OK, I realize picking a white Mk2 Jetta to headline this post might fail to adequately convey the sense of excitement and occasion one would expect to project for this second part of my patented bi-monthly CC outtake compilation. But don’t judge a post by its cover shot! And it is stunner of a Jetta, isn’t it? Come on folks, read on, it gets better, I promise!
Woah! Unusual colour for a Mk 2 Golf…
I think the Beetle wears it better. There’s that goofy trombone exhaust again – the aftermarket “extractor” muffler. It might help the engine breathe better, but it sure looks awful, dangling from the back end like that.
As always, the Transporters were part of the fun. These pre-’68 ones are definitely the most popular. They must have been hovering up the US and European ones, as I see so many of these here.
The Series 2 vans, by comparison, are much less common. This one bucks that trend (or, I should say, that empirical, yet highly subjective personal observation.)
I haven’t encountered many interesting Audis (with one exception). However, when I saw the fading paint of this one, I realized these A4s were now a quarter century old. And that certainly didn’t make me feel any younger.
Pretty quiet on the Benz front, lately. I keep bumping into this one, and it keeps impressing me with how gorgeous it is. This time, it was parked with the windows open, virtually begging me to photograph the dash. I can resist anything except temptation.
Shout out to Jim Klein, who used to have one of these magnificent Autobahn Panzers. Read his COAL about it, why don’t you.
I don’t understand the whole present-day Maybach thing. What are the rules? Sometimes I see an S-Class with Maybach badges on the C-pillars, but a three-pointed star on the hood. Other times, it merely says “Maybach” on the trunk, like it’s a trim level. This one was festooned with double-M badges all over – not one mention of Mercedes-Benz.
The relative paucity of Benzes was offset by an abundance of BMWs. The -02 generation certainly has its admirers here, be they older or newer, and with or without a front bumper.
This very fine 635 CSi was unfortunately stuck in a tightly-parked lot that hampered my efforts at documenting it more thoroughly.
Not too many of these E30 wagons are to be seen, so even though the pic is fuzzy, I’m keeping it in.
Is this a genuine M3? Looks like it – except for the wheels. Which begs the question: why would one have a mint first generation M3 with the wrong wheels?
I’m no expert on 928s, but this one looks like a mid-‘80s version. Its nose-up position was more striking in person than it appears in the photos.
Quite a pairing, isn’t it? The Volvo was almost cleaner than the Lotus, despite being 30 years its senior.
I ran into the Silver Dawn I wrote up again, this time outdoors. This and many of the exclusive British cars I’ve caught this year, such as this Bristol 406, is owned by an avid classic car collector and restorer. He even has his own museum. I need to find the time to go there, as it’s outside the city and only open on Sundays. I go by his house regularly, as it’s close to where I live and he likes to bring projects home sometimes…
Of course, one can also find some pretty cool English metal on other streets than that one. By way of an illustration, feast your eyes on the Mini of the month, ladles and jellyspoons.
Love the subdued dark red hue worn by this XJ40. Far from the best Jag, but still has a lot of class.
On the French side of things, the lone noteworthy Peugeot find was this 406 Coupé. Once again, it’s all about the colour: this is (in my view) the best one for this car.
Renault-wise, we have the usual late-model R4. There really is a fan base for these here. The small aftermarket wheel must make this ‘60s-designed FWD car (with no power steering) a lot harder to maneuver and park. Not a bright idea.
This was a banner month for 2CVs. Three sightings, no less. This one was a bit scruffy, but still seemed pretty sprightly (for a 2CV).
This light beige example was in better nick, though I’m not keen on those clichéd headlamp visors.
But the real star of the show, in my view, was this limited edition two-tone Dolly. Like the Charleston, the Dolly started off as a limited edition and gradually became a trim level for the 2CV’s final MYs, but this one is a genuine 1st edition model, made in 1985.
Added to that, it appears this car was sold as new in Japan (the license plate is very old). Apparently, a small number of 2CVs were sold new here in the ‘80s – albeit for a crazy sum of money, due to their being imported on demand and having to be specially fitted with a catalytic converter.
This is the very same CX that I wrote up not too long ago. Always nice to see an old friend out and about.
On the Italian side of things, the Fiat Multipla is one of those oddballs that never gets old. Although it’s far from new now – these were launched in 1998 and lasted until the 2004 facelift changed their character completely.
