Calling all car nuts (vehicle identification)

I'm kind of curious about the vehicles driven by the various SWA handlers in the series. I'd like to try to establish a fairly accurate list.

Jose drives a Porsche Boxster.
Alessandro has a Smart car.
Hillshire seems to have an Mercedes E Class station wagon of some sort.
Jean's car (in the manga at least) is a Mercedes CL coupe of 1999-2006 vintage.

Not entirely sure what Marco drives.

Anyone want to make an ID? Make a more specific ID for one that's already been identified? Make note of a difference between anime and manga?

someone might wanna take note of Lauro's car too

Lauro drove some kinda four-wheel drive thingy.

I'm hopeless when it comes to cars.

Lauro's is a Range Rover... no good at years on new cars, they all look the same.

The only car I can actually, positively identify on sight is a VW Beetle.

LoC978 wrote:no good at years on new cars, they all look the same.

That's where reference photos come in handy. If you can identify a basic type, you look for photos and compare to narrow things in.

That doesn't help if you can't even get a rather general ID though. I don't even know what brand of car Marco had, let alone a specific model. Some sort of sports car from the looks though.

whoops... Lauro's is actually a Land Rover Discovery... not a Range Rover.

found the old discussion on this topic. I knew I had researched this before:
http://www.fanfiction.net/topic/4167/245496/1/

so, the breakdown is:

I wrote:Giuseppe: Porsche Boxster (various)
Jean: Mercedes-Benz CL (Volumes 4 & 6)
Marco: Fiat Coupe (Volume 4)
Hillshire: Mercedes-Benz E-Class Wagon (Volume 4)
Lauro: Land Rover Discovery (anime, episode 9)
Bernardo: Lancia Kappa (volume 4)
Alesandro: SMART Car (volume 8)
Priscilla: Volkswagen New Beetle and a Vespa moped (volumes 3 & 5)
Pietro Fermi: new BMW Mini (volume 1), classic Austin or Rover Mini (anime, episode 10)
Catrina/Franca: classic Alfa Romeo Julietta (various)
Pinocchio: looks like a Fiat Punto, to me. In any case, it's an egg-shaped hatchback. (volume 5)
Cristiano: newer Alfa-Romeo. Possibly a 166? (volume 5)

Oh, and:
Orazio: a yellow 1971 Volkwagen bus (with a black racing stripe! ) and a forest green 1967 Buick Riviera.

LoC978 wrote:Lauro's is a Range Rover... no good at years on new cars, they all look the same.

Lauro's car is a Land Rover Discovery, 1990 - 1996 vintage.
The Discovery II is a bit more rounder, and lights in different posistions.

Post a pic of Marco's car and I'll tell you what it is.

Thanks Elfen, but the old post LOC dragged up already identified it. Fiat Coupe (and yes, the model was called 'Coupe'). Produced from 1993-2000.

Interesting that so many of the handlers drive sporty cars. Hillshire's station wagon kind of stands out in that crowd.

To me, the cars seem to support GSG being set in the early 2000s, as I think most of the handlers are supposed to drive relatively new vehicle. On the other hand however, one has to remember that the series was being made at a certain point in time, and Yu Aida and the various animators couldn't exactly say 'okay, a 2008 Mercedes CL will look like this.'

Anyone want to compare the prices for some of the different rides the various handlers have? A base model 2008 Mercedes CL550 has an MSRP of $103,600 (in the US, presumably), although of course Jean's car isn't a 2008 (2006 at the latest going by the styling).

BTW, since LOC brought up his OC's rides, anyone want to share the ones that their OCs have?

Piero wrote:To me, the cars seem to support GSG being set in the early 2000s

Quoted for truth... and vindicated at last.

Altheus drives a Cheverolet Corvette C5.

I'll admit that it's a point in favour on that stance, but I don't think the cars should be considered the sole deciding factor there. (Remember the 'one the other hand' bit?) Are there any topics that cover that one in more depth? There may be some points on it I'm not aware of.

