Dear Jalopnik,

I went to the local scrap yard the other day to look for parts to restore my 1977 Daihatsu F20, and I found these amazing autos just lying there unappreciated!

I had to send send you the pics, the cars are truly spectacular!

Regards,

Rashid Al-Mohannadi,
Long time reader, first time contributor

Very cool Rashid, and thanks for the images. We spy an Audi 80, a Hummer H1, a tragically burnt Bentley with a mechanically intact engine begging for a new home and other goodies. Both the doorless, lifted Cadillac DeVille and that high-rise intake wearing Camaro are just begging for some serious desert hoonery.

The Land Rover is the supercharged model with custom rims and some aftermarket trim added, big threatening speakers in the trunk, and paint as Alaska White as the WWE fanbase. We can only assume it's for sale because it turned on him in a surprising act of sudden treachery!

The Continental Speed GT has had some mild chip-and-exhaust work, a grille kit, and custom wheels, but is mostly stock. Like Batista, it probably needs belts, but we assume it face-heel turns on a dime.

[eBay via Celeb Cars Blog]

Paddy Hopkirk's "33EJB" Cooper S

Five years after its introduction, the Mini was already somewhat of a hit. In 1964 Paddy Hopkirk made it into a sensation when he won the Monte Carlo Rally. Hopkirk and navigator Henry Liddon beat a factory team of eight fire-breathing V-8 Ford Falcons headed by Graham Hill with a combination of good recon, excellent Mini handling, and the skills Hopkirk learned on the cobbles of his native Belfast (and some help from the handicap rules, but that's hardly important or particularly romantic). Suddenly Hopkirk was the kind of celebrity that couldn't get arrested in London, certainly a rarity for an Irishman in the Sixties, and the Mini was a performance icon, certainly something no one expected from a car Alec Issigonis designed to compete with German bubble-cars. Minis won the rally three more times until 1967, forever cementing their reputation as giant-killers.

Photo: BMW Group

Mini-Moke

"Moke" means "Donkey," and there's perhaps no better automotive equivalent of Eeyore than the Moke, which like the cartoon donkey, seems terribly unsuited for its intended role—this was going to be a military vehicle?— but also like its namesake it endures, despite everything. It's a lot, well, cuter than Eeyore, it must be said, and because it's so popular as a light-duty beach buggy, it spends a lot less time being bedraggled in the rain. Our advice to the folks using the Mini name now: Drop this silly new coupe stuff and give us one of these, changing as little as possible.

Photo: Getty Images

Mini Countryman Woody

Simply put, it's a Mini estate car with wood framing. Mechanically, it's nothing unusual, nor is it particularly remarkable from a woodworking standpoint. But the net effect is comfortable, rustic, and makes one want to go get a tweed gamekeeper's coat and wingshoot some grouse. You know we like it if we chose it over the Coutryman pickup or "Minimino." Recent reports say the Countryman name, if not the wood frame, will be brought back soon, which we consider something of a job half-done.

Photo: Wikipedia

Mark VII Mini

The last of the first, Rover's 1996 to 2000 edition of the Mini was still recognizably a Mini; it had gained a little weight, though not much, gained a little comfort, though not a lot, and gained a modest degree of power, although it never had much. The idea of a Mini with an airbag and some sound insulation seems almost wrong, but the Mark 7s are still highly desirable as the last "real" Mini.

Photo: Wikipedia

John Cooper Works New MINI

The "New MINI" is not without its problems, but it's still a blast to drive. The first-gen John Cooper Works GP MINIs are easily the biggest blast, especially because they offered a lot of supercharged, backseatless speed in a fairly affordable package. If you were lucky enough to get one of the couple thousand made, it's gained value for you, although if you were persistent enough to get one you shouldn't really care about that.

So all in all a good fifty years for the Mini. Let's hope cooler heads prevail at BMW, or whichever company eventually winds up with the name so we can look back on these five decades as merely a good start.

The Triumph Mayflower ad, for a car James May condemns as the Ugliest Vehicle Ever Made, is especially puzzling. Did Triumph think that associating their products with some hookwormy clod pounding on a wagon wheel was a good idea?

