407 replies to this topic

[155V6]

What's with the 6-stud wheels on the Transit,is it some sort of heavy-duty version?

[MrRegieRitmo]

When is a Vauxhall Astra MkII not a Vauxhall Astra MkII?



When it's a Daewoo Racer of course!



I knew that Daewoo had based their Nexia on the MkII Astra, but I didn't know that in other markets they basically offered a car identical to the MkII Astra without even bothering to bugger about with the shell! Malta is crawling with these blatant rip offs that aren't even trying to pretend to be something else! Hatches & Belmont saloons badged as Daewoo Racers were everywhere (although I think any estates & vans were all the genuine article) with very few actual MkII Astras about. The proper ones are probably outnumbered by the Daewoo rip offs 3-1. You'll be glad to hear I did snap some genuine Vauxhall Astras though, and it's only the MkII which was affected. The car next to it is a Toyota (not in front ) which we don't get over here. It's like a Corolla. It's a Tercel like one of these....
http://www.cars-dire..._2448524_p.html

Dodge 50 flatbed. Lots of these in Malta being used as all sorts of things, recovery trucks, refrigerated vans, minibuses, tippers, you name it. Nice to see so many.





Here we see a couple of examples of the mainstays of Malta - the Lada & the Skoda. The streets are dominated by Rivas, Samaras, Estelles / 120s & Favorits, especially the latter two...



Nissan/Datsun Sunny saloon from the early 80s. What do they call these ones, B11?...



As Rivas go it's quite a nice one. Unfortunately it was a big wide road & this was taken from right across the other side, so it's a bit fuzzy...



Another example that proves the point is this dusty old Samara saloon on the same road.....



There were actually railings high up behind me, I swear that every vehicle on my side of the road was not painted with black stripes!



Another Suzuki Alto / Maruti 800 in a fetching shade of all over grey! Even the reversing lights have faded to match....
(great parking too!)



Here we have a nice shot encompassing a Hyundai Stellar & the ubiquitous Skoda 120 / Estelle.



Again both of these cars, the Skoda especially, after a few days into the holiday on realising they were everyday (every street for the Skoda) spots stopped being snapped by me apart from any stupendously nice / rough ones.



Unfortunately the script on the front doors is illegible at that distance, but I found it was a common practice out there for proud owners to display engines sizes & what-have-you to 'wow' you with on the side of their cars!


If the Renault 12 reigned supreme as the shite king in Cyprus, in Malta it was the Skoda 120. There were thousands of the bloody things. I soon realised that whilst they are now an interesting sight in the UK, in Malta they're just a common old car for the masses to get about in.



Any ideas?



It looks BX like but BXs weren't very plentiful out there.....far more likely to be a Favorit estate!

The other angle of the Daewoo Racer...



and rear in close-up....



What I was saying about the Skoda 120s, I give you......a rough one!





Is it modern? check, is it ugly? check, is it a Peugeot? negative. That makes it a Ssangyong!

OK it's comparatively lovely next to the Rodius, but you can still tell the styling is meant to be challenging....

It's a Korando.


I saw a Reyton, (or is it Rexton?) as well but unfortunately it wasn't close enough to be worth snapping & there were people around it.



I saw this pretty Nova driving about & was hoping it would stop so I could document it. It did.



then what should happen as I was about to snap the front angle, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a MkIII Escort creeping into view, so I delayed my shot & snapped both! Result!



Right that was everything seen on day one. Eleven more days of spots to go.

[MrRegieRitmo]

I could be more exact, if there were more pictures!

You're lucky there was more than one, alot of shiters don't bother taking more than one picture of each thing. I believe in taking front & rear angled shots where possible so that usually, you can see all four sides of the vehicle. Sometimes it's just not possible though.

[55bloke]

I thought Novas were Corsas everywhere except in the UK?

[MrRegieRitmo]

Malta is a right hand drive market who drive on the left like us. Vauxhalls must have come from here originally. I did see Opels too but obviously rhd ones

[Torsten2001]

According to the wonderful http://www.aronline.co.uk/ Diesel Marinas we built by Car assembly Ltd in Malta using the B Series unit, the exported to Jamaica etc

[MrRegieRitmo]

It's annoying the way no matter which part of the Austin Rover website you bookmark or link to, it always takes you back to the front page, which is useless when you're trying to draw attention to a particular item!

[Torsten2001]

I'm with you on that, it's difficult to navigate through as well but to be honest I don't mind getting lost in it!

[mk2_craig]

Interesting that some types seem to be more prevalent than others. Given their relative rarity in the UK nowadays, I wonder how many of our secondhand Stellars, Estelles and Dodge 50-serieseses have been X-PORTED to Malta over the years, in the same fashion as that mad rush for Ladas from Russia in the early nineties.Some of these cars look obviously resprayed, that Estelle with the green splodges in particular doesn't look to be a factory colour - did Skoda even offer metallic paint in pre-VW Group days?!!

[Spottedlaurel]

Another cookie for you RegRit, you're right on that Sunny being a B11!The Toyota Tercel is an odd one, never knowingly seen that before. At a glance I'd have guessed, without badges, at it being a 3dr Mazda 323 (late-90's type very rarely seen here as a 3dr).

[Richard]

It's annoying the way no matter which part of the Austin Rover website you bookmark or link to, it always takes you back to the front page, which is useless when you're trying to draw attention to a particular item!

Easy when you know how

[Richard]

I know somebody who had a Toyota Tercel in the early 80s, I think it was an X plate or maybe an A. It never occurred to me at the time that it was an obscure model.

[MrRegieRitmo]

The many faces of the Toyota Tercel....

http://commons.wikim...y:Toyota_Tercel

Obviously I like the early ones best although I'm not overly familiar with them.

