The posts are coming very fast and I never posted an ad, but I would like to use a right of reply to point out the 2T trim is actually a mid cycle trim off the Talon. The original naturally aspirated form with 4 seats (the 4S) came out in 1974, hence the eyebrow raising combination of carbs and boost.
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This is the original Thai advertisement after the launch of SBA Gracelet (Mk.III) 1.6 Swift Ti Twincam Turbo in late 1986. The Gracelet 1.6 Swift Ti Twincam Turbo (TCT for short) was sold only in 3 doors version with its distinct popup headlights.
The 1.6 Swift Ti Twincam Turbo was the brainchild of the legendary designer “Kanlayakorn Phusakul” and SBA’s special vehicle division to prove the racing technology into the road car, after years of the competition. With real heavy weight punch of turbocharged 1.6 liter with 175 horsepowers, capable of the top speed over 200 km/h. The Gracelet 1.6 Swift Ti Twincam Turbo was a sales success in Asia/Pacific and Europe, many were imported to the United States. But finding one is extremely rare, as the most of Mk.III Gracelets in the United States were non turbocharged version.
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An early example of a Brigadeer Mk1, undergoing testing by the Mamayan army
It would not be completely right to say that the first (or any!) generation of the IP Brigadeer is one single car. While all the variants always have been sharing the same platform, it has been everything from pure workhorses to luxury limousines with offroad capabilities. But it all started with a vehicle developed for the army in the home country of Mamaya. There was just too much of a sales potential to not enter the civilian market too, and the Brigadeer was born. From the beginning just a plain jane workhorse, it was after all developed as a military vehicle, with 4x4, locking differentials, solid axles front and rear and a 4 cylinder “Saturn” engine with the modest power output of almost 57 hp.
TIMELINE
January 1959 - the first examples are delivered to the Mamayan army.
May 1959 - the civilian “1900 DX” version hits the market. Chrome bumpers and trim and a (just slightly) more comfortable interior are the largest differences
1966 - First refresh of the model. Front lap belts, padded dashboard and a power steering box with a rag jointed column and a safety steering wheel with recessed hub now standard. 1900DX version replaced by the 1900DX2 with a 75 hp “Hicam” four cylinder (a change also done to military spec vehicles). New model introduced, the 2600 GLX with the 109 hp “Stellar” V6, automatic transmission, front disc brakes, much better sound insulation and more luxurious interior.
1970 - The short lived 2600 GLX is discontinued, and its replacement is the “Grand Brigadeer”. An even more refined interior with equipment on par with many luxury cars, square headlights and longer wheelbase. 154 hp 3.5 litre “Stellar” V8 engine. Metallic paint available for the first time in the model history, only offered on the Grand Brigadeer. Another new variant is the “Brigadeer Uti-Lite” pickup, mechanically identical to the 1900DX2.
1974 - The Brigadeer is withdrawn from the US market due to all engines requiring leaded fuel. Production for markets still using leaded fuel continues.
1977 - The last Mk1 Brigadeer is leaving the assembly line. Its replacement, the Mk2, features a more modern body and a coil sprung front axle. Also, the engines in the Mk2 models being able to run on unleaded fuel means the reintroduction of the Brigadeer in the US market.
2003 - After 44 years of duty for the model, the Mamayan army retires its last remaining Mk1 Brigadeers. Many military spec examples of course still survives as surplus on the civilian market.
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The 1975 Meijer Monte Carlo Turbo
Lore:
The Meijer Monte Carlo Turbo started it’s development in 1968 with Lancia, their goal was to build a fast and reliable rally car for the 1975 season. The co-operation didn’t go that smoothly and ended up with the two companies breaking up in 1973. The development team of Meijer were only left with the chassis blueprints and early prototypes of the body, and with only 1,5 years to go before the launch of the car the clock was ticking, and that would be the reason why the engine was rushed and unreliable. The car started production on the 5th of December 1974. After 1 month 2000 cars were recalled after a few engine fire related issues. The rally season didn’t go well either after catching fire in Monte Carlo, Africa, Greece, Morocco and Portugal and having gearbox related issues in Britain causing them to finish 17th in the championship. After 2 more unsuccesful tries in the championship Meijer decided to pull out of the sport and 1 year later the company killed off the production Monte Carlo even after a major engine revision in 1976.
