Over the course of the coming summer I’m going to Berlin-Dahlem once a month for a job-related training program and that of course means riding my bicycle down those paths less traveled – and new CCs on my way!
The most spectacular find, also in terms of sheer physical dimension, was this Mercedes 1113. I learned they were built between 1959 and 1984, while for the first 4 years of their lives, until 1963, they were called L322. The switch in naming might have been the start of the Mercedes Benz commercial vehicle nomenclature which lasts until now: The first two digits stand for the maximum weight of the vehicle in metric tons while the other numbers stand for one tenth of the engine’s power output, making this an 11 metric ton truck with 130 hp.
A beautiful Land Rover! I’m no expert on these, so any help identifying the model year in the comments is welcome!
A beautiful Alfa 155.
And its little brother 33.
In a parking area by the Freie Universität I found a Mini from a model year I had never seen before.
And a 2CV which was in hiding. Look what’s lurking in the background!
And a rare half-panel van version!
We never trully appreciate these compact wagons until they have all but disappeared. This Ford Escort Turnier (“tournament”) is on Spanish plates, giving a hint for the cause of its survival.
A great-uncle of the Escort stood close by.
The Audi A2 is one of those few vehicles that I feel went from new car to instant classic, maybe like a Dodge Viper or Honda S2000.
My sister still regrets selling hers. I remember the little sign on the inside of the doors warning to do any DIY repairs on the aluminium body.
The 190 is still fairly common on the streets of Berlin, but I had never seen those wheels before. They may have been part of the later year Sportline package which also featured a slightly smaller steering wheel and a lowered suspension.
And while we are at it, a lowly 1.8E which was introduced to boost sales later in the 190s long life as its competition began to offer a lot of value for a lot less money.
One of those competitors: The B3 Audi 80. They are still plentiful on the streets of Berlin – yet rarely ever in such good condition. This was the very popular 1.8S version – 90 carburated horses and good aerodynamics made for a farily spirited vehicle – by late 80s central European standards.
T3s are by no means seldom found in Berlin- most of them are van versions though, making this a rather rare find.
The jump from T3 to T4 feels like the biggest one in the history of the VW transporter. Barely a surprise, given the change in engine layout and wheels driven. This being a rather rare VR6 version that is still really expensive to buy, and to run, given the gas mileage (15ish mpg). Much more common around here is the TDi which gets around 30 mpg.
How to camouflage when on a Zebra safari?
I don’t know if it’s the real thing. The E38 Alpina B12 5.7 E-Kat (for electrically pre-heated catalysts) was the first car on the german market to feature 20-inch wheels. Somehow, those seem even larger, and as I shot it in passing, I couldn’t indulge in my tire sidewall reading passion… Something is definitely out of place with the suspension, though. If it’s the real thing, which I am not saying it is, it would be quite something, as only 202 were made.
As a very intersting side-note: Actively naming the presence of a catalyst not just through a decal on the car (as it was common in the 1980s in Germany, as cats came in fashion) but including it in the model designation and on the trunk lid (though here it was not ordered) seems one of the lovelier quirks from Alpina’s history.
Yes. You can actually do that. And why wouldn’t you?!
As I get older, and inspired from the colleagues at gcfsb, I pay more attention to things that previously didn’t seem so important to me, and in that case it is color. One of the stranger, and therefore more desirable, shades that W123 came in. To match the strange color, this should be the 250, but it’s a lowly 240D.
A little something for our editor-in-chief,a lovely Yaris Verso which I have considered to buy more than once.
And a little open-air farewell from Morris, found under the same Autobahn A100 underpass as the Honda Prelude Tropic from last week’s post!
Maybe when I am done with all the parking garages in Berlin I will scour those underpasses which are – come to think of it – the poor man’s parking garage….
Beer and Currywurst again for those who can ID the model year and spicy onions ( a popular extra with the Currywurst in Berlin) for those who know the CC in the upper left that is showing but one headlight!
The Mini is an italian Innocenti.
Have loved that style of Mercedes truck since I was a kid. Still do.
I was smitten by the Yaris Verso when it came out, but in retrospect it’s not quite boxy enough.
Nice tour of trucks and cars. Thanks for the M-B truck designation information.
It surprises me how strongly the Ford Taunus (particularly the taillight shape, but also the trunklid and front door) resembles a 1988 LTD Crown Victoria from this angle.
I’m trying to work out just what a driver is meant to do when faced by a green traffic light and a stop sign, as in the Alpina pic.
Traffc lights are higher in rank than traffic signs. The lights rule in this situation. When these are out of order/kaput(t), the sign says how to act. And cops or traffic controllers outrule everything else, when needed.
