Rare species

When I was at the Classic Car Show at Exporama earlier this month, I took note of cars that are not only nice, but also rare.

 

Arnardo's Mercedes

I believe this is the only Mercedes-Benz 600 type W100 in Norway with Norwegian history. The golden grin suited the colorful circus director well. Just as well as it suited former Hollywood stars and oil sheikhs in the Gulf. In 1972, 172 examples of this beautiful car were produced, one of which ended up in Norway thanks to Arnardo.

The Mercedes-Benz W100 was produced between 1963-81 and was never replaced. Many claim that Maybach took up the legacy several years later. I disagree with that. The W100 is a unique chapter in automotive history.

 

 

S-class

Lined up near Arnardo's huge battleship, the "Finn-Mercedes" W112 seems a little small, even though it represented the S-Class of the time. However, the 300 SE with a 3 liter inline six is ​​no small car. I don't know if this car has Norwegian history, but such a car, with automatic transmission and air suspension as standard, would probably belong to a ship owner, or something like that. Therefore, early S-Class is a rare commodity... in Norway, that is.

 

 

Lamborghini Espada 400GT

Lamborghini has lived through several eras, and one can of course debate which one is the best. If I were to choose the most beautiful, I think it would have to be the Miura and then the Espada, - both from the first years of the car brand's history, and represented at the exhibition. I was able to take some pictures of the Espada. I've probably never been so close to an Espada before. It was a car that adorned posters in the boys' room and that the car magazines in the seventies wrote about - but that very few ever got to see up close.

A low center line and large glass surfaces were typical of the time. With a front-mounted engine and 4 seats, the Espada was not the toughest car in its class. It could still kick off with a 3,9 liter V12 and approximately 350 horses.

The Espada was made in 3 series from 1968 until bankruptcy in 1978. The model on display is probably a series-II car. You can see it in the design of the dashboard. Later, the radio was moved closer to the driver. I allow myself to be fascinated by the beautiful interior, which - after all these years - can surely be re-stitched.

 

 

Iso Grifo

Admittedly, the Lamborghini Espada is a rare car, but the Iso Grifo is even rarer. Extremely rare! It was only built in 413 examples, and it is said that they were built without any kind of rust protection, so several examples must have already been turned into crackers.

Iso Grifo only made one model, based on a Chevy powertrain (5,4 V8), as well as a beautiful body designed by Giugiaro while at Bertone, - a design I would without a doubt place in the top 5 most beautiful. This was actually the first time I have seen an Iso Grifo with my own eyes. It amazes me how classic and timeless this car is.

I wonder if there were more people than me who first became aware of this great car brand through the world of toy cars. For those in the know, both Corgi Toys and Matchbox had the Iso Grifo in their model range - and the ads for these were read with wide eyes. I see that it is still possible to Buy them on Ebay.

 

 

Tatra plane

Talk about being ahead of its time!

This futuristic and streamlined spaceship was created in the 30s. The pictured model is probably from between 1949 and 1952. As it has old Swedish plates, I assume it also has Swedish history. I don't think Tatraplan was ever imported to Norway.

This is truly the "Back to the Future" car. It is extremely aerodynamic for its time, and brings to mind a spaceship with its small "stabilizer fin" growing out of the roof backwards above the engine cover. I think the show car would have looked best with the bonnet closed. But on the other hand, - how often do you get to look into the engine compartment of a Tatraplan? Common 4-cylinder rear engine solution, certainly not unlike the one we eventually saw in the later Skoda MB. But subsequent Tatras – the 603 – built in the communist era had air-cooled V8 engines placed in the rear. It was probably not just for the pleasure of the party pamps. I'm sure it must have been a great time for Czech engineers too.

 

The forerunner of the Audi 100 C4?

The NSU Ro80 also belongs in the rare car department, although it is not as rare as some of the other cars featured here. The NSU Ro80 was sold in Norway through the NSU dealers and I remember seeing a couple of them on the road.

Seeing it in the showroom, it reminded me of one Audi 100 C4 which I owned in the 90s. I would have thought that the same designer was behind both Ro80 and C4, but in that case it is not official, although the designer behind Ro80 worked for Audi after they bought NSU.

Unfortunately, the Ro80 was only known for its engine problems. The Wankel engines were probably not properly tested before they were put into production. It is said that whenever two Ro80 owners met each other on the road, they would show their fingers the number of times they had changed engines. However, the problem has long since been identified and fixed, so that today's Ro80 owners are unlikely to have to point fingers at each other.

It's a shame that such a fine car should end up in disrepute. I'm sure if NSU had more capital behind them, they would have offered an alternative engine offer during the life of the model, or had the wankel engine fixed.

 

Fiat 130 Coupé

There were two Fiat 130s on display, a sedan and a coupé. The two are totally different. The coupé has a typical late 70s feel, and seems to have been developed 10 years after the sedan version. I've always been fascinated by the coupe version, but have only seen a few in real life. For several years the car magazines "Motor" and "Nå bil-ekstra" had full-page advertisements for the Fiat 130 and 130 Coupé. But there was no one on the road. At least not the significantly more expensive coupe.

The coupe has some similarities with the sedan, but nothing visible. Not one piece of sheet metal. Nothing of the interior. Pininfarina equally redesigned the entire car from the inside out. What these cars have in common is linked to the chassis, wheel suspension and brakes. The engines are different. The sedan has a 2,9 liter while the coupe has a 3,2 liter V6. I have forgotten what the cars cost in the 70s, but the coupé was in any case very much more expensive than the sedan. No wonder, because it was a completely different car. But the fact is that few in this country dared to put serious Porsche money into a Fiat. I don't think Fiat managed to sell more than a handful. Maybe not even that many.

In the 6 years the 130 coupé was in production, 4 cars were sold worldwide. That's about twice as many as the Lamborghini Espada sold at the same time. The probability that you will meet a 491 coupé on the road is nevertheless staggeringly small.

A few more cars

I'm taking some other cars with me as well. They are not as rare, - or not rare at all. I found two of them as private cars outside in the car park. One is a Daihatsu Copen. A funny name that I remember got a lot of pepper in it CAR Magazine. Was it a pun on "coupé" or "Coupé open"? It is somewhat reminiscent of the Ka cabriolet. I took a picture of the car because it is very rare in Norway. One of the reasons is that I think it was only delivered with the steering wheel on the right side.

 

 

We have previously photographed the Lancia Flavia Coupé here at Terje's cars. It is a rare car anyway.

Also includes this nice picture from the exhibition's Amazon section.

Not rare, but very nice.

 

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