Thanks to Buick, they had the V8, and the British Leyland designers took a long enough break from throwing gasoline bombs on the picket lines to produce this outstanding triple-scoop setup. The center scoop feed the air cleaner, while the two outer scoops are somehow hooked into the car's ventilation system- hey, there's no way that setup could have any problems, right? We don't care, because we say these scoops look great, even compared to Detroit's best scoops from the Golden Age Of The Musclecar.

Naturally, we'll be continuing this series, so feel free to suggest your favorite hood scoops. How about the NACA vents on the Lamborghini Espada? The twin nostrils of the '68 Pontiac GTO? The Ford Thunderbolt? Or perhaps some of the new generation of retro'd-out Detroit scoops?
Image source: BritishV8

If you prefer being a nitpicker to being merely observant, you might then point out that the British Leyland name existed only from 1968 to 1986, and thus several of these ads fall outside those boundaries as well. But here at Jalopnik, we defy categorization of obscure European machinery!

When you're done here, you might check out our favorite VW ads, then go right on with the Datsun, Toyota, Mustang, Renault, General Motors, and Chevrolet ads.

1972 Triumph TR6 (USA)	1981 Austin Rover (UK)	1966 Austin Mini (Australia)
1975 Triumph Spitfire (USA)	1970 Hillman Hunter (Australia)	1975 Triumph, MG (USA)
1980 Austin Metro (UK)	1977 Leyland Princess (Germany)	1976 Triumph TR7 (USA)
1973 Triumph (UK)	1976 Leyland Princess (UK)	1974 Triumph Spitfire (USA)
1981 Triumph Acclaim (UK)	2003 MG ZR (Spain)	1977 British Leyland (UK)	1970 Simca 1000 (Spain)

"It's quite extraordinary. The obvious explanation is that it seems to be some sort of cloud formation that just happened at the time," said Gary Sloggett, the car's former owner. Gary was taking pictures of his Rover 200 so he could place it for sale. When he pulled the images up on his computer, he saw Jacko.

"When I saw the picture I immediately turned to my wife and said: 'What is Michael Jackson doing on my car bonnet?' If you look at the picture for long enough it even looks as if he has got wings. I'm not saying I've been touched by any sort of presence, but it is pretty unusual. I was a bit bemused to say the least." Gary eventually sold the car for $1,070. [via The Telegraph]

Being a city boy, I'm no expert on the subject of vehicles made to slog through mud and/or help game wardens catch poachers (or at least look like they can do those things), and damn if I can come up with a decent ID on this out-of-town visitor. Clearly, it's had the crap modified out of it; the one-piece windshield suggests that it's a proto-Defender Land Rover 90, but it appears to have all manner of Series III pieces as well. Now's your time to shine, Land Rover experts! What do we have here?

Check out the selection of adventurer hats in the back!

The unnamed owner parked his Rover on a public street in front of Lookers Land Rover dealer in Colchester, England with his list of gripes and an advisement to avoid these cars should you want trouble free motoring. Since the vehicle is on a public road there's nothing the dealer can do. They have made a good will offer to help the owner into a new vehicle, but something tells us this guy won't be interested in another Rover any time soon. [Daily Mail]

Was the '78 the best Mini built during the first couple of decades of production? Raymond Baxter claims that's the case in this British Leyland dealer-training video, with the "fashionable matte black grille" and backup lights as standard equipment, to name just two improvements. Of course, others had ripped off the Mini's innovative front-drive/transverse-engine design by then, but Baxter shows that the Fiesta and Renault 5 just couldn't compete.