Interesting. On this continent, AFAIK we never have both lights and a Stop sign. The rule is that a junction with dead traffic lights is to be treated as an all-way stop, as though everyone had a Stop sign, but actual Stop signs are not installed.
When there’s nothing (signs/lights), coming from the right means first to go. And that also applies to bicyclists (at least, in Die Niederlande), so a car -or a 50 tons big rig- has to stop for a bicyclist who’s coming from the right.
It’s brilliant if it’s turned off at night or during whatever low traffic times are designated so. Nobody waiting at a red light for it to eventually change and everybody safely stopping to make sure nobody is about to blow through the intersection.
I’m not convinced. I think [green light + Stop sign] violates a pretty basic tenet of signal design: never present directly conflicting signals, even if there’s a rule/explanation that people are supposed to know to decide which one to heed and which one to ignore under various conditions.
If there were a way to stow the Stop sign when the traffic light is operational, that would help.
I’d guess that the single headlight peeking into the Morris Minor photo is a Kadett, but that seems too easy.
You are spot on !
The Merc 190 and W123 are both classics as far as I am concerned, and your examples are spot on. I agree with you ont he A2 too.
The Land Rover is a series 2, and looks to be a British emigre ex-pat.
The Minor’s badge seems to say 1000, so 56-63
The windscreen wipers are parallel rather than ‘clap’ pattern and there are no trafficators, so not earlier than 1961. The larger front markers with orange indicators came in late ’63.
I’ve scrolled through this half a dozen times now and think the Blackberry Yogurt colored Porsche 968 is my favorite. (I like Blackberry Yogurt though so…). But I’ll be damned if I can decide if I’d like any of this selection to be my primary/main driver this time around. They’d all need to at least be the second car in the stable. And if that’s the case then it’s even tougher to pick one…
The 190E 1.8 is interesting. We got it here badged as 180E, and as a car, it was a faintly ridiculous thing. I’ll explain.
We had a luxury car tax, wherein at a certain cut-off, you couldn’t claim the car as a work deduction for tax purposes. Mercedes’ from the expense-be-damned era of the company were always very expensive anywhere in the world, but especially so here with import tariffs of the time. When a weak dollar was added in, a 190E with not many options was priced at something like 2 times that of good mid-range Ford or GM local: one with the vaunted 2.6 six was perhaps 3 times their prices (or nearly $100K AUD), this in world recessionary times of ’92 when that sort of money bought half a house.
So in desperation for some sales, Mercedes Aus brought out the 180E just under that tax limit. No ABS, wind-up windows, no rear headrests, no leather, no sunroof, hell, not even a tacho, for god’s sake! And that coffee-grinder of a four (as Merc fours all were for far, far too long) mixed poorly with the old four speed auto, with its start-in-second, slurry, big-engine style. We’re talking 0-60 in 14 seconds – when held manually, a/c off.
Now, for sure, it was built of stone and handled beautifully, but it was also noisy as hell, cramped (by nature) and silly-slow, being even worse in the real world than on paper. For a good deal less money, one could, for just one example, get a fully-loaded Cressida in ’92, a truly excellent machine (and rightly judged in local test as a better car).
So, this is all a long-winded way of saying that whenever I saw (and see) a 180E stripper, I can only think of the utter, craven snobs who had such a need to be behind that badge that they’d put up with a very unpleasant car, and it sure was that. For example, owners had no idea – why would they? – that to take off with enough movement to at least not block traffic, you had to hold first, so they crawled away from any lights – and at about 10km/h, the transmission would finally react (angry at them for pushing the car so ‘hard’) kick back to first with such violent jerk it could set off the airbags. If it had had any.
It WAS fun to watch, I gotta admit. Then I’d get bored of the entertainments, and accelerate past the silly snobs on my pushbike.
Fascinating,
I had no idea such a model existed. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention !
Truly a Cressida for the same price would appear a far more desirable option.
Similar to the UK market in that company cars were hit if over 1800cc. The 190E 1.8 . I remember the brochure telling lucky managers the if they added automatic transmission ,power front windows and a manual sunroof they,had a luxury car within the tax bracket.
The Land Rover is a Series II, the headlamps still on either side of the grille give that away and was manufactured from 1958 to 1961 after which the IIA was introduced with the headlamps in the front wings. This one appears to be right-hand drive which would suggest it was imported from the UK and is in remarkable condition, all things considered.
On a visit to Berlin in the 2000’s I spent an afternoon wandering around Dahlem.
A beautiful neighbourhood – I envy you exploring it by bike!