Interesting vehicles from your country

[DOUGL4S1]

Most countries have, or at least had, its own vehicle manufacturer. Some of them turned out to be failures while others turned out to be a huge success worldwide.

 

Post here some little known, weird, or just interesting, vehicles from your country. Everything counts: cars, bikes, trucks, planes, trains, etc.

 

I'll start:

 

Miura Sport:

Produced in Brazil between 1977 and 1979. At the time of its production, Brazil was on a Military dictatorship, and car importing was illegal. Some companies decided to make their own cars only for the Brazilian market, while other smaller companies appeared. At the time, it was pretty hard getting a sports car, since it was illegal to import them from Europe. This is where Miura comes in. Inspired by classic European sport cars, it was a pretty big success, and nowadays they are extremelly rare.

 

It uses the mechanic components of a VW Brasília, a 1.5 dual-carburated engine making a spine-shattering 65 horsepower, with its rear-engine and the power going to its back wheels, but because of its lightweight fiberglass body, it was pretty quick. Strangely, not a lot of info about this car can be found online.

 

Miura closed its doors in 1992, but they made pre-ordered cars until 1995. Amazingly, there are plans for reviving the company, with both the Miura M1 and M2, planned to be released in 2018 and 2020, respectivelly, so if this goes well, we may see Brazil coming back into the automobilistic market.

 

I may post other Miura cars later, specially the Top Sport.

Edited October 19, 2017 by DOUGL4S1

[ShadowPerson]

Mastretta MXT, the infamous "tortilla car" according to the inbreed britsh ex-host of Top Gear.

 

 

Vulh 05

 

https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/05/first-drive

 

 

Exotic Car - Inferno.

 

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/weird/mexicos-1400bhp-inferno-supercar-made-stretchable-metal

 

[HeavyDuke]

Spyker.

 

Soon they will be making models with Koenigsegg engines. And we all know Koenigsegg at this time and moment is pretty much king of performance.

http://spykercars.com/news/spyker-announces-engine-supply-agreement-with-koenigsegg-137

[GTA-Biker]

TMZ (short for Tvornica Motora Zagreb) was a motorcycle manufacturer from Zagreb from late 1940s to early 1960s,and during that time produced two bike models,a moped named SL50 and a scooter named Švrćo.

Wikipedia page about it (in Croatian,I couldnt find English version) https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tvornica_motora_Zagreb_(TMZ)

 

Dok-Ing Loox (also known as Dok-Ing XD) is a concept electric compact car made by a Croatian company called Dok-Ing.

Wikipedia pages about the car and the company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOK-ING_Looxhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOK-ING

 

Rimac Concept One is a concept electric super car,and probably the most well known Croatian car (especially after Richard Hammond had an accident in it)

Wikipedia pages about the car and the company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimac_Concept_Onehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimac_Automobili

 

TMK 101, TMK 2100 and TMK 2200 trams were made and used in Croatia (these days all are still in use,but only TMK 2200 is in production and is most common).

Wikipedia pages about them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMK_101https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMK_2100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CROTRAM#TMK_2200

 

M95 Degman is a Croatian prototype main battle tank.

Wikipedia page about it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-95_Degman

Edited October 20, 2017 by GTA-Biker

[DOUGL4S1]

Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano:

In service on various countries, the Super Tucano is a single-prop military attack aircraft. It is famous for being very manuevable, producing low heat-signature and having advanced equipments. It is also used as a training aircraft for some militaries.

[Nico]

We've had plenty of cars produced in Argentina but the most important and iconic was the IKA Torino. Based on the Rambler American, but re-engineered for our domestic market. It was sold under local brand IKA first and french manufacturer Renault later.

 

[Kiffster]

Well there was the VW Citi Golf which was probably the most iconic and most popular SA built car in history, produced from the 80's until late 00s.

 

 

Zagato Perana Z-One

 

 

And then plenty of military vehicles like the Atlas Cheetah

 

 

...G6 Renoster, Olifant, Rooikat, Rooivalk, Casspir etc

Edited October 30, 2017 by Kiffster

[sivispacem]

The Atlas Cheetah is just a copy of the IAI Nesher/Kfir though.

[Kiffster]

Oh I wouldn't know anything about aircraft or military vehicles. I just know about the Cheetah because I think one flies over my house during air shows

[DOUGL4S1]

Puma GTB:

(Pre-facelift)

 

(Facelift)

 

The Puma GTB (Gran Turismo Brazil) is a muscle car made by Puma, introduced in 1973 and produced until 1984, with a facelifted version. It was powered by the 250 Chevrolet Straight-6, producing 168hp.

