This is a picture of my wife in her father's car many years ago. Anyone have any idea what brand/model the car is?
Sunbeam...hmmm..too small for that...Crosley maybe?
2-door speck (from a rental car commercial many years ago)
Barbie Dream Car?
My first guess was a Trabant - but that seems unlikely.
It looks like it might be British.
I found out what it is, don't know where my Father in Law got this in rural Tennessee in around 1964. I will let a few more guesses go before I give the answer.
I have no idea what kind it is but it looks remarkably similar to that driven by the domesticated Mr. Incredible:
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Ladd Nelson
It's a Fiat..
Bianchina...around 1960 model
Fiat is pronounced "Fix It Again Tony".
60's vintage Fiat or Audi?
My guess was going to be Metropolitan.
The Successor To The Fiat Topolino
Fiat has made and still makes a lot of small but ugly cars.
How can such small cars be as ugly as they are?
Paul in PA
My father had one of these painted flat black. He used to let me drive it all around town when I was 14 (with him in the passenger seat).
Paden got it right. Another guy had told me it is an Autobianchi Bianchina. Looks just like a Fiat, but was made by another company in Italy utilizing a Fiat motor and copying Fiat's designs. I like the way it looks. Both made a convertable version, pretty sharp. Used, they are all over the place depending on condition.
Maybe we need to go back to those times-small, lighweight.
I had 2 fiat 128's. The only real problem I had was the clutch. But, as my italian mechanic showed me, you could just let it stall at a stop, then use the starter to get it going again-apparently the starter motor was powerful enough to get the car up to speed in first gear from a stop.
I did have another problem with the first one-I was driving along a road when the tie rod ripped a chunk out of the piece it was attached to. That wheel turned about 40° right, while the other one kept straight. I bought the second one and used the first for parts.
The Ford Anglia Was A Hoot
My father bought it so my sister could drive to work and then to college. It was pale puke green.
You could drive it flat out even at 110% and not be breaking the law. It was a challenge to get it to go fast.
At the same time I had a 1965 "Turner" with a Ford Cortina engine in British Racing Green. I drove it on the road and in gymkhanas. This link is to a full race version, could not find street version photos on line and who knows where my photos of both cars are now. My soon to be wife thought it was way too noisy, but then she had a strong preference for her Camaro convertible.
http://www.britishracecar.com/VicSchuster-Turner-MkIII.htm
Oh, for the "Good Old Days".
Paul in PA
My first car was a Fiat 128 sedan. It lasted me and then 2 nephews. Torque steer out the wazoo, first nephew never could figure out how to go around a corner without hitting the outside curb...had a great feature in the throttle knob on the dash; pull it out, turn it to the right to set it and then get out to help push it out of the mud. Once it got out of the mud you had to run the car down and jump in!
My immediate family has owned 14 Fiats over the years, 600's, 850's, 1100's,the 128, X-1/9's and 124 spiders, and now my older brother just bought one of the new 500's. Pininfarina and Bertone have contributed to many stylish Fiats over the years, Paulie your taste in cars sucks.;-)
Small cars are attempting to make a come back. I wouldn't be caught dead in one of the "Smart" cars, in fact IF I had one the license plate would read "AINTSO", the new Fiat 500 drives and rides like a much larger car, and most recently Toyota/Scion has rolled out the "IQ" which the salesman admitted was a play on words with the Smart car. The IQ fits the slot between the Smart and the 500 yet looks like the egg pod of Mothra.
Small & Ugly Fiats
> Fiat has made and still makes a lot of small but ugly cars.
>
> How can such small cars be as ugly as they are?
The contrary can also be shown
One of the exceptions to Paul's rule above is the Fiat Dino. It was sort of an amalgamation between Fiat and Ferrari intended to get enough of the Ferrari designed 1.5L DOHC V6 engines in production cars to make it legal to use the engine in F2 racing. The Coupe body was designed by Bertone, the convertible by Pininfarina.
The day I get more garage space I plan to start my quest to find one.
The Poor Man's Ferrari
Dino
I had the chance to buy a real nice Dino spyder, orange, for $4500 in 1978 and didn't do it.:-(
The Italians...
...can design the hell out of a car.
I drove a Giovanni Michelotti designed Triumph Spitfire in college; that car was such a sorority girl magnet. 🙂 🙂 🙂
