Mystery car Rhodesia 1971?

[PhoenixCapri]

So my mum happened to be going through some old photos and showed me thisbone from an old flame. He sent it back from when he was living in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1971.

That question is, whatvis it?! Obviously a custom, and looks to have been built by a pretty skilled builder. Would guess based on a VW chassis or something given the big breadbin rear end and very low front. I kinda like it.

Any ideas?

[ratchart]

I'm 90% sure the wheels are 60s/ early 70s Buick. Could be a clue as to it's origins and running gear. Otherwise I've no idea. Good effort for the time though.

[brachunky]

I remember seeing what could have been the same over the border in SA. Could it be what was called an Eagle kit car?

[g60pops]

Nov 17, 2019 11:51:37 GMT brachunky said:

I remember seeing what could have been the same over the border in SA. Could it be what was called an Eagle kit car?

Wow, i also saw a very similar if not the same type vehicle in the early 80s in Zambia (Kitwe).

[colnerov]

Hi, Because the height of the front end I would agree that it's rear engine, the wheels as pointed out are five stud probably American. So it could be a kit car based on the Corvair, a quick google throws up a couple of companies, Centaur and Sterling which are close but not exact. There could of course be others.

Colin

[Deleted]

Another vote for Eagle

[bmcnut]

It reminded me of the pink panther car, so I googled it.



No then.

[Deleted]

Similar

[brachunky]

The mystery continues then! There were many beach buggy builders in the south who often looked for other ideas and expand their market share and ended up making cars like this, quite often VW based. Once upon a time I was seriously looking at a replacement fibreglass body for my rusty old MK4 Cortina pickup! They actually made them in Port Elizabeth but can't remember the outfits name.

[mrbounce]

I have just spent half an hour trying to figure it out but I have nothing. It looks a bit similar to some Matchbox cars I had as a kid but I do not have a clue other than that. I presume it does have some sort of GM-based mechanics given the wheels as stated above, but if it's a V8 how on earth was it kept cool??

Pretty sure that's not an Eagle though.

[bmcnut]

Crikey, somebody solve this please, I cant handle the thought of there being 2 mystery cars!

[ratchart]

The Corvair based idea seems quite likely. There were Corvair based buggies so I presume other VW type kit cars were also adapted to take the Chevy parts. With the 5 bolt wheels I's assume it's the "improved" non-falling-over MK2 version (Earlier Corvairs ha 4 bolt wheels).

The front of the car looks like it could have been influenced by Dean Jeffries' "Mantaray" from 1964.

[strikey]

could it be a one off? agreed it is probably rear engined but is the pcd big enough to be vw based?

[johnthesparky]

PCD doesn’t look big enough to be wide five to me,

It reminds me a bit of the Ferrari Breadvan

[chris y]

I'd guess that wheel pcd adapters were a thing back then. It's easy to imagine that it's vw based and wide five, with adapters to any five stud the builder liked the look of.

[moglite]

Nov 17, 2019 11:32:05 GMT ratchart said:

I'm 90% sure the wheels are 60s/ early 70s Buick. Could be a clue as to it's origins and running gear. Otherwise I've no idea. Good effort for the time though.

Those wheels look spot on

...so if it has American origins, then I so want it to have an Oldsmobile FWD engine/transaxle from one of these mounted at the rear for 5:95% weight distribution.

[Deleted]

American cars in Southern Africa in the 70’s were very few and far between. More likely to be Vw Beetle based as they were manufactured in Uitenhage in the Cape...

[brachunky]

Nov 18, 2019 15:45:22 GMT @johnnybravo said:

American cars in Southern Africa in the 70’s were very few and far between. More likely to be Vw Beetle based as they were manufactured in Uitenhage in the Cape...

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