CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection (October-December 2024) – Part 3: Foreign Cars (German & French)

Welcome to the second week of the traditional T87 Singles roundup. Cramming three months of brief CC encounters into reasonably digestible posts proved quite challenging, so I hope these won’t cause anyone to feel nauseous or over-stimulated. I broke the JDM stuff into two parts last week, this week will focus on the imported stuff – three parts should just about do it. Might as well start all Benzes blazing with a pristine W126.

Lots of Mercedes sightings, as per usual. Even rarer ones like the C126!

I cannot for the life of me recall what the tuning / kit-maker was in this instance, but those two were like peas in a pod. A big, wide, ugly plastic pod.

W140s are less common than their W126 predecessors, for some reason. This one was noteworthy for its curious “L” badging, which doesn’t really jibe with reality.

Yeah, it’s a “Maybach,” but it sure belongs in the Benz section. Quality may have gone down in the past few decades, but in limousine form, a V12-powered S-Class still has presence. And bulk, especially when compared to a 1960 Alfa Giulietta Spider!

W124s are so widespread that I mentally tune them out – or at least, as far as saloons and wagons are concerned. A coupé or (even better) a cabriolet will still warrant a snap or two.

W123s are also a dime a dozen (like on most places on the face of the Earth), but I have a soft spot for them. And the backdrop kinda made this one a must-catch.

Beautiful green wagon, too. I’m a total fan.

Got a great, long look at this W116 as it did a U-turn – what a gorgeous machine.

I prefer these in this standard wheelbase form, like this one. LWB variants look a little less well-proportioned.

Inversely, W107s always looked better in LWB form, for me. Hey, I never said I was consistent.

While we’re in SL territory, here’s a couple of Pagodas for your viewing pleasure, starting with a sumptuous dark maroon example.

Beige with a tan top also works pretty well on these, I must admit.

Be still, my beating heart! If only it could have parked for a short photo session. But the Meiji Jingu Gaien avenue was closed that week (as always in late November / early December) to accommodate the throngs of tourists who want to see the gingko trees turning yellow. Stuff the trees, I say. I’m here to see W111s turning heads.

This 250 SE drop-top was almost better, though not quite – I do prefer my W111s with 6-cyl. power, but light blue doesn’t really work for me. Pass.

The modern AMG version of the G-Wagen should be called the Tokyo Shopping Cart. This one was an honest Diesel-powered early example – a breath of fresh air!

Final Benz of the season: an unexpected Bremer Transporter – so unexpected, in fact, that I almost missed it completely.

We will enter the realm of the air-cooled in a short while, but first we have a couple of front-engined Porsches to pay attention to, starting with an impressively clean 944…

…and its natural end point, the 968 CS.

OK, brace yourselves for a veritable 911 smorgasbord. Not sure why, but we’ll start with this one. Call it a baseline.

It still baffles me that some consider this brand to be a carmaker, even around the edges.

I’m less keen on the ‘70s accordion bumper Porsches, but this one was an eyeful.

As was this one – a more perfectly mid-‘70s colour would be hard to find.

Mind you, some older ones can also have a loud paint job.

Better colour-wise, but something’s off about the wheels, no? A bit too wide…

This one’s just about perfect, really. But the 911 show doesn’t stop there.

Not sure why this one had its frunk open, but it made for a cool couple of photos. The single-digit “5” plate makes this an original Japanese market car, which is a rarity in itself.

The 911 of the Year award goes to this orange 1969 coupé – absolutely delightful in every respect.

The added bonus was the cute four-legged occupant, of course. But look at how well the owner integrated all manner of modern elements, like the A/C and the Bluetooth speaker, into and under the Porsche’s dash. The result is impressively tidy!

We’re not quite done with the 911 chapter yet – there are still a couple of targas to gawk at.

Not sold on the mustard yellow, but that interior is superb. I think I might give 911s a pass for the next iteration of this compilation series. I kind of overdosed on them for this one.

Well, looks like we’re out of 911s. Can I interest anyone in a 356 or two? Not too many, I promise.

The Cs were calm, that day. I caught both of these in the same place, at a specialist shop near Tokyo Tower who usually deals in Aston Martins, but also has a few classic Jags, Porsches and Mercedes-Benzes about the place. Another place to revisit frequently…

This early 356B was having trouble getting started, so it was given a hefty push down the Meiji Jingu Gaien. It coughed a bit, but the flat-4 was back in action. A new battery on the X-mas list, perhaps?

Now we’re entering another transitional phase in the post, as these were marketed (quite correctly) as the VW-Porsche 914 in their country of origin.

I don’t dislike them per se, but they’re nowhere near as beautiful or charismatic as the 912 they replaced.