I haven't nailed down Piero's car for sure, but likely a Silver Mercedes Benz E430 sedan of 1998-2002 vintage... (the issue of when the series takes place has me wondering a bit on the model year) with factory installed Level B6 ballistic protection. Bought used because of cost issues (armoured vehicles are hugely expensive). Likely also has a tuned engine because of how much weight that level of armour adds.

LoC978 wrote:

That, believe it or not, it a Ferrari 612 coupe; mass produced by FIAT.
There is 2 versions of it; one low powere version by FIAT and one hi-Pro by Ferrrari.

Ferrari's verion:



FIAT's version:




They are both the same car with different body details powertrain and brake/suspension packages, but sharing the same chassis and body style. And like other cars of joint ventures in the past, parts are swappable between the two. No doubt Marco has FIAT Shell but the Ferrari Zoom in his!

Um, are you sure? When I look up the Ferrari 612, I get a car that looks very different from the one you posted pictures of. Futhermore, its got a very different drive set up then the Fiat Coupe's front engine, front drive layout.

...and its first model year seems to be 2004...
must be a different model than the 612 Scaglietti

To a degree, the cars seem to fit their drivers in a similar way to the girls fitting their guns. o_O Hillshire's is utilitarian, German, no frills at all, built to take/carry a lot of stuff...Giuseppe's is lightweight, speaks to not caring about money, a joy to know...Jean's is intimidating...

X_x; There's something to this, I swear.

(Gabriel, for his part, has a BMW M6.)

Y'know, Alpha, you really might be on to something here. Perhaps someone qualified can do a 'Like Car, Like Driver' write-up echoing my thesis on weapons...

A car is an extension of a man's personality; as is most of his possesions. It would not be 'judging a book by its cover', but more like what you see if you rapidly zip through the pages.

Why you think Fernando drives a Porsche 928? And its not for what some would consider 'Making up for what he lacks in manhood...'

ElfenMagix wrote:A car is an extension of a man's personality; as is most of his possesions. It would not be 'judging a book by its cover', but more like what you see if you rapidly zip through the pages.

Why you think Fernando drives a Porsche 928? And its not for what some would consider 'Making up for what he lacks in manhood...'

He's a fast-paced man with somewhere to go.

Seriously though, I know what you mean. I get that a lot, myself. My daily driver is an '89 Mitsubishi Mighty Max. For out of town trips, I drive a '92 Nissan 240SX hatchback. And currently I took up rebuilding a '66 Charger like the one I had in high school.

Not a single one of these cars is(or in the case of the Charger, will be) stock and for that some people (mostly cousins) say I have something to prove. I used to get mad, but now I just laugh.

Yo Gonz!
Long time No See!

Yeah, same here with that. I've had a 71 Charger and a few other Plymouths/Dodges/Chryslers of that era, and even when I moved to VWs, my friends thought I had something to prove. Actually- I just like going fast.

Cool, another Mopar nut.

I give a loud amen to that. When I was in high school, most everybody had a 'tough guy' Mustang. Either a '65 or a '66.

I always gave a smile when one of them would roll up to me and rev that little 289 against my supercharged 383. It was no contest upon launch.

My most ambitous mod was my Mighty Max. I drove that little 1.6L engine into the ground(partially by intention) and swapped it out with a 4G63T out of a totalled '03 Evo. I heard of someone in Seatle doing it with a '92 Dodge Ram and thought I'd give it a try.

I grew up in the late 70's/ early 80's, and was a Dodge Boy before that kooky commercial came out!

I hear that Boomer. Pony cars can run but they are short on many areas. And I can get any VW to out perform most Porsches even though they come out of the same factor, but there is a difference driving an aircooled bug at 120 and a Porsche at the same speed.

There is nothing like having all the guages pinned to the right, the scenery blurred at the sides and the fact that 1 slight miscalculation and you dont need to worryabout driving ever again! White knuckle driving at its best!!! :billnye:

The highest speed at which I drive on the freeway is 110 km/h. Better safe than sorry, sez I.

