Solved: Rust never sleeps

[Wendax]

I'm heading towards my 1000th puzzle, not counting the group puzzles. So I thought it would be time for something special again. The following started as a kind of a ,,Nearly Mint" puzzle, but it felt as if some complexity was missing. After some time of thinking how I can torture you just so much that you will like the pain I came up with the idea to take you to an AutoPuzzles hare and hounds paper chase. You will start here:

[Wendax]

In the following you will find 31 pictures of vehicles in a non-perfect state. Some of them will be easy to identify, some others rather not. But this alone won't bring you any point. Additional to the pictures there are 31 hints, not in chronological order, but mixed up, too. Beginning at the start picture shown above, you have to find the right hint that leads to the next pictured vehicle in the chase. Only this combination will earn you a point. After it is found, the same procedure has to be applied to find the next combination, and so on. To prevent anybody from running too fast, there is a harsh restriction: the puzzler who solved a combination is excluded from guessing the next one. When this ,,next one" is solved, he might join in again.

This puzzle will already start at Pro level, so that all puzzlers can give it a try from the very beginning. I hope this puzzle will keep you busy for a while. 

Here are the pictures:

[Wendax]

Pictures 11 - 20:

[Wendax]

The final pictures:

[Wendax]

These are the hints:

1: The names of this car and of the next one are the names of a son and his father.
2: The next car was built in the twin town of the city where this vehicle was built.
3: The place where this picture was taken sounds like the model name of the next car.
4: A dealer in this town sold all 52 cars that were built of the next car in the chain.
5: The manufacturer also built a vehicle that was based on the same car as the next vehicle.
6: This car's maker built another model that shared its model name with the next car.
7: This company's founder went to the same school as the famous photographer who took the picture of the next car.
8: These two cars shared their name and purpose, but were built on different continents.
9: In the town where this coachbuilder was located you can find the grave of a well-known musician who shares his name with the next car.
10: The next one in the chain shares the name, but is not a car.
11: These two cars share their country of origin, but not the number of their wheels.
12: While this car kept its two-stroke engine, the next vehicle changed to a four-stroke engine during its production time.
13: This car's name was mostly an abbreviation for two cities involved in its existence. In one of those cities the driver of the next car was born.
14: Part of the coachbuilder's name is the town where the next car in the chain was built.
15: This vehicle was built in the same town as the base of the next car.
16: This car's brand name shares three letters with the town where the next car was built.
17: Another car of this company was build under licence by the next vehicle's maker.
18: This car's company also built trucks, just like the company of the next vehicle which came from the same town.
19: This car's builder also constructed completely different vehicles. A museum especially for those machines can be found in the town where the next vehicle in the chain was built.
20: Although they share parts of their name, the two coachbuilders of these two cars split apart.
21: This car was built in the same building as the next one, but by a different company.
22: In this town you have to enter metro line 13 and leave it at the 12th station. The station's name will give you the customers of the next car.
23: These two cars share their diesel engine supplier.
24: This car was built in a town whose twin town was the birthplace of the next car's engineer.
25: A badge-engineered version of this car was the namesake of another car that was built at the company where the next vehicle in the chain came from.
26: The name of the town where this car was built will give the marque of the next car, but it has to be translated first.
27: The engine maker of these two vehicles had a name derived from a constructed language.
28: The most famous ride of this vehicle started in the town where the next car was built.
29: The small town where this car was built was de facto capital for four years, while the big city where the next car was built remained the de jure capital.
30: The production of this vehicle was continued after the initial company was taken over. The new company was taken over later on by another company who shares its name with the next vehicle's builder.
31: This car's body material was used on a later version of the next car.

[Wendax]

The solutions:
Start: Beverly Hills - Hint 4 - Rust 22: Ghia 450 SS (Tom_I)
- Hint 20 - Rust 27: Ferrari 195 Inter by Ghia-Aigle (Joao)
- Hint 14 - Rust 14: Cegga Ferrari (4popoid)
- Hint 26 - Rust 11: Adler Stromlinie (Tom_I)
- Hint 10 - Rust 17: Adler train (targhediferro)
- Hint 28 - Rust 7: Zündapp Janus (4popoid)
- Hint 1 - Rust 29: Saturn Sky (Tom_I)
- Hint 25 - Rust 4: Chausson AP52 (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 22 - Rust 6: Salamander (Tom_I)
- Hint 13 – Rust 9: Aston Martin DBR1/300 (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 3 - Rust 21: Citroen DS Leman Coupé by Chapron (Tom_I)
- Hint 9 – Rust 26: Ravel 9/12 HP Berline (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 24 - Rust 13: Zaschka Faltauto (4popoid)
- Hint 19 - Rust 23: Harmening Clubbus HKB (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 30 - Rust 3: Kögel K28 (Tom_I)
- Hint 15 - Rust 20: BMW 2800 ambulance by Willi Martini (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 21 - Rust 8: Veritas Meteor streamliner (4popoid)
- Hint 8 - Rust 15: Meteor Lakester (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 31 - Rust 1: Fuldamobil N (targhediferro)
- Hint 17 - Rust 28: NWF BS (4popoid)
- Hint 2 - Rust 31: Ligier JS1 (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 29 - Rust 5: Duriez truck based on Citroen C6 (Tom_I)
- Hint 5 - Rust 12: Theurer tractor on a Jeep base (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 23 - Rust 24: Erad Capucine Diesel (Tom_I)
- Hint 6 - Rust 16: DKW Junior (targhediferro)
- Hint 12 - Rust 10: Lloyd LT (Tom_I)
- Hint 16 - Rust 2: Berliet 944 (Ehhxekt)
- Hint 18 - Rust 30: Luc Court H4 (targhediferro)
- Hint 7 - Rust 25: Skoda 1101 (4popoid)
- Hint 11 - Rust 19: Krejbich (targhediferro)
- Hint 27 - Rust 18: Weise Kleinlieferwagen (4popoid)

[Paul Jaray]

That's insane!
I like it! 

