The Name Game - Solved by Aaron65, Tom_I, and Carnut

[Aaron65]

#9 Dodge magnum, #23 Vauxhall Magnum?

[Otto Puzzell]

Eureka!  

Here are the points awarded:


Tom_I   3
Carnut    1
Aaron65   8

[Carnut]

Have to say I'm somewhat miffed at that last one.

I figured it must be a Dodge Magnum and a Vauxhall Magnum at least a week ago, but no amount of comparison with your picture and a Vauxhall Magnum could convince me that that was a Vauxhall Magnum.

Look at the picture below, and I have also included a picture of the Vauxhall Firenza (which used the same lights) and your picture to show they are not the same! The Magnum lights are all right-angles except at the outer bottom, quite unlike your puzzle photo which is curved at the inner top.

Incidentally only the Vauxhall Magnum Sportshatch used that shovel-front with those lights; the Vauxhall Magnum itself used the same bluff front with 4 round headlights as the Vauxhall Viva!

There WAS a Vauxhall Droopsnoot prototype which is perhaps the same as your photo, but that is not a Vauxhall Magnum which came quite a bit later...

[Otto Puzzell]

Have to say I'm somewhat miffed at that last one.

I figured it must be a Dodge Magnum and a Vauxhall Magnum at least a week ago, but no amount of comparison with your picture and a Vauxhall Magnum could convince me that that was a Vauxhall Magnum.

Look at the picture below, and I have also included a picture of the Vauxhall Firenza (which used the same lights) and your picture to show they are not the same! The Magnum lights are all right-angles except at the outer bottom, quite unlike your puzzle photo which is curved at the inner top.

Incidentally only the Vauxhall Magnum Sportshatch used that shovel-front with those lights; the Vauxhall Magnum itself used the same bluff front with 4 round headlights as the Vauxhall Viva!

There WAS a Vauxhall Droopsnoot prototype which is perhaps the same as your photo, but that is not a Vauxhall Magnum which came quite a bit later...

I'm quite sorry you're miffed.

Fear not, AP members, my time to close up shop draws near.

[Carnut]

Fair enough!  But that begs the question: if your picture is not a Vauxhall Magnum (which I don't believe it is) then what is it?  I couldn't find anything that matched.

Perhaps you ought to offer a point to whoever can identify it definitively?!

[Otto Puzzell]

The source of my flub:

A special variant of the Magnum estate, known as the Sportshatch, was produced in limited numbers (197) in 1976. This model used the "droopsnoot" nose cone, which had been designed by Wayne Cherry, Vauxhall's Chief Design Engineer to be used in the HP Firenza Droop Snoot model. In Trevor Alder's book "Vauxhall - The Post War Years" mention is made of a HP Firenza Sport Hatch prototype which was a one-off and was painted in silver starfire, with a six light version of the droop snoot nose and also sharing the Viva/Magnum estate body shell. This car (registration plate GNK 31N) has survived and is known to be in the hands of Vauxhall enthusiasts.

[Tom_I]

Indeed, it's the Wayne Cherry-designed prototype known as the "Silver Bullet".

I'm just relieved to have found a picture of this car, if only as an attempt to convince myself that I haven't gone completely senile yet!

I wouldn't get drawn into a debate as to whether or not you could call it a Magnum, though it was at least in some way a prototype of the Sportshatch. But then I have very little knowledge, or indeed interest, when it comes to Vauxhalls of the 1970s. They should be patented as an insomnia cure, IMO.

[Carnut]

Solved!
Award yourself a point Otto!
This is the car I referred to as an early Droopsnoot prototype but I couldn't find it - but of course it's not a Vauxhall Magnum...

[Otto Puzzell]

Well, it depends on who you ask. I'll send you a link to a online community of Vauxhall fans (difficult for Tom_I to accept, but they do exist) where they refer to that very car as a Magnum.

[knightfan26917]

a Vauxhall Magnum.

Off topic:

It has been interesting to me as I've been here how many cars "look" like others.  The pic you posted of the V Magnum ... made me think of a "Pontiacified Chevy Chevette" variant...lol.


This was an awesome game.  No, I didn't participate, but I sure enjoyed following along.  A few of 'em I knew right away what they were, such as the Ch#$r%*et Citation!  lol



Cort | 37.m.IL.pigValve.pacemaker | 5 Monte Carlos + 1 Caprice Classic |
MCs.CC + CHD.models.HO.legos.RadioShows + RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Another year comes to a close" ... Sylvia ... 'Reflections'

[Carnut]

Commonly lots of these GM cars contained the same design-team members, hence the strong corporate similarity.

Incidentally Chuck Jordan's obituary was in the Daily Telegraph a day or two ago.