This vehicle popped up for sale in what could charitably be described as restoration-ready condition in Houston, Texas a few weeks ago with very little available information. It quickly sold, and our friends over at Undiscovered Classics are working to identify it.
At the time of writing, no one has been able to successfully identify the car, it has us all stumped, and even the experienced hands at Undiscovered Classics haven’t yet been able to source its origins.
The car looks decidedly familiar, though as of the time of writing no one has been able to identify it. It was found in a field outside of Houston and it sold just as soon as it was listed on Craigslist.
The car is obviously a roadster with styling reminiscent of the 1950s/1960s, it has a steel body gauging by the visible surface rust which rules out a one-off fiberglass special. The rear of the car has modest fins and a space for an external spare tire, similar to the 1956 Ford Thunderbird, so that may have been a source of inspiration for the design.
Many have guessed that it may be based on one of the Triumph TR series cars but others have noted it looks to be too large to match. Sadly we only have these six images of the car, and haven’t been able to find any others.
It’s possible that it’s a long-lost concept car built by a major automaker or a coachbuilder, it seems likely that it’s a one-off given the fact that no one seems to be able to name it, or a low-volume production model at the very most.
Unfortunately there are no images of the engine bay, which would have been a great help, and the low resolution of the images we do have aren’t conducive to zooming in to get more detail.
The full steel body strongly implies that this is a professional effort, either by a major manufacturer or by a coachbuilder who knows how to work with the material.
If you know what it is, or have a solid guess, you can comment on the Facebook thread here, or you can find the official Undiscovered Classics website here. If you do go to the Facebook page don’t forget to give them a follow while you’re there, they regularly post fantastic cars and the stories behind them.
Images courtesy of Craigslist + Undiscovered Classics
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
