Saturday, December 21, 2024

Friday, December 20, 2024

1935 Mercedes Benz 500K


Mercedes commissioned the coachbuilders Erdmann and Rossi to build this car for the 1935 Exhibition in Barcelona. King Ghazi of Iraq attended the event and wanted to buy the car. Mercedes declined his offer to buy that car but agreed to have another built for the king. Both cars exist today. Read more here.

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

1984 ZBR Diavolino


The Diavolino (Little Devil) was the successor to the Lawil S3 . The front was designed to resemble the American Jeep. The vehicle was quite successful in Switzerland where it could be driven by 16 year olds. An effort to expand production an enter the world market failed due to financial problems.

Tuesday, December 17, 2024

1991 Nissan Figaro


The Figaro was made for the Japanese market. It was only in production for one year and 20,073 vehicles were made. All were right hand drive and several thousand were imported as grey market cars to England and Ireland. Additional information at Wikipedia.
 

Monday, December 16, 2024

1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt



The Thunderbolt was a concept vehicle  produced by the coachbuilders LaBaron. It was introduced at the 1940 New York Auto Show. Total production was five cars. it had an aluminum body on a steel frame. The Spitfire 6 cylinder engine produced 143 hp and the transmission was a semi automatic fluid drive 3 speed.

Sunday, December 15, 2024

1975 Fiat Baldi "Frog"



The Fiat Baldi was introduced as a solution to increasing traffic congestion. It was produced from 1973 until 1975 and only 300 were made. It is powered by a 125cc Lambretta scooter engine through a 4 speed transmission driving the rear wheels.