This Car Is Related To The One Above because...

The first properly new car Morgan produced since 1948 was the Aero 8, a strange blend of new and old, stubbornly retaining the pre-war design queues while also bringing things up to date. The problem with those pre-war front wings is that once you get above a certain speed, they start to create lift. You can either ditch the front wings, as many racers did, or modernise the body so it's actually aerodynamic rather than just looking aerodynamic. That's essentially the route Morgan took with the Aero 8.

What they also did was use the headlights from Rover's last car, the BMW MINI. That's right, Rover's last car before they disappeared completely was actually the Mini, not the 75. There's enough information scattered about fora and other internet cubbyholes that catalogue all the little Rover stamps and markings on the pre-production car, on parts that are unique to the Mini rather than parts bin items.  There's also records of designs, etc. for those wanting to hunt them out.  Bit too good for Rover, so BMW nicked it and rode the massive success that it became.

The Morgan ended up with the Mini headlights to counteract its biggest flaw which was the original cross eyed look of the VW Beetle headlights it originally wore. Which brings us neatly to another anachronism by association the VW Type 2, sold in Brazil as late as 2013, and which switched to a water cooled engine rather than the traditional air cooled engine, which is why they get that weird looking front end to accomodate the radiator.

Anyway, the car I'm linking here isn't that, it's the car that provided the engine to the Brazilian market Type 2 which is the VW Gol. It might look like a Mk2 Polo, but it isn't, and it started out with a front-mounted air cooled engine as found in the Beetle.

That's a good looking thing, has hints of Dino and Cosmo in the headlights, Miura in the door B pillar profile, Opel GT in the overall shape and size. Some of the other body shapes have hints of Alfa to them too. Brazil has lots of exotic (to us) gems like that in their car history.

Do you know, I'd always assumed Gordon Murray was Scottish, turns out he's actually South African, born to Scottish parents. So, South Africa and fibreglass cars then. Up until now I only know South Africa vehicle production as being a military thing so fully expected to be looking at something heavy until I stumbled across South Africa's first production car, the 1957/8 Protea from GRP Engineering.

It's a surprisingly well proportioned little thing and unusual in that for a first production car, it's a sports car. Normally, firsts like this are fairly basic, cheap transport focusing on getting the country moving with local products rather than making something fun. But then by the time the Protea was released, other manufacturers like VW and GM were already selling cars in South Africa so perhaps that more ordinary demand had no need to be met by the domestic market so they could kick off with something fun.



It's incredibly difficult to find anything out about the Protea, it's such a short lived and low production thing. There's an interesting article here: www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/03/27/african-car-no/ There's a tiny snippet of information here too: www.travelandtradesouthafrica.com/2012/03/vintage-and-classic-cars-south-africa.html

"John Streeter and Ivor Smith produced a handful of crude cycle cars in 1913. These are generally regarded as the first cars to be built in South Africa. Sales were limited to three units only. The next effort to produce a South African car occurred 40 years later. Roland Fincher, Alexander Roy, John Myers and Miriam and Robert Hudson built the Protea. 20 units were produced and the company was incorporated in November 1956. The Protea made its debut at the Rand Spring Motor Show in 1957. Although the Protea won the Pietermaritzburg Six Hours’ Endurance Race, Myers and John Mason-Gordon driving, it was not a financially viable car."

What that does shed some light on is that there was something that preceded the Protea but from the sounds of it, they were more South Africa's first car, rather than first production car. I've been unable to find any information on these early cyclecars beyond that brief mention above so, for the sake of this thread, I shall disregard it unless of course someone can dig up something on that.

This was not a route I expected to find myself going down from a Midas, so that's been educational. I just wish I could have found a bit more out about the Protea to share with you.

Q car you say?? How about:
Qvale was an independent Italian car manufacturer founded in 2000 by the American Bruce Qvale. Qvale's sole product was the Mangusta, originally the De Tomaso Biguà. Financial troubles forced De Tomaso to look for a business partner whom he found in the American Bruce Qvale, an importer and distributor of a number of exclusive cars in the United States. The De Tomaso Biguà was renamed the Mangusta, a historic name (see De Tomaso Mangusta).

As the first cars were about to be delivered, Qvale and De Tomaso parted ways. Qvale took over the factory and the car's production. De Tomaso, however, refused to allow the use of his name. The first Mangustas were delivered to their customers with De Tomaso badges, which subsequently had to be exchanged at the dealers for the now-official Qvale logos.

Between 2000 and 2002, Qvale built 284 cars, the majority of which were exported to the USA. The lack of a well-known brand name, the slowing economy, and the unusual design made marketing the car difficult. In 2003, Qvale sold the rights to the Mangusta to Britain's MG Rover Group.

In 2004, MG launched the MG SV and SVR. Designed by MGSR (MG Sport & Racing, the racing division of the MG Rover Group), the SV was based on the structure, suspension, engine and gearbox of the Mangusta. The car was built largely in Italy, with some fitting and pre-delivery customisation in the UK.
So we get to:

Fiat build my first brand new car; a Fiat Panda CLX Selecta with sunroof and Borbet mags.I can't find a photo but it had the same color as this one

Or if you prefer the rear window sloping radically in the other direction, then you might end up with the Ami M35 with a rotary engine too, designed in collaboration with NSU.

The most interesting thing about the Ro80 is probably its styling. This is a car build in the 1960s that still looked relevant in the 1990s. The curving styling of the car is not like anything else, combined with the unusual engine choice and body-matching lights front and rear, it didn't grow dated in the same way as other cars.

There's other cars that were out of step, naturally. The SAAB 96, the first Ford Sierra, the Austin Princess... but all of those cars look old now, dated, classic. The NSU doesn't, it's not of a particular era, it stands alone. There are very, very few cars that achieve that.

The only other car I can think of that comes close to this is the Nissan Rasheen. It's at odds with its contemporaries, and the styling is such that it's not immediately obvious at first that it's from Nissan. It's not the same timeless thing as the Ro80 has, it's just the only other car I can think of that comes close to it because it's not trying to look like its from another era, it's just... different.

A good old small 4x4 link... The Ford Bronco