This aluminum V8 started life as a Buick in 1961, was shared with Pontiac and Oldsmobile (where it benefited from Turbo Rocket Fluid), then crossed the Atlantic and was installed in the MGB-GT V8, the Triumph TR8, and countless Land Rovers. Along the way, it powered Mickey Thompson's Dan Gurney-driven 1962 Indianapolis 500 car and (in Repco-modified SOHC form) drove Brabhams to Formula One victory in 1966 and 1967. GM discontinued the aluminum engine after the 1963 model year (due to various production headaches surrounding the aluminum casting process, hassles with aluminum-corroding antifreezes, and the suspicions of patriotic Americans who felt that a V8 with just 215 cubes must be some sort of subversive Red plot), but Rover kept it going all the way until 2006. The British V8 article on this engine is quite entertaining; it's a reprint of a 1976 Autocar article, with editorial responses to the virulent Anti-American sentiments of the original writer.
[British V8, Wikipedia]

And that Escort is just one of many great British race cars that VR photographed at last summer's B.C. Historics. Lotus, Sunbeam, Austin-Healey, and MG are all represented, and we get a couple of race Volvos as an added bonus! I've been falling behind on my duty to share VR's great racing photographs, so expect more of this sort of thing in the near future.

AutoCar sat down with Land Rover boss, Phil Popham, who told the Euro buff book:

"Our research of the LRX proved that if we can deliver the intent of the concept it has got all the hallmarks of a Range Rover."

Popham says the production LRX will be close to the concept's design, but will receive the Range Rover name. This also means that it's likely that it will be a five-door model rather than the concepts cool 3-door sport styling and will carry a taller roof line.

It's expected that this new, smaller Range Rover will share its chassis with the current Land Rover Freelander and will share similar powertrain options. Land Rover is also reporting that it will be the 'greenest' Land Rover to date, with a hybrid model expected. We'll believe it when we see it. Orders are expected to begin next year for the new model.

Land Rover Press Release:

LAND ROVER CONFIRMS GRANT OFFER TO BUILD NEW MODEL

Gaydon, Warwickshire, 11 March 2009

The UK Government has confirmed a grant offer of up to £27 million is to be made available to Land Rover for the production of an all-new car. The company is due to make a final decision on the the go-ahead of the project at its award-winning plant in Halewood, on Merseyside, later this year.

The car would be based on Land Rover's acclaimed LRX Concept vehicle, first shown at the Detroit Show last year, and would be the smallest, lightest and most efficient it has ever produced.

"We welcome the Government's support for this project, which would form a key part of our future product plans and which we very much want to put into production," said Phil Popham, Managing Director of Land Rover.

The grant offer will be made available under the Government's Grant for Business Investment scheme and is an important contribution towards the overall £400 million cost of the project. This is separate from the broader automotive support package currently being unveiled by the Government.

Although it still has to go through a number of approval gateways in the product development process before getting the final go-ahead, Land Rover has also confirmed that the new car would be a key addition to the Range Rover family of luxury vehicles.

Phil Popham said, "Our engineering feasibility study has shown that we can very successfully deliver Range Rover levels of quality, drivability and breadth of performance in a more compact, more sustainable, package. Feedback from the most extensive customer research we have ever undertaken also fully supports our belief that a production version of the LRX Concept would further raise the desirability of our brand and absolutely meet all those expectations.

"It would be the smallest, lightest and most efficient Range Rover that we've ever built," Phil added. "The compact size, lighter weight and sustainability-focused technologies of the LRX Concept showed how Land Rover is planning to respond to the needs of a changing world. Despite the current economic challenges, we remain committed to investing for the future, to continue to deliver relevant vehicles for our customers, with the outstanding breadth of capability for which we are world-renowned."

The new Range Rover would embrace excellent levels of refinement and all-round capability and also introduce new powertrain options, providing a major step forward in enabling the implementation of Land Rover's e-terrain technologies strategy and achievement of its goal to exceed a 20 per cent improvement in CO2 emissions.

"Both the design and size of the LRX Concept have generated a hugely positive reaction wherever it has been seen and we've also gathered fresh insights on what potential owners would look for in a production equivalent. That knowledge is now being applied to the process of refining the vehicle as it heads towards final approval," said Phil.

The Halewood facility employs 2000 people and is a recipient of the J.D. Power Gold Standard. It currently produces the Land Rover Freelander 2 and Jaguar X-TYPE.

