The most desirable Mercury Cougars are the 1967 and 1968 versions (1st design); after which the Cougar progressively became bigger, bulkier, and overall worse. That being said, sometimes in the right light in Brooklyn, when one sees a ‘lost’ Cougar like this 1973 (i’m estimating)….it looks absurdly large and early 70s in a cool way. Vinyl roof, chrome wheels, and look at the size of that trunk lined complete with flying buttresses! Pimptastic….and funky.
I had never heard of the ISO LELE until today. In fact I don’t even remember ever seeing a picture or anything of it. Much to my surprise I was thumbling through some UK classic car mag and saw a yellow one plastered all around a couple of pages. The first thing I thought was that it looked like a rejected Bertone concept—-the Montreal-style eyelids in the front, and the swooping Espada-like side profile. I have to say having come home and looked at some more photos—-i’m starting to see some of the 1969 Frua-inspired ‘coupe’ wedge design influences on the car pop up more. The car was penned by Gandini, which would explain this whoring of design features.
Oh, and it had a GM or a Ford sourced V8 under the hood (depending on the year it was produced between 1969 and 1974—which makes it sort of like an illegal immigrant version of a ‘wannabe’ Montreal, really….
Fascinating car. Always nice to discover new things in the world of automobiles.
all photos taken from: Concept Carz
here’s a short video i found of one being pulled out of storage and onto a flatbed. It has interesting proportions, looks a lot more ‘practical’ in shape compared to other ISOs of the time.
also a primitive, yet informative page about the Lele:
http://www.californiaclassix.com/archive/72_Iso_Lele_c107.html
so quattro Audis are simply sensational in inclement weather….and DAMN fun to screw around with in the snow…—but how did Audis do before quattro in the snow? How much fun is it to screw around in the snow in a pre-quattro audi? well these people are making a bit of a mess with this pretty decent example of an Audi 100LS.
EDIT: it seems you can only watch this on youtube due to some copyright issues.
all i know about this photo is that it is from 1974 during a rallye cross and the driver is Harald Neger.
So the Alpine A110 is the holy grail of all cars for me…..however, these days i’m starting to get interested in the A310 as well…..so once i get my A110, maybe i can get an A310 to join it in the garage? yeah, DREAM ON, IEDEI!
Here’s a nice pic of a 1974 A310 jumping it up!
i love this car. so unknown….perfect car for a sniper. The Maserati Kyalami.
some history (via: http://www.maserati-alfieri.co.uk/alfieri102.htm)
“In 1974 after a period of financial turmoil, Citroën, the then owners of Maserati, placed the company into liquidation. By 1975, Maserati was in the hands of a partnership berween Alejandro DeTomaso and GEPI (an Italian state organisation whose sole purpose was the protection of Italian jobs). DeTomaso’s Longchamp had not proved the success he had hoped and sales were low. During this time of re-organisation, DeTomaso was desperate to produce a new flagship Maserati. Given Maserati’s financial restraints, his solution was to call in Pietro Frua’s design studio in Turin to re-style the Longchamp and so was born the Kyalami.”
Brad from Automobiliac has aptly and entertainingly chronicled the story of my attempt to secure one of my all time classic cars (BMW 2002 Turbo) recently. Late Friday night, i recieved confirmation that this was NOT going to work out…….as the car was not what i thought it was…..
I will be posting more about this weird and awkward attempt at finding a classic car for my collection later this week….but in the mean time, read Automobiliac’s version of the story here (very entertaining):
http://www.automobiliac.com/automobiliac/2010/8/7/alaskan-fools-gold-you-heard-it-here-first.html
Ahhhhh, if I only had the $$$—-i’d be ALL OVER THIS! A beautiful example of a 1973 Lancia Fulvia 1.3S and what the owner is calling the “Monte Carlo Edition”.
Check out the auction for more pictures and information
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150384040959&viewitem=#ht_500wt_924
This was due to be the replacement for the Lamborghini Urraco, however it was launched to the world as a concept in 1974 by Bertone, however the global economy was slumping, fuel costs were rising, and Ferrucio Lamborghini was retiring. From what i’ve read, there is widespread reporting that this Bravo was tested heavily prior to its introduction (40,000+ miles), but unfortunately it never made it to production. 3.0L engine pumping 300hp through a small, relatively light body and short wheelbase. Smaller, lower, and shorter than the Countach, it definitely ‘borrowed’ some ideas from the Countach.
It looks like Lamborghini would have definitely had an amazing rival to the Ferrari Dino, had they have made this…..
Word is, you can still see the car at the Bertone Museum in Turin, Italy.
IEDEI 