identify this car.

G Luxel

Im trying to identify a car I saw on two occasions recently. Its about the same size as a Smart Car but the design would be at least 20 years older. It has single wash wipe. Its a brown colour and left hand drive. From what I can figure out, the driver is disabled and he can wheel himself/herself into the car without getting out. Any ideas. It was on original Irish plates. I havent seen anyone like it.

Wishbone Ash

Something like this?

Motormouth

They look like Mini rims and BL doorhandles....
I think it's a Minissma.

maidhc

I remember a guy who used to drive one of those when I was in primary school.

EternalSunshine

I see these all the time over in Amsterdam. Oldies and the disabled use them. They are allowed on the bicycle lanes.

G Luxel

ok thanks, it looks something like the car in the picture. Who actually makes it? Is there an updated version. Someone here mentioned a school, do you know which one it was as it may be the same car. Finally how old is it?

Abelloid

EternalSunshine wrote: »

I see these all the time over in Amsterdam. Oldies and the disabled use them. They are allowed on the bicycle lanes.

I saw them there too, I saw one red one with Ferrari badges on

maidhc

G Luxel wrote: »

ok thanks, it looks something like the car in the picture. Who actually makes it? Is there an updated version. Someone here mentioned a school, do you know which one it was as it may be the same car. Finally how old is it?

Well I used to see one around Glanmire, Co. Cork in or about 1990. It was the same model car, in Orange. Annoyingly enought I read an article about them since, and for the life of me I cant remember who made them. It was someone like reliant, but not them, 99% sure they were british.

colm_mcm

Motability Ireland sell the Vexel Quovis, probably the successor to the car you're describing!



Feast your eyes!

junkyard

J*sus that thing doesn't even have crumple zones, it is a crumple zone! What ever about having a wheelchair before driving it you'll need one if anything crashes into it.:D

galwaytt

Another well-known name from motorsport also make something like this -Ligier. Sigh, how the mighty have fallen....

http://www.ligier-automobiles.com/

I like their JS49 though.........

Motormouth

http://www.glueck-ober-pech.com/

))From www.austin-rover.co.uk
Shortly before the 1973 motor show, BLMC gained permission to add to their stand a curious but radical small car, created by the futurist designer William Towns and which he had christened "Townscar" (a neat pun on his name). At the time, Towns was best known for having designed the Aston Martin DBS, but he would go on to produce models as diverse (and yet clearly synergetic) as the Hustler kit car and the legendary Aston Martin Lagonda saloon. (In the late 1970s, he would also be involved in a last-ditch effort by Aston Martin to save the MGB...)
Conceived as a new Mini, the Townscar made good use of its alter ego's trademark 10" wheels and 848cc A-series engine with automatic transmission, along with the front and rear subframes, although these were brought as close as possible to each other to shorten the wheelbase. The typically sharp lines announced that this was Towns' vision for a futuristic car (at least from a 1973 perspective).Like today's tall-but-short cars (such as the Suzuki Wagon-R), the Townscar had a high roofline to give a spacious feeling to its interior. In fact the car was unusual in that its height was equal to its length, with the aim of providing optimum interior space within the shortest feasible external length. Combined with an inventive approach to packaging, this meant that car could accommodate four passengers despite its being 75cm shorter than the already diminutive car on which it was based. While the two front seat occupants naturally faced forward (always a good thing for the driver!), those in the rear sat sideways, facing each other, with their feet presumably competing for floorspace with any luggage they had to carry. The car's angular bodywork was built around a tubular spaceframe structure, onto which aluminium panels were mounted. The car had no side doors, so access was gained via a single, side-hinged rear door, the idea being that the car could be reversed up to the kerbside and the occupants could step out safely onto the pavement.
In short, the concept was so interesting that BLMC patented the idea and bought the commercial rights, changing its name to Minissima to reinforce the message that this was their concept for a replacement for the evergreen Mini, which was by then 14 years old. The Minissima's career as a showgirl lasted two years, as it toured around the various motor shows. Despite the high levels of interest in the car, it would never enter production as the new Mini, partly because the Mini was BL's best-selling model and partly because to productionise it would have required costly supplementary development which British Leyland could ill-afford.
That innovative rear door caused the greatest problem of all. The British authorities would not allow this design feature without side doors because in a rear impact there was no alternative means of exit for the occupants. (Remember that in the BMW Isetta, with its single door at the front, if the occupants did survive a head-on collision they could climb out through the folding sunroof!) The construction of the vehicle was deemed dangerous and it was thought that serious structural failure would occur in the event of a crash. Another design failing is the total lack of practicality; as mentioned above, there was no luggage space to speak of, and the only ventilation was from a small window in the rear door. And while, the huge glass area may have provided amazing visibility for the trendy city slicker driving it, it would have left the occupants resembling sun-burnt lobsters. Cars with huge windows also get very hot inside; take for example the Peugeot 206 with its gloriously panoramic windscreen. When left in the sun for a few hours you could bake bread in the interior – and that's with tinted glass and the options of air-conditioning, electric windows and a large sunroof!
In some ways the Minissima was similar to the Outspan Orange promotional car of the same period. Both cars had very individual styling and shared automatic Minis as their base. The Orange also shared the Minissima's one-box accommodation with the engine to the front and a single access door at the back. However, the Orange was bigger and could carry more passengers in the orange haven inside.
At 230cm and providing four seats, no car since has provided packaging quite as good. The current zenith of small car design, the MCC Smart, carries only two people in a longer length. Admittedly the Smart's occupants are safer and more comfortable, and you can squeeze in another passenger (illegally) in the cargo area providing you don't buy too much at the shops!

Wishbone Ash

junkyard wrote: »

What ever about having a wheelchair before driving it you'll need one if anything crashes into it.:D

LOL

If an able-bodied person wanted to take it for a rip, I wonder could they just bring out a kitchen chair?

The pic in the 2nd post was taken in Paris or Rome - I can't remember which.

RichyX

colm_mcm wrote: »

Motability Ireland sell the Vexel Quovis, probably the successor to the car you're describing!

There's one of those around Tralee.
I never realized it was a disabled persons car, I just assumed someone had an interesting sense of humour.