[MrRegieRitmo]

It's annoying the way no matter which part of the Austin Rover website you bookmark or link to, it always takes you back to the front page, which is useless when you're trying to draw attention to a particular item!

Easy when you know how

Thanks for the tip!

[andrew e]

I will shout at the ARonline management for you, don't expect any sense mind!

[Richard]

It's annoying the way no matter which part of the Austin Rover website you bookmark or link to, it always takes you back to the front page, which is useless when you're trying to draw attention to a particular item!

Easy when you know how

Thanks for the tip!

If you right click on the link you're going to and open in new tab or new window you get the correct address in the address bar.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Ok thanks. Do they mean to stop you linking to bits of the site or is that just the way it was set up?

[andrew e]

The reply...

Here's the response:Whatever page you're on, right click frame properties, get the direct page reference, and quote that.So for the Marina in Malta page, go to: http://www.aronline.co.uk/maltaf.htm(Bythe way, there's also a search function) SmileK

[MrRegieRitmo]

I will shout at the ARonline management for you, don't expect any sense mind!

I thought you were joking!I didn't expect you to do that for me - I'm choked!

[Richard]

That's how I get direct links to Autotrader adverts.

[andrew e]

Gotta keep these Journo's grounded

[MrRegieRitmo]

The Car Assembly Ltd remained operational until 1981, when during this time, the cars produced were the Alfa Romeo Alfasud, Mini and Morris Marina.

Hang on, so it was a car factory that was allowed to build whatever the hell it liked? How on earth were they allowed the freedom to do that? (isn't that what the Chinese do? )

[MrRegieRitmo]

This Morris Marina, as owned by Christopher Camilleri was produced in Malta by Car Assembly Ltd in their plant at Marsa. This particular Marina is a real rarity, as it is powered by a 1.5-litre B-Series diesel engine, and is described by Camilleri: "It has never been resprayed and it is in unrestored condition. Right now, I am using the car as an every day driver which gives me plenty of joy and happiness. "

Bet it's all battered & bashed now!

[Volksy]

So Reg when is..[geordie accent] Day 3 of the regieritmo 'oliday [/geordie accent] beginning?

[MrRegieRitmo]

Dontcha wanna see day 2 then?

[MrRegieRitmo]

Malta Day 2

On more than one occasion we turned the corner by our apartment to find a tanker lorry servicing the luxury yachts moored in the harbour. I was greeted by the sight of this Scania which became my first spot of day 2.



Another shot of the C17 Renegade Jeep (thanks SS90), a clean Favorit estate & a MkIV Civic...




Now we move onto the capital Valletta after making a short boat trip across the Grand Harbour...

One of the first sights that greets me on the other side is this unfamiliar hatchback (which turned out to be only only hatchback one I can recall seeing during the whole holiday, all the rest I saw were saloons.)
Isuzu Gemini hatch...





The Police in Malta used Felicias & Focus' in the main, I don't think it got any more interesting then that...



MkI Fiat Uno. Plenty of these about as you'd expect...



What do you think? (about the CPTs not the battered Pride or 121)

[keef]

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l170/M...

They certainly seem to have more than their fair share of dust out there!

[IainL]

I quite like the Pride/121 in this pic, if only for its hot-climate patina

......waits for Revopak spots..

[MrRegieRitmo]

I've been allowing myself to get bogged down in other things recently & have been neglecting my shite duties, please accept my apologies! One bright note out of the recent distractions was that I'm now heading back out to Malta in November, albeit for a week of sun & beer with the lads as opposed to a fortnight with the family, so although I shall most definitely be looking out for more shite, I shall have to be careful about how I document it without attracting derision from said mates about devoting my attention to 'some crummy old car' instead of 'that fit bird in the short skirt....' you get the idea! One thinks I might have to slip out on my own for a wander around now & again in order to start snapping what I've seen! Although if I don't get a move on I won't have shown you everything from the last trip before I go out again. I noticed I have uploaded 655 images of shite to Photobucket so far & that's only a fraction of what is still to upload I think!

Anyway on again with Day 2....

Still in Valletta, we suddenly had our attention captured by this Harry Potter car trying to get up the hill, it had a couple of goes then decided it wasn't up to it, so it rolled back down & then went the other way. Methinks he should have noticed already that Valletta is quite slopey, there can't be many places he'd want to get to that didn't involve driving up any tall slopes! The road he then successfully drove up instead didn't look much shallower to me!

Ford Anglia


Had plenty of time to snap him....



On following him up the other road with my eyes, something else caught my attention in the distance which I had to go & investigate...

a tasty looking MkIV Cortina (for Dave)





appearing to have MkV grille & headlights...



I was beginning to think this was to be a day of Fords...

Ford Sierra P100



long distance CPTC...



Very tidy Ford Cargo removal lorry. These are thinning out dramatically here now , but then they were introduced 27 years ago! Oh yeah and that makes it 4 Fords now so far!





Open top sight seeing of Valletta is made even better by doing it in a Leyland Titan!



late Alfa 33



VW Polo MkII Coupe. The 'orse n cart depot in front of it probably offers a better combined brake horse power....what say you Mr vwpowered??



I try to combine spots with something interesting in the background, if there is something. Alfa 164



(for Mr Bollox) Subaru Legacy estate. I don't know what the story was behind these but this wasn't the only silver Subaru Legacy estate I saw with markings like this & the other one had a different set of letters on the side...some sort of council department maybe?!




If you hadn't guessed, this is a Reva Electric Vehicle! How...err....cute.





ending for now with this rather excellent Mazda 818 estate which I matter of factly informed my parents was 'a very rare bird'. Later on I saw an identical one in blue on the bus ride back to the apartment!