After our recent sojourn in Utah, ccognoscento jim has shared some of his own somewhere finds. This time that somewhere is the older outer suburbs of Melbourne, now sitting within the inner-middle thanks to our extraordinary urban sprawl.
The Jaguar appears to be an end-of-model semi-strippo MkII, either a 240 or 340. Most likely the former as these were introduced in 1967 as a stopgap before the XJ6 in 1968, after which the 240 continued but the 340 was canned. Easiest tell on these is the slim bumper with overriders.
The Peugeot 504 has the quad lamps. I’m not sure how it played out here but we also got the trapezoidal units. Maybe someone can chime in on this. My guess is roundies came towards the end of the model’s run. The foreground car would appear to be, in jim’s inestimable opinion, a 505.
If you thought from the previous pic this suburb is the model of bucolic bliss, let this one disabuse you of that. Same property. MGA.
Back to the bucolic; just around the corner sits this VC Valiant, to me the nicest shape to the AP5, AP6 and VC body series. In US parlance, pretty much the same as the 66 Plymouth Valiant.
This property has more deliciousness. My completely uninformed opinion on this is 1942/46 Buick. From the rectangular section at the base of the tail light; a Special.
And another.
Behind, a pre-Defender Land Rover. From the look of the canvas roof, this one looks like a biscuit tray – no side panels above the shoulder and drop-down windscreen. I tended to a friend’s during the winter month he would spend in Europe. Insanely fun vehicle to drive. Slow as, but takes corners like a sportscar because all the weight is in the chassis. All I needed was my very thick jacket and would be off for a jaunt.
Ok, now things start to get a bit random. R30 or 31 Skyline. Absolutely magnificent colour, can’t say the same for its condition.
But wait, it gets more random.
Parked out front, sitting in the gutter and sinking into the leaves. Porsche 928S. These things are starting to be quite numerous around town so maybe this one still has a chance at rehabilitation.
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Further Reading
Curiously, we’ve never covered the MkII here;
so there’s an opportunity for someone to fill that gap.
Roger Carr put together a great profile of Jaguar founder William Lyons,
within which he features this body-type.
Junkharvester’s COAL of a Peugeot 504 wagon
Yohai71’s R&T roadtest of a Peugeot 505
JohnH875’s overview of Australian Valiants, including the VC.
Aaron65’s capsule of a 1942 Buick Series 90 Limited, with similar tail lights.
Roger again, this time on the Land Rover.
Tatra87’s CC on an R30 Skyline Coupe
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A classic hoarder. And a very eclectic one. How many of these will ever find their way back on the road again??
They will when the owner dies and they are sold of as part of an estate sale. RHD Buick’s have a market in the UK.
With that much land I’m sure the developers are already circling.
Also, at the end it looks like a 1993-95 XG Falcon XR6 ute.
If it’s where I suspect it is, the hoarder has come from money, and even with the land worth millions, the neighbours are pretty organised about keeping it away from those who would seek to offer what would doubtless be advertised as a curated and boutique opportunity amongst only 16 units….
Wow, something for everyone. Those Buicks look strangely appealing to me.
Wow, I’m sure the neighbors love that horder. I am digging the Teal Skyline Sedan and 1940s Buicks, I hope those find a home.
For a city with such a large footprint, Melbourne is also quite small—this is quite close to my house (although theoretically in a much more upmarket suburb….)
I generally go for a run past here at least once a week, although normally around 5 am so I haven’t seen it in the daylight for a while.
Looks like things haven’t improved much since I bothered to stop on 27/11/2017. I always wondered what the Buick was—it was a bit too hidden for me to get a proper look.
Snap. hehehe
Small is right! This is only a few minutes from where I live too. Although I haven’t been down this street for quite a while.
Why have one good car when you can have 10 bombs
That would make a great epitaph.
In Australia, the Peugeot 504 went to quad headlights in 1973. The 504 was popular in parts of the country which, at the time, had many unsealed roads and thus many broken headlights. The 5″ units were cheap and available just about everywhere, unlike Peugeot’s trapezoid part number.
Thanks ACB. These were assembled locally and jim suspects there might also have been the issue of adding local content to the vehicle.
