Oriental Offerings - Reincarnated

[Supernaut]

I'm going to go with some sort of weird open-top version of a Nissan Pao, or similar.

 

Are those bottom-hinged doors?

[KruJoe]

Think even smaller than a Pao, and a bit closer to home. This should give it away:

 

[Supernaut]

Aaaah, mini based.

[vulgalour]

Is it one of those terrible Metro based Audi TT replicas?

[KruJoe]

Nope, both wrong I'm afraid.

That back light fooled you Supernaut! Exhaust, boot vents, and this angle...

 

 

...tell me it's a chopped-up Fiat 500, something like a Jolly, but with the little doors on:

 

[KruJoe]

Onwards!

 

 

I'm pretty sure that's a Charade behind the Stanza.

 

 

These Fiats are a surprisingly common sight around Chiang Mai, they've lasted well.

 

 

All of these were spotted within half a km of our house, these two on our street:

 

 

The Minx was a special surprise:

 

 

This lad seems to come home in a pleasing variety of tat, all fairly tidy.

 

[59Impala]

Close, but not a Camaro. It looks like an early Pontiac Firebird, going by the front end. Based on the Camaro though.

Correct, it's a 1967/8 Pontiac Firebird. Same shell as a Camaro but different front end and rear lights are also different. Plus of course it's powered by Pontiac or should be. If it's an export car made normally in Oshawa, Canada it might have Chevy running gear which most Canadian built Pontiac's had. 

[KruJoe]

Cheers!

Yank lickers, what was this one please?
 

 

Ta!

[Split_Pin]

I've missed the Eastern spotting threads on here so far, some hidden gems here.

[59Impala]

Cheers!

 

Yank lickers, what was this one please?

 

 

Ta!

I believe it to be a late 70's or early-ish 80's Ford Fairmont. 

[KruJoe]

Time to bring this back from the dead.
 
Nobody likes TL;DR, so...
 
 

 
Thai-built 850 2.3 n/a on LPG sold at a great loss: 20,000 THB (£500). It had become too much of a liability, even after spending several fortunes on it. Should have been a good car, but just wasn't designed for this climate.
 
 

 
Thai wife divorced after 15 years. We tried, but just couldn't find the joy any more. I wish her the best. I know I'm in a much happier place now. Thankfully no kids.
 
 

 
New shite bought in Chiang Mai, because it was as cheap as renting a modern for a month.
And more fun.
And VERY shite.
The last owner just spent twice the asking price restoring it in 2018 for her androgynous daughter (son) to drive, but she (he) turned it down and bought a new Civic. Their loss...
 

 
Keen veterans will ID it straight off; I'm sure we've discussed these... what is it?
 

 
The day after collection (and lengthy transfer bureaucracy), it carried five of us up to the top of Mon Chem. A real test, but it performed well, thought oddly high-geared for a car its size.
 
Next after a quick check-over (bubbles in the screen-wash, and coolant in the water (Thai's almost always neglect these)), a two-day drive from Chiang Mai to the most north-east of Thailand's Northeast, a.k.a. Isaan.
The car performed great - a most unexpectedly brilliant cruiser, lovely tall gearing, and "sufficient" umph. I'm a happy bunny.
 

 
Isaan tinkering - mainly refitting the number plates. Involved hammering.
 

 
Next to Nong Khai, a town on the Mekong with a bridge to Laos. More of this... nearly a full day... 
 

 
At times I thought we weren't going to be able to do it, but eventually the car had a passport, and the three of us (car, me, and my Thai traveling companion) all had visas for Laos.
Over the bridge...
 

 

That's the mid point of the bridge where the flags change from Thai to Laotian, and the barrier from clean to dirty.
Then a weird crossing like a Scalextric crossover to switch to driving on the right of the road...
 

 

...then more red tape to insure the car for Laos, and temporarily import it, fees in three different currencies, we were in!
 

 
Just in time to get to Vientiane and walk out to the Mekong promenade for the sun set over Thailand on the other side.
 

 
And to sample the Laos-only BeerLao varieties    I still prefer the dark one!
 
I'm only here on a three-day "visa run", as of tomorrow we're back to the Isaan rice fields, and without wifi, but I should be able to upload a few spots from my phone on the 3G.
 
Back in the game, Tat-lickers!

[Split_Pin]

Great update, I really enjoy accounts from shiters in interesting places.

 

Cars, good driving and beer, brilliant!

[Guest Conan]

That car is just aspirational! 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Shite-tastic ! Kia or Ford badged ?

[cms206]

Kia Avella or Ford Aspire?

 

Bizarrely Malta of all places got them, but we didn't; my 1300 Pride was really high geared but gutsy with it too, good fun.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Ghosty]

Laser Lynx? 

