Topic: Information Requests || What is this car ? thread

[Carnut]

Could well be; the wheelbase looks the same..

[nicanary]

Thanks for the comments. The whole of the auto-related internet is waiting for AP to solve this.

It seems so odd that such an attractive and apparently well-built car can leave no record behind of its existence.

[Carnut]

Thanks for the comments. The whole of the auto-related internet is waiting for AP to solve this.

It seems so odd that such an attractive and apparently well-built car can leave no record behind of its existence.

There'll be something somewhere, though maybe not on the Internet since it must be from 55 or so years ago!

[iani]

Does anyone have any images or know anything about a British kit car called the Kenley TT please?  From the limited information I have, the Kenley was offered in the late 1980s (possibly from c.1986 to 1990) and was a coupe based on a Triumph Herald.  If any fellow AP fans can add any extra information, I will be very grateful.  Thanks.

There was a Stanbury TT, you could buy a set of plans quite reasonably around that era, though it was a hideous 'ali over ply' 30s styled tourer, could that be what you're after? O maybe stanbury folded and someone carried on selling the plans?

One for sale here:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C670999#

[Paul Jaray]

Kenley Engineering was active in 1986.
Their TT had a Triumph Herald engine.
You can read few lines about in 'The Beaulieu Encycopedia', 'A-Z of Kit Cars' and in 'British Specialist Cars'. No pics there.

[iani]

this oneoff beast?
from http://www.totalkitcar.com/2015/09/24/steve-says-friday-september-25-2015/

Looks suspiciously like a stanbury, two were never the same!

[Paul Jaray]

Precisely!

[Carnut]

Thanks for the comments. The whole of the auto-related internet is waiting for AP to solve this.

It seems so odd that such an attractive and apparently well-built car can leave no record behind of its existence.

There'll be something somewhere, though maybe not on the Internet since it must be from 55 or so years ago!

What is amusing is all the replies on the other forums; one thought it looked like a Bond Equipe; another thought its shape was very TVR Tina (has he ever actually seen the TVR Tina? it's so far away from that as to be laughable!); yet another was convinced it was a Sunbeam Alpine (well, the rear wings are a bit similar!)  One thing it most certainly isn't is any of those, or in fact any well-known car at all and certainly no production car.  It looks well-made so could perhaps be coachbuilt, although if it was you'd think there would be pictures of it around.  I would say it's most probably a prototype from one of the established kit-car/specials firms like Falcon, but quite why there seem to be no other pictures or records is certainly a mystery.

[Paul Jaray]

Don't forget Ashley.
What stikes me is that this picture can be found in a book about busses and the main subject were those red ones!
The car was captured by mistake? I don't think so but who would have an interest to stage that picture with that nice car? A coachbuilding firm that worked on those busses? 

[Carnut]

Don't forget Ashley.
What stikes me is that this picture can be found in a book about busses and the main subject were those red ones!
The car was captured by mistake? I don't think so but who would have an interest to stage that picture with that nice car? A coachbuilding firm that worked on those busses?

That's a good possibility.
The car seems vaguely familiar, but whether that's because it jogs an old memory or because I've looked at it so many times recently I don't know!

[nicanary]

Don't forget Ashley.
What stikes me is that this picture can be found in a book about busses and the main subject were those red ones!
The car was captured by mistake? I don't think so but who would have an interest to stage that picture with that nice car? A coachbuilding firm that worked on those busses?

Yet again we return to the Sunbeam Alpine connection. I wonder if Thomas Harrington decided to attempt their own car? It has similarities to the Alpine, and maybe they selected a more mundane chassis as the base for their own design. Just a thought.

[Allan L]

Yet again we return to the Sunbeam Alpine connection. I wonder if Thomas Harrington decided to attempt their own car? It has similarities to the Alpine, and maybe they selected a more mundane chassis as the base for their own design. Just a thought.

I don't know, but I did hear a talk about Harringtons coachbuilders by Clive Harrington (a member of the same family) and I think he might have mentioned it, had there been a project like that. They also did the Dove GTR4 for Dove of Wimbledon:

Clive had restored the Harrington Alpine that raced at Le Mans and told us that he showed it to Peter Proctor, the surviving driver, who told him off for omitting the ashtray as both he and Peter Harper smoked like chimneys during the race. How times change!

