CC reader Maarten sent me a link to a treasure trove of 1980s street scenes from Brussels, Belgium by Michel Huhardeaux.. The whole collection of over 200 pictures is here, but let’s sample just a few of them to give you a taste. This one includes a wide range of cars, including a camper mounted on a Simca or Talbot. Wow! What are the odds of that? But the biggest surprise in viewing the whole collection? How many Japanese cars there are. There’s two here, and one or more in just about every shot.
This shot includes a black Citroen TA, among others.
This whole collection really speaks to me, as it reminds me so much of our trip to Austria in 1980, in terms of the cars. Minis were still quite the hot item, among young folks. No less than two Hondas in the frame.
Another Civic, a Mazda RX7, a Matra Rancho, and an Alfa Spider are parked in a row.
This shot grabbed me because that’s a Peugeot 304 Coupe in front on the left. And I’m 99% certain that there’s a Peugeot 504 Coupe two cars behind. Both were always quite uncommon.
The other thing that surprised me was the almost total absence of American cars, except for this Mercury Zephyr coupe. Given that Mercuries were hardly ever sold in Europe, this may be an American ex-pat’s car or a private import. If this was in the Netherlands, Switzerland or Sweden, there undoubtedly would be more. It may have to do with the specific tax situation in some countries that made them prohibitive. of course, generally speaking American cars had been falling out of favor for several decades, with those few exceptions.
There’s also one American truck, a Dodge delivering beer, I assume. I know Chrysler had a factory in Rotterdam, NL, until 1960, but I’m not sure they built these trucks there. Johannes Dutch will tell us all the particulars.
And the police were still riding Harleys. I suspect that would soon change.
Here’s another typical street scene, and a few not so typical cars. I’ll let you ID them.
Two more Japanese cars shoe-horning themselves into the shot.
The red car is a Skoda coupe, so I had to include it. Datsuns were obviously very popular in Brussels then.
No less than three Citroen 2CVs in this shot.
Here’s a car that was already a CC in the early eighties, a Ford 17M. This design by Uwe Bahnsen was the first home-grown design by Ford Germany, as all the previous cars had been designed with lots of input from Dearborn. It was pretty radical in 1960, and it influenced the 1961 Continental’s design considerably, as Elwood Engel saw it in the Cologne Ford studios when he made a trip there. The 17M’s unique front end, peaked fenders and slab sides all are very much accounted for in the ’61 Continental. The headlights and grille also found their way unto the ’61 Thunderbird. A very influential design.
Real cars and imagined cars.
A Simca 1000, Mitsubishi Galant Lambda (Plymouth Sapporo) and Autobianchi A112 are among the more unusual cars here.
An Alfasud, Renault 16 and a Fiat 600 (in front of Prelude).
An Opel Ascona passing a rolling billboard pulled by a VW buggy.
In another shot, it’s advertising the release of the movie “The Shining”. That movie’s exteriors were shot at the Timberline Lodge in Oregon, so that brings us back home. I always love going back to Europe (we’re going this coming August), but I’m never sorry to be coming back home to Oregon.
Please do visit this remarkable collection of photographs here. They’re not just cars, but an effort to document Brussels and its inhabitants at the time.
This is really great ! In the seventies and early eighties I visited Belgium very frequently, so this brings back a lot of good memories.
About that Dodge delivery truck. A lot of truck importers had their own assembly facilities in the post war decades, so apart from the bigger car plants. I’ve read that 2,176 Dodge trucks were assembled in the Rotterdam Chrysler plant…hard to tell if this was one of them…Might as well be assembled in Belgium, starting as a CKD kit. Or in the big UK Kew Dodge truck plant.
F. Moeremans, the owner of the truck, was a brewery from Anderlecht/Brussels.
And it looks like that brewery preferred Dodge trucks!
Wow, I miss the 80’s, back then ALL cars had their own identity… You could tell a European from a Japanese from an American, etc.
From what I could see in top pic:
Mitsubishi Mirage(Colt, Champ)
Honda Civic
Renault 18i
Peugeot 505 or Vauxhall or Talbot?
VW Passat(Dasher)
Renault Le Car(5)
Pic with real/imagined cars:
BMW 320i
Ford Escort?
Toyota Celica GT(ST?)
Awesome photos, keep em coming!! 🙂
(Top pic) I think the car between the Honda Civic and the Ford Escort Mk3 is a Peugeot 305.
I think you’re right, Johannes… good eye.
I wasn’t able to supersize and elongate the pic, when I posted my comment.
Now, that I can, that car I thought was a Vauxhall or Talbot, is very easily a 3rd gen FWD Escort. No question. 🙂
+1 for certain
Yes, that’s a MkII Escort in the real/imagined pic; can’t see a Passat in the top pic – the car in front of the Renault 5 is a Simca/Talbot.
Yes, it’s a Simca 1308GT. 🙂
It ‘s looks like a VW Dasher(Passat), at quick glance, but the Passat has an opera window after the C pillar.
That Fairmont Futura is actually a Mercury Zephyr Z-7. Horizontal instead of vertical lines on the tailights.