[via AutoCar]

I'm not sure I'd choose the hood ornament on this early-60s Rover over the custom-made one on the DOTS 1953 Citroën Traction-Avant 11 Légère, but it's a tough call. A bearded warrior sporting a winged helmet, on the nose of a car bearing the name of a dog? Of course! Here's what VR has to say:

Not a particularly rare car - they built a little over 16,000 over its run. I found this one in the parking lot of the hotel we were staying at the weekend of the Columbia River Classic Vintage race and All British Field Meet. The three hotels all side by side across from Portland International raceway were full of British cars. This one caught my eye because of the hood ornament - I think it's one of the coolest ones I've seen. And I've got a nice series of pictures on the 1950 Jag MkV 3.5 litre it's parked next to as well.

The 105S was made from 1956 through 1959, and this one proves that a left-hand-drive version was built. Kip shot this car, plus the Beetle in Gulf Oil colors, in downtown San Francisco. And that wraps up our DOTS-O-Rama Sunday!

While we were doting over the monstrous new presidential limo dubbed "The Beast," NASA was busy rolling out it's latest wheeled creation at the end of the inaugural parade. We've seen the new buggy before, but this is the first time we've seen the new design out on public roads.

The rover, dubbed the Lunar Electric Rover, or LER for the acronym-obsessed NASA, is intended for use in the planned moon mission which at this point may be in political and financial jeopardy. In any case, the new rover is awash in new thinking and brings the moon buggy concept into the modern age. This new machine is based around a pack of high power lithium ion batteries intended to provide power for all functions on board. The articulated design allows for double the battery capacity and the always reassuring system redundancy NASA builds into everything. Underneath are twelve tweels on six individual electric motors, able to rotate 360 degrees and provide extreme maneuverability in all situations. The buggy is even equipped for extravehicular control so astronauts can move it around while on moon walks.


On top of the platform is a pressurized module built to ferry two astronauts in comfort, providing a pressurized work environment while leaving the extravehicular moon suits outside. The design is intended to drastically reduce suit-up time and minimize overall gas losses during transfer while allowing the life support systems on the suits to act as backups in case of emergency.

At the side is an air lock porthole designed to mate up with other modules like on surface habitats or ascent vehicles. The craft is rounded out with a mission specific work package interface which allows the LER to be outfitted with winches, backhoes, cables and cranes, whatever is needed for the task at hand. Should we ever make another moonshot, we can't wait to see astronauts hooning this baby around the lunar surface, just like the good old days. [Youtube, NASA]

I admit it- after finding the '60 Peugeot 403 near my house, I've been searching for a French car project to call my own (this in spite of having been the owner of a sadistically unreliable Peugeot 504 in the past). Thing is, the old Peugeots have something of a power deficit, and it just seems wrong to take the easy way out by doing a Japanese drivetrain transplant. Then Vintage Racer found this genuine Offenhauser turbo engine. Now we're talking! The Offy is a torque monster of a four-banger, with pistons the size of gallon paint cans and a racing history nothing else can touch, and it would be just the powerplant for this '68 Peugeot 404 sedan... which is priced at approximately 1/25th the price of the engine. This 404 gets PCH points for the classic statement "Ran when parked" and the inclusion of a parts car in the deal. You'll need to deal with the transmission and rear end issue, of course, and we suspect the Pug's frame might not really be up to Offy-style twistage... but imagine the looks of awe you'll get as you cruise your town's main drag with the sound of a 30s Indy racer bellowing from your little French sedan.

Did I mention that the engine here was "Overhauled many years ago, not run since?" No? Hey, when you get the impossible-to-find vintage turbo intake and exhaust components as part of the $21,500 deal, you can't complain- you'll sort it out! And you'll definitely be motivated to do so every time you look in your garage... because you'll see that amazing engine sitting on the concrete right next to this '65 Rover 2000 sedan. We don't know how much the seller wants for it, but it's a safe assumption that he or she hasn't exactly been overwhelmed by offers so far, in spite of the fact that it's "all origional, paint is ever pritty good." You can sell the engine (which the seller claims has "less than 8000miles on it since rebuild") to defray, oh, 0.03% of the cost of the Offy, and recline in that fine, fine Rover seat and dream of the day when you own the only Offenhauser-powered Rover sedan in your time zone.

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