You learn something new... - Cars you didn't know existed, until now!

  • Thread starter Rue
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I only known about the Concept cars from 2002, I didn't know about this Prototype. I only know about it due to a Dupont Registry issue I have lying around.
http://www.motortrend.com/news/worlds-slowest-ford-gt-goes-to-auction/

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Cowboy
Had no idea MG was still in business until I came across the MG3.

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Yea MG have kept a relatively low profile, even here in the UK, things seemed to have been kept quite ever since MG's first full model in over a decade(?), aka the MG 6 was introduced in 2011.

I remember when the MG 6 was released, it was sort of publicised how MG was back in the UK, at their original home in Longbridge. But also that the new models were being assembled there too, when actual what actually happens is the the MG 6 and 3 were/are being assembled at the Nanjing plant in China and in Chanbang, Thailand, before being shipped to the UK, where they semi-strip the car down and do a "partial re-assembly", as if to say "hey look, the car's built in the UK", when it's not really. But otherwise, as @CLowndes888 pointed out, they're Chinese owned; specifically owned by SAIC Motors.

As for sales and the cars themselves? Well they don't seem to sell too well over here, certainly somewhat exclusive from what I've seen, after all I've only seen maybe dozen or so MG 6's round by me, and even less of the 3; only seen a couple of them so far. But the main market is obviously in China, where MG sales are strong of course. The cars themselves, well from reviews and opinions I've heard and seen, the MG3 and 6 don't seem to be too bad, not particularly the best, but not the worst per say but I can't speak having not owned one :lol:.

But yea, you'd quite easily forgot that they're still going, at least that's how it seems to me too. The only thing that reminds me of the existence is their activity in BTCC still, though the 888 run MG 6's are starting to show their age a bit now, as their competitive edge is diminishing.
 
The current MG 3 radio ad doing the rounds says (I quote) "...it's like a Fiesta but cheaper".

No-one buys them, hence no-one has an opinion on them. They're just there.
 
Turbo
1971-1974 Intermeccanica Indra







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Intermeccanica was a small Italian automobile company, which made both original sports cars and replicas of existing sports cars. The Indra, named for a Hindu goddes, was one of Intermeccanica's original creations. It came in coupe, notchback and convertible form. This car was constructed using mostly Chevrolet and Opel parts, and most Indras were sold in North America. Only 125 of these were made.

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Why didn't they just sold most of their cars in their home country, it seems niche to sell them in North America.

bdj57
Idk if there is W140 S-Class estate before :

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This one belong to Brunei's Royal Family :



Also, here is Lamborghini L30, designed by Horacio Pagani in early 90's as successor to Countach, but the whole thing is scrapped and instead the Diablo was born. You can also see these design had influence to the later Zonda :

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Hey, what are those anime characters on your profile pic?
 
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Carbon_6
Not sure if race cars can be included in this thread, but I never even knew there was a GT3 variant of the TVR Sagaris. :confused:

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Used to race in the Britcar series in the late '00s apparently, including a couple Silverstone 24hr races.
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Not sure if it's the same chassis or not, but if it is, it didn't get anymore attractive!!

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Clark
@Carbon_6 Since when was that Gt3 spec?
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I'm gonna take the question as meaning when did the car first appear.

Its origins are sketchy at best, but the first results racked up by the car seem to start around 2007, racing in the Britcar 24 at Silverstone that year but DNF'd. Coincidentally, I found out it was the same race in which the Clarkson, Hammond and May Top Gear trio competed with their diesel BMW 3-Series.

It was run full time by Track Power for the newly formed 2008 Britcar GT Championship that incorporated 9 endurance events, notching up a win at Spa.

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Unfortunately, it crashed again during that year's Silverstone 24 Hours, writing itself off in the process... and that seems to be it.

Of the chassis that survived, they were converted into the cars that @MatskiMonk mentioned, with the odd one or two still competing today in small national club races.
 
Clark
No as in it’s never been homoglated as a GT3 car.
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I'm not sure where @Carbon_6 has found his info, possibly Racing Sports Cars.

In 2008 the TVR Sagaris raced in Britcar Class 1 according to timing sheets provided by TSL.

According to Britcar, Class 1 is:

The 2008 Britcar 24 Hour Race is for Competitors participating in closed cars of the following types ‐ FIA, ACO and British GT Championship GT Cars (as defined in their championship regulations), other GT cars, Modified Sports Cars, Super Touring Cars, Touring Cars, Production Saloon Cars, Modified Production Saloon Cars, Cars from single make or single chassis Championships and replica Production Sports and GT Cars. The Organisers reserve the right to refuse to accept the entry of a car which they deem to be inappropriate for the race for any reason. The Britcar 24 Hour Race will be run for the following classes:
• Class 1 – GT3
• Class 2 – GT Cup
• Class 3 – upto 3500cc
• Class 4 – upto 2500cc
• Class 5 – upto 1995cc
• Class Diesel

I notice that later on it became know as a GTF Sagaris? I photographed it the Britcar 24 in 2010/2011 (I think), then again in 2015. I didn't have a camera for 2006 and 2007, or the Britcar 500... so I really don't remember if I saw it racing then or not...
 
I distinctly remember that Sagaris getting a fair bit of screentime when Top Gear did the 2007 Brticar 24 Hour, so it was used before then at least.
 
RouWa
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That's a Melkus RS 1000. It's based on the Wartburg 353 made in East Germany.
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Think I may have posted about the Melkus in this thread some pages back. A fantastic looking, really quite quirky little sports car.

Also went racing too since it was basically made in homologation for Group 4. Was also turned into a prototype race, forming the basis for the PT73 Spyder as well.

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Although more recently; wasn't that recent, but I think you get the idea :lol:, I found that Melkus started making cars again...sort of.

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The Melkus RS2000, based on the Lotus Elise (if you hadn't of guessed due to it's Lotus-esque proportions). Naturally it's pretty light at just under a tonne, plus it seems it shared the same Toyota 4-banger as the Elise with around 250hp or so for the "base" models with up to 350hp for the top line "GTS" model.

And when I say they've "sort of" started making cars again, well that's because they went bankrupt in 2012 from what I could see. Which may explain why the the RS2000 had such silly prices of well over €100,000. The relatively standard "GT" was planned to cost €122,000 (or roughly £107,000 over here) to €148,000/£130,000 for the GTS. Granted this is like 6 years ago, but it's still a mad price for what is ultimately a small sports car. And at the end of the day I'm not too sure if any made it to full blown production, since info is scarce at best.
 
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I couldn't put this into the Did You See Anything Good Today? thread because I didn't get a real-time photo of it, but then I'd never even seen one before so it made sense to drop it off here.

Today I saw for the very first time a DKW Munga.

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The name is apparently abbreviated from the German phrase Mehrzweck UNiversal Geländewagen mit Allradantrieb, which translates as "multi-purpose universal off-road car with all-wheel drive".
 

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