Production years: End 1974 - Mid 1978
Markets: Europe
NOTE: price is in today’s pounds
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1980 Arai Starling GTi
Let’s talk small cars post-Oil Crisis today, shall we?
No doubt, you’re thinking of small, cramped, and loud. That unmistakable odor of gas vapors and disappointment. And if I use the same “Arai Starling” you probably just shuddered.
For those of you who didn’t, props to you. You’re my peeps. You know about the Starling GTi that was launced with the 1980 facelift. I mean, sure, it was still on a front-wheel drive platform, but for the time, a sub-10 second 0-60 was really quite something. Especially in a 4-cylinder “economy” car.
This little 93-horsepower marvel may well be one of the first true Hot Hatches. They were, back in the day, far more appreciated overseas than they were here in the States. Not for lack of trying on Arai’s part; they had a clever ad campaign to distinguish the GTi from the more pedestrian trims. They were also fairly well appointed, too, with full cloth seating surfaces, optional power windows, and a halfway decent stereo system.
As time has passed, interest in them has picked up markedly. Collectors of this particular specimen tend to fall into one of two categories. The first is the Stance scene, which appreciates the inexpensive cost and ease of working on it. The other is the budget motorsports scene, with a smattering showing up at autocrosses or as a “dark horse” on track days.
The Starling may still be a bit of niche collector item, which is a bit of an injustice in our opinion. Maybe things will change in the future, and the remaining survivors will find appropriate driveways and garages.
Scoring:
Mainstream Culture - RestoMods: Medium (Currently in 1st)
Counter Culture - Motorsport: Medium (Currently in 4th)
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(Old attack ad for the Fallow RUT)
Splitting a country the easy way: Create a vehicle which gets Hypermiled maaaaybe MPG’s in the two digits. While one half of the population supported the madness of DaH in the 80’s and wanted to see more crazy over the top creations straight from the factory, the other half was screaming about the polar bears or something. After one Dealership got burned down my Eco-Terrorist the trim was quickly pulled.
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TSR Mont Blanc Turbo R
TSR needed new GT car. So in 1985, they released the TSR Mont Royale. It was available on 3 trim levels, the Turbo B, Turbo S and Turbo R. It has all-wheel-drive, double wishbone suspension on all four wheels, a tuned version of the engine in the TSR Comet and air suspension (only on the Turbo R).
The most perfect condition TSR Mont Blanc Turbo R
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The Birmingham Renton Super 1500
In 1957, the Renton was released and was an instant hit, selling incredibly well in both the USA and europe. It even managed to win the 1957 entry-level car of the year in the “Motor Review World.” This was because of its very cheap price yet decent equipment, tech and safety. It was released into the world of racing months later, and due to its predictable handling and sub 700kg weight it performed well yet again. As a homologation model, the super 1500 was just a road legal version of the Touring car. It included Wider, 155mm sport tires on bigger rims as well as more hardcore suspension as well as the 90bhp 1.5l i4 to keep he weight down. It also had removed bumpers, a front lip, dual mufflers and a dash mounted tachometer.
The interior was stripped and now the car weighed just over 650KG. The suspension was also adjustbale, allowing the car to be used for rally racing as well.
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Stark Turion A270
This is the 1961 Stark Turion A270, the second generation of the Turion A-Series - the premium sedan line of Stark. It features a new 2.0 liter boxer-4 DAOHC engine unlike the A230, and a “SuperAM” radio, unlike the A250. The exterior, being the top model of the line, features a chrome stripe around the car. Otherwise, it is not radically different from other sedans of the era, although the big chrome grille and the figurehead signify that the car is a Stark.
