, even movies were made. Sleek, aircraft like concept cars were shown to the amazed public, stylized by GM's young designer brigade. The Cadillac Cyclone was one such car shown in the 1959 Motorama.

Design wise, the car was amazing. It had a 325Bhp V8. The exhaust system was hidden directly behind the nose cone! The rear wing hid large lights which glowed bright red and gave the impression of jet plane exhausts. The car was easy to get in and get out of, as the large canopy folded back like a fighter canopy, and the doors slid away. See the pic below



The above pic (as is Sidindica's pic) is taken from one of the recent Pebble Beach Concours shows.

Only one catch, Sidindica. To the best of my knowledge, the Cadillac Cyclone never made it to production. Hence you've violated one of the first rules of this thread, and the car doesnt deserve place here.

[Ram]

This is your second violation of the day sidindica,

the first being

Please read the rules and norms of this thread before posting.

[agspins]

ID:680 Make and Model please

[clevermax]

ID 681: Identify year, make & model.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by clevermax

ID 681: Identify year, make & model.

ID:681 is a 1960 Studebaker Lark.

clevermax, mirroring the image to convert LHD to RHD is not such a clever idea.
The Lark was a classic Brooks Stevens design, compare with the Willys Wagoneer

or even the illustrious Studebaker Wagonaire.

Ram

[V-16]

ID:680 - Alpine A 106 made in france between 1955-61
ID: 681 - 1960 Studebaker Lark.

EDIT-

Originally Posted by Ram

Mirroring the image to convert LHD to RHD is not such a clever idea.

@ Ram

Heres the original LHD pic.