These Jeeps Cherokees were very popular in Europe, back in the day. One of the few American cars that you would see pretty frequently, at least in my corner of the continent. It seems they also had a bit of success in Japan as well – I’ve seen a few around. This one was particularly pristine.
Similarly, this generation of Voyagers (always Chryslers, not Plymouths in distant export markets) was also seen fairly frequently in Europe a couple decades ago. Haven’t seen that many in Japan, but then they are a bit wide for this country.
Here’s one curio I’ve seen too many times for it to be a unique example. As a matter of fact, I realize I’ve photographed at least two near-identical ones already – the wheels on the one below are different. This is based on the 2003-11 Lincoln Town Car, obviously, but I’m not sure what they use these for, nor what the green cross means.
It doesn’t look like a hearse – it’s the wrong colour, for starters – but it does have commercial plates. Hope I can find another one and get a better pic. Perhaps Tokyo’s resident Lincolnophile Jim Brophy has a lead on this?
From the odd to the mod. Beetles are more popular here than I thought. This one is mightily accessorized – it’s all a bit too much, both inside and out.
I’m hopeless at pinpointing the model year for Type 1 VWs, especially one that’s been tarted up, modified and then left to rot. Any ideas?
This black one was sure pretty, too. A mite younger, perhaps. Pity about those whitewalls starting to peel off…
Type 2 Transporters are also very popular here. These pre-1968 ones are just irresistible.
First series Golf / Rabbit cabrios also have a dedicated following in Japan. I had already caught this particular car on the go back in March, but this time I was able to get a better shot at it. Shame about the rims, but everything else is sehr schön.
Second generations Golfs aren’t too common, though I’ve caught one before as well. I love the way this one just stared out at me from its lair, like some sort of four-wheeled predator.
Speaking of predators, here’s a leaping cat. It really has no business being on there, as this is too recent a car for these things to be on there. Plus it’s a Daimler.
Down a couple of rungs on the British luxury car hierarchy, a modest Rover 600. Looks like a late model, circa 1997-99, but I’m no expert. Why any Japanese person in their right mind would buy a blander version of the Honda Accord made in Oxford is beyond me.
I’m also not sure I get anything made by Panther, either. The Kallista roadster was made for a decade from 1982, packing Ford 4- or 6-cyl. engines and very little else. Just a wannabe Morgan, but uglier. Surprising to find one here, but still… ugh.
An MG Midget – now that, I can understand. So English it should only be driven in a tweed jacket, so small you can squeeze into a kei car parking space, so cute it’ll go through your wallet to melt your heart.
By comparison, present-day offerings by Rolls-Royce look more like highly-polished armoured vehicles than automobiles. This Wraith Black Badge, with its $400,000 price tag and gaudy rims, is about as subtle as a kick in the groin.
Now, I don’t want to pick sides, but the current Bentley two-door is marginally less ridiculous than the Wraith. Put it next to a couple high-end German cars and it almost blends in. Not that any of these are of any remote interest to me – if I had money to burn, I’d just get an old Benz.
I said an old Benz, not a gold Benz. Sheesh!
Now that’s more like it.
A good old Volvo would also be acceptable, I suppose. There are too many 240s around here so I’ve given up on documenting them, but this 1996-98 S90 struck me as quite a wonderful representative of its species – the last of the boxy RWD Volvo.
The British plate on this one makes me wonder whether these were ever imported in Japan at the time. Either way, it’s such a wonderfully out-of-step car with its epoch that it almost looks like it was made in a planned economy of some sort. It’s like a Swedish Volga, but better built.
A couple of Peugeots caught my eye this month, starting with this one, another 406 Coupé – a second series (2000-03) model in classic silver. Glad to see this old gal (for Japan) still out and about. However, I’m learning that small Peugeots are more popular here than big ones – not a huge surprise, but that extends to older models.
Take the Peugeot 106. I’ve seen a few of these buzzing around, and it never fails to amaze me. Japanese sources say that they were imported from 1995 (the 106 started life in 1991) in UK-spec, but then they decided to only import the super-spicy S16 version (also called Rallye in some markets), a pint-sized rocket with a 1.6 litre DOHC engine churning out 120hp, from 1998 to 2002.
