It had been four years since I visited the gathering and start of the Classic Mechanism Zealand spring tour, held yearly in a village nearby my place. Classic heavy trucks and tractors also participate, but today it’s four-wheelers only. In any shape or form, as you’ll see.
1979 Opel Commodore C 2.5 S automatic (C as in third and last generation, based on the 1977-1982 Opel Rekord E1).
1986 Mercedes-Benz 230 E.
1984 Peugeot 604 GTI.
1987 Suzuki Swift 1.0 commercial van conversion (yes, it is).
1995 Mercedes-Benz SL 280.
1960 Ford Anglia deluxe.
1970 Buick Wildcat, sold by Charles Orsinger Buick Co. (from San Antonio) to its first owner. And with a bit of imagination, the 1971 Fiat 500 will fit in the Buick’s trunk.
Built to last, a 1958 Volvo PV444 and a 1979 Mercedes-Benz 240 D.
1971 Toyota Celica ST.
1983 Opel Senator A2 2.5, based on Opel’s last Rekord model, the 1982-1986 Rekord E2.
1989 Talbot Peugeot 309 1.4 XR.
1986 Mini 1000 E.
1972 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.
1979 GMC 2500 High Sierra, finding itself in the Low Countries.
1982 BMW 535i.
1977 Citroën Ami 8.
1957 Ford Fairlane 500.
1977 Opel Kadett C.
1986 Ferrari GTB Turbo (187 kW/254 DIN-hp from a 2.0 liter V8).
Now let’s be honest, there’s only one Ford in this line-up that really stands out.
1963 Jaguar Mk2 3.8 automatic.
1973 Ford F-350 Super Camper Special Ranger XLT.
1983 Mercedes-Benz 300 GD.
1977 Peugeot 504, obviously with an automatic transmission.
1981 Porsche 911 SC (Super Carrera).
1971 Opel Kadett B.
1983 Alfa Romeo Alfetta Quadrifoglio Oro.
1967 Porsche 912.
1967 Citroën ID 19 B.
1977 Volvo 264 GLE.
1978 Volkswagen Transporter T2 Westfalia camper van.
1978 Ford F-250 Ranger.
1987 Saab 900 Turbo 16v convertible.
We go out with a Binz (I assume), a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 220 D Kombi.
That is a remarkable assembly of semi-remarkable vehicles. A dog’s breakfast of semi-classics.
What a great assortment of vehicles!
For some reason, I’ve always liked the Peugeot 604. They sold about 3 of them in the US (OK, slight exaggeration), so I doubt I’ll ever see one again.
Now, that F-350 Super Camper Special! Wow… pretty rare package. The owner really needs a big slide-in camper to go with that truck! And Ford’s 1973 “Recreation” brochure featured a Super Camper Special in the same medium brown color. I can imagine how challenging it is to navigate Europe’s narrow roads with those “Western-Style” long-arm mirrors.
Just follow this guy and everything will be fine. And you certainly won’t get a speeding ticket.
That Transporter Kombi looks spectacular. In the US in the 70s and 80s, they were everywhere.
This one is German; you can tell by the air intake on the rear roof. Brazilian ones were also seen, which had the intake in the middle of the van. Several were even from the 90s.
The “Vdub, camper” looks just like a neighbor’s when i was a kid. Think it was a “70-71”, He got it in “74”. Was very clean. Never thought to check the odometer. ((too young to think about that))
Thought it was soo, so cool..lol
You’ve managed to trigger several lingering lusts in this wonderful survey.
I would really like a 604; I prefer its boxiness to the 504 and 505’s curves. It reminds me of my 404, and not just because of the last numeral.
Always loved the Amis, but it has to be the original sedan with the reverse-slant rear window for proper effect.
I’ve been lusting after a swb early G-Wagen for a long time, but it has to have the Puch emblems on it!
I’d much prefer a Kadett A, but that B is very sweet, looking so original, well-used and well-loved.
Always have perpetual lust for an air cooled Porsche, and lately I’ve come to see the 912 as much more desirable than I used to. Handles better than a comparable 911, is plenty fast, and much cheaper to fix the engine should anything unfortunate happen to it. They used to be fairly reasonable; sadly, no more.
+1 on the 604, and I actually rode in one a bit when I was about 17, which helped to like it even more: damn, it felt exotic, and US barge-comfortable, and it sounded very cool.
But, my god, even the specialists always said “don’t begin to contemplate one”, so fundamentally bad was that carb 2.7 v6 (and the electrics, and the rust).
Nice selection Johannes. Count me in as a Peugeot 604 fan also. The only one I’ve seen in the metal was here in Japan and it had a real presence.
I’d wager good money that the metal in which you saw it was only about 50% of that supplied from the factory, the balance being fitted later in place of vast stretches of rust.
Excellent and eclectic old bunch, Mr Dutch.
I like the lurid colors one got on ’70’s Benzes (those that weren’t super-sober metallics), but I could never come at that insipid mouthwash green that’s on the 240D here. A dreadful half-color, weak, indecisive, used-up. Actually, it kinda does belong on an early 240D, especially if auto (as most were here). Stinky, with can’t-be-bothered levels of performance, for a lot of dough.
Like others, love the 604, which can at least teach the clunk-bodied 264 a thing about looks, even though both contain the same disastrous engine. Again, even the Volvo specialists said to stick to a 240 (if you really had to have ugly).
Of course, this makes this 264 these days admirable that someone has preserved and kept one as good as the one you pictured.
Love these! It is 9:30 AM EDT in Valley Cottage, NY, USA. I just started looking at my computer. Lo, and behold! I am treated to a collection of oldies. Thanks.
Yes, those insipid green M-Bs in pragmatically-dour specification are so much of an era. For those who find pale orange with a date interior far too hip, man.
The 604’s a strange one – I thought it looked incredibly oddly-proportioned at the time (the 504 seemed so much prettier) with its too-low lights, unfinished wheelarches with buried wheels and too-high rear roofline. This was the same era as Pininfarina’s own Opera and the CX, of course…
But now the 604 looks clean and elegant and the clay didn’t need finishing, after all. Well, apart from being stuck with the 504’s front track width under the widened wings…
In those days, it was an utterly common ‘W123 shade of green’.
The 604 found itself in the same car shopping segment as Citroën (with their CX, needless to mention), Volvo, and Saab. Buyers who wouldn’t opt for, say, a Ford Granada or Benz W123. Prime example: our family doctor had a 604, in a light shade of metallic green.