"What's this car?" Official Thread

[stangelini]

Wow- go.pawel- that was fast!
Thanks guys.

henk4, I agree with you about it not looking like a kit car, it seemed a bit to detailed to be a kit car. I thought for sure it was from some east Europe country like croatia or something. I was going crazy checking every car related company in Europe without any luck finding this car - turns out I was WAY off! I never would have guessed a japanese car with a french name.

[stangelini]

I have one more car I couldnt indentify. It has a body shape like a TVR tasmin from the early 80's, but this one has glass headlights instead of popup type like the tasmin/350. Am I right about it being a prototype TVR or is this something else entirely? thanks

[henk4]

I think it is indeed a TVR prototype, and if I am not mistaken it has been shown somewhere here before, but I can't remember when or where.

[go.pawel]

I have one more car I couldnt indentify.

The same thread, some 60 posts and 9 weeks earlier
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum...&postcount=491

Oh, and Croatia is in no way an eastern european country. At least no more than Austria or Italy. It's southern Europe.

[Mr.Tiv]

http://www.tvrwhiteelephant.co.uk/-more about the white elephant.

and the car the front end was hacked off of to create the White Elephant- http://www.b-link.co.uk/talkingtvr/p.../420sports.htm

[stangelini]

Thanks everyone.

I actually spent several hours looking thru the forums of all the car sites I frequent, then I realized it would be a whole lot easier just to ask. ha ha

It looked very TVR to me but I couldnt be certain since sometimes small companies tend to copy from others. Thanks for helping me out.
Ive always liked the sharp edged lines of the older tvr's, especially now that new edge styling is popular now. I hear Bertone is going to be making TVR's now, if they also do the styling those new cars are gonna be NICE!

btw, when I mentioned Croatia being East Europe I wasnt refering to its location- I was using that term because here in the US all of the former soviet allies were often called East bloc or Eastern europe to distinguish them from our allies "Western Europe". Sometimes our media here stills calls these now independent countries Eastern Europe ( except Donald Rumsfeld who calls them "new Europe" )

[stangelini]

I copied these pix from a magazine.

any guesses?

[Ferrer]

It somewhat looks like a very heavily modified Porsche 928, but I'm sure this is not the case since the doors are completely different.

[henk4]

I think it is something American, the license plate shows the words : Motor Trend..

but no idea what it is.

[Sauc3]

I'm gonna say... Monteverdi...

I really don't know, that's just my guess.

[stangelini]

Some hints - This car/prototype was in constant development from mid 1970's to around 1986. There were two bodystyles, the original type from mid 70's and a revised, fatter looking one from 1985. This silver car is the 1985 version.
These cars were more than just a kit car, they had some unique engineering in the construction. The early version even had a red l.e.d. digital instrument panel made specifically for the car (the aston martin lagonda had digital display at that time as well.) While im not comparing its engineering to a Lagonda, it was definately not the typical kit car vehicle.

I will post pictures of the early version and some pix from the 1970's brochure.

Also..The name of the car makes one think it is from a different country than its actually from....

[henk4]

Some hints - This car/prototype was in constant development from mid 1970's to around 1986. There were two bodystyles, the original type from mid 70's and a revised, fatter looking one from 1985. This silver car is the 1985 version.
These cars were more than just a kit car, they had some unique engineering in the construction. The early version even had a red l.e.d. digital instrument panel made specifically for the car (the aston martin lagonda had digital display at that time as well.) While im not comparing its engineering to a Lagonda, it was definately not the typical kit car vehicle.

I will post pictures of the early version and some pix from the 1970's brochure.

Also..The name of the car makes one think it is from a different country than its actually from....

Well, I still don't know what it, but on another note this thread is actually meant for viewers who DON'T know what the picture is they are posting. There is a quiz/guess section somewhere else in the forum.....So while your question on the TVR definetely belonged here, this one should have gone somewhere else

[LotusLocost]

The wheels of it looks like three piece Tramonts... which is French..
Just for your information..
The car I have no clue about...

[stangelini]

Its a car from the USA called a "Guanci."

It was built by an american John Guanci jr. According to the Motor Trend and Road & Track articles there were 4 chassis built. The first two chassis had a chevrolet v8. These versions were made sometime in the mid seventies.
Here are some pictures of the early cars from a factory brochure.





Here are some shots of the red car built in 1981 (chassis #3) which had a 3.8 litre turbo v-6. On this car each of the front headlights were covered by 2 flush mounted slats that opened up - one up the other down -to expose the lamps.

[stangelini]

Some more of the red car (chassis #3)