 

Glad to see an update from you Joe, hope everything levels out.

[hairnet]

looks like a chery

 

sorry to hear about the wifey stuff

 

can you find a camira to export next time please

[Pillock]

Always look forward to a KruJoe update to raise the shite bar.

 

Sorry to hear about the divorce, at least it seems amicable.

 

As for the car.... No idea! Got more than a hint of MK3 Astra about it.

[rusty998]

This reminds me of

This

[tooSavvy]

.... did she ever ask you to turn her over?

 

Kwalitee chod, mon ami

[320touring]

Oooft, a Cleland back in the game!

 

Good to hear from you squire, and nice to hear things moving in a good direction:)

[KruJoe]

 

Well done Conan and Andy_CMS, it is a Ford Aspire, basically a Kia Pride in a blobby body.

 

 

More pics from the advert:

 

 

Other than the badges, it's Kia, with a Mazda 1.3 lump.

 

 

I'm glad of the five tall gears, as it'll be mainly be used for trips out of town, and longer runs around the country. Around Chiang Mai, I much prefer a little bike, can't beat the Honda Scoopy.

 

 

Yesterday, outside the Pha That Luang in Vientiane:

 

[KruJoe]

.... did she ever ask you to turn her over?

I see what you did there Savvy...

No. No she didn't, thank you very much!

 

 

Spottings are mainly what this is about. First up, a crew-cab SsangYong, I think it's basically a Rodius.

 

 

Chinese copy of an Aygo?

 

 

Chinese copy of a RAV-4?

 

 

In "Communist" Laos, this is the only Russian car I've seen. But a great joy it was.

 

 

More later, I hope.

[KruJoe]

 

A few more from Vientiane. These are screengrabs from my £50 dashcam.

 

 

That's the front of a fake 107/C1. Chinese versions of familiar motors often seem to look really dopey compared to our ones.

 

 

An truck.

 

 

An bus.

 

 

An car.

 

Generally the mix of road furniture in Laos seems to be similar to Thailand (pick-up heavy, especially Toyotas, with various saloons, hatchbacks and 4x4's, mostly Japanese brands). Laos adds in a whole heap of modern Korean tat, and a variety of cheap/dopey-looking Chinese nonsense.

More to come.

 

[RobT]

Good to see you back in the shite game JC!

 

Keep the spots coming.

[Bucketeer]

Back in the game

YESSSS!!11!1!

Great to have you posting again Joe.

 

All Laos pictures are greatly received. It's right up there at the top of my 'places I want to visit' list.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Good to see your spots again. Sorry about the wifey stuff but it's probably not a bad thing long term

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[KruJoe]

Thank you for the encouragement, gentlefolk of Autoshite. I've missed you!

Onwards...

 

I've posted a couple of these before from Chiang Mai... Chery QQ.

 

 

It's a Matiz copy with a cheery face (unusual for Chinese tat.)

 

I think this is a Chery also... an A1?

 

 

I've only ever spotted one in the wild before, that was in Adelaide about five years ago, though I did stumble across one for sale online in Chiang Mai last month.

 

These Hyundai things are EVERYWHERE in Vientiane:

 

 

The twin rear wheels looked really tiny to me, so I had a closer look... they're 12"! 

The tyres look exactly the same as fitted to the local tuk-tuk taxi things!

 

A car park.

 

 

Another Aygo copy, one of these Hyundai MPV things (also seen EVERYWHERE, I spotted one on Laos plates over the river in Thailand a few years ago)

...and an ESTIMA!

 

 

I had to have a closer look at this one... it's LHD, and manual.

I previously presumed that all narrow-bodied ones like this (and my Pleasure Wagon) were all RHD, either JDM as the ones we have in the UK, or sold officially in RHD markets such as Oz.

Europe and USA were sold the wide-bodied version (Previa) officially.

 

 

I do miss mine, it's been dormant for a year. Once I'm back in Yorkshire this year, it's resurrection is a priority.

I've seen five or six of them over three days in Laos, quite a high density for anywhere, I reckon. I believe they're still common in New Zealand, right?

 

 

Finally for today, this Mk1 transit was quite a surprise, too...

 

 

...especially with a side door like that.

[Asimo]

" I've seen five or six of them over three days in Laos, quite a high density for anywhere, I reckon."

 

Most of the world's stock of Previas seems to be in Golders Green!

[KruJoe]

A few more from the dashcam around Vientiane...

 

 

Yes, that's an Uno! Quite a surprise. I've seen a few old povvo Puntos in Thailand, but no other modern Fiats.

 

 

 

 

I nearly missed this one...

 

 

It looks like a three-wheeler cobbled together from bits of a bike or two.

 

 

What a pair of winners!