A couple of years ago, the girlfriend and I moved to a new apartment in Regensburg, Germany. The apartment is situated on a rather narrow street, right on the edge of the town’s historic center and close to the main station.
Cars can enter the street legally only from one direction, but it is not a one-way street. The street feels quite cozy and is lined by a single line of Italian alders and old buildings on both sides, primarily from the first half of the 20th century. The top speed is limited to 30 km/h and it was recently rededicated as a bicycle road, where cars are tolerated. Being close to the main station, it’s also somewhat of a hot spot for the local drug addict community.
Right outside of our kitchen window, there are a couple of short-term parking spaces. There are a lot of cars coming and going, and often, there’s something interesting going on. I started documenting these cars a while ago, and I’d like to share some of my personal highlights.
Let’s open this round of pictures with a Toyota Verso, which apparently limped into its parking space in front of our kitchen window with three rotund wheels only.
In Germany, the freedom to express oneself on vanity plates is quite limited. The first one to three letters are fixed and are short hand for the city or municipality the car is registered in. So you only get to play with up to two letters and four numbers that follow afterwards. They are fixed in order and there are even more detailed rules, as to which combinations are possible. Still, this 5th generation VW Polo TSI registered in Annaberg-Buchholz sports an interesting choice.
This fifth generation Renault Espace is of the highest trim available, called Initiale Paris. With the latest generation of Espace, Renault deviated from its usual van formula that they helped establish with the original Espace, and opted to go for the nowadays more popular crossover look. The rear of this Renault of course has nothing on the discontinued spaceship that was the Renault AvanTime.
As I mentioned initially, this street is a bit of a drug hotspot, and we get to see emergency vehicles on a regular basis. Here we’ve got a BMW F30 3-series touring, as employed by the local police force. Green police cars are starting to become more rare nowadays in Germany, since the traditional color is being phased out in favor of the internationally more recognized blue for police vehicles.
Something happened again around the corner. The neighbor’s Ford Focus wagon looks somewhat small compared to the two BMW emergency vehicles. This time around, we’ve got a blue police F30 Touring next to an emergency physician’s F46 2-series.
And while we’re on the topic of emergency vehicles, we’ve still got something red missing. It’s 3 a.m., and several MAN fire engines were stationed outside our apartment. A trash can for paper waste on the property directly opposite of our kitchen window caught on fire, but luckily no one was hurt. Sorry for the bad photo, but I was practically sleep walking.
As a deviation from the formula, this shot was taken in front of our apartment building. The fine Volvo 740 estate belongs to a younger gentleman and is a fixture of the regular CCs in our street. I really like the tasteful hubs. Parked nose to nose to the Volvo is an Opel Omega A Caravan, built from 1986 to 1993. Here we have a later face-lift model, which can be recognized by the extra chrome strips and tinted tail lights. It belongs to a lady in a wheel chair and there’s an electric winch installed in the trunk to haul the wheel chair to the inside.
Ah, the good old Mercedes W123 230 E, seen here in Silberdistel Metallic paint and with the classic Fuchs alloy wheels. If I should ever dare to go on the adventure of classic car ownership, it’s going to be a W123 coupe.
Another Merc, although this one is much more utilitarian. Judging by the red color, the roof-mounted blinkers and the central riveted plate on the roof where the rotating lights would have been, this T1 probably was one of many fire department crew vehicles in its former life. These were built from 1977 to 1995 and very common in Germany for all kinds of commercial applications.
Since we moved here, we haven’t had a lot of snow. Here’s one of these rare occasions, with a fresh thin layer of snow covering the street and the lone Audi A4 B8 parked at the end of the road.
On this January day in 2017 we had one of the most extreme black ice-events in recent years. This Mercedes C-class W202 T-model was built from 1996 to 2001 and they were notorious for being susceptible to rust. Our specimen looks surprisingly clean, from the outside at least. The heavy dose of road salt required to combat all that ice probably isn’t going to help in that regard though.
Let’s stay with the extreme weather conditions: one of the most common cars around here, a 2nd gen Škoda Fabia (which shares its platform with the VW Polo) and a BMW E92 3-series coupe are braving the elements in a heavy hail storm.
Next to a black BMW 5-door 1-series (which is a locally produced car in the BMW factory of Regensburg), some creative parking is going on with this rented Mercedes Sprinter van. This way, you can load your heavy furniture directly from the front porch into the rear of the moving van – convenient!
On another rainy day, a Volvo V50 estate (which was discontinued in 2012) and an Opel Astra F sedan are parked outside our window. The Astra F was the first Opel model to be called Astra in Germany as a replacement for the Kadett. The original Astra models have become quite a rare sight nowadays.
I’m not a fan of custom cars, but seeing any American classic car, especially from the 1950s, is not very common around here. I’m not very firm with my US models, but guessing from the license plate, it could be a ’53 Ford Customline with different tail lights. Help, anyone?
