Here are the first CCs from Bucharest, Romania. There are quite a few left around, but in recent years the number has declined due to cash for clunkers programs. First up, an interesting kind of hybrid. This is a 1970’s Ford Granada with Fiat 1300 headlights, bumper and part of the grille, and other little touches here and there. This is not uncommon among old cars maintained on a limited budget. The most common reason some people would do these kinds of modifications is that they thought replacing some parts with parts from other cars, for which spares were widely available, would be less expensive in the long run.
That car is obviously in contrast with this Fiat 850. It would look exactly like a freshly unpacked toy… if it weren’t for every single part being worn out already. It has seen some parts added on, like the previous car, but in a less tasteful manner. I’m really curious about that vinyl roof, it’s something I’ve never seen before.
Now for some Mercedes. As far as I know, very few SLs were ever imported new.
However, W114’s were pretty popular back in the day, though I’m not sure about the number of coupes that were bought. This looked a little rough; I think it was brought in for restoration.
While on the topic of coupes, these Opel Commodores were pretty sought after. In those years, they were about as close to an American car as you could get.
Maybe the only comparable thing that could be had back then was the Ford Capri, a car that you can still see once in a while.
Next up, a Biturbo. I’m not really sure what its status is. It rarely moves; I always find it pretty much in the same spot.
Not a lot of real restomods over here, but a while back I did come across this pretty nice Beetle. I’m not a fan of these sort of modifications, but I think this one turned out pretty well visually.
I’m going to end with this very nice DS, seen in another city. It had driven all the way from France, a minimum of 2000 kilometers. I could think of few other classic cars that would make such a journey more comfortable and enjoyable.
Damn this Cash for Clunkers. They insist on destroying anything that’s older than five years old. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s ready for the junk yard as trash.
How very true.Let`s hope that they don`t do the same thing to people once they reach a certain age.
I agree. If a car is too badly destroyed, either through abuse or neglect, then perhaps it should be destroyed and its parts used to help restore another car. But if there’s nothing wrong with the car, and can be driven under its own power, then it should be saved, and if possible, driven.
Soylent green, anyone?
It’s Buicks! Sorry, I mean it’s people!
I would rather not co-sign this regarding ALL people ! 😉
Went to Vietnam about 12 years ago, looking forward to finding some interesting left behind American cars. But aside from some Dodge and IH medium duty trucks around Da Nang, and some old Renault busses, no dice. Seems the government ordered them all scrapped in the late 90s.
Thank you for an interesting look into the classic car presence in a city and country that I have not visited. Is there much that can be said about how these cars came to Romania? I would guess that imports of used cars from Germany and other Western European countries have been common since the fall of the Ceausescu regime in 1989. I assume that there were few or no car imports during the 1980s, when Romania was laden with debt and economic austerity policies were in place.
I would like to see more about surviving pre-1989 Dacias, and Dacia models from before the Renault acquisition.
Cars like Beetle, Fiat 1300, Fiat 850 could be bought new in Romania in the 1960s, but after the first Dacia 1100 appeared in 1968(i think), importing cars took a serious downturn. In the 70s and 80s, the few imported cars were mostly for official state duty. 1st gen S-class, or the w114 were prefered, later the w124.
There’s no other Dacia before Renault, the first model, the 1100 was a licensed Renault 8.
It seems that there were only two Dacias between the era of license-built Renaults and their acquisition by Renault in 1999.
One was the Dacia Nova of the mid-’90s, which looked something like an Isuzu Gemini/I-Mark of the mid-’80s. They still had Renault engines but were otherwise designed in-house.
The other is the Dacia Lăstun, a sad little 2-cylinder sub-Lada Oka thing. I’m not sure if these were even designed by Dacia or just sold under that name, because Wikipedia says they were built in a completely different factory.
And of course Dacia also built plenty of interesting Renault 12 variants including a 4×4 crew cab pickup.
