The First Year in the Life of a Philippines Car Spotter

[davocano]

R5 TR Prima.

If I'd noticed the broccoli when I was taking the shot, I would have made an effort to incorporate it more into the scene.

ZX Avantage TD

Sunny; SLX so not bASe

Corsa; Merit so bASe.

First spot of the day and my personal favourite; 2.0i Diplomat.

[mk2_craig]

Where is that Carlton and how can I own it ??!!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

I'm laughing on the outside and groaning on the inside. Well played though

Whatever will be, will be.

[davocano]

According to How Many Left (so it must be true) there are several thousand Lianas licenced for road use. This is the third one I can recall seeing and the second one I've pointed a camera at. I conclude that Suzuki haz stealth technology or my spotting radar haz blind spot.

There are several thousand of these (Isuzu Rodeo Denver) too; only one of them belongs to Ray, the Drifter.

Starlet with a pink bonnet.

It's nearly 1994 all over again.

XJ Sovereign

A very black BX.

A magnificent tide mark.

[davocano]

Brooklands again, I'm really trying to minimise Car Show content in this thread but...

Fiat 132

Strada Cabrio in brown

I had a chat with the owner; he found it in a scrapyard, paid £200 for it and restored it to look just like the one his Mum used to drive (apart from the wide wheels). Old cars are special for many reasons and family connection is just one of those reasons.

Due to it's excessive excessiveness, the 1959 Cadillac is my favourite American Excess automobile. Pininfarina were commissioned to design and build a toned-down version; here's one of the ninety-nine.

[davocano]

Elsewhere in the world, a customised Minor (needs slot mags and a plain roof to win my Street Machine nostalgia vote)

Slot mags would be inappropriate here.

Slot-magged VH Valiant Charger from Oz; oooh, bonzer.

Early E36

Primera estates strike me as being a bit rare nowadays.

Connie in multicolorama.

Starting to be a bit uncommon nowadays, I've seen only one other in recent months.

[mk2_craig]

Those Fiats are SERIOUSLY TASTY!!!

[davocano]

Mk3 Transit with a chopped roof

Multi-tones of beige with Peugeot mechs

I'd like to have a go in one of these

Megane Sedan (I'm liking the rhyming)

"Kitesurf". Answers on a postcard pls

Two Protons on the same day? Why yes

Two Bajaj auto rickshaws on the same day? Here they ares.

[davocano]

"Haven't seen an Audi 100 in a while" I thought to myself... oh, it's a very early A6.

R5 Campus looking less battered than it actually is.

Surely the most common variant of classic ice cream vans. Would've stopped him and bought one had he been open. And not already stopped.

London's most common classic Merc again; saw another one a few streets away but would've been rubbish photo so didn't.

XJ40 in the grounds of a high-rise estate, looking rather abandoned.

Seen a couple, never captured one 'til now. I like dis spoting hobbeh.

[mk2_craig]

C reg has got to be mad early for an XJ40 surely??

 

*checks car tax checker website*

 

Oh, first reg 1990. SORN with 2013 MoT expiry

[davocano]

Historics at Brooklands held an auction last Saturday; here's a couple of highlights.

1100 deluxe Allegro with attractive colourations all round.

Confession: I inhaled deeply here and was not disappointed by the aged, slightly damp aromas.

I thought about adding this to the "Just bloody scrap it" thread but someone shelled out £30,000 for this rotten shell. It's a flat-floor E-Type yes but the floor that is actually present is utterly fucked, as if you couldn't guess. Buyer did get a big box of bits though inc. engine/gearbox so GLWTRestoration.

Imagine that your son** has repeatedly asked for a "Little Tikes" plastic blob for his birthday and when the wrapping paper has been gleefully ripped away, he is confronted with this. Just pIcture the joy* on his little face! Aaaah, bless'im....

"Son, you were born an Autoshiter and you'll die an Autoshiter. Here's your other present: the Ladybird Book of Welding and by the way, DO NOT PAINT!"

**Son could be daughter, yes I know dat. Its poli'icle coreccness gawn maaahd I tell ya etc.

In the visitor's car park, a late registration madness XJS.

[davocano]

And now I'm all alone

in carboot land

my only home

Pre-war motorcycles are rares in such places.

Sunny moon

Mk4 Astra with rarely sold boot (in mainland UK anyways)

I've seen worse corrosion on a W210 but shame on you, Mercedes-Benz top brass types.

"Beige" 205

Back out on the streets: decadent alloys and mudflaps on a Fiesta Pop +

Maestro 1.3 L that I've been hunting for a while now. SATISFACTION

[Tadhg Tiogar]

...."Kitesurf". Answers on a postcard pls

 

may202.jpg

may203.jpg

....

The owner of that one took a perfectly sound S2 DTR T2 saloon and made a dog's dinner of it, in my view. He converted* it into a permanently open 2-seater to carry his surfboards, resulting in a car that can't really be driven in the rain. Would be a very difficult sell if he ever tried to part with it but, hey, it's his to do with as he pleases.

