A couple of weeks ago I attended another meeting of Five Club, the premier Israeli classic cars’ club, for a meeting that celebrated one of its members’ MGB. The car had reached end of restoration, after emigrating from the US over to Israel. Naturally, the owner is also a member of the Israeli MG club, so most (if not all) Israeli MGs turned out in force to pay their respects. I took photos.
Well I mean, I took many photos, so this post will be divided in two, with the first batch published here. I’ll proceed in the order of events, which means we join the place while they are still organizing the cars and setting up the meeting:
Somewhat at the corner was parked this lovely MGB adorned with classic red paint. It’s the same car photographed from the back at the top of this post.
Some MGB GTs were also present, as you can see from the photos above. And look to the other side of the small parking lot- yet older MGs were also present:
That’s a 1953 MG TD to die for, and here come the MGAs:
All looked pristine, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Matt black MGA (photo above). Looking at hi-res photos on my PC, I think it’s actually wrapped and not painted.
Now we come to the utility service vehicle of the club – well, at least that’s what it was on the day:
I love the fact they are using a mid-restoration car to haul the club’s flags and other stuff around. This is Israel, and everything is done unofficially, so no special “Club 5” truck here. Just a scraped Yellow ’54 Belvedere (which I liked so much I photographed it some more):
If you recall my previous posts of such events, you’ll remember that these meetings usually host various classics in all shapes and forms, never just one make (such as MG, in the case of this meeting). Here are more participants, some arriving and some already parked on the spot:
These guys set themselves up really well, all parked next to the Caddie with beer, Pita-bread and cigarettes. Although I think they are killing two birds with one stone, also saving a parking spot for a late-arriving friend of theirs.
As you can see, there are plenty of US cars on the premises. Those are well loved within the Israeli classic cars’ community, and are diverse as can be. But all the while, MGs kept arriving:
My dad had one of these, a 1976 model if I’m not mistaken (he bought it in 1978), I distinctly remember being driven to elementary school in that car. Sadly I have not a single photograph of it (dad wasn’t a car guy by any means).
Possibly the oldest car at the meeting was this Fiat 1100B, but here comes a CC favorite (?):
Yes, a majestic 1982 New-Yorker in all its brown glory.
As you can see, the Monte Carlo holds a “for sale” sign under the windshield. That’s a new import from the US as the license plate testify.
Here’s what you could call an MGB rival, the well known Alfa Spider. I think this may also be an import from the US, judging by its big bumpers – those were not mandatory in Israel at the time.
And arriving in the background:
A very nice Plymouth Cranbrook, I think from 1952. Love the color.
I don’t know why, but I like what they did with this Karmann Ghia. I’d even loose the bumpers for the final look.
A car I haven’t seen in a while was also there; a Vauxhall Cresta, circa 1960, I think.
Yet another MGB rival was also present, a Fiat 124 Sport Spider, followed shortly by its older 1500 Spider brother:
You can always count on Subaru to be seen in such meetings, being a very popular car in Israel in its day. Besides this Brat pickup, notice behind it the blue Leone DL.
Here’s that Leone again, although easy to miss with that white whale in the foreground…
And who remembers this? A Seville turned into a DeElegante Opera Coupe by Grandeur coach-builders, if I recall correctly. “Grandeur” is the right term for this, no doubt.
And all the while, MGs kept arriving – now we come to the jacked-up black-bumpered US cars:
Here ends part 1 of this meeting, which will continue next week. For now, I’ll leave you with a short video I took on the day:
I continue to be impressed by the crazy-wide variety you get at your shows.
As much as I have never warmed to the styling of the 53-54 Plymouths, I do love their interiors. That horn ring is fabulous.
My parents purchased a 1954 Plymouth early in 1958; it was very similar to this car except for having a white top and being an automatic transmission. Automatic is the key word here as my mother apparently tired of shifting gears for herself so the existing 1950 Ford was replaced after only 14-15 months of service. I’m sure this caused some angst for my father as he was not a car person at all; his philosophy was to spend the minimum amount necessary to get a functioning vehicle and then drive that vehicle until it died. Ironically enough the Plymouth ended up outliving its replacement by a year or two. It was replaced by a 1960 Ford circa 1963 and was then sold to the daughter of a neighbor; she was a single mom who needed some cheap wheels. The Plymouth soldiered on until 1970 or so, at which point it was so rusted that it was no longer safe to drive. The Ford however met its end a couple of years earlier, a couple of months after I started to drive I had a wreck on the way to work one evening and the Fairlane was finished.
“That horn ring is fabulous”
…and held on with zip ties!
Watching the news as a kid from Vermont, the thing that struck me was that in any street footage from Israel there was always at least one ’80s Subaru *sedan*. Here, it was always the wagons that were by far the most popular and the ’80-84 generation sedan (which was 2wd only for the first couple years) was always relatively rare.
