Autoshite Picture Postcard Club

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Postcards featuring historic car crud proved popular a few months ago, so there's hope of getting another card thread started; please add your contributions.

 

I've been going through our family collection and realised that fascinating crappy vehicles are often lurking with intent in classic cityscapes and views of beauty spots. Through the magic of the Interweb combined with 21st century scanning technology, such wonders may now be revealed and enjoyed...

 

Let's begin with sunny Rome:

 

 

The top two are both of St Peter's in the Vatican, bottom left is obviously the Colosseum and the other one is, it says, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The St Peter's pix make startling comparison because the first photographer has completely fucked up the dome; but, as this highlight (below) shows, he's made an excellent job of the carpark, including Cinquecentos (at least 2 white ones in the shadows on the left) and much other Milanese motoring memorabilia. You can also make out a very nice red & white VW campervan, and is that a white Renault 4 third from the right?

 

 

Clearly papal parking arrangements had changed by the time of the better shot (a card which was sent in 1987, though of course that's no indication of when it was made). I've left out the buses on the right, but they must have been scorching hot when their pilgrims eventually clambered back into them:

 

 

The Colosseum's transport arrangements still include horse-drawns (presumably aimed at gullible tourists). Never having been there, I suppose those green & black vehicles in the centre are the local taxis? Those two white Fiat 500s are now buzzing round - and is that a Beetle appearing on the far left?

 

 

In the case of Santa Maria Maggiore he has used a slow exposure which has captured some of the movement - and danger - of Italian traffic. I can make out a lovely cream DS on the far left, with a bright red Fiat 500 behind the lamppost nearby. An interesting ancient saloon between them and several other gems may be discerned...

 

 

More to come - will try to make the close-ups a bit bigger in future - still experimenting. My tour will include Blighty, Eastern Europe and the Lands of the Germans, but please post yours!

[Torsten2001]

That's a beautiful piece of work Mr Ghia!

[RedSparrow]

I had a great one my Grandma sent me from somewhere in the west country of a picturesque villege street with a bloody great rusty sherpa van in the middle of it ruining the shot! Can't find it though.

 

The net provided a few from my preferred eastern bloc country:

 

Lada, Volga,

Dacia, Trabi, Lada, Skoda?

Beemer, VW, Audi?

Difficult to see in these, Im sure you experts can help!

 

And the DDRs finest:

[Adrian_pt]

The white Dacia is actually on Romanian plates! Looks to be an early model as well, brilliantly there's a red one to the left of the picture.... GR8 images, thanks for posting!

[Karmann Ghiaman]

I had a great one my Grandma sent me from somewhere in the west country of a picturesque villege street with a bloody great rusty sherpa van in the middle of it ruining the shot! Can't find it though.

Keep looking!

 

Still in Italy:

 

Viterbo and Castro Urdiales (Cantabria).

 

Looks like an early 600 has replaced donkeys near the fountain...

 

 

The Cantabrian crap isn't too clear, but definitely more Fiats:

 

Then we're back in Rome, "The Bascilica of St John Lateran" (actually "Early morning traffic circa 1966"), and a beautiful monochrome from Messina, Sicily:

 

 

You could gaze upon the classical Roman traffic for hours - presumably it's totally gridlocked nowadays:

 

Thought this might be a Jag (broken down?) in the foreground, but more likely an Italian beauty (Alfa Berlina? Asking the experts here!):

 

 

And the glorious traffic of the capital of Mafialand, early '50s or what?

 

When does the shooting begin?

[michiel]

Nice work! Isn't the Jaguar/Alfa a Karmann Ghia??

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Bloody Hell! You may be right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrRegieRitmo]

The pictures are just little white boxes with red Xs to me, but if what you're saying is right, that's one hell of a clanger from Mr KG!

[michiel]

Bloody Hell! You may be right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ratdat]

I just got this today... what a fine variety of tat there used to be in Spalding highstreet...

 

 

I thought at first this was a Datsun 620 but on closer inspection I think it's an old Toyota Hilux...

 

Tat in the distance...

[Karmann Ghiaman]

The pictures are just little white boxes with red Xs to me, but if what you're saying is right, that's one hell of a clanger from Mr KG!

Is that a prob with your PC Mr Regie? I can try posting them a different way in case that might help, but this seems to work best via ImageShack.