Yes, regarding the 504’s headlights, I take the point about meeting local content laws being a more plausible reason for the change than any concern about what it cost owners to fix breakages. The press did at the time refer to the progressive “Australianisation” of the 504.
I think this one’s a later model, after ’77 or so, as it has blackouts and a plastic grille.
I think that in addition to the damage and local content stuff, the trapezoid eyes were a bit too exotic in a land that had only got rid of the White Australia Policy legally two years after the 504 got here. I’m not being entirely ironic.
On a kinder view, Australians have never been known for an infatuation with unconventional-looking cars.
I do like the looks of that Skyline, although the 928 calls to me as well. Weirdly the “928S” is massively off-center, looks to be added on(?) Sadly it just seems to be too much money to properly sort one once they’ve gone a bit off…same as any other watercooled or at least front engined Porsche for that matter.
928s are showing some serious visibility around Melbourne. A small dealer in secondhand late model mid-prestige recently had an immaculate one on his lot. Bought from a deceased estate and retailing for mid five figures. He also has two W126 sedans; a 560 and a 380. Was very surprised to see these three on his lot.
These are sitting at about the same place as Alfa 105 Coupes in the wake of the 911’s stratospheric rise in values.
Front porch at the Old Actor’s Home. We all remember them in their prime. That was then. This is now. They ain’t coming back.
R31 Skyline – one of the Aussie-built ones, not sure why Nissan Australia didn’t build them with the much nicer stove-top taillights. My late Uncle had one new, similar shade of blue although not quite as lurid as this one. They were a hard sell in NZ as the vatly more modern looking R32 was on the market here at the same time, albeit as a JDM used import and higher priced.
Interesting and eclectic collection. I’d hope they were destined for restoration, but I’m willing to bet they’ll be there unchanged for years to come. Is that a Pug 605 next to the MGA? The Buicks are my pick, although I’m intrigued by the XD/E/F/G Falcon in the last picture with the bonnet hole and aftermarket chrome mirror.
Thanks for ID Scott. mmmmmmmmmm….. R32.
They did fit stove-top lights in the update, and it did have the effect of making the ugly old cheddar wedge a bit tastier.
Serial Peugeot buyer too thats a facelift 406 beside the MG, Dont get too excited about the Skyline it will be the el cheapo Aussie version with most of the JDM goodness removed at assembly, but it will have the RB30 under the hood instead of the RB20 some of them came with and some Kiwi Commodores were saddled with.
With a Vauxhall six powering one of those early Landrovers and the gearing modified they still handle like a sports car and will outrun a lot of them too a Holden six is popular too just less hp and torque
hehehe. The one I drove had the original four.
That Vauxhall powered one started that way and wow what a difference more than twice the horse power makes.
The Pug is the pre-facelift 406. There’s no cross bar in the middle on the facelift, which never did look as good.
Ah, of course it is, I thought it was a 605, as the owner of two Peugeots I’m embarrassed to admit I forgot the 406 existed!
Where I live, derelict vehicles on the street or the forecourt of a home are not tolerated. Once the weeds and dust had made themselves a home under the Porsche, it would have been towed at owner expense or put up for auction.
I appreciate project cars, but put it in your garage.
Compare this post of the car hoarder with the scale model post. I think that the cars and models serve the same purpose, something to gaze upon and dream, fantasize, or reminisce over. Of course an actual car can “someday” be repaired and restored and placed back into service. Of course unless you have Jay Leno type resources it’s easier to just line them up in the yard! The owner probably looks upon his little collection with satisfaction, but I’ll bet it isn’t viewed with the same warmth by his neighbors.
I’m one of those cars guys with a small collection of extra cars. They are running, licensed, insured, and nice looking examples, but I’m sure that my neighbors think that I’m odd. I will admit that I’ve also got one dead and weathered vehicle, but it’s complete and not a wreck. It’s also now behind a fence in my side yard. At the moment my two garaged cars are parked in the street because the garage is filled with household stuff while our house was undergoing some renovation, which was delayed until this week due to the shelter in place. I move my driveway cars into the street in the morning so that the contractor can park his truck close to the job. So, I’m taking up six curbside parking spots, not making me popular with the neighbors.
The elephant in the driveway.