That Vauxhall front end looks like a Packard. That never struck me before.
The Fiat 1100 is very sweet.
Lots of good stuff there.
Vauxhall is a 61 PAX Velox the 60 had the same park indicator lights as the virtual Lucas car the other day 62 had overlapping wipers and faux wood trim on the door tops, The Cortina is a first generation MK3 so pre 75 the lights changed on the facelift model quite a good selection of makes and models.
That seville looks really nice, much better that the first gen opera coupe. although sevilles 1st, 2nd and 3rd gens are really nice cars(1st gen being timeless in my opinion) the first opera coupe was rather homely.
Great selection! That ’54 Belvedere is absolutely charming.
One day I would love to have a T-series MG. Just something about them.
Israel and no 404?
I never forget the roadtrip my Israeli brother in law and I made to the dead sea.
An American Ford 4×4 pick up and we’d drive through the desert to the dead sea roads were a non issue..
We were passed by a 404 pick up, packed with Bedoeïns.
I said to him: we, 4×4, V8, aircon how come.
He smiled with a big smile and told me ” Shonny, the 404 is the king of the desert ”
Bedoeïns drove the even then old 404 station wagons because they could store their tents on the roof rack, in the distance, somewhere on the top of a hill: a 404 sedan.
They moved on to Subaru Brats later. I have no idea what is the Bedouin off-road vehicle of choice these days.
Like the rest of the world, it’s mostly the indestructible Toyota Hilux.
I had to have a double take that C4 Corvette, there’s a red one just like it, right down to the wing, I occasionally see in the western burbs of Chicago when the weather is nice. I didn’t think it made it to Israel!
The Firebird bugs me, either go full Trans Am dress or don’t, the screaming chicken decal ONLY works with a shaker between the wings. Ironically I’ve seen another near doppelgänger to this car in Chicago, but in a junkyard, it was repainted black with the full TA SE decal set applied, and upon close inspection of it(peeling away the loose black paint in sheets) the color below was yellow with gold pinstripes still in tact, that’s right, a Yellowbird. They made a half hearted replica out of a car that was actually rare and interesting. So maybe I’m projecting that frustration to this one.
You’re right about the Firebird, but this has been going on for years (I think everywhere in the world) – a Firebird owner sees a photo of a T/A with the screaming chicken on the hood, and from then on there’s no going back.
On part 2 of this post next week you’ll see a 1970 Chevelle SS lookalike, but the owner cunningly stuck an “RS” badge at the front, so it’s not cheating per say…
Thanks once again for taking us along to a show. Such a wide variety of cars, truly something to appeal to everyone. And as a long-time owner of one, I was amused and pleased to see a Cortina Mark 3, and in such splendid condition!
With your photography skills it’s just as good as being there, and without the sore legs and sunburn. And now I know how to write “For sale” in Hebrew….. 🙂
I’d love an explanation of the license/number plate system in Israel. Some of those plates have so many characters that the font has to be pretty tiny. How can police read them on a fast-moving car?
Well, without going into the entire numbering system too much, basically the ones you see with small Hebrew letters (i.e., the first photo of this post) are a translation of the term “collectible vehicle”, which all cars over thirty years old can be transferred to. It’s a thing you do at the MOT and has you commit not to drive on weekdays between 7:00-9:00. In return, you get a much-reduced MOT fee.
Israel ran on six-digit license plates until 1980 (five digits until 1960), then moved to seven digits where the last two letters signified the year in which the vehicle was registered (look for the 1982 New-Yorker photo above). That went on until 1990, after which there was no more years’ signification, just seven digits.
Now, that’s the basis of it. But it’s not as simple because you can clearly see old cars with seven digits that end with “55” – those are obviously new classic imports. But some ten years ago, even though Israel was well and truly within the seven-digit numbering system, new imports were registered with six digits (nothing intentional, I think – maybe someone at the MOT thought it would be a better way to differ classic imports with new (private) imports. The way to tell if those with six digits were imported back in their day or more recently is just internal knowledge (for instance, look for the photo of the red Fiat 1500 Spider or the white Betz coupe above – their plates start with 894, and that an import from the mid-2000s). Obviously, there are more combinations of numbers.
Incidentally, from 1st of December 2017, the country moved to eight digits, now that almost all seven digit combinations have run out. Already you can see many new cars around with eight letter-plates. People (mostly leasing companies) buy A LOT of cars.
Eight digits?? Wow. It’s hard to believe there are 100,000,000 vehicles on the road in Israel. It’s even hard to believe there have been 100 million cars registered since Israel became a state in 1948.
As ever, thanks for all your comments.
🙂