But then they needed factory A/C, which turned out to be impossible to fit on the RHD cars, so they switched to LHD cars instead. All of these later imports were either blue or white – and are relatively rare nowadays. Still managed to find two identical ones this month, which both looked in very decent condition, given their age and provenance.
This month, I posted about a 1967 Ferrari 330 GT that I saw several Sundays in a row. On one of those Sundays, mere minutes earlier, I this jaw-dropping Fiat 600 Abarth appeared before me. ‘Twas a blessed day for Italian ‘60s rarities, to be sure.
Abarth made several different Fiat 600 derivatives, starting in 1956. If this one’s massive front bumper and wing flares are any indication, it could be a genuine early ‘60s Mille TC Berlina. I could also be a tarted up standard 600, for all I know, though the noise that came out of it was crazy.
Last but not least, an AC Cobra. Is it genuine? How can one tell? Does it matter?
Oh, that was the last car, but I also caught this lovely blend of pre-war British design and post-war Indian know-how. That saddle is positively minimalistic – perfect for your more austere Japanese riders. Big European or American butts would probably not find it acceptable. I’m no motorcycle enthusiast, but that thing has style.
Related posts:
CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection – Part 1
CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection – Part 2
CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection – Part 3 (February 2020)
CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection (March 2020) – Part 1: Japanese Cars
CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection (March 2020) – Part 2: Foreign Cars
CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection (April 2020) – Part 1: Japanese Cars
CC Outtakes: T87’s Singles Collection (April 2020) – Part 2: Foreign Cars
Wow, another smorgasbord of delectable offerings here! That Abarth is just sublime, those wheels (Cromodoro?) alone would be worth the price.
With the Cobra you just assume it’s fake unless the owner can lay out a full documentation package and even if that is presented the documentation would then need to be authenticated by someone at which point there’s maybe a 50% chance it’s the real thing.
The tan Beetle has the typical “Cal-Bug” look, if it wasn’t right hand drive I’d have assumed it was from Cali, that parking sticker looks A LOT like one of the NorCal ones (Berkeley?), it’s actually not nearly as over the top as some, there’s room for double the accessories.
The Panther Kalista is one I would not have expected or ever guessed though, that’s very random. See if you can find a Panther Solo next…
I’d say it’s a defining trait of Cal Lookers that the rear is stock or raised while the front is lowered. Other than that I agree.
Sorry to nitpick but it has always bothered me that Cal Lookers insist on thatlook when they would clearly look better either stock or lowered at both ends.
That “Cobra” is definitely fake. The poorly defined hood scoop is clearly fiberglass. The front radiator opening also appears “molded”
An aluminum-bodied replica from Kirkham Motorsports (made in Poland in an ex-MiG factory) can be nearly identical to the original (need to be specified that way, the standard version is “improved” from the original) The fiberglass knockoffs are easier to distinguish.
In Seattle (and Washington state as a whole), a green cross indicates a place where you can buy legal cannabis. Probably not what it means here!
My choice, easily over any other, is the long wheelbase W126. I can’t quite read the model digits but I am thinking it is either a 300SEL or a 420SEL. Subtle, good colors for the lines and very well preserved. I’d be especially proud to have that car.
I may be a little repetitive, but I still don’t understand why would a Japanese get an English car with LHD (re: the MG Midget). I understand it might have been imported from another place, and that it’s legal, and that it gives status. But it’s so damn dangerous and difficult to drive on the wrong side of the car….
I like the Town Car Spaceport Wagon (no train station would allow it in)
Volvo is odd. That looks like a Dutch player hidden under the Japanese… But it’s a right hooker…
Wonder if there is any connection between the Ferrari 330 and the Abarth – if you have seen them in the same neighborhood? Sometimes you just need to give your other car some exercise…
Wonderful selection of wonderful cars – even the gold Benz and the gloss black Rolls with a matt black top…oh well
green cross:
health / safety / sanitation. Still not sure what the town car has to do with it.
https://www.seiyaku.com/customs/crosses/green.html
I wonder if the Lincoln belongs to a doctor or pharmacy that makes visits or deliveries? And the green cross bestows some sort of parking privileges? Just a guess, though a doctor driving around in a hearse-looking vehicle isn’t the best from a PR perspective.
