Friday, March 28, 2008

Old Beauties Quiz (1)

I am starting another round of quizzes which I think will probably interest only the men.

Below are photos of two beauties that used to grace our roads in the 70's. Now, of course, you can only see them in Malaysia. I took these photos in Ipoh in 2006. Can you identify them?




Answers (posted 29 March 2008)

As expected, the guys are better at this sort of things. The first one is a Ford Escort. I had the pleasure of seeing how they were manufactured at our own Ford Motors factory here in Singapore. Read my full story here. Below is another photo of the same car.


The second was a Fiat124. Here are a couple more photos.



So you can see that during my trips to Ipoh, while my wife is busy catching up with her sisters, and my kids are playing with their cousins, I roam the streets taking photos of Ipoh beauties. More to come!

11 comments:

Sivasothi said...

Ermmmm a FORD and a FIAT?

Anonymous said...

First pic: I am guessing, looks like a Ford Escort 1300CC

Second photo is easy. the green color car is a Fiat 124 Sports (1600cc with twin carb engine), probably a 1969 or 1970 model. very popular with the 18-25 year age group.

Aiyah Nonya said...

Pic 1 - Toyota or Datsun

Pic 2 - Fiat or Volvo

Have a nice weekend.

Zen said...

Peter judgement is correct. At first I thought the car in Pic 1 was a earlier model of the Toyota Corolla but on careful examination it was indeed a Ford Escort (later model). As for Pic 2, I had some difficulty in sorting out, but again because my boss had test driven a second hand Fiat 124 in our office compound my memory of this car revived. Due to war in the middle east, OPEC used the deadly oil weapon in the early seventies and jacked up petrol prices to an unbearable proportion. Many motorists in Singapore downsized their cars to save petrol. The situation then was not unlike the present one though the reason is different this time.

Anonymous said...

I think the others are right and I would say a Ford and a Fiat - my only hesitation is that when I was in Singapore in the early 1960s we had Australian cars called Holdens which were quite common - and I think they were based on other models, maybe Ford or Crysler. So I just wonder if there is a trick here and one of them is a version from another country?

Anonymous said...

the last photo of a blue car, that could be a Fiat 132

Lam Chun See said...

Peter. You're probably right about that last blue car. It was quite far and moving when I took that photo. I'll send it to you so you can see a clearer picture.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Chun See, Yes it is Fiat 131Special which replaced the Fiat 124 Special. This model later evolved into a more boxy shape and was called Fiat 131 Arbath which was launched around 1978. Fiat Arbath was a replacement for Fiat 131 Special. My car was a Fiat 124Sports, a sports coupe with EB plate.

Anonymous said...

Fiat 131 and Fiat 132 almost the same design except I think one model was configured with a single-carb engine and the other was a twin-carb engine. Also there was a difference in the engine cc - one was 1588cc and the other was 1789 cc. One has to check for the front grill and front lights to see the difference.

Fiat and Alfa Romeo were popular Italian cars in the 1960s and 1970s. The Alfa Guiletta and Spider models were very popular then until the oild crisis put an end to guzzlers.

Anonymous said...

Blue car is not Fiat 131 - sori. It shoudl be Fiat 132 model (1.8L but 2 liter version on Singapore roads around 1978).

Anonymous said...

The first car is a 2nd generation Ford Escort 4 door,2nd car Fiat 124Special,& the blue Fiat is 132,later evolved into Argenta.