My step-dad used to own a W201. It was a 190 diesel model with the 4-speed automatic gearbox and a whopping 75 PS. What it lacked in its glacial acceleration, it made up with terrible handling in icy conditions. But seriously, it was very comfortable and reliable, and ultimately it sparked my interest in Mercedes. This copy at least has the looks of going a bit faster than that, with ugly large rims, smoked head- and taillights and the modified dual exhaust. Not my cup of tea – as mentioned above, I like my cars stock, please.
While we’re at it, this slammed monstrosity previously lead an innocent life as a VW Passat B6 wagon. It was captured by my girlfriend who seems to share my interest in CCs in front of our window.
This is the largest Merc so far in this article – an Arocs 1833 (18 tons and 326 PS). They are being sold since 2013 and are specifically geared towards companies working in the construction business. It features a loading crane with a bucket, and on its trailer, it carried the small Takeuchi excavator that can be seen on the opposite side walk.
A 1st gen Opel Zafira, another Audi A4 B8 Avant and a 2nd gen Smart Forfour are braving a heavy thunderstorm. I’m staying inside behind my closed kitchen window, thank you.
An Opel Insignia A (which we briefly inspected as a candidate for our new car) and a Mercedes-Benz R-class are parked outside. Since the R-class was primarily sold in the US, we don’t see a lot of them here in Germany.
In this shot, we’ve got a first gen BMW X3 (E83), a VW Golf IV Variant (the “up-market” version of which was called Bora Variant, which in turn was sold as the Jetta Wagon in the US), and a nice Porsche 944 with its prominent wheel arches.
Christmas time is the worst time for traffic in town. The multitude of christmas markets as well as christmas shopping lists regularly attract a lot of people towards the city center. Combined with rush hour traffic this leads to unusual congestion in our little street.
In contrast, this picture is notable for its absence of cars and any human activity in our usually very busy street – it was taken on the first day of lock-down due to the Corona pandemic in March 2020.
The most expensive body style of the Mercedes W123 on the classic car market is the wagon in Germany – but only with the engines at the upper end of the spectrum. Here we’ve got a very clean looking specimen with the smallest gasoline engine that was available (2 liter). Love the color on this one.
Another Mercedes wagon: we haven’t had any W124s yet. Here’s a 300 turbo diesel, with French plates to boot! They really seem to be indestructible.
If you fancy something a bit newer, how about a nice E63 wagon? I’m not the biggest fan of the design of the pre-facelift W212, the split head lights always seemed a bit cluttered to me. I much prefer the later models with the integrated star in the grille.
Yet another Mercedes wagon, but this time, it’s my own car. I bought this 2018 S205 220d used about a year ago as my very first car. We used to own a 2002 Mazda 6 previously, which we got from my girlfriend’s dad. Before that, I never really felt the need to own a car, especially since I always preferred looking at cars and photographing them versus actually driving them. And living in a smallish city with acceptable public transport, you don’t really need a car most of the time anyway. The C-class is usually parked in our apartment’s underground car park, but the electric gate that leads to the inner courtyard was broken again. So we and our neighbor’s Nissan Micra were converted for a night to what is called “Laternenparker” in German (literally “person who parks under the street lamps”).
There’s construction work going on in our courtyard, and materials need to be delivered through the relatively narrow drive. This truck driver thought it would be easiest to unload on the street, and block it entirely in the process. He’s using a small truck-mounted forklift to unload his Volvo FH 500 truck.
In front of the Alfa Romeo Mito, we’ve got a Mercedes AMG GT R PRO (C 190) which is apparently limited to 750 vehicles. I much prefer the regular models, the body kit really ruins the clean lines of the original design for me.
Here’s something unusual that was parked out in front of our apartment. The E at the end of the licence plate already hints to what’s going on: it’s a Beetle with an electric conversion. I checked it and, yup, no exhaust pipes sticking out the rear.
Let’s keep it electric: this was our town’s first (and still only) Tesla Model S taxi. I think it might also have been the first electric taxi of any make in town. It sports an ad for the local public services’ electricity branch.
Usually, we don’t get any public transport in our street. But since a couple of roads were blocked off temporarily, we’re getting this MAN Lion’s City bus stuck in the diverted traffic. It’s in our city’s public transport default yellow livery.
And while we’re on the topic of municipal services, let’s take a look at something for our truck friends again: this is one of our city’s MAN TGS 26.320 garbage truck with an exposed rotating drum.
I started this article with a broken car, so it’s only fitting that I end it with another bang: one January morning, I encountered this 3-series BMW E36. It’s quite smashed on the front left corner. And if you look closely, there’s a rock sitting under the front axle. I don’t think that came as standard on these. Following the marks the rock made on the road, it became apparent what had happened: the driver missed a corner, and smashed into a tree. In the process, the BMW also managed to pick up a rock lying next to the tree, that was subsequently jammed under the car. The driver was apparently able to reverse, and drive the car a further 120 meters down the road to its final resting place in front of our kitchen window, stuck rock and all.
To this effect, drive safely!
What a great place for car spotting! I love how it sometimes lines up when all the cars in frame are the same color.
The closest I can get on the old Ford is 1952-54. With all of the trim off and looking from the rear it becomes hard to ID.