It appears to have Y61 Nissan Patrol tail lamps. Interesting.
Thanks — I was wondering what the tail lights came from, but couldn’t place it at all.
The tan VW is a ’65, and the black a ’67. Unless they were specifically modified otherwise.
The Rover is alter model, with the body colour handles.
And neat that you put the Kalista next to the MG Midget, as they share doors and screens.
That particular Rolls is pretty ghastly, IMHO, and the Abarth sublime. And cheaper.
The thing about that style of Abarth, one only drives it around because one wants to. As wildly impractical and noisy as it is, no non-enthusiast would get within ten feet of the thing, and many car people not clued in to Abarths would look at the front bumper and propped-open rear lid, and assume it was some sort of hot rod project gone slightly off. Unlike many other “car guy” cars, this is a small and rare club, not for Joe Schmo car guy with some dollars in his wallet.
In the first photo, can anyone describe what the blue assemblies are in each parking spot, and how they work?
I think they’re a device for controlling the parking space and secure the car.
Park and raise it, and car’s not going anywhere.
Lower it, move car and raise it again, and the space is still yours.
There are examples in other photos too, including the Rolls-Royce and Pug 106.
Jeeps and Chryslers like that were built in Belgium we have then here some came new some via Japan seeing them in Europe shouldnt be a surprise VM Motori diesels were popular in Cherokees though some had Mercedes engines.
The lincoln looks like a private ambulance,
VWs especially old ones have a worldwide following,
I’d like an ex JDM 406 coupe but with 2.2 TDI and manual, trouble with that anyone whos kept one this long is likely quite attached to it, I have seen a couple of ex JDM 407 coupes for sale recently and both with the twin turbo 2.7 V6 diesel someone over there is still buying Pugs and disposing of them via auction.
Good selection as usual.
Austria
The Rover franchise my brother in law worked at was importing lightly used Rovers from Japan the Japanese bought lots of them including one a 75 that had ho hole behind the sump drain hole when it had its first ever service at 80odd 000 km after being imported nothing came out when the plug was removed, nice car though it was nice to ride in my BIL brought it to Hastings to pick up my sister and dad who were visiting,
Who machined the engine castings? Honda or Rover? I always wondered about that.
If it was a Rover 75 they had stopped collaborating with Honda by that time – the 75 was developed when Rover was owned by BMW, so all petrol models used 4 or 6cyl Rover K-series engines, and diesels used the BMW common-rail engine.
The Rover 75 replaced the Rover 600 (as pictured) – the 600 did use Honda petrol engines and Rovers own L-series diesel. I owned a late model white Rover 600 diesel and it was a great car. The red one pictured is a late model (you can tell by the colour-coded handles and trim) and a GSi trim (from the wheels) which was the top spec with piped leather seats, in beige by the look of it. Probably a 623 with a 2.3 Honda engine. The colour is called Nightfire red and is one of my favourite colours- it looks great in sunlight.
The owner of the gold Mercedes wouldn’t happened to be heavily tattooed and missing one or more fingers?
Of all these great finds, it’s the blandest one — the Rover 600 — that I keep going back to. Not only is it a complete oddball outside of its native land, but in its somewhat scruffy-looking condition, with fading red paint and bumper scrapes, it looks much too disheveled for a Tokyo. Every other find is immaculate.
In pix#8 the tan VW has an older style Hawaii safety inspection sticker on the rear bumper.
The blue “hearse” is called a “sleeper car” (shindaisha). It’s for transporting a body from a hospital or home to the funeral home before the ceremony, without being as conspicuous as a hearse would be for a pickup. The green cross flags give them parking and standing priority. In the US they’re called “first call” cars.
You’d think a Toyota or Nissan van would fit the bill if being inconspicuous in Tokyo was the point…nothing about a blue Lincoln wagon conversion like this is subtle! Although I’m assuming it adds the requisite gravitas to the situation beyond just pure practicality.
They are also sometimes used as “traffic cars” for long processions, blocking side streets while the main cars go by, so I guess they need to look a bit formal. But hearses here often have huge wooden temple structures on them, so these are way less noticeable!