Yet another Lancia Delta HF Integrale. Had enough of these yet? This is the 16v version, which would make it a 1989-90 car.
The most sought-after version of the Lancia Y, if there is such a thing, would be this one: the 1997-2000 1.2 litre 16-valve Elefantino Rosso.
And finally, let’s see what the Big Three have in store for us this time. That greenish Chevy (model / year, anyone?) was out of bounds, unfortunately. But others were easier to get to…
Like this slightly overly accessorized black 1962 Impala convertible, which just glided past me down the street.
This Caprice looks like it’s an ’86, but I’m not the most Capriciously inclined guy on the planet, so I might well be off by a few MYs. They made these for eons anyways. The black grille looks aftermarket, but I kinda like it, compared to the stock item.
Can you believe the C5 turned 25 this year? Corvettes go fast, but time catches up eventually.
I’ve caught this one before, but it was in the darkness of the garage where it was being fixed up. It’s now on display in a well-lit showroom close by, so that warranted another snap. The flat roof and black paint make this the ideal ’59 Cadillac, as far as I’m concerned.
Who picks a late model Lincoln Town Car as daily transport in Tokyo? Not many people, probably. But not nobody.
Finally, a Grade A classic for the ages. Drum roll please for the sublime 1948 Plymouth Business Coupe. Nigh on impossible to photograph of course, but I still thought I’d share. The next couple months, one hopes, should be even more fruitful. Next episode in January 2022.
’68 green Chevy
The big green Chevy is a ‘68, I’m pretty sure. Love the bright blue Multipla, a car I had the experience to ride in briefly in France, in 2004, though in a duller color. Our friends who lived there for a year had it as a long term rental. Quite a change from the matching pair of RWD Volvo’s they had here in the US.
Thank you for sharing these glorious cars ! .
-Nate
Great series.
The Porsche 928 is from 1987 or later (new nose) but I’ve not seen those wheels on anything later than 1988. So, 1987 or 1988 would be my guess.
Merci a toi !
The wheels certainly gave out an 80s vibe.
Thanks for a mid week pick-me-up, I needed that! What a great selection. I’m fascinated by the Japanese fascination for imported metal.
A couple of observations, if I may. 1. The Japanese seem to favor “backing in” to their parking spaces… 2. …except when they just park wherever, on their doorstep or front patio (Lancia Y, blue Mk 2 Golf, red BMW M3, Porsche…) or blocking a garage entrance (the ‘48 Plymouth). 3. There’s a gizmo on the left front door of the older Citroen that baffles me. Does anyone know what that is? 4. The Fiat Multipla is, by far, the ugliest car known to Man (sorry/not sorry, DMan). It actually beats out the Pontiac Aztec, the Nissan Juke and Cube, the Chevy SSR and HHR, the rebooted Fiat 500 and the Subaru Tribeca—IMHO.
Otherwise, I love looking at these “outtakes” and all the other richly historical and highly informative posts on Curbside Classics. 👍🏻
I’ve consistently noted that from photos such as these. This probably has something to do with the generally small parking spaces that seem wedged into all sorts of tight locations. Visibility may be better pulling out forward than backing into traffic.
Have you noticed the same thing seems to have overtaken American parking?…But for the reason that the vehicles are so huge even if the parking spaces are generally accessible and abundant? I don’t think that I’m over-estimating in my observation that about half of all vehicles (I hesitate to say “cars” since most vehicles seem to be some version of a truck) I see in shopping plaza parking lots and indoor lots are backed into spaces. How often have you been stopped in a line of traffic in a parking lot while someone 3 or 4 cars ahead of you tries to wrangle a full-size SUV backwards into a space designed for a car?
Jeff, have you driven a modern pickup? It’s much easier to back into the spot.
With the abundance of back up cameras it’s a no brainer. I always either pull through or back into a parkin spot, unless it’s a diagonal spot. It’s a lot faster and safer (as not all vehicles come standard with a rear cross-traffic alert) to drive off when you’ve parked nose out. Plus if one has kids in a back seat, when blindly backing out from the parking spot, kids won’t be put first in a harms way, until a driver has a view of both sides of the parking isle.
Yeah, I get it. And I think that the backup camera thing is something that just takes getting used to. There’s only one car I have around here that has one, and I seldom drive it. I often don’t notice if a car (e.g., a rental car or truck) has one since I tend not to expect them. But I do know that the modern generation of drivers definitely count them as standard equipment and pretty much depend upon them.