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So, the mid 60s was a big period for Vincent Cars, a new style, and all of a sudden all but the most prestigious cars are FWD, and they sold like crazy because of it, in fact, Vincent had to open a new factory near Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (real place, look it up) on the Isle of Anglesey due to the sudden influx of demand for the new, expanded, lineup. This was one such car, the new, front wheel drive Meteor, the replacement to the Mirage, a smallish coupe powered by a largish engine but not quite a muscle car, it was simply too Britishly refined for such a label.
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Old people joke incoming: Is that the place referenced in an episode of “The Goodies”?
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1970 Sakura Duchess (D30)
Sakura Duchess. A little James Bond, a little Corvair.
It started off interestingly enough, with a sleek body that could be mistaken for a Giugiaro design and a somewhat peppy 187 horsepower flat-six engine. And then it just kind of went sideways from there, missing all kinds of design and marketing goals.
There’s nothing actually wrong with the Duchess D30 itself. It would make a fine, quirky play toy just about any time along a 20 year time period. And even today it handles well, with its mid-engine layout and fully independent suspension. So how did this Sakura end up being such a bomb?
Whoever said that “timing is everything” had a rather narrow view of life. Of course the timing of the Duchess was pretty terrible. It was a sports car that weighed almosts as much as the much-beloved muscle cars of the day, but without the power, and with a significantly higher price tag. All we really cared about back then was power. The vastly better handling didn’t mean a thing.
But timing is most definitely not everything. Sakura, having only recently gotten their foot in the door in the American market, didn’t have the savvy to figure out a proper way to engage the public and draw them in. Go look at some of the advertising campaigns of the day. They’re remarkably bad.
Well, this contrbutor enjoys the soul-cleansing clarity of an occasional drive in his father-in-law’s Duchess. And only the savvy collector will truly know what they’re getting when they buy in to one.
Scoring:
Counter Culture - Spiritual Classics: Medium (Currently in 3rd)
9 Likes
1970 Mitsushita Kitty 100GT
What’s ultra-compact, has retractable claws, and growls?
Well, besides the resident feral cat outside the office, the correct answer would be the Mitsushita Kitty 100GT.
That’s right, a car with a sub-1000cc (987 to be exact) has the audacity to call itself a GT. What kind of trumped-up ego stroking naming scheme is this?
Well, actually, we’d have to stop you there. While it’s not a big, suave coupe with a hard-pounding engine and more leather than a rave at a dairy farm, it actually does deserve the GT moniker.
Mitsushita put together a super-high (for the time) compression pushrod four-banger that, thanks to a rather high 6000 RPM redline and a well-tuned sidedraft carb, puts out a whopping 62.5 horsepower. Not impressive, right? Well, just bear in mind that the Kitty weighs just 1500 pounds, so it gives decent pep. 12.1 seconds to 60 in a 1970 subcompact is no laughing matter. Nor is its fully independent suspension that, with the right tires, can pull over a g on the skidpad.
Still think we’re nuts? There are a growing number of autocrossers that disagree with you. Despite being no-frills, the Kitty can be a fun, inexpensive ride to toss around.
And hey, you don’t really have to worry about finding one with a straight body. You’d probably never find one that was hit, because there’s be nothing left, that’s just how crappy their safety record is.
(Yes, we suggest towing this thing to your race instead of risking life and limb driving it on public highways. Safety first, right?)
Scoring:
Counter Culture - Motorsports: High (Currently in 2nd)
OOC: I absolutely LOVE the Gremlin-style stripe!
7 Likes
1983 Conte Estrato Copa
@Mr.Computah
Weird European imports aren’t exactly anything new. They’ve been occurring with varying levels of influx since European factories started churning out consumer goods after the end of World War II. As far as oddballs go, the Spaniards are right up there with the French.
One such example that you rarely see on the mainland these days is the Conte Estrato Copa. Now, this was supposed to be the “sport” trim for the model. And yes, they were successful in squeezing 77 ponies out of the tiny fuel-injected 1.2 liter under the hood. But boy, did they make some sacrifices to get that. Idling at a stoplight in one of these puppies is almost like throwing yourself in the washing machine and turning it on, thanks to the rather lumpy cam.