[Carnut]

This car is featured on another  well-known website, and has me stumped. Any ideas?

I see it's the mystery car in the February issue of Classic & Sports Car!
They reckon it's Ford or Panhard based, but I've no idea where they get those ideas from..
Let's see if they get any replies; someone, somewhere knows!

[Djetset]

A belated thank you to JP and Iani for the info and image of the Kenley TT, which now all comes flooding back to me as I knew I'd seen it before, but couldn't remember what it looked like  .

[Wendax]

Maybe the solution is very simple. Otto has posted a Swiss registered car in his camping thread that I can't identify. Any ideas whether this is just an ordinary American car, a Swiss coachbuild job or anything else?

[Carnut]

This car is featured on another  well-known website, and has me stumped. Any ideas?

I see it's the mystery car in the February issue of Classic & Sports Car!
They reckon it's Ford or Panhard based, but I've no idea where they get those ideas from..
Let's see if they get any replies; someone, somewhere knows!

None of the sites on which this car appears has any idea of what it might be.  There are plenty of guesses, mainly like the "A looks a bit like a Bond; is it one of those?" variety, most of which are miles wide of the mark.  One similarity doesn't remotely mean it's any relation.

It looks a professionally built car and - to me - it seems a bit French.  But the only possibility I can possibly come up with is that it's a now-forgotten car by Pedro Serra.  There are a couple of Serra signatures there; he liked windscreens like that; look at the rear panel vents compared to those on his Pegaso pictured below; he also like heavily-hooded headlights and used them on a few models (look at those on his 1959 Renault Spider, also below).
I believe there was a book about Serra, which I don't have.  Is there anything in it that might resemble this mystery car?  I've copied the picture of the mystery car again for comparison.

[nicanary]

James Elliott of C & SC has posted on another forum that so far there have been no replies to this mystery car. This is very unusual.

When you consider how much knowledge and information there is about classic cars, and the availability of all that info on the internet, I am lost for words. It's so stylish and apparently well-built - you'd think this car would be remembered.

[Delorean]

Would anybody happen to know what this is? I found it on a Facebook page and nobody seems to know what it is ...

[sixtee5cuda]

I've seen pictures of it before, Delorean.  Unfortunately, I can't remember what it was called.  Those rims appear to be from an Alfa Romeo.

[sixtee5cuda]

I found eight images of this car a while back, and wanted to make it a puzzle.  Unfortunately, I cannot find any solid information about who built it, or what it is based upon.

This purple Bugatti replica is said to be based upon either a Mercedes-Benz E-class, or a 1939 Buick.  The detail shot shows a large leaf spring in the front suspension, leading me to suspect it is based on a Buick.  The car is said to have been photographed both on the street, and at auto shows, in the Ukraine.  Some photos show the car with chrome side pipes leaving the engine compartment (and American $100 bills embedded in the paint).

The phone number shown below the MAUS plate, is for a company called either Maratex or Maratecks.

Can anyone else track down the origins of this car?

[Carnut]

I know that Avto Nomer site as one which has a lot of pictures of Russian self-built cars; I've sourced a few puzzles from there, some of which have never been solved!

[Iluvatar]

Who knows this racer? Pictures were shooted in Milano, but I have no names and no date...

[nicanary]

I wish I could help you, but so far I've found nothing of substance. I've checked through Denis Jenkinson's annual Racing Car Reviews which contain period photographs, but there's nothing which is similar. My first thought was that it's one of the modified Maserati Milanos, but I don't think it is.

It's way too well-built to be a minor homebuilt car - I feel that it's almost certainly a Maserati of some kind, quite possibly a rebodied pre-war car. I'll have to have a lengthy check of my Black Books.

[Ray B.]

This picture is dated november 1984, taken in the 18th arrondissement (district) of Paris, France. The man, one of the best impersonators of Popeye I've ever seen. I can't make up my mind about the car. It doesn't seem to be a Gremlin (different door handle) or an Avanti (they have vent windows) yet these are the only two cars I'm thinking of with the same quarter window. Also, they're are more chances that it's an european car.
Any idea?

[oko94]

It's a Datsun 120a.