Edited October 31, 2017 by DOUGL4S1

[GrudgefromSanAndreas]

DOK-ING Loox

 

 

 

EDIT: I just now realised this was already mentioned

Edited November 1, 2017 by GrudgefromSanAndreas

[Murciélago]

Vector M12

 

[Pavle]

zastava 1300

 

 

 

i always thought of it as a bootleg, smaller cadillac

[jpm1]

good thread.

 

Citroën 2 CV: IMO way too overrated vehicle. it has pros, but cons too. pros: cute looking, can be repaired with a coke can. cons: very low power engine. the legend says that as it was a car aiming at french farmers, its only development requirement was to be able to cross a field with a pack of eggs on the seat, and not have them be broken (very smooth suspension)

 

Renault R11: good car, robust

 

Peugeot 205 T16. one of best french cars ever made, if not the best

 

Venturi Atlantique 300 & 400: 90s french supercars. never read bad reviews about these cars

 

Citroën Mehari: my dad owned one. its body is 99% plastic made. it has exactly the same engine as the 2 CV but it's a robust car despite its looking. and very fun for going to the beach in summer. in Cassis city, in south of France, there's a club that can make from scratch any part of the vehicle

[xolov]

Norway: First try on building a car, the Troll, inspired by cars such as the Corvette and uh... the Trabant. Only 5 were produced before the factory went bankrupt.

 

Second try was somewhat more succesful, the Think City was produced in about 2500 units and is a relatively common sight in bigger cities: Not 100% Norwegian thought since it was produced in Nystad, Finland and Indiana, US. Thought the company went bankrupt in 2011.

Finland: Only 100% Finnish ''car'' are the SISU lorries, seems to be tought trucks that are especially popular among construction, mining and logging companies

But Finland has had made many other cars for foreign companies at the Valmet factory including:

 

Several Saabs such as the 900, 9000, 9-3 Convertible and Viggen.

 

Various Talbots such as the Horizon, 1510 and Solara:

 

Ricers favourite car: The Opel Calibra.

 

Here's a weird one, a heavily facelifted Lada Samara called the ''EuroSamara'', somewhat different from the russian produced one with different fuel injection, equipped with an airbag and is generally a better built car, drove one of these this summer, I'd say it really reminded me of a Opel Astra from the same era

But Finland haven't only built quirky econoboxes, it has also made cars as the Porsche Cayman and Boxter and the Fisker Karma!

Edited December 5, 2017 by xolov

[DerangedCrackhead]

 

Renault R11: good car, robust

 

A friend of mine drives a 1987 model. I am not sure if I was more worried about dying if we frontal crashed due to the fact that it lacked of seatbelts in the back or about dying intoxicated by the exhaust fumes during the ten minutes of hitting the gas pedal that it took for the engine to warm up before starting up.

 

Cool ride tho, has a nice dashboard design and the back seat is comfy af.

 

 

More on topic, I've always found the SEAT Sport 1430 "Bocanegra" rather striking.

 

 

[xolov]

 

 

Renault R11: good car, robust

A friend of mine drives a 1987 model. I am not sure if I was more worried about dying if we frontal crashed due to the fact that it lacked of seatbelts in the back or about dying intoxicated by the exhaust fumes during the ten minutes of hitting the gas pedal that it took for the engine to warm up before starting up.

Practically all cars from the mid-70's and onwards have rear seatbalts, you sure they weren't removed for some reason?

[DerangedCrackhead]

 

 

 

Renault R11: good car, robust

A friend of mine drives a 1987 model. I am not sure if I was more worried about dying if we frontal crashed due to the fact that it lacked of seatbelts in the back or about dying intoxicated by the exhaust fumes during the ten minutes of hitting the gas pedal that it took for the engine to warm up before starting up.

Practically all cars from the mid-70's and onwards have rear seatbalts, you sure they weren't removed for some reason?

 

That's technically not correct. Some cars during the 1980's and even as far as in the early 1990's weren't equipped with seat belts in the back seats. However, it may have to do with the local legislation of the market they were targeted to. Spanish legislation didn't require seat belts to be installed in new vehicles until 1992 and yet today they aren't mandatory for vehicles that didn't have them from factory. Hence, while in the French market a R5 or an AX could have come with rear seatbelts from factory, in Spain the Renault 5 and the AX didn't at least until the early 1990's. In fact, from what I have understood, many of the models that for the Spanish market didn't have seat belts were still equipped with the anchorage points for installing the seat belts.