The other litte detail that soured the US market to this model was the fact that, instead of fully cushioned fold-down rear seats, Conte decided to make their design simpler and just put a set of thin, folding jump seats (with three belts!) in the rear. Not many people can say they’ve driven or even seen a car in a 2+3 configuration. As it was, the 2+2 sports cars only did that to get around the chicken tax. None of them had more than 2 doors, yet the Conte Estrato 5-door did.
This design oddity may have made it unpopular with buyers in the States back in the day, but it is rather popular with crap car navigation challenges, as you can carry more beer and tools than other similar cars.
If you want to find one of these in the US, your best bet is to check out classifieds in Puerto Rico, as they were relatively popular there due to their reliability, economy, and low price.
Scoring:
Counter Culture - Jalopy Culture: High (Currently in 1st)
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The chicken tax only applies to light trucks, not passenger vehicles. Ford for instance imported Transit Connects from Turkey with rear windows, rear seats, etc. so they qualified as passenger vehicles, and then converted back into cargo vans upon arrival. Same with the Subaru BRAT and its rear facing jump seats.
1 Like
[A brochure that was given to the public in Malaysia]
1989 Brickfields Razak V6 is a Malaysian-made luxury sedan car that was meant to rival other luxury sedan at the time like Lexus LS400, Nissan Cefiro and others. It was Brickfield’s first attempt to break in to the luxury sedan market in Malaysia to see if people were interested in local luxury sedan at the time.
And it was successful as people love their brand new Razak V6 due to how elegant and advanced the design of the car is. Razak V6 consist of premium interior with premium cassette tape in it, Automatic headlights and tailights and ABS.
Other than that, local car magazines loved it as the car has really smooth ride and pretty fun to drive, thanks to Double Wishbone at the front and the back. With the Razak V6 doing well in Malaysia, they decided to brought the car to Japan and Europe and it managed to sold 5,319 units in Japan and 1,964 units in Europe.
Brickfields Motor Co. also tried to enter North American market with this car at the time with the help of the entrepreneur, Malcolm Bricklin but was declined by the authorities. This cause all of the investments between Brickfields Motor Co. and Malcolm Bricklin a financial loss.
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MY89 Proletariat Marmot 77T
Thanks to the beginning of the USSR hegemony collapse, Bogliq USA was able to access some of the weirder designs formerly only available via the USDS (United States Diplomatic Service). Bogliq USA intended to sell these cars to the youth market under its sub-brand, Proletariat Motors, to limit any blowback if the scheme went pear shaped.
The first fruit of this venture was the Marmot. A small, rear engined, hatchback with a tiny turbocharged I3 motor and a MPEFI system reverse engineered from “appropriated” Znopresk schematics. The car was cheap, fuel efficient and fun to drive and was surprisingly tame for what it was. But it wasn’t fast or quick so the Marmot would remain a niche player as it was unable to compete head to head with mainstream Western designs…
2015 Marmot (Canadian variant)
Price when new: $3,705 USD (1989)
Proletariat Motors: Something for Everyone
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’75 Seppä 2000 Deluxe
With the success of Seppä in motorsport competitions and development of a more international reputation with the Seppa 1600, the Finnish-car maker wanted to use their newly gained prestige to expand to more countries and more markets. This ambition of making a world car had existed since the company’s foundation in but had only recently gained the reputation to export and open dealerships.
The Seppa 2000 went into planning in 1973 but, The car was designed to be the company’s flagship vehicle and had the purpose to continue their motorsport heritage, however, with the occurrence of the 1974 oil crisis it would see drastic changes. The high fuel prices compounded with the introduction of lead fuel bans and catalytic converters resulted in the originally planned performance car scrapped. In order to recoup the research costs, the company pivoted to a section of the market with high-profit margins, Luxury. The turbo inline-six engine was re-tuned for fuel-economy in mind, and front-and-back double wishbone suspension proved to be useful with drive comfort. The company being inexperienced in luxury cars resulted in some of the comforts of the car being outdated on release. That coupled with the overemphasis of fuel-economy made it relatively sluggish compared to other compact luxury cars which made the debut of Seppä 2000 to interesting, to say the least.
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