Mystery Car

Robert Emslie

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Oh man, it looks like the new year is getting off to a rough start, last week’s Mystery Car being a particularly vexing contender. Sporty88au finally hit the mark on Sunday, but if you don’t want to turn back the pages of time, the answer is after the jump. Before that’s revealed however, you need to take a stab at today’s snippet of something.

While this is a new year and all – and I am trying to make these more of a challenge – one thing that doesn’t change is my proclivity for cars that are red. This one is just so sprayed, and also features some black car-bony fiber looking stuff to contrast. That’s some pretty high-end stuff, or so they say.

You know how this works – make, model, year-range and engine are needed for credit that’s as full figured as a Kardashian. And remember to make the jump for the shocking revelation of last week’s contender.

Woodies are typically most closely associated with American cars of the pre-rocket age, while steering wheels on the right frequently mean a car from the British Isles or its colonial holdings. Well, last week’s car – while possessing both of those features – was actually neither of those things.

Instead, it was in fact a 1952 Lancia Aurelia B53 Giardinetta, one of 47 built – and of two claimed to survive.

IMG_3332

The handsome wagon was penned by Carrozzeria Viotti and rode on the long wheelbase Aurelia B53 chassis. The Aurelia was the most advanced production car of its day featuring Lancia’s innovative 2-litre 70-bhp V6 and a 4-speed all synchromesh transmission. It’s hard to imagine today when the brand has been reduced to selling modestly rebadged Chryslers, but Lancia was once one of Europe’s automotive engineering leaders, sort of the BMW of Italy. What happened to them isn’t much of a mystery – poor finances and mergers doomed the once aspirational marque – and now, this amazing Aurelia’s identity is also clear.

Images: [©2013 Robert Emslie, All Rights Reserved]

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Robert Emslie

Robert Emslie

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17 responses to “Mystery Car”

  1. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    I think I'm wrong simply because it isn't the kind of car I would expect to have for mystery car, but that looks a lot like a new Dodge Challenger hood scoop. Just for kicks, let's say an 08 SRT8 with a 6.1L.
    <img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/cars/1/0/Z/C/1/chalsrt8_hood.jpg&quot; width="500/">

    Reply
    1. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
      Peter Tanshanomi

      My first thought as well, because I caught these at a local shopping center last night on my evening commute.
      Would you like stripes with that?
      <img src="http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/IMG_0854-cropped.jpg"&gt;

      Reply
  2. OA5599 Avatar
    OA5599

    Whatever it is certainly borrowed the hood scoop design from a Challenger.
    <img src="http://www.autofiends.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/kowalski1.jpg&quot; width=500>

    Reply
  3. muthalovin Avatar
    muthalovin

    Yeah, another vote for the Challenger
    <img src="http://americancarcraft.com/images/F52280524.jpg&quot; width=550>

    Reply
    1. OA5599 Avatar
      OA5599

      The mesh pattern on today's Mystery Car does not look like any I've seen on Challengers at the local dealership, and today's task is not going to be as easy as that photo would otherwise indicate. Graverobber has way too many tricks up his sleeve. I suspect that particular mesh design is unique to a limited series of Drag Pak/V10/Mr.Norm/Hennessey/whatever variants, or the hood shape was borrowed by a totally different car. Note that there are no windshield squirters visible in the Mystery Car picture, but the location in your picture and Danleym's suggest those should be within the cropped image.

      Reply
      1. mr. mzs zsm msz esq Avatar
        mr. mzs zsm msz esq

        Could it be a slightly earlier show car version? Wasn't Rob at the LA autoshow with the right timing?

        Reply
      2. danleym Avatar
        danleym

        I figured it wouldn't be quite that simple, but that line is unmistakeably a Dodge Challenger hood. I saw the carbon look on the stripes, I've never seen it before either, but as popular as it is I figured it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that it could have been an option. I didn't notice the missing squirters, though, which would point toward this being a track prepped variant (edit: or like said above, a pre-production show car).
        Also, I think we would have been seeing the engine callout in the cropped image, so whoever modified it cut that out, too.

        Reply
        1. OA5599 Avatar
          OA5599

          Don't forget this prior Mystery Car:
          <img src="http://hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/fnm67.jpg"&gt;
          <a href="http://hooniverse.info/2011/05/10/mystery-car-30/” target=”_blank”>http://hooniverse.info/2011/05/10/mystery-car-30/

          Reply
  4. SSurfer321 Avatar
    SSurfer321

    The 2014 Corvette, and you guys here had it first?!
    I think Danleym nailed it right out of the box.

    Reply
  5. kyle_a_m Avatar
    kyle_a_m

    I'm not ready to call it. Unless it's a special edition, I can't find an image of a Challenger that matches that grille insert pattern.
    I'm sure I've seen that pattern before, but I can't recall which manufacturer/designer.

    Reply
  6. Manic_King Avatar
    Manic_King

    Challenger doesn't mach also because area surrounding that grille looks different.

    Reply
  7. Scandinavian Flick Avatar
    Scandinavian Flick

    2009-2012 Dodge Ram 1500 with an MP-R carbon fiber hood. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it's the 5.7L Hemi.
    <img src="http://i.imgur.com/VrbrY.jpg"&gt;

    Reply
    1. danleym Avatar
      danleym

      Nicely done. I've never seen a Ram with that hood before.

      Reply
      1. Scandinavian Flick Avatar
        Scandinavian Flick

        Thanks. You definitely quickly nailed it with the styling, which sent me in the right direction.

        Reply
    2. mr. mzs zsm msz esq Avatar
      mr. mzs zsm msz esq

      <img src="http://imageshack.us/a/img41/781/volvoburnout3wt.jpg"&gt; Whoo-hoo congrats Flick, here have a 242 doing a burn-out, seriously you can check if you don't believe me. It's near your place already as I write this. None of this waiting for delivery by pretty face business here. Wait a minute… Oh those rats Kamil recommended! Here, sorry about that. <img src="http://cdn.blog.powerblocktv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/burnout2-630×200.png"&gt;

      Reply
      1. Scandinavian Flick Avatar
        Scandinavian Flick

        Yay, I've been gifted my own car! 😀 It's like re-gifting, while cutting out the middle man.
        Also, Volvo burning out on a Volvo? Yo dawg…

        Reply
    3. muthalovin Avatar
      muthalovin

      Fancy truck. Here's an NSX.
      <img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4k_sGVN9YMQ/UIfcRzY21iI/AAAAAAAALG4/ZjM7bjk2rDE/s1600/nsx+1.jpg&quot; width=550>

      Reply