Cars

Forostar

Ancient Mariner
Kicking of with DAF, nowadays mostly known for their quality trucks, but between 1959 and 1975 this was the one and only (successful) Dutch passenger car brand:
DAF ended at some time when Volvo took over:
Volvo gained a 33 percent stake in DAF in December 1972, always with the intent of taking a larger interest. They increased their holdings to 75% on 1 January 1975, taking over the company and the NedCar plant. Volvo dropped the 33 and 44 models, and later rebadged the DAF 66 as the Volvo 66, with bigger bumpers and a safety steering wheel.

The DAF 46 was developed with Volvo's assistance, and was basically a 44 with the rear axle of a 66 and a single belt Variomatic (half the 66's transmission). A big weakness of this system is that a failed drive belt would cripple the car. The last DAF design, codenamed P900, initially intended to be the DAF 77, was developed during the transition to Volvo ownership and was ultimately launched as the Volvo 300 series in 1976, firstly as the Volvo 343 three door hatchback with the Variomatic transmission.

After initial slow sales, the range was expanded into the 340/360, with a five door variant and the availability of manual transmission, and the 340/360 range became a sales success, eventually surpassing 1.3 million units by the time production ceased in 1991. The subsequent Volvo 440/460/480 and the first generation S40/V40 models were also made at the NedCar plant, until Volvo sold its interest to Mitsubishi Motors in 2001, marking the end of Volvo's involvement with the former DAF plant after almost thirty years.[/quote]

Check this impressive vid from a collector, who already collected these in the time when they were not seen as classics. Sometime he bought one for 100 guilders and a box of tomatoes.
 
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The Eastern Bloc car industry, by the way, boasted both the quietest car in the world (that, of course, was before electric vehicles), Polski Fiat 126p - because you drove with your knees on your ears, and the longest car in the world, Wartburg 353: 30 metres, including exhaust.
 
The Eastern Bloc car industry, by the way, boasted both the quietest car in the world (that, of course, was before electric vehicles), Polski Fiat 126p - because you drove with your knees on your ears, and the longest car in the world, Wartburg 353: 30 metres, including exhaust.
:lol:

My parents' first car was a Moskvitch 412. It looked exactly like this:
6pMht.jpg


It's not a small car, but the steering wheel provided a great workout for the muscles of the upper body. Soviet cars always had a double function that way.
 
I hear Moskvich was not a bad car. AFAIR it's the same factory that produced Volga Soviet state limos, cause both are just brand names.
Before having a small flotilla of PZ 125's my grandad had this nice little machine

NSU_Prinz_1000.jpg


Foro you might appreciate the fact that Slovenian Tomos, one of the biggest industries in ex-Yu, albeit not cars per se. but motorcycles, marine engines, etc., designed in its Dutch R&D center. The equpiment was of astonishing quality, ruggedness and repairability, those were the 50ccm scooters hip kids used (together with Vespas, larger engines tho), and our own version of Volvo Penta marine deployed on thousands of privately owned small boats and watercraft. You need 5 thingies to do a general maintenance, all fit in a small can. Engine stops at open sea, general overhaul performed in 3 minutes, and off we go. Did it so many times...

The famous "Goat", in its 50ccm manual transmission version for postal service

Tomos-otisao-u-povijest-posljednji-krug-mopedom.jpg
 
Let's continue with something more adrenaline based. The racing Škodillac, the Škoda 110R

Skoda_110R_in_central_Germany.jpg


If that folk hero used this one instead of the ordinary 100 model, he'd escape the vile Jozin and get to Moravice in no time.
Btw, grandad car from image above is NSU Prinz 1000. The NSU Motorenwerke merged with VW/Audi in late 1960s.
 
Thanks for the correction, I thought GAZ was responsible for both.
 
Nope, Volga was GAZ, Moskvitch was AZLK.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Foro
Did you hijack it?

Shall we change this to "car thread"? I like the current title, but perhaps people wish to talk about bigger cars and e.g. non European cars as well.
 
Living in a town barely over a 100 years old on an Island that didn't have towns until about 150 years ago, the streets are broad and new. At least half the population where I live seems to drive massive trucks, like the Ford F-350 and the Dodge Ram. For me the automobile differences in old city Europe were striking on my first visit.

Staying in Rome, I rounded a corner near my old city apartment and spotted an old early '8os Ford truck that was extremely familiar yet strikingly out of place. I wondered not only about the challenges of operating such a vehicle there, but how it got there and the fact it was operating at all. As I got closer, I realized I needn't have worried; there was vegetation growing out of it. It wasn't a vehicle, it was a planter.
 
With your permission I made the topic broader (just "cars"). If any of you likes to post pictures of cars you like, go ahead. I'm in particular fond of old stuff.
E.g. I love looking at old photos from parkings.

found on this forum: https://www.autoweek.nl/forum/read.php?6,2020188

Azay-le-Ferron, France, 1980:
4371259514_58d6832ebc_b.jpg


La Rochelle, France, 1975:
4493884323_2cf0b3851e_b.jpg


Bruges, Belgium, 1975:
4526137371_e22ecee9fb_b.jpg


Rome, 1960:
2u88geq.jpg



Roermond, Netherlands, 1970s:
1zqeue9.jpg


Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands, 1976-ish
18937946694_ae6e497d6a_c.jpg


DDR, 1989
4456414.jpg


France, 1960
P11055.jpg
 
Sorry I didn't get any pictures, but I spotted something truly bonkers over the weekend: A Jaguar S-Type body on top of a 4x4 chassis (probably a Landcruiser, given how popular they are down under)
 
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