 

Yes, one hell of a clanger indeed not to recognise the car that's parked outside. Two excuses: (1) it is a peculiar khaki colour in the postcard, and (2) it seemed too good to be true that my car & my postcard collection could ever converge in this fashion!

 

[Spottedlaurel]

I do have a few odd ones, but I’m not really set up for sorting and scanning much right now. I may have put this up before:

 

 

Beautiful downtown Ilford.

 

Definite repeat showing for this one:

 

 

Sudbury, Suffolk - hometown for Baz and me!

 

Compare it with this magazine cover:

 

 

Again seen on here before, sorry. I used to work in an office overlooking this area, from 1986-89, and I can recall many wondrous cars I used to see parked on it.

 

I will also repeat my hearty commendation for the Phaidon “Boring Postcard†books, plenty of top drawer stuff to be seen in both the UK and USA editions.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Don't apologise for reposting those, Spottedlaurel, they are excellent examples of exactly what we're after here. Ilford is SPOT on (if you'll excuse the pun).

 

Although we had gone south to Sicily, Austria is at least a neighbour of Italy's, so here's the Vienna Opera House (perhaps on the same day in 1970-something that Ilford was photographed?):

 

This is a depressing picture sent by my mother's friend Auriol [We've had a wonderful stay in Vienna, celebrating our silver wedding by returning to where we spent our honeymoon. This time we drove down here - over 1000 miles - through N. France + S. Germany, staying at various places, including 3 days in Munich... I'm impressed!] No year, stamp or address, so it must have been put in an envelope, but I guess it was sent around '85. A close-up of the shitty cars:

 

 

Retracing Auriol & her Richard's route, and sticking to the opera theme, we stop to examine the Richard Strauss Fountain in Munich:

 

But we're more interested in this two tone (British?) classic on a collision course with a tram, dead centre:

 

Here's one my father sent me from Cologne in July 1964:

 

As I was only 4 at the time, he didn't write anything except the place, date & drew a picture of a cat. Here's the traffic - no KGs, but ugly cousin Kafer is there & a nice ad for Bosch who make quite a lot of important bits of our flat fours...

 

[andrew e]

The C&A in the Ilford postcard had gone by '91 because I used to walk past its replacement (the exchange) when I started my apprenticeship!Thats the station on the left.

[Spottedlaurel]

Mk1 Prelude in Vienna!

[Spottedlaurel]

Again, possibly a repost. Small town in Asutralia somewhere.

 

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Nice Dullsville, NSW there, Spottedlaurel. We know from our friends down there that many wonderful cars (and aircraft!) are surviving in New Zealand - surely a lot in Oz too? No rain, no rust.

 

Before crossing from Germany to England via Holland, a brief American interlude... How I laughed when I found this one with BUY WAR BONDS above the door of One of the world-famous Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurants, where glittering celebrities gather for cocktails and delicious food:

 

(Then I realised that it's actually dated 'Los Angeles 13.6.46', so maybe it wasn't quite such a classic when posted. One of those cars is, however, definitely prewar.

 

Another one sent to me as a sprog from my father, this time dated '26/11/67 Montreal':

 

By now he reckons I've learnt to read because he compares it with our own (equally boring) Planetarium in London. Some nice buses in Montreal in '67. I s'pose my Dad was there for a conference, NOT Expo '67, alas.

 

A modern card of a brilliantly sexist 1962 ad. Perhaps this should be in The Girls of Autoshite?

 

Triumph Herald! What a Birdpuller! Phwoar!

[Karmann Ghiaman]

It's not far from Cologne to Holland, so here's one from Johan, Nini and Bert in their hometown of Zierikzee:

 

It was that golden year, 1973. The red Beetle has, once again, beaten us to it.

 

 

In another vintage year, 1987, my mother's friend Susan has a holiday in Fowey, Cornwall, to which we now cross:

 

 

It seems that Harry Potter & Ron Weasley may have been there too that year:

 

Presumably that's not the ferry TO the town, just a sign pointing the (obvious) way to two different things.

 

Six years later (and exactly two decades since the Dutch card), Susan sends this from Picturesque Suffolk:

 

I believe it is Southwold.

