Oddball Cars You Secretly Want One Of

[Captain]

Hidustan Ambassador

These things are the VW Beetle of India (closed economy meant it was one place the Beetle wasn't imported/built in large numbers). I thought they were so cool back in 2006 when they were still very common on the roads (and an oddball "modernized" version still in production") when I visited my wife's family in India. Now they are mostly gone but still want to Hot Rod one up and drive it to class and see how all the Indian students react, especially to one making either V8 or Turbo noises.

The panel delivery would be cool but they sold vanishingly small numbers of them and life is not kind to commercial vehicles in India

These are equivalent to a East German/Russian Lata.
AND Were Known for TERRIBLE BRAKES.......

[Barry Donovan]

AMC Hornet. Or a 2 door Maverick. Sick, I know.

same with me on the maverick...if to find one.


I remember finding one of these, old lady owned.. the 200 dollar asking price for the 200 I-6 in a good body was over my head at the time.
I noticed the steel and weight (I liked it) and wondered what I-6 alternative would fit..
seems prophetic given the I-6 champions of today.
that was 1988 or so. this car was about ten back then.
backseat still had plastic.

[Loren]

I used to borrow a 302 Granada on a regular basis when it was still a new-ish car. I wound up liking it, nice-driving with a moderate dose of luxury crap and doo-dads without being a total barge. I might prefer whatever kind of car or truck, I owned a Vega and a '67 Camaro at the time, but evening rush hours on the Ventura Freeway crossing virtually the entire Valley as I drove from work to night classes had me appreciating the Granada. Fairmonts felt like a tin can in comparison.

Other car notes from those days in '80 when I was a nineteen-year-old mechanic: Worst car to drive freeways, VW Bug. Best car to zip around surface streets in daytime traffic: Mazda RX-2 stick-shift. Best car to get looks from girls at bus stops: Jag E-Type. Most gas used: Cadillac DeVille. Most oil used: My Vega.

[CTX-SLPR]

These are equivalent to a East German/Russian Lata.
AND Were Known for TERRIBLE BRAKES.......

Never heard my wife complain about the brakes being bad, she did have the rear passenger door fall off of one she was in in traffic once though! The folks who actually drove themselves we knew in the early 2000's said they were great on rough roads with the torsion bar front and leaf spring rear suspension but were much happier with their newer Suzukis and Hondas. My father-in-law's driver is a bit of a car guy and I had to be restrained from telling him I wanted one lest he find me one!

[Dan Barlow]

I forgot about these ! They came from four different brands . I would want a Nash Metropolitan.

[Dan Barlow]

[Dan Barlow]

I picture it set up something like this .sbc all under the hood . From this angle kind of reminds me of a 54 chevy .

[2020 mustang]

I would like one of these, Drop a late model 2.3 mustang heart into it.

[oletrux4evr]

Here's a Hudson.

[oletrux4evr]

And here's a Nash.