[Allemano]

Not a puzzle for me as I'm only here for a quick look day after day. I envy those who have the time to dive into this!

[targhediferro]

I'm astonished and excited, but I'm afraid I will do a great digging in the water, without getting the target. It will be amusing anyway.

[Wendax]

There is no need to hurry, and I think it will get easier as soon as the first half is solved. 

[faksta]

Eh..uh...I can just add to all the comments above - this is something very interesting. The only thing is, on the very first picture... where is the car?

[Wendax]

There is no car in the first picture, just remnants of another vehichle which should lead you to the geographical starting point. I took the freedom of incorporating some vehicles like tractors, buses, trucks, a train and a plane into this puzzle. 

[Tom_I]

Wow, what a fascinating puzzle. Let's see if I can make a start.

The first picture shows the wreckage of a prototype Hughes XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft intended for the US Air Force. It's identifiable by the registration number. Howard Hughes piloted it on a test flight from his factory's airfield at Culver City, California on 7 July 1946. Unfortunately the plane developed mechanical problems, and Hughes crash landed it in Beverly Hills, California.

This leads to Hint 4.

A dealer in this town sold all 52 cars that were built of the next car in the chain.

Ghia displayed their 450SS cabriolet, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, at the 1966 Turin Motor Show. The car used many Chrysler components, and 52 examples were built, all of which were apparently sold through a dealership in Beverly Hills, California.

Rust 22 is a sorry-looking example of a Ghia 450SS.

[Wendax]

In fact, I was counting on you. 

That was a very good start, all correct. You have to pause for the next combination now. Who will carry on?

[pnegyesi]

so we have to start from picture no31 and find the next clue, right?

[Wendax]

No, the goal is to create one chain containing all pictures connected by the hints. So far, the chain is just:
Rust The Start (Beverly Hills) - Hint 4 - Rust 22 (Ghia 450 SS).
The next thing to do is to find a hint that connects the Ghia 450 SS with one of the remaining Rust pictures. For example the hint "The number in the model designation is twice as big as the one of the next car's." and a picture of an Audi Front 225, if those were in the lists. Then the next one had to find a hint connecting the Audi Front 225 with another picture, and so on. Is it clearer now?

[João]

Rust #27 and hint 14: Part of the coachbuilder's name is the town where the next car in the chain was built.

Connection - Ghia.

Ferrari 195 Inter s/n 0195 EL from 1952 made by Ghia-Aigle from Switzerland.

Is it ok?

Very nice puzle btw!

[Wendax]

Partly correct. The car is right, the link is wrong.
If hint 14 were right, a part of the Ghia 450 SS' coachbuilder (=Ghia) would have been the town's name where the Ferrari was built. That doesn't work. Anyhow, locked for you for one more try.

[João]

Hint number #20?

[Wendax]

Yes. Hint #20 is of course referring to Ghia and Ghia-Aigle. Ghia-Aigle started as a subsidiary to Ghia, but later on became independent.

Joao, you have to take a break here until the next connection is found, and Tom_I is back in the race.

[targhediferro]

A shot in the dark....Rust n. 17 looks like the "Eagle" steamer that burned out some years ago in Nürnberg museum, so, if we consider that a part of the name of last rust in chain, is "Aigle", that in french stands for Eagle, the hint number 10 could fit...the two rust share the name (actually part of the name), but the second is not a car.   Quite mad, I know.

[Wendax]

Some nice thoughts which might be helpful in the future. 
Rust 17 is the train you are thinking of, but its name is of course a German one.
But the next connection is not with Rust 17 and not using Hint 10.

[Tom_I]

For the next stage, we are starting with Rust 27, the Ferrari bodied by Ghia in Aigle, Switzerland.

I'll try Hint 26:

26: The name of the town where this car was built will give the marque of the next car, but it has to be translated first.

'Aigle' translated from French into German is 'Adler', and I think Rust 11 is an Adler streamlined sports racing car from the 1930s.

[Wendax]

For the next stage, we are starting with Rust 27, the Ferrari bodied by Ghia in Aigle, Switzerland.

I'll try Hint 26:

26: The name of the town where this car was built will give the marque of the next car, but it has to be translated first.

'Aigle' translated from French into German is 'Adler', and I think Rust 11 is an Adler streamlined sports racing car from the 1930s.

I see that it could be applied here as well, but it is not the next in the chain. Keep your guess in mind. Its time will come soon.

[4popoid]

Rust 27 was bodied in Aigle, Switzerland. 

Hint 15 says: This vehicle was built in the same town as the base of the next car.

Rust 14 is the Cegga Maserati which was built in Aigle, Switzerland.

So: Hint 15 and Rust 14 (the connection being Aigle, Switzerland).