Although yesterday’s C Coupé was an example of Innocenti completely rebodying a car from its British partner BMC, later British Leyland, for the most of the sixties and into the early seventies, the Italian company built fairly standard versions of the Mini, 1100/1300 and Allegro, albeit with a few interesting refinements. The next full rebodying exercise came with this, the Innocenti Mini hatchback, in 1974. Snapped at #FOTU 2024.
Since we’re on the subject of Renault, I thought I’d randomly throw in one of my favourite modern cars, the first-generation 1990s Renault Twingo. A great design, although I think it works better in the brighter colours rather than the white worn by this example at #FOTU 2024. These were only made with LHD, although some, like this one, made it to the UK anyway.
Yesterday, I posted a picture of the Quatrelle, one of several Renaults that had an asymmetric wheelbase, thanks to the design of their torsion bar independent rear suspension. As well as the 4, I think, from memory, these included the 5, 7, 14 and 16. Meanwhile, this trait was not shared with the big-selling 12, seen here in later facelifted form at #FOTU 2024, or the 15, 17, 18 and Fuego, which were evolved from it. These had a simple beam rear axle.
PS I took these photos at the 2023 Festival of the Unexceptional #FOTU
@mathilde
I used to have the #FOTU version of that car:
Subaru Impreza Brighton wagon
#WeirdCarMastodon
Today we move forward to 2003 and another attempt by MG Rover to boost the appeal of the now aging Rover 25. After introducing an MG variant, the ZR, in 2001, the company tried to give the core Rover version a bit of attitude as well by offering the (optically at least) toughened up Streetwise model. Once more, quite a lot was achieved with inexpensive modifications. I can offer you a choice of red (2018 NEC Classic Car Show) or green (#FOTU 2023).
While the Triumph badge, on cars at least, became extinct with the departure of the Acclaim, there was at least a nod towards the Rover 200 series’ Triumph heritage with the choice of name for the fastest variant, Vitesse, which invoked the memory of the six-cylinder adaptation of the popular Triumph Herald. More powerful versions of the car such as the Vitesse used BL’s S-Series engine, increasing British content. Pic taken #FOTU 2023. (2/3).
As we have seen, none of the internal projects to replace the Triumph Dolomite made it into production under the investment-starved British Leyland regime. But a solution was at hand. In 1979, BL entered into a collaboration with Honda, which gave it access to an off-the-shelf design, the Honda Ballade (basically a Civic saloon). Produced in tweaked form in the UK as the Triumph Acclaim, it was launched in 1981. Photographed at #FOTU 2023. (1/2)
Triumph’s switch to a simple rear-wheel drive design for the Toledo had echoes of its decision to build the Herald on a separate chassis after the monocoque Standard Ten - in both cases an apparently retrograde step was taken that in fact allowed the company to offer a bigger family of cars. The switch to RWD meant that the Toledo could be sold at lower cost and would also appeal to conservative British fleet managers, who had a reputation for being sceptical about FWD. Pic taken: #FOTU 2023 2/2
Today, we’re back with the Fiat 128, and a face-lifted car from the late 1970s that looks quite different to the early model I posted the day before yesterday. This car has a fascinating history, having covered only a few thousand miles, in single-family ownership, from new. Snapped at the Festival of the Unexceptional earlier this year. I’ll link to an article that tells the full story in the next post in this thread.
These old Fiats seem to be popular so here’s another one, an earlyish 128, one of the pioneers of the front-wheel drive layout used by most cars today (transverse mounted engine, end-on gearbox). Introduced in 1969. This Dutch-registered example made it across the Channel for last year’s Festival of the Unexceptional in Lincolnshire, UK. More 128 tomorrow.
In 1980, Seat started producing the Fiat Panda under licence. In 1983, its partnership with Fiat ended, and the Seat Panda was given the sloping nose facelift seen here. It was renamed the Marbella. While it got a new look, the Marbella received none of the under-the-skin updates later applied to the Fiat original, such as the FIRE OHC engine or the improved ‘Omega’ rear suspension from the Lancia Y10. Pic: 2024 Festival of the Unexceptional.
Today, at the request of @mcSlibinas, we’re looking at the Citroën BX, the predecessor of the Xantia I posted yesterday. The BX, introduced in 1982, was a sister car of the Peugeot 405, although it retained Citroën’s distinctive oleo-pneumatic suspension. I captured this early example at this year’s Festival of the Unexceptional. Later models had slightly altered frontal bodywork and a less distinctively ‘Citroëny’ dashboard.
Today we’re looking at the smaller sister car of yesterday’s Citroën XM. The Xantia replaced the BX in 1992, and retained Citroën’s oleo-pneumatic suspension. Higher-spec models had a developed version of the Hydractive set up, Hydractive 2. The Xantia was the last Citroën in which the same hydraulic system was used both for the suspension and other elements such as braking and steering power assistance. Pics: Festival of the Unexceptional, 2024.
A slight shift of gear today as we turn our attention to some more modern Citroëns. This is the XM, introduced in 1989. It didn’t attract as much attention as its predecessor at the top of Citroën’s range, the CX, or the legendary DS. But it maintained such Citroën-typical features as distinctive streamlined design and oleo-pneumatic suspension, offered in Hydractive form for the first time. Pics: Festival of the Unexceptional 2024.
The Peugeot 504 coupé faded away in the early 1980s without a direct replacement but in 1996, this highly successful coupé version of the 406 appeared. As in the case of the 504 coupé, it was designed by Pininfarina and shared none of its bodywork with its saloon/sedan counterpart. Its looks were often compared to those of Ferraris of the time. Snapped at this year’s Festival of the Unexceptional. (1/2)
Good #FOTU coverage from The Autopian's resident Brit 
https://www.theautopian.com/the-brits-have-a-car-show-for-terrible-cars-and-its-as-delightfully-bad-as-our-weather/
After running into financial difficulties in the early seventies, Citroën was acquired by Peugeot. The first manifestation of this development in product terms was the Citroën LN, which combined a body based on the shortened Peugeot 104 Z model with Citroën’s small 2CV/Dyane two-cylinder engine. A later upgraded version, the LNA, seen here at this year’s Festival of the Unexceptional, was also available with a four-cylinder petrol engine.
This one attracted a lot of interest at the Festival of the Unexceptional this year. It’s widely known that the Fiat 124 had a long after-life being made under licence by Lada but it’s quite rare to see one of these 2102 estate models. This 1970s car pre-dates the various later Lada facelifts so doesn’t depart much from the original Fiat 124 in terms of its looks.
When it comes to food trucks, I don’t think you can impress a sophisticated car geek audience like the #FOTU crowd with something as obvious as the near-ubiquitous Citroën H van. You probably need something a bit more obscure (at least in Europe) like this conversion on a Japanese-market Toyota QuickDelivery. Snapped at last weekend’s Festival of the Unexceptional.