Good catch. That’s also odd, as I don’t remember Mercury being sold (officially) in Europe. Presumably an ex-pat or private import.
I think US military people could bring their cars over; I remember seeing a Ford Aerostar in Frankfurt am Main when I visited during the ’80s, and it had military plates. Maybe someone could shed more light or correct me here. I even saw very distinctive “USA” military plates the other day in town, probably from DM AFB.
Do you mean this former American military numberplate?
http://www.ricksplates.com/images/examples/usa-2.jpg
I rememberd seeing many of them in southern Germany. They were easy to spot and really stood out on the streets.
This type was used until 2000 when the heightened security threat compelled the changes to FE-style numberplates. A couple of differences between German and military numberplates was the blue stripe showing NATO insignia and USA lettering instead of EU flag and country code; and registration seal has ‘Streitkräfte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika in Deutschland’ (Armed Force of the United States of America in Germany) instead of city or district. For a while, they used AF, AS, HK, and IF as city or county designation.
Since 2005, the vehicles used by military personnel and its dependent family members are registered like any other vehicles in Germany, eliminating any indication or reference to their armed force service. They are exempted from complying with ECE or German safety regulations as well as TÜV inspections or German taxes. Deep tinted windows and exhaust system exceeding the noise limit aren’t allowed, though.
Thanks for the detail! However, I can’t tell since my browser got an HTTP 403: Forbidden message on your URL.
Wiki has something:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_States_Army_in_Germany
However, I don’t recall which it was while I visited. Military would make sense for that Zephyr; isn’t NATO HQ in Bruxelles?
I do miss my Datsun 120 Y wagon, cheapest car I ever bought and in those days probably the most reliable on the market.
Best one was the Autobianchi A112, a little bat out of hell and actually the REAL first hot-hatch in Abarth livery ever !
The Autobianchi was a try out for a small FWD Fiat, the Agnelli family were against it but FIAT”s Great designer Dante Giacosa saw the success of the Mini in Italy and convinced the Agnellis to use Autobianchi as a try out brand for fwd.
The first one was the Autobianchi Primula of 1964, fitted with a transverse FIAT 1100 engine and gearbox and Autobianchi were also the first to fit the gearbox next to the engine instead of on top of it like the Mini
Everybody was afraid the different length of the drive shafts would influence the way the car drove, but later everybody took over this concept.
Interesting point in the page posted by Johannes Dutch: It’s printed in both Flemish and French. Must be Belgian! I first went to Brussels in 1987. I liked the place very much. The weather is awful but the food and the beer are excellent. We rented a little Ford. If I recall correctly, it was a Fiesta. Thank goodness that I had my wife along to navigate. She had lived there for many years. I found that walking was a risky proposition. There must have been a bounty on pedestrians as drivers all seemed to be out to hit them.
Yep. Company info (like on commercial vehicles), road signs, ads, etc. always in both Dutch and French.
Sweet Belgium. Where northern Europe seems to stop and where southern Europe seems to begin.
What I especially remember about Belgium (apart from the gun shops, where you could buy any firearm without having to show your ID and / or gun permit) in those days was the huge variety of brands. They especially loved French cars, vans and heavy-duty trucks. Renault, Peugeot, Citroën, Simca, Saviem, Berliet and Unic. Trucks were always called “camion”, also in the Flemish part of the country.
Big French diesel trucks were much rarer on my side of the border, where DAF (about 1/3th of the market), Scania, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and MAN were already dominating the HD truck market about 35 to 40 years ago. A bit further down south you could see so much more from other Euro-countries, but also from the US and Japan.
Paul’s commentary implies that the Japanese brands have lost market share in the EU over the last 30 years.
I have been hearing rumblings about the UK leaving the EU, probably due to Brit financial industry whining about regulation from Brussels. The Brit auto industry has a large trade deficit with the EU, so they might be pushing for withdrawal as the largest market share is held by VAG, which has no plants in the UK other than Bentley.
Most of the Japanese brand EU plants are in the UK, so UK departure from the EU might make Japanese brands even thinner on the ground on the Continent.
For the avoidance of doubt, the UK is not planning on leaving the EU, but we are due to have a vote in 2017 on staying in. Current predictions (and common sense) say we vote to stay in.
I sure like that car camper. Wonder what the name of the manufacturer is ?
Love these pictures.
I visited Brussels on business circa 1986, having driven from the Netherlands. Made the mistake of arriving on a rainy afternoon just as rush hour traffic was peaking. Brussels can be very confusing to navigate, combining many narrow one-way streets, large plazas where streets converge from six different directions with no form of traffic control (impossible to navigate safely if you’re a pedestrian), and a peripheral road that consists of a series of tunnels linked by roads, each with different names. I took me a couple of hours to find the entrance to my hotel, even though I caught a few glimpses of the hotel as I drove around in circles.
Great food, and beer, in Brussels.
“Datsuns were obviously very popular in Brussels then.”
Perhaps they were indeed very popular, but the many Datsuns in this picture may well be explained by the vertical Datsun dealership sign on the left of the picture.
Awhile ago, a British magazine claimed that statistically, Belgians are Europe’s worst drivers. Maybe what you experienced is the reason.
