# hino ford dkw isuzu mega citroen lancia toyota plymouth chrysler leafrancis mini dacia aro mitsuoka mazda wolseley fiat lada ussr bertone daihatsu pegaso alfaromeo nissan

One of Japan's lost car marques, Hino's last saloon was the rear-engined Contessa 1300 launched in 1964. Styled in Italy by Michelotti, it makes an interesting comparison with his Triumph 1300 and 2000 designs. Toyota-owned Hino is now a leading truck maker.

20 99
2020-10-05

A striking derivative of the already-bold Ka city car, the Ford Streetka took the company into uncharted territory. Pininfarina built the 2-seater, launched in 2003. It shared its 1.6 engine with the SportKa, a performance version of the standard Ka hatch.

8 70
2020-09-30

In the years before the revival of the Audi marque, the four rings of Auto Union were most often seen on DKW's two-stroke models. The three-cylinder 900 coupé glamorously features on the cover, although the saloons and the Universal wagon were the big sellers.

11 67
2020-09-26

Isuzu mostly shied away from offering its mainstream cars in Europe, but in the late 1980s there was a brief attempt to sell the second-generation Gemini in some markets. This German brochure features the GTI hatch, which had a 115hp 1.6 DOHC-16v unit.

8 65
2020-09-19

Mega, a French marque linked to the Aixam microcar brand, attempted to continue the country's tradition for utility vehicles with its Citroën AX-based Club and Ranch, made from 1992 to 1998. They were true to the spirit of the former Citroën Méhari.

10 100
2020-08-30

Lancia revived its HPE (High Performance Estate) name for a three-door version of the second-generation Lancia Delta. The styling was rather less estate-like than its Beta HPE predecessor. Top of the Delta HPE range was the 136mph HF 2.0-litre turbo.

14 91
2020-08-22

European versions of the 8th generation Toyota Corolla stood out from the crowd thanks to a very different (some might say ungainly) front and rear-end treatment compared to the more sober Japanese and North American models.

13 75
2020-08-03

Surely one of the strangest cars ever to come from a mainstream maker, the Plymouth Prowler hot rod was a Chrysler concept car which went into production from 1997, creating a model with, as this 2001 brochure puts it - 'primal appeal'.

16 95
2020-07-25

It's necessary to go back rather a long way to find a bona fide Lea-Francis production car. The 14/70 of 1948 was a very traditional quality saloon, seen here in an export brochure. It aimed to earn some badly-needed foreign currency for post-war Britain.

7 26
2020-07-17

Limited edition versions of the Mini were ever-present throughout the 1980s and 90s, some more memorable than others. One of the very best was the Mini Thirty of 1989, in black or cherry red. It was offered in the UK and for export: this is a Belgian brochure.

11 109
2020-06-29

One of the more curious 1990s Toyotas, the Sera 1.5 coupé was only sold in small numbers on Japanese market. From some angles it looked bland but its doors, usually called 'butterfly' (although the brochure uses the term 'gullwing') were a stand-out feature.

29 134
2020-06-28

This is the 'advance information' brochure previewing the very first Dacia Duster - the name was a UK invention for what was known as the ARO 10 in most countries. There was a certain logic, as the Romanian-built ARO used many Dacia 1300/Renault 12 parts.

19 88
2020-06-07

The late '90s Mitsuoka Ray in this Japanese brochure has a front end seemingly inspired by the badge-engineered Wolseley cars made by BMC in the 1950s and 60s. It was actually just a significantly modified 660cc Mazda Carol kei car.

13 67
2020-05-14

A curious Brazilian-market model, the new-for-1983 Fiat Oggi was a slightly ungainly 2-door notchback version of the 147 (the local version of the 127). Its name means 'today' in Italian - somewhat ironically given the 127 design was 12 years old by this stage.

23 136
2020-04-14

Most Lada importers in the west printed their own brochures, but this is an attractive item in English from the Soviet Union itself, focusing on the 2106 (usually known as the 1600). At its price it did indeed offer 'luxury' features for the late 1970s.

21 84
2020-04-05

The second iteration of the attempt to find a niche for a Bertone-built (and badged), BMW-engined Daihatsu 4X4 in Europe, the lightly restyled Freeclimber 2 was based on the Japanese company's Feroza/Sportrak, but only lasted for two years.

11 52
2020-03-18

Pegaso's strange supercar venture died in 1958, but in 1992 there was a revival attempt, based on the Z-103, the company's last car. UK design house IAD worked with Pegaso trucks on the updated Spyder, with Rover 3.9-litre V8 power. It seems just 4 were made.

7 44
2020-03-05

An Alfasud Ti-engined three-door hatch clothed in a 1980s body sounds like a recipe for success. Unfortunately that wasn't the case for the infamous Arna featured in this UK brochure. The Alfa grille couldn't conceal its Nissan Cherry origins.

20 106
2020-02-23

One of Nissan's legendary 'Pike Factory' models, the S-Cargo (a pun on escargot) was by far the most cartoonish, and had a notably Citroënesque interior. This 1989 brochure is for Japan, the only market where it was sold new (in limited numbers).

27 106
2020-02-08

The original Panda was quite roomy for its size, but that didn't stop Fiat developing a strange tacked-on rear extension for one van variant. This 1998 Italian brochure shows the extended model alongside the more conventional Citivan.

31 147
2020-01-15