Since a few of you seem to have some experience modifying cars, do any of you have any suggestions for possible ways to improve the performance of a 1998-2002 Mercedes E430? (Even general tips are appreciated, I doubt many of you have much experience with the specific model.) All the factory installed armour in Piero's car may well make it more then half again as heavy as a stock E430, and that's got to hurt the performance somewhat.

Oh yeah. These are a few of those general tuning rules.

-Lighter weight equals better handling
-Greater weight equals decreased handling

Not to mention that his suspension would have to a custom job to properly handle that kind of weight on a luxury class sedan.

Oh, and the loss in gas mileage. With that kind of curb weight, you just know that he's not picking that fuel tab.

Oh yeah, the gas mileage is going to suck pretty badly...

As far as the weight issues goes, factory armoured Mercedes cars are built to handle it. The company has actually been building armoured versions of its passenger cars for a long time, so they have a pretty decent amount of experience with it. Though there's pretty much no way to prevent the driver from noticing the extra weight during certain types of maneouvres.

However, that doesn't change the fact that the car's power to weight ratio has gone way, way down. I suspect there's a reasion why from 1997-2002 it was only V8 powered E Class variants (E420 and its replacement, the E430) that were offered with factory installed Level B6 protection. There were smaller engined E Classes with B4, but B4 protection requires a lot less weight then B6.

So that E430 has already been built with some modifications to handle the extra weight. However, I'm interested in what could be done to offset some of the loss in performance. I'm under the impression that someone could probably replace the 4.3 litre engine with the 5.5 litre one offered on some of the high performance versions of the E Class around the same time, but acquiring such an engine strikes me as an expensive prospect, which considering the price of acquiring even a used armoured E430 in good condition is not really a good thing... (but on the other hand, upping the torque from 295 ft/lbs to 391 would really help the acceleration of a car that heavy...).

Does anybody know what car Ferro drives or can I go ahead and ballpark it?

I don't think we ever see her drive anything... she might just use Alfonso, Amedeo, and Georgio as chauffeurs.

why would anyone drive in Rome ? its like a madhouse there !

gotta agree with ya on that one... thought I was gonna die when I took a cab to my hotel there...

LoC978 wrote:I don't think we ever see her drive anything... she might just use Alfonso, Amedeo, and Georgio as chauffeurs.

I have her driving anything she can get the keys of- mostly the agency owned cars for personal transport... This way she looks good driving home a new car everyday.

Besides, I dont think she owns a car, hence the reason why she drives others. In Particularly in my FF.net Solution's Resolution, the agency owns a Ferrari Dino, which Ferro threw the keys at Ernesto to, but she has to get them back every once in a while, and Ernesto is too much in love with that car more than Pia is in love with him... He has it bad for the Dino! :face:

On page 83 of Chapter 30, Louis and Alessandro are in a Renault Mégane Renault Sport. So this chapter has to take place no earlier then 2004 as that is the earliest this model was available.

Mario Bossi looks like he's driving a 2003 Alfa Romeo 156 in some of the flashback scenes about how Triela came to the agency. But it's debateable how seriously some of the automotive stuff in the series should be taken.

Piero wrote:Mario Bossi looks like he's driving a 2003 Alfa Romeo 156 in some of the flashback scenes about how Triela came to the agency.

That is definitely an Alfa 156 in Chapter 55. And it is definitely prior to the 2003 facelift because the rear lights slope up, not down. Also, while he has improperly drawn the dashboard, it is closer to the 1997-2001 model then the 2002 model (which had a new dashboard put in).

But it's debatable how seriously some of the automotive stuff in the series should be taken.

Considering the amount of effort Yu puts in to get the details correct, I think it is a very important tool to be used to help try and develop a timeline.

I didn't check the dashboard, so I don't know how it stacks up on that However, the front end of the car is definitely post face lift. And I believe that the tail lights on the 2003 cars were different from some of the other post facelift cars. (Been a while since I did the research on this though.)

Piero wrote:However, the front end of the car is definitely post face lift. And I believe that the tail lights on the 2003 cars were different from some of the other post facelift cars.

I looked through a few dozen pictures of Alfa's (since I use 156's in my stories as a pool car) so I am quite familiar with how they look, even if we don't have the brand here in the States.