After looking at my Car Spotters Guide, I’m going with ’52. It looks like ’53-’54 have a chrome bar across the middle of the grill that curves around to the side of the fenders. Of course, it may be missing due to age or perceived aesthetics. I always find this series difficult to distinguish.
Great series of shots — you and Tatra87 definitely have the best car-spotting balconies in CC Land. A few thoughts:
I love the shot of the Volvo and Opel Omega wagons. While I’m marginally familiar with Omega sedans, I’ve never given much thought to the wagons. In fact, I forgot they existed. But in this comparison shot, it seems that Opel out-Volvo’d Volvo — that’s a great-looking boxy wagon.
Your girlfriend’s shot of the modified red Passat wagon is interesting, because looking at it at first, I had no idea what kind of car it was, and thought it was some sort of people mover not sold in North America. The combination of the Passat’s modifications, the perspective, and the striking color really threw me off. It seems gigantic, low and long.
I’ve never seen a marked emergency physician’s vehicle — that photo of the Mercedes wagon is interesting. And too bad about the green police vehicles being phased out.
Your picture of the transit bus in diverted traffic reminded me of a similar scenario in my neighborhood not long ago. An accident had a main road blocked, so the buses needed to be diverted through neighborhood streets. These aren’t tiny streets, and large commercial vehicles were able to navigate the streets OK, but apparently the transit agency has a rule that any deviation from the normal route requires a pilot vehicle. So the buses needed to stop on the main road, and wait for a pilot vehicle to lead them through the neighborhood, and at several times there were queues of 2 or three buses waiting their turn. Seemed unnecessary, and I felt bad for those passengers stuck on the bus waiting for this to occur.
Well, thanks for the shots — hope to see more later as well!
A great assortment of pictures here, thank you! The green Mercedes wagon is a treat, there can’t be too many still running around. And the R-Class isn’t much of a regular sight over here either, it wasn’t very popular.
My uncle (near Mainz) had a couple of those Omega wagons over the years, they certainly have presence. While smaller they are sort of analagous to our Caprice/Roadmaster wagons in how they look compared to the others. Great long-distance cruisers, both were apparently sold and taken directly to Russia when he was done with them.
And your girlfriend sounds like a keeper, not many around that are so supportive to the extent of taking pics themselves!
Nice to see the Opel Insignia. I have the Yankee counterpart (Buick Regal TourX). You could get a V6 and a bunch of other features on Insignias that were never installed in US market TourX’s. We all have a row of mostly blank buttons on our TourX consoles as a reminder that we were deemed unworthy of various nice things.
What is the building next door? The sign keeps changing in the photos. Sometimes Schmidt something, then a bigger sign that I think refers to something medical (?), and sometimes nothing.
Nice, I didn’t know about the TourX. The Insignia A wagon seemed very impractical, with the way the rear was shaped and how the tail lights cut into the trunk opening. I really like the looks and practicality of the Insignia B/TourX though, and it seemed great value for money. The diesel engines are a bit thirsty though, and my girlfriend thought it was a bit too unwieldy at almost 5 meters length.
As for the building next door, the pictures are not in chronological order. It used to be a flower shop, then a battery store moved in, and now it’s a nursing service.
Oh, and did the rock-dragging BMW driver perhaps spend a bit too much time at the local Biergarten?
Nice collection, Robotrio. My favorite automotively is the W123 wagon (estate/kombi/whatever); not many cars look so great in that shade of green. My favorite photographically is the Audi in the snow; the green light from whatever it is up the street (pharmacy?) adds a nice effect. That Astra F is a bit of a curiosity since sedan versions of these aren’t common in this part of the world.
Your comment about drug activity outside your window reminds me of when I first lived in Amsterdam on the busy Haarlemmerplein, which had plenty of that, along with a street-pisser that was just outside our window…
I feel like I know your street well now, in a good way! Remarkable variety of cars.
On the wall next to me is a drawing of the Regensburg Town Hall. Regensburg is one of the most interesting cities in the world. Thank you for reminding me, I must get back there.
Yeah the Ford has different tail lights. Many people think that the aftermarket custom tail light thing started with the “Altezza style” lights relatively recently but back in the 50’s there were lots of companies selling direct fit custom tail light lenses. Of course that was a response to customizers swapping OE tail lights from a different year, model or brand.
Good work, and what a variety of auto-mobiles!
My favorite is the action picture featuring the guy unloading the Volvo curtainsider with the truck-mounted forklift (trailer-mounted, in this case). It could be from a brochure, highlighting the main advantage of that type of truck body.
I’ll join in the chorus, Mr Robo T, this is a great post, and thankyou for it.
It’s easy to forget that what is everyday stuff where one lives isn’t necessarily that at all for others elsewhere. And that might include the buildings and their colours and the seasons. Doesn’t snow too much in Melbourne, Australia. (Well, at all anymore, even if tonight feels cold enough to come close, but I digress).
The Espace for me, as we’ve never got them in any form. They’re not a wonderful Avantime, but at least Renault still tries hard enough to make a people-packer interesting, and to my eyes, they succeed.