Hi all,
A friend of mine showed me a phone picture he took of a car in the northern part of Malaysia recently. It was a cabrio. The front had no grille, sides had scoops like an MR-S and the rear had a mesh panel as if to let out hot air. The person who owned it said it was a Peugeot (don't think Peugeot ever had any aircooled engined cars) but the steering wheel had a classic Toyota T. I suspect it was using a Toyota Boxer Twin engine. It was not an S800 and it was not a boxy Publica.

I know this post might seem silly as there are no pics but I am just too curious. I will try to get the pics from him later. The best way to describe it is like a longer MG Midget with a slightly rounded and blanked off grille. Are there any other sporty Toyotas using an aircooled engine? It might not even be a Toyota. Hope someone here can shed some light on this.

So was it a rear engined car?

The only other droptop car I can think of is a Daihatsu Compagno Spider.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=da ... a=N&tab=wi

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Might it have been a Renault?

Peugeot, Renault, some people pronounce the both with an "oh" sound at the end and they're both French.

Renault did a lot more rear engine cars than Peugeot. I can't think of ANY rear engine Peugeot other than race cars.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Renault_Caravelle_1964_004.JPG

Cabrio (there is a small back seat there).

No grille (assuming you mean no place for a grille, not just that this particular one was missing the grille).

Simulated side scoops. I've seen some with a chrome finished around the pseudo scoop, and they are more convincing looking. For all I know, some of them might have been functional.






Rear air outlets around plate and perforated deck lid.

Links in case pictures above don't work.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... le_001.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... leback.jpg

http://image.automobilemag.com/f/166690 ... r_view.jpg

Not sure why it would have a T in the steering wheel, but I could see a the typical Renault logo looking somewhat like a lower case "t" under a crazed plastic lens.

Also, they were called Floride in some markets. Those might have had a stylized lower case "f" in the steeringwheel.

Not air cooled, but certainly understandable why you might think so with all those air ducts and being rear engined.

KB110,
I can't believe it!!! My lame-@$$ed explanation actually worked!!! I am very sure it was a Renault Caravelle. You must be a walking car encyclopedia!!! Thanks to KB110 & Ben. Sorry it wasn't a Toyota. Does that make this post off topic?



The chrome trim awkwardly covering the side scoop was there. Thanks, man!!! At lease my mind is at ease. I don't know if i should check it out though. Kind of a long journey........

A Hino Contessa (J-tin - so therefore not off topic) is the same car as a Caravelle. They both share the Renault Dauphine chassis. The Contessa was a "built under license" from Renault.

So see, it's all good.

FWIW, my dad always had oddball (is there any other kind) Fench cars. My first car was almost a Caravelle, but he found a better deal on a KE20 Corolla.

Oh how my life could have been different if my first car was a proper French Cabriolet instead of junky old J-tin.

Daniel, is it orange in color?
The one I saw here many years ago had a hard(?) top roof.

The Renault cabrio was quite popular back in the days. You can see one in P. Ramlee's Kassim Selamat movie.

Sharmcos,
It was red. I havent seen the car in person.

I thought it was aircooled but it looks like it has a big ass radiator out back

So, are down with it?.... Add to your collections. But on the parts would be more difficult to get from you skyline and yet the price for the parts? Hmmmm it will make jump higher then ever…

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My Parts

a_fc3s,
The car is really beautiful but the thought of restoring it scares me. I have enough trouble with this Datsun I am restoring. Beetles no problem. British cars still tolerable. French classics? I really don't dare. I would rather go for a Citroen SM, DS or 2CV. Maybe if I spoke French.....

You just did!...

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French classics? I wouldn't mind a 5 GT Turbo or Gordini for that matter
That would make a good match for the 2-door Tiara