Jalopnik honors Irish cars (well, most of them)

[Dangermouse]

http://jalopnik.com/5893940/erin-go-...two-other-cars

and like everything else tomorrow, for the sake of this piece, the D is considered Irish




though they seem to have forgotten about the Clan Crusader




Happy St Patrick's Day tomorrow everyone

[micmak]

I remember the Shamrock! Growing up in Dublin as a kid, a neighbor of mine had a Shamrock in the back of his garage under a tarp. Most people in Dublin didn’t have a garage, but he did as he was at the end of a block. As kids we all referred to the car as the big white American car. We rarely saw it, but we all knew it was there at the back of his other junky/collectible stuff. Wow a left hand drive car buried under cover at the back of a garage!!!! As we got older we realized that it was Irish built and that there were only a few of them. I thought to this day that only 6 were built. When that owner passed away in the 80s, I was in my 20’s and I approached his widow and offered to buy the Shamrock. She was very encouraged by my interest but as the estate was not yet settled, she was not is a position to sell it. I should point out that it had not moved in about 20 years at this point! Eventually about a year later, a relative of another neighbor suddenly got ownership of the car!!! I never found out how he did it. I was sooo jealous! But he pulled it out of the garage one day and worked on trying to get it running in the deceased man’s driveway!!!! I saw him working on it, and I went over to find out more info. He had bought it from the estate alright. He wouldn’t tell me how much he had paid. I helped him to try to hook up a temporary fuel tank and run it to the carb to start the car. We failed. Miserably!!!! He ended up towing the car away, with an up-turned beer crate as the driver’s seat!!!!! Dunno whatever happened to the original front seats! His plan was to bring it to his father’s place somewhere down the country and restore it over the next few years. I watched it being towed away. It was such a sad sight. I wanted that car since I was a little kid, and here some guy who didn’t even know the owner was taking it away. I never saw or heard about it after that day. I have often wondered what ever became of it. But it was the “Big American Car that was built in Ireland with the fiberglass body that will never rust” when we were kids!!!!
I also remember the TMC Costin. They were built in Wexford. They didn’t really get much attention, at least not at the time and they kinda slipped under the radar. I went looking for their factory a few times, but never actually located them. I know I was nearby, but I didn’t find them!!! I vaguely remember seeing one at a show, but I wasn't impressed.
For me, the Shamrock was more dream-provoking!

......Mike......

[Dracula]

though they seem to have forgotten about the Clan Crusader

Popular among white supremist groups, I'd imagine. The first thing that popped into my mind when I heard the name was the Nazis in the Blues Brothers in their Pinto wagon. I'm disappointed that it looked nothing like it.