 

She had a genius for finding those fold-out Lettercards, remember? six pictures & enough space to write a short letter. This one contains a story worth quoting:

 

Vanessa's friend has this charming Victorian lodge at the gates of Glemham House - there was an electricity problem when we arrived but el. man soon came & put it right - followed by, an hour later, another electrician (I thought) 23ish, jeans, one ear-ring. 'Hallo' he said - 'I'm the landlord come to see all's well, the Earl of Cranbrook'. I nearly said 'Oh yeah, and I'm Lady Chatterley' but fortunately remembered my station in this life (you name it?) shook hands, etc.

 

Ha! But to return to our main interest; what's this blighting the Green?

(The Scandishite, not the popguns.)

 

Talking of Scandishite, I got this delightful composition in the Peak District a couple of years ago:

 

 

The mystery is...

...how did he switch the headlamps off on that Volvo?

[michiel]

'Ha! But to return to our main interest; what's this blighting the Green?' Jetta innit? Lovely card from Zierikzee, still looks like that except for the cars...

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Yes, of course you'll know Friesland, michiel! And you must be right about the Jetta; not Volkswagen's finest moment...

 

[Karmann Ghiaman]

A competition between the postcard photographers of Spain, Greece, Turkey and Azerbaijan to take the very shittiest picture:

 

Pamplona. Can you see the Mini?

 

This one speaks for itself. It seems infinitely depressing, though it does appear to date from the Greek Colonels' 1967-74 dictatorship.

 

Here's a close-up of the port shite:

 

Not to be outdone by their traditional enemy, the Turks enter THIS from the ancient city of Ephesus:

 

 

And a home-in on that fascinating minibus:

 

Finally, the Jewel in the Crown, one my sister sent from Baku in 1988:

 

 

With a blurry look at those (identical?) Soviet shitters for you East European experts:

Any ideas?

[michiel]

Cascavel, Brazil: not much variation in shite... 95% VWs.

 

 

[Ratdat]

Aberfoyle up near Loch Lomond. Is that a Simca estate I see?

 

 

Closer... I think the white car is a Toyota but what's the red one?

[Spottedlaurel]

Marina, with trim panel between the lights?Is the Corolla an estate? And what’s the dark car behind it?Not a silver car in sight!

[Adrian_pt]

I'm tempted to say the white estate is a Renner 12.

 

Baku is 2 Volgas, one a 24 and the other a 3102.

 

 

I this doesn't work, it's the first postard here: http://bukresh.blogspot.com/2008/05/alt ... stale.html

 

Bucharest, 1970s. The creamiest of shite here: home-made Volga pickup, Mercedes limo, NSU, R16, Mini, Dacias, and the hyper-rare Skoda 1000MBX 2-door coupe!

[MrRegieRitmo]

Yes, of course you'll know Friesland, michiel! And you must be right about the Jetta; not Volkswagen's finest moment...

 

I like the MkI, the one in the postcard is a MkII which I also like but not as much as the MkI. You say it wasn't their finest moment but the Vento & the Bora which were both a Jetta in other forms didn't hang around & now the Jetta is back with us again!

[Karmann Ghiaman]

There's an awful lot of Kafers in Brazil...

 

Who was it said that the Bora (and the Corsa) are cars 'with names that describe them'? (Quite witty, hope it wasn't J. Clarkson).

[Richard]

Not forgetting the BMW TDs and the Yamaha TDM.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Nottingham Oxfam shop comes up trumps with the following rich vein (30p each, 4 for a £):

 

The Paris Opera - except that it's 50% the Paris shiteworthy traffic:

 

 

My mate Tim got chucked out of here because he tried to sneak into the expensive seats & wasn't wearing evening dress. Opera-lovers, you have been warned. Here's another look at les voitures, including a DS, 2CV and one or two Renaults:

 

 

This English one seemed to take the biscuit for spoiling a nice view with dubious cars:

 

It is, however, the Three Ways Hotel, Mickleton, near Chipping Campden, Glos., Ideal for Cotswolds and Shakespeare Country, so I guess they're justified in showing the (edited?) sign. Note the AA and RAC stars too. You can almost smell chicken in the basket.

 

Genoa main station:

 

No doubt that is Christopher Columbus on the right, counting Fiat 500s pootling past until the end of eternity. One of them might be about to plough into a man with a Tesco bag halfway between the bus shelters there.

 

And here's one for michiel:

 

Some Dutch imported classics there, including a Moggie. I also like the ladder, which means either Queen Juliana had the window-cleaner in that day, or burglars.

 

[Torsten2001]

Is that a Mk2 Consul?