“Rear cross traffic alert”???? That’s sci-fi stuff in my automotive universe 😉
Thanks, Jeff!
I don’t think I’ve noticed American parking lots (at least, the ones near me) being “overtaken” with backed-in or pulled-through examples to the extent that you have. Plus, a lot of the places I frequent have diagonal spaces. To me, it seems to make more sense to pull into a spot and stop; that makes it easier to open the hatch, trunk, or tailgate to load up your groceries at Publix or your 16 pound, 48-bottle case of Mexican Cokes at Costco. If you were to pull-thru and be nose-out in the next aisle, you may end up with Grave Digger or a F-850 monster truck pulled up to your back bumper, with no hope for access to your hatch! 😜😎😇
While much of what we refer to as transportation regulations are controlled by the Federal Department of Transportation, parking spaces have always come under individual states to regulate parking spaces, usually as part of the local county zoning regulations.
In Maryland, for example, parking spaces in side-by-side parking where a white line delineates the space, the minimum distance between the lines is 8 feet. There are exceptions of course, usually when a developer is trying to include enough parking spaces to match the larger building’s square footage, and they propose a distance of either 7.5 feet or 7 feet. Parallel spaces in Maryland are no shorter than 30 feet.
In Virginia, especially in densely packed Arlington county, I’ve seen diagonal parking spaces at small as 6.5 feet apart. If 2 full size trucks try to park side by side, the occupants will have to exit thru the windows. I used to know the manager at a well-known BBQ joint in Fairfax county [Red Hot & Blue], who said that due to a lack of parking spaces, they had a company come in and re-size the spaces down. Now they have even more complaints about tiny spaces!
I’ve read that in the denser areas of Tokyo, before you are allowed to buy a specific car, you need to have a reserved place to park your vehicle. The authorities insist on measuring your assigned parking space not only to see if the vehicle will fit in the space, but that you can actually get in and out of the space. I’m told the Japanese vehicle manufacturers and/or importers have submitted turning radius and vehicle overhang info to the government. The inspectors check the space size and then the access areas for that specific space, and compare the measurements to the published specs. I suspect our esteemed author in Japan can comment on this further.
It is difficult to answer your question correctly, not knowing exactly which 2CV you are talking about, but the ” scruffy looking ” car has what looks like a strap or whatever to hold the window open. These cars had a 2 piece front door window with the top half hinged at the top of the door frame. I guess that’s what you are asking about.
Thank you, Howard. Not knowing otherwise, your idea works for me. 😏
The green Chevy is a 68 Impala Sport Coupe. Judging from the tailpipes, it has 2 more cylinders than the standard engine for the model 🙂
Got to be the 928 for me, but you have got my Dad’s Jetta as well
Just a few days ago, Audi announced it’s going to build their clone of the Mercedes Maybach, a high-lux, stretched-in-the-backseat version of the A8L. Like Mercedes, they’re attaching a name intertwined with the company’s prewar past, in this case Horch.
August Horch started the German luxury car builder bearing his name in 1899, but he left the company after disagreements with high-level management and started a new company a decade later. Couldn’t called it Horch since the old company still existed, so noting that “horch” in German means “listen” or “listen up”, named his new company for the Latin word for “listen” – Audi. In 1931, four automakers (Horch, Audi, DKW, and Wanderer) entered a 4-way merger to form Auto Union, which chose a symbolic logo for itself, four interlocking rings. Though the company was still named Auto Union, only DKW survived after WW2, which inherited the Auto Union logo. Daimler-Benz bought them in the late ’50s, but it didn’t work out and they in turn sold it to Volkswagen, including the new four-stroke engine they’d designed to replace DKW’s obsolete two-strokes. The deal included the rights to use the DKW name along with the dormant Audi and Wanderer names, but not Horch which was prestigious and well remembered enough amongst Germans that M-B didn’t want it falling into VW’s hands. I doubt they expected VW to almost immediately ditch the DKW brand (which was too associated with cheap two-stroke powered cars) and revive Audi instead, again retaining the Auto Union logo. “Auto Union” was still part of Audi’s official name though 1986, though today’s Audi is really rooted in DKW not prewar Audi.
Hey, thanks for the history lesson, la673!
