What cars have the most complicated/confusing histories?

"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv) 04/11/2020 at 15:05 • Filed to: None

2

16

Here’s an IKA Renault Torino, basically an AMC Rambler with Italian bodywork and an inline six from a Jeep, built under license in Argentina by IKA, and also Renault is involved somehow. Then t hey raced at the 1969 Nü rburgring 84 H ours and officially won fourth place, everyone loved it, and they made them for a frickin’ long time. This car has a complicated history, but I’m sure it’s not the most complicated history. What are your favorite cars/trucks/vans etc. that  you know of that have extremely complicated/confusing histories?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 15:20

2

an AMC Rambler with Italian bodywork and an inline six from a Jeep, built under license in Argentina by IKA, and also Renault is involved somehow

Woah; that’s some pedigree. 

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 15:24

5

BMW M1

What started as a joint development project between lamborghini and BMW for a new competition-specific car because a convoluted mess behind every possible scene. A few of the highlights

- The partnership between lamborghini and BMW fell apart due to BMW losing faith in Lamborghini

-There was a rules change so the car that was supposed to compete in Class 5 would now be in Class 4

-Since Lamborghini was facing financial difficulties, but had already made some of the prototypes and molds, BMW had to break in to their factory after the banks locked the doors to get all this equipment out

-With the successful heist, no less than THREE outside companies made the body panels and chassis components that BMW couldn’t do in house

-Ah, I should explain, this was done by BMW’s motorsports division, not the pasenger car division. Making 400 cars is no problem for the passenger side. Making 400 race cars by hand is....... rough.

But it was worth it in the end. It got its own one-make racing series that was a nice F1 support series. It did okay in endurance racing for a number of years. An d it actually got a few podiums in rallying (not for WRC points, though).

EL_ULY > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 15:29

4

Mitsubishi Eclipes:

AWD sportscar

E co-convertible  

SUV

Jim Spanfeller > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 04/11/2020 at 15:48

3

Wow. You know a car means business when they had to do a heist to pull it off!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 15:53

1

Designed in Brasil in 2012

Based on the 2011 Fiesta

First imported to the USA in 2018

Built in India

Pronounced Echo-Sport ** r age intensifies**

Wikipedia has this to say about the wipers

There are the specification differences of wipers:

2012-16 LHD version:Brazilian-built non-standard flat wipers

2016–present LHD version:Standard flat wipers

2012-17 South American LHD version:Brazilian-built non-standard flat wipers

2013–present Indian-built RHD version:Conventional wipers

2016–present RHD version:Standard flat wipers

2018–present South American LHD version:Hybrid wipers with conventional wiper arms

2018–present North American LHD version (Indian-built):Standard flat wipers (butterfly setup)

This exists

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/11/2020 at 16:10

1

The wipers thing gives me a headache...

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 16:13

1

What will really cook your noodle is that someone cared enough to compile that information, becoming pretty much the only source for comparing Ecosport wiper specifications.

MultiplaOrgasms > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 16:15

3

South American companies were really good at that sort of thing:

M y personal favourite, the 1967-1969 Simca Esplanada.

It looks a bit like a late 60s Plymouth, and you’d be right for thinking so, as Chrysler bought the Simca brand in 1967. Simca itself began by license building Fiats in the 1930s and eventually began designing its own cars in the 1950s. Also in the 1950s, Simca bought Ford... of France, who at the time were building this rather stuffy looking saloon car, the Ford Vedette:

Unusually for any french car, the Vedette had a V8 engine. In fact this car had a modified version of the Fords 136ci (2.2L) Flathead V8, available in american Fords from 1936 to 1940, by 1954 it had grown to 2.4L and 84hp and was now called the “Aquilon”. Ford of France had just finished development of the second generation Vedette, which carried over most of the old running gear, including the V8. The newly born Simca Vedette (which was still badged as a Ford for some export markets even though Ford no longer had any involvement)

was kept in production until 1961, gaining some svelte tailfins in the process and also a 1.3L I4 powered economy variant called the Ariane. A nd as per usual, it then traveled to where all euro- american orphans eventually end up: Brasil.

Simca do Brasil kept the old bodystyle in production for yet another couple of years, gradually increasing the amount of brasilian parts, and even finding time to improve the by now an cient 2.4L Flathead V8 out of which they managed to extract a fairly impressive 120hp (at least for a modestly sized sidevalve engine dating back to 1936).

But they were still not done yet. By 1966, the redesigned Esplanada was unveiled, still based largely on the 1954 Vedette, but now with contemporary styling. T he most interesting piece was found under the hood, a 2.5L engine known as the Emi-Sul. Still based on that old Ford Flathead architecture, it had gained new OHV cylinder heads with hemispherical combustion chambers which increased output to a very solid 140hp .

In 1967 Chrysler acq uired Simca and its relatives. The Esplanada was slightly facelifted in 1968 and quie t ly discontinued in 1969 to make way for the Dodge Dart. But in that brief period, Chrysler sold a b rasilian Simca , designed in France, and powered by a Ford Flathead HEMI V8. 

Jim Spanfeller > MultiplaOrgasms 04/11/2020 at 16:37

1

I love the “other C hrysler Hemi”. That’d be a fun car to import to America to confuse people at car shows with :)

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > MultiplaOrgasms 04/11/2020 at 17:29

2

That is a level of crazy that may never exist again. Thank you, good sir.

Jim Spanfeller > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 04/11/2020 at 18:28

0

I also forgot to mention it’s a Kaiser-Jeep engine, so there’s another brand to add to the mix :p

SmugAardvark > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 18:37

0

I actually wrote a magnificent   thinkpiece on the IKA Renault Torino.

Okay, so it was less a thinkpiece, and more of a rambling, incoherent babbling of questionable sanity.

But anyway, back to the question at hand. Not really the most complicated or confusing, but pretty nutso, the Cadillac Allante. The Allante’s body was designed and built by Pininfarina, in Italy . Once the bodies of the car were built, they were loaded into specially customized Boeing 747's, flown from Turin to Detroit, where GM actually assembled the car (using at first Cadillac’s very ‘meh’ 4.1L V8). Those reconfigured 747's could only carry 56 bodies at a time, which meant they had to make nearly 400 flights to get the cars over throughout its 7-year run.

On top of that, the interior is a bit of a mess. There are 54 different switches and buttons, many with tiny writing or symbols on them. If you didn’t remember where every toggle and tab was, you’d have to take your eyes off the road long enough to find what you were looking for.

A lot of effort for a FWD with a 170hp V8. On top of that, it cost $54,700. In 2020 money, that’s a little over $125,000.

Granted, in its final year, the Allante did get the Northstar V8. While that mill does have its own share of issues, it also came with 295 hp on tap, dropping the 0-60 time from 10 seconds to 6.3 seconds.

Wacko > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 04/11/2020 at 20:09

1

Every time I see one of those I am amazed on how ugly they are, and that people actually bought some

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Wacko 04/11/2020 at 20:42

0

The rear tailgate release is inside the taillight just so you know.

Old-Busted-Hotness > Jim Spanfeller 04/11/2020 at 21:11

0

There are two GT40 MkII (427) with the same serial number (1012 IIRC). At some point, the car was badly wrecked and rebodied. Then the wrecked shell was rebuilt and built up.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Jim Spanfeller 04/12/2020 at 15:09

0

Wow, that is super weird