Here’s a Lăstun with a kid who accurately reflects the disposition of the car:
After 1989, cars were indeed imported in far greater numbers, but not this kind of cars. In the 1980s foreign cars were mostly of the State, or of “more equal” comrades. Also, some cars were brought in for rally drivers, but I’m not sure if this continued intro the 80’s. As for the economic situation, it is a topic for other types for websites, but I will point out that the situation you are referring to wasn’t because of debt, but the willingness of the regime to pay the whole external debt, a feat which they accomplished in late 1989. And as far as sanctions went, this meant that export was simply reoriented to Africa and the Middle East mostly and development was done with the country’s own means.
When I will have some more time, I will post something with more explanations about Dacia and other Romanian cars.
Soylent Green is *cars*! We’ve got to stop them *somehow*!
Wow…I love how the 7th picture (of the Maserati Biturbo) also features a neighborhood that looks pretty similar to mine (Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago).
I think the red Granada in the first picture is actually kind of a looker.
I like the red Granada in the first picture. I like the grille and the headlamps. I don’t know what the original grille looked like, but this looked really nice. 🙂
A Euro-Ford Granada Mk1, 1972-1977.
Ah! Way better looking than the original grille. While I like the Euro headlamps, I like the installed grille better.
Agree 100%. The homemade grille assembly on the red Granada looks better.
The car overall looks attractive, but the original grille didn’t look very attractive.
Yes, the Granny works rather well, reminds me of early 70s Japanese stuff. Like a Toyota Crown.
I’m seeing a lot of Mazda 808 there too.
Looks like the Romanians and the Cubans would understand each other, both applying the mix or match approach to keeping the old iron on the road.
In principle you would be right, but the number scale is off balance in favor of the Cubans.
I also like that Commodore A. The Commodore was an upscaled Rekord, so it was right inbetween the Rekord and Kapitän/Admiral/Diplomat.
With inline-six engines. Below a later Opel Commodore B coupe from the seventies, the top model GS/E.
The letter E for Einspritzung (Injection).
As a fan of the Fiat 850 Coupes I find the vinyl roof one this car to be interesting. Given the color of this example (light metallic blue/silver?) it looks pretty good from what you can see of it.
Very, very rarely I have seen parts of one car “grafted” onto another but usually both cars are of the same make though not the same model. Like a late model pickup truck “box” on a much older truck.
Unlike my shipmates, when I was in the Navy visits to foreign cities had me studying the local curbsides instead of the local bars.
The Granada almost looks like a Fissore creation. Pretty impressive for an amateur job!
Nice selection, this is a city I’d love to visit one day.
Fissore. Touche.
LOL… obviously it needs some polish, but c’mon. If they had done a Mk1 Granada, it probably would have looked something like the car up above. Smooth out the hips, slim the pillars, fix the grille (with horizontal slats) and there you go. Fissore loved those Fiat 1300 headlamps (I do too):
DKW-Vemag Fissore Sedan:
Maybe a former employee of the company could be responsible for the Granada now that you’ve brought Fissore into attention…
Nahhh, I think it’s exactly what you suggested… somebody probably had a Granada with a smashed face and a Fiat grille laying around.
“Logan’s Run” was that era’s movie set in a dystopian world where euthanasia was mandatory once age 31 was reached.
For me like “Soylent Green” — interesting concepts but awful films.
Funny that you should mention Logan’s Run, which I remember well from my childhood. If there is a remake, it deserves a proper automotive product placement: a Dacia/Renault Logan, the most successful car ever made in Romania.
That’s the trouble with pre Star Wars sci fi cinema: They were too hung up on the anxieties of the time to be of continuing interest.
Thanks for sharing Nicolae. That Granada should hide its face in shame, I’ll have to choose the Commodore instead.
You would Don GMH sliced and diced the 63 model into the HK Monaro which was very popular in your neck of the woods
The BiTurbo is consistent with the last few I’ve seen: dead but being kept for some reason only understood by the owner. There is one in a garage in my neighborhood that gets pushed out once a year for a washing.
Thanks for sharing with us, like the Beetle and W114 pillar-less hardtop coupe-likely a 280 CE looking at the bumpers.
I particularly like this generation Maserati. It’s the best looking Maserati I’ve seen.
Nice to see these photos, especially the Fiat-Granada mash-up; thank you Nicolae!