So we enter the Volkswagen part of the tour in earnest, and what better way to do that than with a pristine late ’60 Beetle?

I do try to keep my Beetle intake under control, as there are quite a few about – and not all of them are CC-worthy. But with the correct wheels, stance and demeanour, even a lowly mid-‘70s 1200 like this one can be remarkable.

I think we’ve seen this black ’55 before. Always a great pleasure.

I was out riding in the northern boonies, also known as Saitama prefecture, and found a nice little nest of air-cooled VWs. This Beetle (mid-’60s?) seemed to be the sole one to be in working order, or at least in regular use.

Next to the Type 1 was this early Type 3 notchback that had a few mods to it, as well as some obvious signs of rust. The wheels seemed undersized, or maybe just slightly deflated?

The most valuable piece of this small collection was this 1957 Karmann-Ghia. Looks like its flat-4 suffered a bout of self-immolation, unfortunately.

And the last member of this fearsome foursome was the inevitable Type 2 Transporter. A pretty old one, too, if the tiny taillights are any indication.

There are so many of these in great condition here that I’m wondering if any are left in Germany or the US.

The final air-cooled VW for this edition will be this somewhat modded Type 3 Variant. But fear not, there were a few front-engined classic VWs on display as well.

This is a pretty much identical Golf Cabrio to the one I wrote up a little while back, except this one looks like new, when the one I caught is slowly sinking into the ground.

Contemporary Jettas were apparently pedestrian enough to be sold in RHD, unlike the more exclusive Golf Cabriolet.

As usual, there were neither Opels nor Audis to report – a real blind spot for German classics in Japan. So we’ll skip right to the BMWs, or in this case, the Alpina. I’ve always liked E34s, and you just don’t see that many of them about (in my neck of the planet, anyway).

E30s are a lot more widespread over here. Running into a cabriolet is still worth a quick pic.

I believe we’ve seen this specific 2002 Ti before, but not from these angles.

But for some reason, the Bimmer of the Month was the E9 coupé. I saw them from afar…

…And from up close. One was so nice that it will likely have its own CC post someday, so I won’t feature it in this one.

This fine example from 1972 was close to perfection, but not as nice as its aforementioned comrade. This one had a few niggles, chief among which was the colour: it’s hard enough to take photos in the AM when the sun is shining this hard, but with a white car, the difficulty is a notch higher still, often leading to pretty weird (or downright unusable) results.

The owner had a trunk full of bits and bobs he was obviously going to fit on the car sooner or later, including a full set of wood veneer inserts for his dashboard, which didn’t look like it needed them. Ah well, to each his own.

We move quickly to the (much smaller) French portion of the tour, starting with a rather conspicuous Alpine A110 berlinette in full rallying regalia.

Interesting twofer here, with a brand-new Alpine and a 1980s El Camino. No points for guessing who’d win that stoplight race.

There is always a Renault 4 hiding in some corner of Tokyo, it’s just a matter of finding it.

This “Phase 1” (i.e. pre-facelift) Peugeot 306 XS was on the sportier end of the range in 1993-97. They’re getting on in age now, and though they are still a dime a dozen in their country of origin, Japanese market cars are getting rare.

The owner of this 1989 Peugeot 405 was busy giving his pride and joy a quick curbside polish. He was clearly flattered that I noticed his 405 and told me he also owned a 605. Someone has a bad case of the Pugs.

The majority of French sightings were of the double-chevron kind, as usual. Lots of Xantias, this time: these are definitely starting to be on the radar of younger Japanese exotic car collectors.

Another prime example of a car that’s not yet out of banger-dom. But give it another five to eight years, and it’ll be right up there. I remember witnessing this with the CX about 20 years ago.

Here’s one that has recently found a happy new owner. A very well-kept “Phase II” (post-facelift) Xantia in an attractive colour like this one is liable to get snapped up for a fistful of yen, but it’ll be worth a lot more in a few years when all the tattier ones are gone.

After all, not every car can be a legend in its own lifetime like the 2CV.

There was a time, not that long ago, when you couldn’t give a CX away – in France, anyway. The Dutch collectors started buying as many of the nicer ones as they could find, and quite a few migrated there in the early years of the present century.

These days, they look so different from anything else on the road. But of course, the ultimate Citroën ‘70s spaceship was…

… the one and only SM, of course.

This one has a few oddities besides. For a start, it’s badged as an automatic, but manifestly has a manual transmission now. Those US headlights could hint at a Japanese market car, as Citroën sent the whole batch of early ’74 models (about 200 cars in total) that they were no longer able to sell Stateside to their Tokyo importer. But what about that old French plate on the front? You can get those online, I’m sure.

Be that as it may, it’s still a great image to end this post with.

But do come back tomorrow for Part 4, wherein we will look at the fall season’s Italian and American finds.