Welcome to (hopefully) an on-going series of posts in which I will share Curbside Classic and other interesting vehicles, infesting the realms of the Holy-land. Most will be (quite conveniently) filmed with my trusty dash-cam, whilst others will be captured with my cell-phone’s camera.
Since we’re dealing with April, I’ll start off with a video from March… This is really just to show you what an IDF Merkava tanks howlers’ convoy looks like. The odd Oshkosh also participated:
Earlier in the month my wife’s family came from Australia for a visit, and we all went for a weekend trip in northern Israel:
No music soundtrack as of yet, just me explaining Malaise to my brother-in-law
I wasn’t much impressed with that Bonneville at first, but watching the video again has it growing on me. The Househam sprayer is an older model to what they make now, and can really be seen only in more remote parts of Israel as the country is moving to a less agricultural industry throughout the years. The Firebird was captured in the old city of Acre – very picturesque.
Further down the month, mundane everyday driving resumed:
This one was filmed by my wife, who has now turned into a proxy for my videos – very convenient. I’ve included a crazed Fiat Ducato van for your pleasure, but really the focus should be on the least likely mates ever, captured together – the Beetle and the Bentley.
Let’s take a break from videos for a moment to show this:
Went to visit some friends in Tel-Aviv. They live in one of the city’s quiet side-streets – the perfect place to find CCs. This mid-Nineties Jimmy was parked there, and wasn’t too ratty either. These were imported into Israel at the time by official GM importers, although this particular car was imported privately, as the license plate testify. I might place this as a 1994 vintage, because after 1995 those hideous rear reflector strips (clearly visible) were not mandatory anymore.
Most of you will know this as the Daewoo Lacetti, but in Israel it was sold as the Optra under the Chevrolet brand, which was considered quite rightly as stronger than Daewoo (this invites the question why weaken it with cars like the Lacetti, but I digress). What I want to convey here is that the after-market body kit including huge side stickers isn’t after market at all; that’s how they sold back in 2007 as “Sport” models. To anyone who was in the local motoring know-how these were considered comical, especially with that WRC style rear wing. Still, they sold (in their dozens) and as you can see, few survived like this quite preserved example.
The Fiesta is another one of those cars that was everywhere when new, and now almost extinct. Not hard to figure out this one is still carrying its original paint, and really, you could call this a true CC, being used as it was meant all those years ago.
I saw this rather ordinary-looking Sonoma on my way to work one morning. Nothing special at first glance. But hold on:
I was never a fan of Hydro-graphic Water Transfer Printing on wheels – I mean, I get that in some extreme cases when you want to simulate race-car carbon effect on, I don’t know, a modified RX8 – maybe. But the point of doing it on factory, small sized regular wheels is beyond me. To each his own, I guess.
My favoite video/capture of the month has to be this:
The 2CV is, well, a 2CV. This is one of the very late ones, from 1988 – hard to believe more than thirty years have passed since it was new (and even then it wasn’t “new”, if you know what I mean).
But the icing on the cake for me has to be the Ford Anglia, restored with tasteful modifications. I’ve wrote about this before on CC, how the Israeli classic car owners are opening up to the world of resto-mods, or at least getting nearer to it – and this is a prime example; nice, more modern-sized wheels, good stance and even rear head-rests inside (which makes me wonder what else have they modified within the interior). I like it.
We end April’s captures with this resident 1987 MB W126, which I see from time to time around where I live. The owner keeps moving it from one parking spot to another, so I assume it’s operational and drive-able.
See you next time.
Nice pictures, but I think the 2CV is 1961-64 not 1988.
It has an early ’60s grille, but front-hinged doors + C-pillar window = post-1966.
Could be an ’88 with an old grille…
Yes, it’s a 1988, and you can tell by the license plate. Probably it’s like Tatra87 wrote.
I agree with you about the Bonneville — it really grows on you. I think the combination of the 2-door bodystyle and the fenderskirts turn a rather ordinary car into something that’s pretty neat to modern eyes.
That Sprayer is really bizarre to see on a highway. I see them (though not quite so old) quite a bit the rural US Midwest, but on a highway? Never!
The Firebird looks to me like a relatively sparsely-equipped early-80s model… exactly the kind that has all but disappeared from the streets. That one may be my favorite of your finds here.
And the Beetle/Bentley convergence is quite a contrast. I can’t say I’ve ever seen those two vehicles next to each other!
Agreed, that Firebird is the Rockford Files version of this generation. I don’t know if it’s that they’re less common or what but the third gen F bodies look substantially better to my eyes stripped like this, no scoops and no ground effects. I liked that these early Firebirds carried over the two large grille openings in the bumper for continuity with the late second generations.
Great article, thank you! Loving the Ford Anglia, what a tough car. All commercial vehicles from Zimbabwe used to have mandatory reflective strips, I think thats dropped now.
It has been ages since I saw the five-door Chevrolet S10 Blazer and GMC S15 Jimmy as well as their plush version, Oldsmobile Bravada. So long that I have forgotten about this variation.
The official export version has white reverse lamp lens tinted amber and repurposed as turn signal indicators. The separate rear red fog lamp and reverse lamp housings are attached to the bumper.
Nonetheless, great variety of vehicles in Israel!
As ever, thanks for your comments.
🙂
The 4 door Jimmy is something I have not seen in awhile. I was always intrigued by the length stylists went to in order to mimic the 2 door model’s styling.
I wonder if you know that old Rolls parked in Neve Tsedek, covered in piles of dust but it must still get used a lot . I have seen it on several occasions when i visit Israel.
Spotting an old or special vehicle in the holy land is something special, last year i was near Old Jaffa when suddenly i was overtaken by a Ducati Panigale V4 …. of all bikes …. it only had just arrived at my friend’s dealership over here in Belgium.
My pick of the day from your spots would be the S-class.
Yohai; fascinating, as always. Well written and photographed, with terrific special effects. Thanks to you, and to your wife. Look forward to the next installment.
That Anglia from the front