I can confirm that – drove through that land on more than one ocassion when going to the UK from Austria. The triple language signs is another thing to confuse one. Oh, Liège has its own one-way street system, managed to get into it at 02:00 because of those signs (how about Luik in Dutch and Lüttich in German?)…
What’s pretty interesting is that there are a fair number of Japanese cars on the streets, much more than other European cities at the time (or even now). What could account for that?
I’ll give it a try. Small Euro-countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark don’t have a car industry (as in real domestic brands) of their own. That leaves out “patriotic” reasons to choose a car brand. Because any car is a foreign car. Furthermore small countries often have an open economy, without horrible restrictions to import goods from other countries or parts of the world.
It is a fact though that the popularity of Japanese brands peaked from -roughly- the mid-seventies to the late nineties. From there on it was downhill for all Japanese brands. The only Japanese brand that offers a full line of cars (from A- to F-segment) these days is Toyota/Lexus.
Ironically, Belgium produces or used to produce more cars per capita than Germany, at least until recently. Ford in Genk (closing), Volvo in Ghent, GM in Antwerp (closing), VW/Audi in Brussels, Renault in Vilvoorde (closed), and even British Leyland in Seneffe (also closed). The fact that all brands were foreign in fact worked against Belgium, since foreign plants are (politically) easier to close than domestic ones.
“A Simca 1000, Mitsubishi Galant Lambda (Plymouth Sapporo) and Autobianchi A112 are among the more unusual cars here.”
To say nothing of the white Lada Niva behind the A112.
BTW, here’s an interesting article about the Rotterdam factory :
http://www.allpar.com/corporate/factories/rotterdam.html
First shot – I’ve never seen a Simca/Chrysler/Talbot 1307/1308/Alpine with a motorhome on top before. Nice Renault 5 in that shot too.
Second shot – Fiat Argenta and an Alfasud in the second, and just what is behind that early Honda Civic?
thrid shot – Fiat 123 Sport behind the man in the bowler hat?
Fourth shot – Ford Taunus and Fiat Ritmo (Strada)
Fifth shot, yes, Peugeot 504 Coupe. Wonderful car.
with the Skoda, a Chrysler 2 Litre and many Datsuns, including 2 sports versions.
“No less than three Citroen 2CVs in this shot.”, and an Austin Allegro and a Renault 14 (complete hen’s teeth now), a Renault and a Capri.
With the 17M, a Talbot or Simca Horizon (European Omnirizon) and a Renault 15. Both now very rare!
Roger in the 2nd photo is that a Fiat 132 rather than Argenta as it has twin round headlamps as the Argenta had rectangular H/Lamps ?Also might be too early for an Argenta ?
Rotterdam, Nebraska? 🙂
Excellent photos – I’m also amazed by the number of Japanese cars, the cops on Harleys. And an Allegro! With French plates! Someone in France bought an Allegro!?!?
I wonder what is between the Simca and the Honda in the first pic, and there’s an ivory coloured car beside the tram in the photo below the “cops on Harleys” one. It looks very familiar but I can’t think what it is.
The ivory coloured car looks like a Peugeot 304 to me.
My guess was a Peugeot 505
Some how, I guess he only bought one.
Nice pic’s Paul.Love those Harley police bikes. Great bikes if you don’t really want to catch anybody. Because you’re not. A 240Z, or 74-75 Toyota Corolla with a 5 speed would smoke those bikes, let alone my John Deere tractor. And we won’t even mention the ’73 Kawasaki 900-Z1…
Fantastic nostalgic shots – so many cars I remember from my younger years that have long-since vanished from our roads.
Regarding those policemen on the bikes. In the past there was the “Rijkswacht” in Belgium, the police force with a military status. It doesn’t exist anymore.
To quote dad: if you ever get a Rijkswacht stop sign, hit the brakes immediately, otherwise they will use your vehicle as a shooting target.
The Rijkswacht indeed was well known for their approach….I started as a truckdriver in 1987, and of all European police forces, the rijkswacht and the Spanish Guardia Civil were by far the worst, specially to trucks or cars with foreign (to them) plates……
About the pictures, I started driving in 1984, and the views in Rotterdam were not really different, apart for the streets being less wobbly…….I owned a lot of models you see in these pics, but lucky enough we did get way more American cars in the Netherlands.
One more thing, the Chrysler assembly plant in Rotterdam is still part there, if you know how to look at the buildings, I have a wonderful book someone publiced a few years ago about the history of that plant.
They sound equivalent to the French gendarmerie, a holdover from an era when civilian police agencies didn’t exist yet & either the army, a constable, or a posse comitatus were the law-enforcement options.
There’s a legend about a call for Texas Rangers to suppress a local riot, but only one appeared. When asked where the others were, he replied, “One riot, one Ranger.”
That’s exactly what it was: Rijkswacht = Belgian Gendarmerie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Gendarmerie
Really cool old photos and a very distinctive selection of vehicles as well! Very cool “old town” feel to those streets, probably because they are hundreds of years old I’d assume. Has me mentally planning a European trip…