 

What I am not completely sure is if you could be fined if you got caught carrying passengers in the back if the car doesn't have seat belts, which I guess you would.

[jpm1]

mine was in break position all the time, as i used to hunt a lot back then. so honestly i don't remember. but i never had any exaust fumes issue

[Rewdalf]

Apparently, this came out of my country.

 

 

Still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

But it's a far cry from the usual Lada/Wartburg/Trabant traffic you see in the small towns and villages.

[GrudgefromSanAndreas]

Seems like almost every country can produce Sports/Supercars.

[DOUGL4S1]

Let's bring this thread back from the dead:

 

Troller T4:

Facelift (left) and pre-facelift (right)

 

Introduced in 2001 and inspired by the infamous Jeep Wrangler, the Troller T4 is the best-selling off-roading vehicle made in Brazil. It has fiber-glass body and came standard with AWD. It is considered very reliable and customizable, making it a good choice from commuting to rock climbing.

In 2007, Ford purchased Troller, and in 2011, the redesign version was released.

 

 

It also has some impressive torque:

 

 

[Cudwieser]

One from the Emerald Isle

 

DAWB 6

 

The Dennison Truck was also Irish Built as was the famous Delorean DMC 12.

 

A name to consider is Rex McCandless https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Mccandless+race+car&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:Ce21TcjovU0uIjjHgx5RHZIv8leNOauZsfqMRl_1f1YgbkuZTJfmJtbLf-VIE68H4W5Yv5vhLb5awyAThcgQ-z0wjUSoSCceDHlEdki_1yEYUE2zfVwdz-KhIJV405q5mx-owRHSuT_1VP-XLQqEglGX9_1ViBuS5hEx7M2Ou6uRMCoSCVMl-Ym1st_15EU7bWrvkvVTWKhIJUgTrwfhbli8RJSBIdaGhwHkqEgnm-EtvlrDIBBHt6eC4Fixh_1ioSCeFyBD7PTCNREf6uBMBYbUD9&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwis9p6OvabaAhWB0RQKHVE9ARYQ9C96BAgAEBs&biw=1366&bih=654&dpr=1

The man who invented and devised the feather bed frame that gave the Norton Motorcycles the leading edge in completive motorcycle racing.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Cudwieser

[killso]

xantia activa v6 :

 

 

It has a fully active suspension which removes rolls in corner ( with the hydraulic suspension, it was first used in 1955 with the citroen ds, or even before on some citroen traction, it's very comfortable, has a constant height from the ground, you can even change the height of the car ).

 

And all the others, citroen DS, SM, XM, or C6.

The xantia is the only citroen to have this anti roll suspension, however, the last citroen to have the regular hydraulic suspension was the citroen c5 II, it still had a computer that made the suspension stiffer in corners to reduces rolls, but it was also the case on the citroen xm in 1989.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2018 by killso

[AZAZEL]

[GTA_CAT]

When I watched Need for Speed film I didn't recognize one of the De Leon race cars, so I searched on internet and it turned out to be a brand from Spain. It's the GTA Spano (what a name): a V10 twinturbo motor which provides 925CV and 1220nm, 370kph (230 miles) top speed and a 0-100kph (60 miles) acceleration with 2,9 seconds.

 

2012 model, the NFS one:

 

 

2015 re-design:

 

[jpm1]

205 GTI. do i need to introduce it. one of the best french stock cars ever produced, if not the best

 

R5 turbo 2. similar to 205 T16, a bomb..

 

Edited April 14, 2018 by jpm1

[GTA-Biker]

So,I just found out that this car was made in my country 30 years ago.It's called Kwađi CR3,and was made in very small numbers,apparently only 3 prototypes were made.They had 240 hp V6 engines.

 

Today,this is made here,the Rimac Nevera:

Edited February 17 by GTA-Biker

[-l-]

Inferno Exotic Car

 

 

[Ivan1997GTA]

The Marussia B2. While the company was more well-known for its involvement in Formula 1, Marussia were also known for making the first modern Russian sports cars. The B1 was produced with almost 3,000 units, while its successor, the B2, was capped at around 500 units. It was planned to enter production in early 2013 in a collab with a Finnish company, but it didn't work out, and in the end, the Marussia company went belly-up in 2014.

 

Here's another interesting example, the Tagaz Aquila. Unlike the Marussia vehicles, this one actually entered production in 2013, and was marketed as a "four-door coupe". Only about 200 cars were manufactured before Tagaz declared bankruptcy in 2014. This car was later manufactured by MPM Motors in France, and was rebranded as the PS 160, later known as the Erelis, where it supposedly sold better than the Aquila.