 

I'd have admired it more if he'd tried to turn it into a CX Orphée replica convertible, but this effort just leaves me with mixed feelings.

[Split_Pin]

Fiat 132s must be rare even at shows, always a pleasure to see one.

 

Love the Fiesta Pop Plus, nothing like an old HCS chapping away on full (manual) choke on a cold morning.

[davocano]

Nothing particularly spectacular to conclude the month of May with, starting with three niceties in the Brooklands car parks.

Poggy AX

Mondy ST24

SCENEYO Granny wagon

[davocano]

The ever fruitful car boot sales yielded:

A tidy E36 coupe.

This looked a bit unusual; BT-ish yellow Caddy with windows and rear seats.

Space Wagons are becoming a regular occurrence.

3-door Astra Merit auto with fabbo coat hanger aerial.

Early Yaris.

Abandoned milk tanker. Early 1990s? Oooh, single axle.

[Split_Pin]

That E36 is mega lush. 100% Top of my bucket list of cars to own.

[davocano]

Nothing particularly spectacular to commence the month of June with, starting with three niceties in the car boot car park.

I haven't seen one of these for a while.

Early K11 that first hit the road in August 1993.

Mk6 Escorts are disappearing REAL FAST. Can you spot the invisible* bumper repair and the invisible "C" on the number plate?

Later, I popped down to my local "best-one" for a couple* of cans and my visit fortuitously coincided with the owner of a Lotus Cortina buying a bootful of fags or summat.

[davocano]

Two AS highlights at the Walton Bridge Breakfast Club meet; a beige 214 S with just 30K on the clock...

... and an immaculate Astravan.

[davocano]

Another Bedford, this time a TK (I tip my hat to all the coal merchants out there who are still plying their trade with old shite).

bASe Corsa Envoy

Vento registered in the Fatherland.

Much stickerage suggests enthusiast owner; rare spec, being a GTL Boston.

[davocano]

Not very many Vauxhall Arenas left now...

I've owned up to my Corolla fetish but it's now time to admit my other object of desire: an Astra F. I was talking to some bloke in 1991 and his opinion was that "they look like something from Eastern Europe". From a time when Autoshite wasn't even a glint in the internet milkman's eye (due to there being no internet), I knew I wanted one. Hints of Lada 110 perhaps? I wouldn't like this one though. Probably*.

Very tidy Carisma.

I can't recall ever seeing a 3-door Ghia until now.

[davocano]

It's always nice to see a battered old motor still soldiering on. Well done, owner and Toyota top brass types.

Time has been kind to the bug-eyed Scorpio; this specced 33,000 miler looks blummen lovely.

Gratuitous beige. Rust is a beige, yeah?

[davocano]

They are everywhere but the very last ones on a K-plate aren't so everywhere.

They are everywhere but the very first ones on a R-plate aren't so everywhere.

 

[davocano]

Executive spec 626 for the aspirational executive*.

1.8 V6 has got to be a good thing.

Black-painted wheels suggest Scene but early facelift K10 yo.

[davocano]

Black painted bumpers; I muse on the idea of a base-spec 75 that never was.

Two generations of V8 P6 (I like the earlier one more).

[davocano]

Then, there was this. Not a virginal spot; at least two other spotters have been here in the past (bramz being one of them).

[bramz7]

Funnily enough I actually took another photo a few weeks back! They're looking pretty unchanged tbh. The KA was the surprise really, I didn't know anyone able to drive lived there.

[davocano]

Sunny, one so true, I'd probably love you.

Corolla at its bangernomical best.

Brown. So very, very brown. I wish I'd been able to shoot the interior as it was choc full of brown.

I haven't seen an Ibiza of this vintage for quite some time; TDI Salsa spec for added rarity.

Another car that has disappeared almost without notice; registered in its birthplace with a spec (RTE) that I don't believe to have been available in the UK.

Oh, what's that that just turned up?

Ghia rims yes but this is in fact a 1.6 bASe. Same owner since 2007 and looks very well kept.

[davocano]

Another Mk1 Mondeo, bordering on late-plate madness. First registered in January 1997, I'm sure the dealer was glad to see this thing off his stock list.

Later, I come across an abandoned house in leafy Surrey and what do we have here... blimey, a Talbot Alpine and a Mk1 Transit!

After nearly an hour of traipsing around this little town, I was convinced there was nowt else worth looking at until....

The word "Jive" makes me think of an old-time dancey thing, the movie "Airplane!" and a limited edition AX. Old-time dancey stick figure on wheel trims and upholstery FTW.

TXE Executive with manual 'box? One licensed and three on SORN; this is the licensed one. FIND

[mk2_craig]

Don't suppose the tailgate on that Alpine is worth salvaging then.