Rare cars you've seen recently

[Rob B]

I've got a serious urge to buy a spitfire, my dad keeps offering to sell me his and it gets harder and harder to say no......

back on thread i got overtaken on my way to the station this morning by a lotus cortina that ive seen round the village a few times. Looks mint and is one of the very few fords id actually want

[sorbs]

By chance I found a 1 owner from new 1964 Viva HA for sale at a nearby garage

Did you buy it?

Cheers,
Mike.

Tempting but no! I do like the HA Vivas but was more interested in the '80s Merc he had for sale..............

Spotted something really unusual this morning, to the point I'm not entirely sure what it was. Rally prepped, medium sized, rear engined two door saloon, I'd say '60s vintage, modern for its time, quite curvaceous. I reckon it could have been an NSU of some description.

[Umquat]

Something like Prinz TT?

[sorbs]

Hmm, not quite, perhaps a later model though.

It looked for all the world like a 2/3 scale Volvo Amazon 2 door but I can't find anything on the web which looks like it. The badging on the rear looked similar to that on VWs, ie. the 1302 script you got on Beetles.

Maybe some VW model which was never sold in this country, or somthing from Eastern Europe...........

[Umquat]

Not a Type 3 notch back then?

[sorbs]

That's the one!!

Mystery solved!

[Umquat]

They sold them in the UK, but you dont see that many.... According to my resources there were 1.3m notchback and fastback models, with about the same in the variant (squareback) estate version made in total. Of the three the notch is arguably the rarest and commands the highest prices. A good notch will probably cost £4-6k or more depending on age - earlier cars command premium.

[sorbs]

Some friends had a two door fastback version which they abandoned in their garden when it expired in the mid '80s. I've always thought they are pretty cool cars.

Never seen a notchback though, until the other day. Will have to keep a look out for it on my commute to work.

[kevinw]

Going back to the earlier post about HA Viva's that was my first car (GAR 720C). A 1965, one previous owner low mileage car bought in 1974 for the princely sum of £175. Road tax was £25 for the year (just got the renewal today for the TR.... £205) and insurance - 3rd party, fire and theft, social domestic and pleasure on a provisional licence was £54. At the time, I was seriously rich, having just been medically discharged from the Army and given my "war" pension as a lump sum, plus 6 months pay, also as a lump sum. It was slightly "customised", as we did in the early 70's with a "whippy aerial" complete with ping-pong ball on the top and a steering wheel so small that it was impossible to park.
I sold the car about a year later when I bought my first ever Triumph. Sorry, back on topic....

Kevin

[Alec]

Hello Jonathan,

"I've never had the pleasure of riding in one of the pre-Chrysler V8 Bristol cars, but thought that the engine was fairly sporting - were they not used in 1950s ACs for a time?"

Rather tempted, looking at an E-bay advertisement, a 405 Bristol for restoration not too far away. However without it's engine and gearbox and standing at £2,800 I think it's overpriced looking at what their current values are. I was rather surprised that the quoted power is 105 bhp, even if that's net, rather low for a large 4 door sporting car.

Alec