Thursday, June 11, 2009

Name that Car II

Apparently, some people thought the car I previously blogged (see May 15 post) was way too obscure.

I now submit pictures of two less expensive cars and ask:
Can you name that car?

Would you drive one? I guess the more appropriate question is:

Would you fit into one?

















The bumper sticker is giving you a little hint here.


Most of you are way too young to remember this one, but you can still take a guess at which company manufactured this classic.

5 comments:

Casey said...

I guess I will be the first to throw my guess in... the first car, I believe is the Tata Nano from India. They seem terribly unsafe, just think was a suburban would do to that poor little thing in an accident. The second one... I have no idea. Looks a bit like an MG to me, but what do I know?

Cathryn said...

Thanks Casey. You are correct. The first car is a Tata Nano. Here is some more info about the Nano from an article I read online.
. . . Is it gutless? You betcha. Is it cheap? Of course--it's designed to be the cheapest production car on the planet.

But wait - it gets better. As numerous news outlets are pointing out, Tata is planning on bringing this little bastion of affordable motoring to the United States. Naturally, this begs the question--will it follow the path laid down by the VW Beetle, burrowing a place into our automotive hearts, or will it simply rust out of our consciousness like the Citroen 2CV?

To help us answer that question, let's run through the specs:

* 2 cylinder, 33 horsepower engine
* 4 speed manual transmission
* 0-43 mph in 14 seconds
* Top speed of 75 miles per hour
* 47 miles per gallon
* Drum brakes all around
* Seats four

However, your guess on the 2nd car is unfortunately... WRONG. It's American made (hint), if that helps.

Janelle said...

second car 1962 Rambler


At least that what the address bar said when I clicked on the picture to get a closer look. But... I don't know what company made Ramblers.

Cathryn said...

Janelle is RIGHT! Very good, even if you found the answer by accident.

The Rambler was made by American Motors which was owned by Mitt Romney's father. Apparently this car was not able to sustain American Motors and the company was subsequently bought out by Chrysler and that was the end of the Rambler. And you all know the rest of the story with Chrysler now.

Cathryn said...

Correction - American Motors was not owned by George Romney (Mitt's father), but he was
chairman of the Board and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962. He was responsible for the development of the Rambler in at attempt to compete with GM,Chrysler, and Ford by making smaller, economy cars. I guess he was ahead of his time.