pippy Posted Sunday at 09:07 PM Share #24041 Posted Sunday at 09:07 PM Advertisement (gone after registration) 3 hours ago, pedaes said: You guys are to good! Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! At what point in time did many designers working for some of the greatest automotive manufacturers decide that 'Unspeakably Ugly, Massive-as-aTank and Extremely Aggressive' was, somehow, a more preferrable approach as opposed to 'Beautiful, Svelte, Light and Agile'? A deference towards 'Politeness' curtails my expansion of this post any further... Philip. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted Sunday at 09:07 PM Posted Sunday at 09:07 PM Hi pippy, Take a look here Name this car..... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
IkarusJohn Posted Monday at 03:03 AM Share #24042 Posted Monday at 03:03 AM I agree, Philip. Functionality is one thing (Defender, Discovery, Q7, Touareg etc), but the Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari SUVs, I don’t get. Actually, the Porsche Cayenne, I do get - it’s incredibly able off-road, but the boot is too small for my purposes (so is the boot in the Discovery - had one of those too). If I was back in the market for a capable off-roader, I’d look at the VW marques (Touareg, Q7 & Cayenne), but would probably settle on a Land Cruiser (not the Lexus). 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted Monday at 08:19 AM Share #24043 Posted Monday at 08:19 AM I dislike all 4 x 4 vehicles except for the utility ones used for towing trailers. Nearly all of them have a nodding motion either side to side, back to front or occasionally both due to their high CoG. This stirs up my neck scoliosis and eventually I will get a tension headache, more as a passenger than as a driver. I like 4WD regular cars (my last 3 have all been 4WD) and from personal experience, think that any car with more than around 400BHP benefits from drive going to all wheels from the traction POV, especially in heavy rain. Wilson 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedaes Posted Monday at 09:05 AM Share #24044 Posted Monday at 09:05 AM 11 hours ago, pippy said: At what point in time When the huge grills started to appear on the larger BMW's et al I remember reading this was blamed on the Chinese, who were a big market at the time, as they saw these grills as a sign of status and prestige. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted Monday at 01:42 PM Share #24045 Posted Monday at 01:42 PM Now that the Chinese mostly buy domestically made vehicles, one might hope BMW will revert to non-clownish sized grilles.However the photos of the projected M9 have some resemblance to Danielle Westbook's cocaine rearranged nostrils. Wilson 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted Monday at 04:30 PM Share #24046 Posted Monday at 04:30 PM (edited) 13 hours ago, IkarusJohn said: ...Functionality is one thing (Defender, Discovery, Q7, Touareg etc), but the Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari SUVs, I don’t get... I agree completely that Land Rovers and their ilk are a very different matter. The 'Luxury' SUV which gives me the greatest offence is Lotus' Eletre; not because it is drop-dead ugly (which it is) but because, speed apart, it goes against various ethos / ethe which Colin Chapman most valued. Fast they may be but, for one thing, these things are three times as heavy as an Elise!... I can understand that the model - from a commercial point of view - might possibly be / become the saviour of the company (as WAS the Cayenne for Porsche) but it also raises the question of were that truly to be the case should Lotus not have been allowed to die with dignity, integrity and honour intact? Philip. Edited Monday at 04:31 PM by pippy 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted Monday at 04:45 PM Share #24047 Posted Monday at 04:45 PM (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) 15 minutes ago, pippy said: The 'Luxury' SUV which gives me the greatest offence is Lotus' Eletre; not because it is drop-dead ugly (which it is) but because, speed apart, it goes against various ethos / ethe which Colin Chapman most valued. Fast they may be but, for one thing, these things are three times as heavy as an Elise!... I don’t think Colin Chapman would be putting his name to Chinese-built electric Luxo-barges even in the afterlife…regardless of whether it ensured the continuation of the family name…. Edited Monday at 04:47 PM by NigelG 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IkarusJohn Posted Monday at 04:57 PM Share #24048 Posted Monday at 04:57 PM I’ve never owned a Lotus, but I get the attraction - a great history. I grew up with Land Rovers (mostly Series II & III) and the original Land Cruiser in the background - we rode horses, helped on friends’ farms (docking and gathering hay) and I once worked as a farm labourer as a student. The Land Rover was always there, simple and functional. Then in the early 2000s, my wife (at the time) bought a Defender for her paragliding business. I think the worst car trip ever was the 4 hour drive home from the mountain after a day’s skiing - I didn’t think my back would ever recover. What a terrible vehicle for the time. My Discovery was okay (again, paragliding, kite surfing, cycling, skiing etc), but a small boot for the size of the vehicle, tricky to drive at speed (2½ tonnes up high required careful management), tight back seat and at no time during the 6 or so years I owned it (before I wrote it off) did all the lamps on the outside work and I had to use gaffer tape to hold the fuel filler cover closed. Never again will I buy a British car, unless it is something made in the 1960s which can be repaired! Now that I no longer paraglide (post too many serious, life threatening issues, my bone density isn’t what it was), I don’t need the off-road ability so a simple oil burning station wagon suits me just fine; more boot space, a roof I can reach and way more comfortable and capable at speed. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.j.z Posted Monday at 07:58 PM Share #24049 Posted Monday at 07:58 PM Am 12.10.2025 um 20:00 schrieb pedaes: You guys are to good! the crop was too generous 😉 I will need a day or two, so if anyone feels the need to post please feel free to go ahead Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted Monday at 10:47 PM Share #24050 Posted Monday at 10:47 PM This should be fairly easy. Marque, model, and its distinguishing feature please. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! BW, dunk 1 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! BW, dunk ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=5875574'>More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted yesterday at 08:10 AM Share #24051 Posted yesterday at 08:10 AM Ford V8 Pilot? Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkCambridgeshire Posted yesterday at 08:23 AM Share #24052 Posted yesterday at 08:23 AM 4 minutes ago, wlaidlaw said: Ford V8 Pilot? Wilson Correct Wilson; Ford V8 Pilot 3622cc; first reg. July 1950, And it has a very clean MOT history. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Leica CL / TL 18/2.8 BW, dunk 4 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Leica CL / TL 18/2.8 BW, dunk ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=5875713'>More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted yesterday at 09:29 AM Share #24053 Posted yesterday at 09:29 AM Open to all to post the next car. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted yesterday at 07:01 PM Share #24054 Posted yesterday at 07:01 PM 9 hours ago, wlaidlaw said: Open to all to post the next car... OK; I have something slightly unusual (just by way of a change!)... An identifier has benen removed and no colour at this early stage; Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Philip. Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Philip. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=5875983'>More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted yesterday at 08:29 PM Share #24055 Posted yesterday at 08:29 PM Dunlop MGA Twin Cam wheels and Lucas back lights. I am guessing a small British manufacturer. It looks a bit like an early prototype TVR Tina convertible but not quite right. So may be a Fairthorpe Electron Mk.4? Wilson 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted yesterday at 10:11 PM Share #24056 Posted yesterday at 10:11 PM 1 hour ago, wlaidlaw said: Dunlop MGA Twin Cam wheels and Lucas back lights. I am guessing a small British manufacturer. It looks a bit like an early prototype TVR Tina convertible but not quite right. So may be a Fairthorpe Electron Mk.4?... Although neither an MGA nor a Fairthorpe both of those cars you name were produced in the same time-period when this 'Special' (for such it is) was originally created; i.e. the late 1950's. This car might be unique but it has had a long-lived life in motorsports and has been campaigned extensively for many years so, I would guess, will be very familiar to some folks here! The car, designed purely as a race car (Track and Hill-Climb), was originally an open-top roadster built upon a space-frame chassis which was powered by a readily-available large-volume car-manufacturer's engine displacing 1800cc but the builder - an inveterate 'Tinkerer' - was not satisfied with its performance and soon swapped-out the front-end and the sub-frame; had replaced the engine with that from a Jaguar XK and changed his racer from being an open car to a Hard-Top. Although racing a car constructed by himself as a 'Privateer' he was hardly a novitiate where engineering was concerned having worked for - amongst others - Handley-Page, BRM and Jaguar. Another crop? Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Philip. 1 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Philip. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=5876084'>More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted 15 hours ago Share #24057 Posted 15 hours ago A Phil Chapman special? Wilson 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted 12 hours ago Share #24058 Posted 12 hours ago (edited) 3 hours ago, wlaidlaw said: A Phil Chapman special?... No; not a Phil Chapman car. Hmm...perhaps this really IS more obscure than I thought it might be. The Constructor, as mentioned earlier, first made this car in c. 1958 and it was modified a couple of years later using 'stuff' from - if I read matters correctly - an XK 140. The new front-end was made - by the constructor himself - from rolled-aluminium and had a passing (but less attractive!) resemblance to a E-Type which resulted in the car in period being described inaccurately as an E-Type Special. There might have been some justifiable confusion here as the builder had a strong connection to a Costin-bodied Lister-Jaguar raced by one Dick Tindall. In 1974 the 'builder' retired and he and 'the wife' retired to the Isle of Wight after which the car was sold to a Belgian. The car came back to the UK in the mid '80s where it was restored by Lynx Engineering. More to follow(?)... A couple of generous snaps just as a Last Hurrah on the off-chance that they might spark a flicker of inspiration in someone? Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Philip. Edited 12 hours ago by pippy 2 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Philip. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=5876279'>More sharing options...
pippy Posted 1 hour ago Share #24059 Posted 1 hour ago (edited) Ah well; can I take it that we have reached a dead-end? If so then please accept my apologies; I did think and hope that someone here would have been as familiar with this offering as they usually are day-in-day out regardless of how seemingly obscure these submissions might be. The car in question was fabricated by a chap named Freddie Owen and, unsurprisingly, seems to have been known as the 'Owen Special'. There is a surprising amount of information about this car out there on the www - although, as I discovered, much of it is inaccurate! - but for anyone who wishes to 'cut to the chase' they could do far worse than skipping-down to post #10 in this page from the 'Autosport' official forum; https://forums.autosport.com/topic/112164-freddie-owen-e-type-special/ One last photo to hammer-in the final nail? Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I would like to thank those who had a few stabs at attempting to identify the thing against, as it transpired, all the odds; 'Chapeau!' Regardless of the lack of a happy resolution I do hope - looking for the Silver Lining - that, nevertheless, no-one minded seeing something which appears to be new to all?... I suppose this throws the thread open to anyone who has something available?! Philip. Edited 1 hour ago by pippy Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! I would like to thank those who had a few stabs at attempting to identify the thing against, as it transpired, all the odds; 'Chapeau!' Regardless of the lack of a happy resolution I do hope - looking for the Silver Lining - that, nevertheless, no-one minded seeing something which appears to be new to all?... I suppose this throws the thread open to anyone who has something available?! Philip. ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=5876586'>More sharing options...
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