I once saw a chart that had all the logos of every car marque on the road today, organized under the logo of their parent company. The chart wasn’t that old, yet several of the brands had already died (Olds, Pontiac, Mercury). I’d like to see an update to that chart showing all those changes, and adding all the new brands (many electric) that are getting up and running.
Or, present them as a “family tree,” showing the mergers, acquisitions, connections, transitions, and die-offs in that way. (You might have to make it poster-sized to read it!) 😏😎👍🏻
Do\id no one else notice the maroon and white VW type 2 camper has a second rear hatch, except that it’s now on the left side of the vehicle. I’m wondering if on opening the side hatch, perhaps there is a slide-out section? or is it simply another hatch, just on the side?
I said it before when it was first listed on CC, the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn sure looks like my former example. These were rare with a total of only 700 made, and as most were LHD for export, those that are RHD and destined for export [like mine and this one] we’re talking so rare it’s very possible it’s my old car. Would love to find out it’s VIN sequence number, or if the car’s build sheet indicates it was sold new in Switzerland. If it was, it’s my former car!
So my friend, if you do visit this guy’s museum some Sunday, please ask him those questions and let me know, you have my email address already.
Right on, will do!
So they sold Dawns in Switzerland with RHD?
My car’s build sheet indicated it was ordered for the southern area of Switzerland, built in 1952, and that would suggest close ties with Italy, where well into the 1950s you could order cars either RHD or LHD, as pre-war Italy was full of RHD cars.
But there is always the possibility the original owner was British, or a citizen of another RHD country [perhaps Japan!], and intended to bring the car back with him. When the car is a Rolls-Royce, one has to consider that the buyer has the finances to do such things as ship his car ahead of his arrival, to anywhere on the earth. I continue to be amazed at high value cars that are shipped by their owners half way around the earth for a single day car event!
Here’s a photo of me in the Silver Dawn, from a 1990’s newspaper article on vintage limousine services. Except for the darker lower color, the car could be the same as the one in Japan, and it’s obvious the car has been repainted. It even has the same Lucas accessory driving lights.
Here’s a 1990 photo that appeared in a local newspaper about vintage limousine companies. That’s me in my 1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn. Note that it also has the same aftermarket Lucas driving lights as the car in your photos.
Great finds. It’s interesting – I don’t see too many Citroens, Peugeots or Renaults here in Tokyo but just on the other side in Saitama (Tokorozawa) I see tons of them….must be a French Connection there somehow….(hopefully not drugs :-))
Our neighbor just bought a new Peugeot 208 GT….very nice….
Strange, cause I would even see the odd Peugeot back in Gunma, way out in the sticks.
The 208 is pretty, true. There’s a mustard-coloured one I see on occasion that really pops. The 508 is also nice. 308 though… meh…
Seems to be every type of car in Japan except Russian and Korean.
Korean cars are definitely not to be seen here.
You never see Spanish, Czech, Australian or Malaysian marques either.
Russian is rare, but not unknown
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-2017-uaz-469-hunter-classic-jubilee-edition-from-russia-with-gloves/
(More on that subject soon, btw…)
Thanks for the shoutout, the 400E counts as one of my biggest mistakes as far as not keeping it forever…nice to see another, perhaps the best pairing of an excellent car with a great engine at a realistic price.
Maybach used to be a separate brand of MB, but lately has been reborn again as a trim level. A very high trim level, mind you. So you’re correct in both ways.
Yes the lace spoke M3 wheels would be correct but I think those are Rays, possible vintage, so they are probably lighter than stock which makes up for it. When new back in the 80s swapping the wheels wasn’t that uncommon, now originality is more prized.
And finally, a chrome set of Centra wheels on the ‘85 Jetta! There’s undoubtedly a Members Only jacket in the backseat.
Another great selection of imports!
M3 could be a Japanese market version no hot bits but all the trim vast numbers of exJDM BMWs have washed up here good cars to avoid as the Japanese maintain them like they would a Toyota and Toyotas keep running with total neglect just fine BMWs not so much.
Nice set of pictures, thanks for these.
Can someone comment on how the device pictured with the blue Beetle works? I assume it’s some kind of paid parking system, but one that somehow actually locks the car into the space?
You back your car into the parking space and the yellow flap lift up automatically. To retrieve your car, you enter the parking space number in the teller, it displays how much you need to pay. Once the ransom is received, the flap goes down and the car can be driven off.
The R4 has a R5 GT turbo steering wheel, so at least its from the same manufacturer.