Cars like this Ford Falcon are a common sight all around Lima
Lima Peru 12/27/2019
Good food, the Nazca Lines, the Inca ruins of Cuzco and Machu Picchu, these are the parts of Peru that most foreigners are familiar with. However, this country’s love of all things automotive becomes apparent with the first breath of fresh air outside of Jorge Chavez International airport. Lima is loud and slightly humid, the air around the airport smells like fuel and engines.
Like all cities, Lima has nice parts and less than nice parts. Jorge Chavez International Airport is located in the rough industrial district of Callao, and Callao is the first experience of Lima that greets all of Peru’s visitors. My family and I have been going to Peru since I was a baby, and I have learned that there is no slowly acclimating to this country. The simple act of getting to my families’ house is an event. There are four ways to get home. The first way home is a clean black airport taxi, they are usually Toyota Camrys which are safe, but expensive and not ideal for hauling lots of bags. More often than not one of aunts or uncles ends up coming to pick us up, no such luck this year.
Having just gotten out of an inadequate American Airlines coach seat, and lacking the courage to brave Lima traffic in a rental car, my parents opted for the only way to cruise Lima in style, a black Jac. JAC is one of the many increasingly popular Chinese manufacturers that have been aggressively targeting the South American market. Despite their reputation for poor quality the Jac swallowed our bags and got us across Lima without drama and far more comfortably than the jet we just got off of.
Citroen C Elysee
Peru is a delightful place for a car spotter. Chevrolet used to produce Camaros, Impalas, and Corvairs in Peru not to mention Citroen and Peugeot still sell cars in Peru.
Better still, there are all manner of obscure Brazilian produced Volkswagens, in addition to world market Fiat and Toyota models that are not sold in the United States.
Peru’s cars are as fascinating for car enthusiasts as the gastronomy is for foodies. Like Peruvian cooking, interesting cars are not confined to a price point. For example, one of the first interesting cars my stepdad and I got to experience was my uncle’s, Toyota Prado. The Prado is Toyota’s modern interpretation of the Land Cruisers Pablo Escobar used to cruise around Medellin in. The Toyota Prado is sold all over the world including the United States where it is branded as the Lexus GX. However Peruvian Toyotas do not share the boring obvious choice reputation of their American counterparts. In Peru Toyotas like the Prado are available in trim levels to suit every budget and they are just as respected as BMWs and Mercedes.
For example, the Toyota Prado is a quiet comfortable and mean-looking SUV. However, unlike its Lexus counterpart, or the German SUV offerings, the Prado blends in with Lima traffic. A Peruvian Prado could just as easily belong to a construction foreman, salesman, elected official, attorney or even the occasional drug dealer. In this instance, my uncle who happens to be an attorney was behind the wheel while my stepdad and I got to play the scary gringo muscle on the way to the beach.
Lima is a city of side streets and expressways. There is only one true freeway in Lima, the Panamerican Highway. The Panamerican Highway is a legendary road that starts in Alaska and goes all the way to Patagonia. A road trip on the Panamerican gives tourists an accurate simulation of what it would be like to be a War Boy on Fury Road. Traffic on the Panamericana includes everything from the normal family sedans, our Prado, all kinds of buses from glorified minivans to enormous long haul double-deckers and that’s just the passenger vehicles. On the Panamerican, there are also tons of sooty hazmat toting big rigs and that is just the four lanes of traffic. The shoulder is always be full of Tuk Tuks, small motorcycles, and quads from Lima to Nazca. These vehicles are all either not road legal or too slow to keep up with the traffic on the pavement. There is never a dull moment on the Pan American.
one of Peru’s many classic work trucks
Like all good car guys, Peruvian enthusiasts are consummately dedicated to their machines regardless of condition or status. As we rolled off the Panamerican to the beach house we passed one of the many classic work trucks that still travel roads of South America. This particular truck was earning its keep taking out the trash making it the only truly classic garbage truck I have ever seen. I like to think that when these gentlemen got the contract to remove garbage from Maradentro they said something along the lines of, “if we are going to be garbage men at least we can pick up the trash in style.”
Here in the United States the 1969 through 1972 series of GM pickup trucks are coveted classics, the perfect platform for building 450 cubic inches of GM freedom. However, in Peru, one of these trucks is currently being used by the staff of my uncle’s beach subdivision to pick up the trash. This particular Chevy is one of many classic American trucks that are still at work for similar jobs across the country. Unlike many similar Peruvian work trucks, this particular Chevy was remarkably clean, largely free of rust with relatively nice paint, dual rear wheels, a manual gearbox, and a hearty V8 rumble. The Garbage men thought I was out of my mind going out of my way to get a picture of this old beast. When it comes to Peruvian summer fun the beach is the place to be and offroading is the thing to do. Our fun had only just begun.
Nice insight on Peruvian car culture 👍🏻 Loved the shot of the old red pickup.
Sweet South-American selection! Well of course I like the all-black Prado, sold as Land Cruiser in my part of the world, the 150-series.
It’s only offered here with a 2.8 liter inline-4 turbodiesel, great workhorse with more than enough luxury, comfort and good on-road manners.
What part of the world? My uncles Prado has the 4.0 liter gas v6 (I think that’s what he said.) I love the prado it’s a great rig.
The Netherlands / Northwestern Europe.
Here’s our Toyota website, go to “modellen” for an overview of the available models: https://www.toyota.nl/
Cool! Thanks for sending that, I’ll check it out.
Old car spotting in Peru is one of my favorite past times when we go there to visit my wife’s family. There are a lot of old 60’s and 70’s American (and European) cars hidden away and parked because people could not afford to import the parts needed to fix them. We saw a “screaming chicken” Pontiac Trans Am parked in a car port under a layer of thick dust with four flat tires last year in the Barranco district of Lima. Also saw a rare 2 liter 1980’s Alfa Romeo GTV parked in the back warehouse under a lot of junk at one of the oldest Pisco vineyards and distilleries left in Lima. There also seem to be lots of old 1960’s Dodge pickups and commercial trucks (flatbeds and dump trucks) still running around too, especially in the small villages and towns on the outskirts of Lima.
The excellent photos make me want to see Peru.
First, I will have to learn (anything) about Peru.
The Falcon and the red truck photos have such an appealing look to them.
Maybe it’s the lighting.
I’m not sure why, but I am really drawn to them.
Was up in Cusco in 2018 and there are lots of air cooled Beetles in great shape. Obviously the local people take a great deal of pride in their cars and a lot of the 40 year old beetles seem in just as good a shape as the late model kias and suzukis. Highly recommend Peru as a place to visit.
Are you sure those busses are 40 years old? a lot of those busses are late model Brazilian manufactured… I know the Brazilians made bay window busses for a long time but I’m not sure about the split window busses. Neither of these are all that rare in Peru. Then again there is always something fascinating to learn about cars.
type 1 beetle sedans, have some photos on my phone will see if I can get them on here.
beetle in peru
more peru beetles