My uncle had one of these.
Borgward Isabella, I remember it being a very unusual car that attracted a lot of attention.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/newreply.p...te=1&p=1759782
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My uncle had one of these.
Borgward Isabella, I remember it being a very unusual car that attracted a lot of attention.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/newreply.p...te=1&p=1759782
Many of the cars listed in this thread would be 'unusual' to those too young to remember them, but were quite common in their day. Disregarding my own LandRover derived creations,my own list is no exception, aside from an Ansamanwergenheimer 1 1/2 seater sports car, circa 1960's. looked sort of like a very shrunken Austin Healy Sprite with a single cylinder lawnmower style engine driving the front wheels. The remainder of my list is fairly common for the era I grew up in. 1928 Triumph super 7 sedan. 1948 Wolesley 18/85. 1951 Wolesely 6/80. Mk7 Jaguar saloon. Vanguard Spacemaster saloon and ute. Hudson Wasp.
Mk2 and 3 Ford Zephyr. Chevrolet C15 4x4(Blitz). Dodge 4x4 Weapons Carrier. Austin Gipsey 4x4. 1962 International Scout-worse 4x4 ever owned. F50 Daihatsu 4x4 fitted with Toyota 3B deisel and 5spd transmission (about as unstable as a Reliant Robin 3 wheel van). !970 UAZ469 (Russian military jeep I bought in Vietnam).
Although quite common, from a design/construction/engineering viewpoint, Series LandRovers are quite unusual/unconventional/crude even, when compared to most other vehicles.
Bill.
Agreed. I dont see a many "unusual" offerings amongst what has been listed.Quote:
Originally Posted by wagoo
Much like my own vehicles over time....VW Beetle, VW Kombi, Fiat 128 Sedan and 128 Coupe, Fiat 124 Stn Wagon and 124 Sport, Falcon Stn Wagon, Ford Laser, Mazda 323, Datsun 720 Dual Cab 4wd, LR Stage 1 v8 Stn Wagon. + what I have today.
My mum used to have one of those 3 wheel mesersmidts (spelling). Apparently the rear wheel would lift of the road at 55 so it would slow down again. 2 seater with passenger behind driver.
1st car a 1954 morris minor (still in fathers shed fully restored) been finished for 24 years and still not even driven the length of the driveway, changed tact and now have 12 ford v8's of differnt years a rangie and disco along with audi, looking for help with the auto illness to cut back on a few
2 to mention ... still have them
1958 ID19 Citroen, beautiful car on the road, not lots of go, but fantastic handling, particularly on dirt roads. Mechanically very advanced, and hydropneumatic suspension was pretty simple to maintain.
1953 Bristol 401, 2l 6 cylinder, triple carby, aluminium body over tube steel space frame and solid chassis. Proper 4 seater pommy sports car. Parts still available from Bristol Cars UK!
Always loved and wanted a Bristol 2 litre as much as I did Landrovers back in the day. In fact I may never have got into LandRovers but for the toss of a coin back in 1969.Seriously it came down to, Heads buy the Bristol, Tails buy the LandRover, which were both for sale in the same car yard at the time. I sometimes wonder about the result of that coin toss. Did I dodge a bullet? Or did I cop the whole magazine?Quote:
Originally Posted by rrturboD
Bill.
Is this one a joke Bill?Quote:
Originally Posted by wagoo
No Ben, it was a real manufactured car, only a handful made, from Germany obviously. There was a short article in the Melbourne Herald back in the mid 1960's about the original owner who privately imported it.I think it was mentioned that it was the worlds smallest legal 4 wheeled car that had the worlds longest name. I bought it for 10 quid a couple of years later as a paddock basher, but it barely had enough power to move on flat bitumin, never mind offroad.After the sheetmetal aluminium wheel rims disintegrated after about 10 minutes they were replaced with 10'' Mini wheels which reduced tractive effort even more. All in all it was pretty hopeless, but might have been worth a bit if it still existed today. And no, I can't find any mention of it on Google.Quote:
Originally Posted by isuzurover
Bill.
PS.
Have any of the old timers owned an example of what truly was 'Australias own Car' ? The mobile washing machine. the fibreglass bodied front wheel drive 2 stroke lawnmower engined mini car built sometime in the 1960's named the Lightburn Zeta? TV advertisement showed them traversing what seemed like incredibly tough terrain for a road car.
I did not mention it - probably did not think it all that unusual. I owned, and still own, a 1974 Citroen DSpeciale, and before that a 1960 ID19 Safari. The ID19, an eight seater, not high acceleration, but fast - in my young and foolish days did Brisbane-Roma in under four hours in it - and it was reliable and fairly easy to maintain, although the engine was not long lived - new pistons and sleeves at about 80,000miles. According to the manual, the most economical speed was 70mph. The DSpeciale was also not all that high power, but could equal most contemporary four door cars up to about 100kph, where it would begin to pull away due to the better streamlining. And the lights are superior to most, with self levelling and steering lights. Unlike the earlier engine, the engine is very durable - at 180,000km it is barely run in.
And then there is the car of my father's I started to learn on. A 1931 Swift 10. Five seater fabric over wooden frame saloon body, 10RAC HP Coventry side valve four, mechanical brakes that worked, vacuum tank fuel feed, two wire Rotax electrical system, RH gate gear change.
John