That is definitely a 1997-2002 model. The front and rear fascias match perfectly. The 2003's were subtly, but noticeably, different from what Marco is driving after they rescue Triela and take her to the hospital in Amsterdam.

I looked up images of both 2002 and 2003 cars... the front end of Mario's car is clearly a 2003 model year onwards front end. You can tell by how the grill interacts with the bumper.

Though from the looks of things, you may be right about the tail lights being a pre-2003 model. Maybe Yu is trying to mess with our heads.

*whistles nonchalantly*

@ Nacht.

You have to remember that there are more older cars in the road than newer ones. So if Mario is driving about in a 2002 Alfa, it would not be a new one, especially if he does not want to draw attention to himself. It would have to be at least 4 - 6 years of age. A brand new car in the streets shouts 'LOOK AT ME!'

Only Politicians and Mafia Bosses drive around in new stuff, and even then that would made to be bulletproofed for their protection.

Piero wrote:I looked up images of both 2002 and 2003 cars... the front end of Mario's car is clearly a 2003 model year onwards front end. You can tell by how the grill interacts with the bumper.

You are right. That is the Second Series (2003-2006) facelift nose.

Though from the looks of things, you may be right about the tail lights being a pre-2003 model.

It is definitely the First Series (1997-2002) rear. Notice how the inboard light covers angle sharply up as with the Series 1. The Series 2 light covers are rounded down.


Mario's 156


Series 1 Rear


Series 2 Rear

Maybe Yu is trying to mess with our heads.

Definitely. Either Mario has the only 2002.5 Alfa 156 or he backed into something and they only had a Series 1 rear fascia to put on it.

Then again, he may have made a mistake drawing the Series 2 nose. In Chapter 35, the prosecutor of the Croce case who was killed a few weeks before Roberta Guellfi was named to the case was driving a Series 1 Alfa 156 when he was killed.

Then again, Chapter 43, which takes place when Alessandro was still a young man involved with Rossana, clearly shows a Series 2 Alfa 156 from both the front and back.

ElfenMagix wrote:A brand new car in the streets shouts 'LOOK AT ME!' Only Politicians and Mafia Bosses drive around in new stuff, and even then that would made to be bulletproofed for their protection.

Well the Prime Minister is tooling around in a current generation Rolls Royce Phantom, which was put on the market in 2003. So that means Chapters 2x takes place no earlier then 2003.

Yeah, Kiskaloo, you rock, automobile fan!

Nachtsider wrote:Yeah, Kiskaloo, you rock, automobile fan!

Doing tons of research into the various cars so I can properly write about them. Also, they tend to help me try and place the years, though there are incongruities. Chapter 45, which takes place in Alessandro's past, shows a Series 2 Alfa which means it is 2003 at the earliest. And yet Chapter 46 takes place almost four years later, which means it takes place in 2007.

Now I see why you like to play in the "current" time.

And yes, ElfenMagix, much of it will end up in the OC Wiki.

To add to our database, Raballo drove a five-door Audi A3 Avant. His was the original "Typ 8L" model which was produced in the five-door format from 1999 to 2003.

This thread's been idle for a while, but I've been pouring over photos of Vespa scooters all night in an effort to identify Priscilla's mount.


It appears to be a PX series, a 2-stoke model which was in production from 1977 until 2008 (resurrected for 2011). Whether it's a 125cc, 150cc or a 200cc I can't tell. The badge that tells you that information is located on the left flank and Yu's drawing in Chapter 23 isn't that precise.


The only thing that's vexing me is those mirrors. Almost every Vespa PX pic I found had those round chrome mirrors seen in the photo...not the black plastic ones in Yu's drawing. Those actually look more like Aprilia mirrors.

Maybe Priscilla clipped something and snapped them off and had to scrounge.

Kiskaloo wrote:Maybe Priscilla clipped something and snapped them off and had to scrounge.

Or they got shot off when Giuseppe borrowed the bike.


More likely the original mirrors were torn off by a mob of angry fans after seeing the first episode of Il Teatrino.