I'm in Malta. It's hot.

[Snipes]

Steaming hot with shite that is!

[davehedgehog31]

Wheel usually on the correct side over there too... 

I've wondered if you could realistically import something back home, but would be one hell of a trek. Not sure I'd want a car that's been bombing around Maltese roads either... 

[Snipes]

Initial impressions are it's mostly your usual modern European fare (french & vag), with a few Ford, Toyota and Vauxhall. Seen a few Toyotas, mostly Dynas and Tercel saloons, a few Mitsubishis and Isuzu commercials but very few Nissans. 

Also spotted but failed to snap are; 

Transits of all ages, mostly mk3s.

Two Carina Es, both battered. 

A Datsun Sunny of some sort.

Several MK1 Puntos but only one MK2.

Only a Primrose 75! Or a white one that had yellowed like a piece of Lego. It had terrible wheels on it. 

[Snipes]

Also seen a few Kia hatchbacks that look similar to egg's Mazda coupe. Will try and get a picture as I've never seen them before. 

[sutty2006]

I knew a lad that holidayed to Malta with the intention on buying a mk1/2 escort out there and shipping it back. He was dead set on it till he got there and realised the mayhem/difficulty he’d have completing his mission. He came back empty handed. 

[EssDeeWon]

2nd down is a great capture, nice photo with a great backdrop behind the Skoda.

Love the Ital.  Keep your eyes peeled there are loads of them out there.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Love Malta.  Im amazed there's anything of note left there- most classic chod has unfortunately already been exported to our damp, salty shores. 

[bunglebus]

As above - not so long ago it was full of 60's-70's brit shit. Now it's all been repatriated.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

I knew a lad that holidayed to Malta with the intention on buying a mk1/2 escort out there and shipping it back. He was dead set on it till he got there and realised the mayhem/difficulty he’d have completing his mission. He came back empty handed. 

....and yet....and yet...if you have half a million quid to spare, you can buy yourself Maltese citizenship. Very popular with Russians, apparently.

[DaveDorson]

Get yourself down to Hal Far Raceway if you want to see some indecently quick MK1/2 Escorts being given absolute hell down there.

[Faker]

16 minutes ago, DaveDorson said:

Get yourself down to Hal Far Raceway if you want to see some indecently quick MK1/2 Escorts being given absolute hell down there.

The drag racing scene in Malta is fantastic! Cossie powered m1 and mk2 escorts setting blistering times 

[sierraman]

Why is importing from Malta such a ball ache? 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

19 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Love Malta.  Im amazed there's anything of note left there- most classic chod has unfortunately already been exported to our damp, salty shores. 

The bus service used to be notorious for running old shite such as Leyland Tigers and others that had long since disappeared from British roads.

Even when new designs were introduced, they weren't always properly maintained.....
 

 

[AnthonyG]

21 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

I knew a lad that holidayed to Malta with the intention on buying a mk1/2 escort out there and shipping it back. He was dead set on it till he got there and realised the mayhem/difficulty he’d have completing his mission. He came back empty handed. 

Plus the fact that the Maltese are very aware of the values of old rear wheel drive Fords in the UK!

I remember reading about Maltese Escorts and Cortinas in Classic Ford 20 years ago, and the cars have a lot of fans amongst the locals. 

Marinas have their fans as well.

[skoda_fan]

I love Malta and was there a couple of years ago. OK it's not what it used to be shite-wise, but you don't have to look very far to find something interesting. Love that skud….saw several like that when I was there. Actually their roads are generally pretty good due to recent EU investment.

[busmansholiday]

Sadly the buses were replaced with modern shite a fair few years ago.

Apparently there's an old quarry somewhere on the island full of some serious shite.

[Snipes]

This is that swoopy Kia I mentioned earlier, albeit 5-door.

[ETCHY]

It's about 12 years since we were last in Malta, we're off there again in October this year.

Even the last time we went the number of 1960'& 70's cars was starting to thin out. I do look forward to seeing a lot of 90's stuff this time.

The buses used to be absolute heaps & the driving was just crackers - looks like despite moving to more modern buses nowt has changed !

There used to be a car museum in Buggiba, I wonder if it's still there?

[willswitchengage]

If you like this kind of stuff and have a Facebook then search for the 'Trevs truck pics (malta-gozo)', some interesting photos on there.

[martc]

14 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

Sadly the buses were replaced with modern shite a fair few years ago.

Apparently there's an old quarry somewhere on the island full of some serious shite.

There's a ditch, yes a ditch (Horrworks Ditch, Floriana), full of bendy buses following the misguided attempt of importing Boris' Bendy Buses (TM) from London. As you may be aware this went down very well in Malta resulting in industrial action and gridlock. Who would have thought that buses which struggled to navigate the wide boulevards* of London would fare better in the slightly less wide streets of Malta?

https://euflyer.boardingarea.com/2014/10/31/ever-wonder-happened-londons-bendy-buses/

[Snipes]

And I'll finish with this delightfully shonky Corsa A. We fly back early tomorrow.

[Snipes]

Also spotted but not papped where;

More transits

Another Carina E, facelift and not at all shoddy

Ford Cargo 7.5t 

Early 90s ERF rigid of some sort

 

 

[skoda_fan]

7 hours ago, martc said:

There's a ditch, yes a ditch (Horrworks Ditch, Floriana), full of bendy buses following the misguided attempt of importing Boris' Bendy Buses (TM) from London. As you may be aware this went down very well in Malta resulting in industrial action and gridlock. Who would have thought that buses which struggled to navigate the wide boulevards* of London would fare better in the slightly less wide streets of Malta?

 

 

Yes by all accounts the short-lived Arriva/bendy bus era was a disaster. They have been replaced by a fleet of Chinese built buses which in all fairness seems to work pretty well. In fact Malta is probably one of the few places on earth where you don't actually need a car because the bus service is so good. The history of Maltese buses is very interesting, as I've discovered from a book I bought there. You do still see the odd old style Maltese bus being used as a tourist attraction. Another (vaguely) interesting fact is that all current Maltese buses carry the registration BUS xxx .

[skoda_fan]

8 hours ago, ETCHY said:

There used to be a car museum in Buggiba, I wonder if it's still there?

Yes it is (or was two years ago) and well worth a visit.

[SiC]

8 hours ago, ETCHY said:

It's about 12 years since we were last in Malta, we're off there again in October this year.

Even the last time we went the number of 1960'& 70's cars was starting to thin out. I do look forward to seeing a lot of 90's stuff this time.

The buses used to be absolute heaps & the driving was just crackers - looks like despite moving to more modern buses nowt has changed !

There used to be a car museum in Buggiba, I wonder if it's still there?

Yes, I went there back in 2017. Pics here: 

 

[omegod]

Just back from 5 days in Rome and very slim pickings , Matra had a cock and balls written into the dust in the back window ! 

[AnthonyG]

11 hours ago, Snipes said:

This is that swoopy Kia I mentioned earlier, albeit 5-door.

Those Kias were sold as the Ford Aspire in the US, the cheapest car you could get from a Ford dealership. I guess they replaced the Festiva (Kia Pride) circa 2000.

The name was incredibly ironic as no one could really aspire to owning one, unless maybe their previous ride was an 86 Yugo with no doors (not totally impossible in the more rural bits of the US....)

They look a spectacularly grim place to spend your driving time, so therefore solid platinum shite..

PS you can blame Boris for a lot of things, but Bendy Buses were down to Ken ‘A lot of my friends are Jews’ Livingstone.

Boris buses were the retro styled double deckers that cost £250k each. 

[martc]

17 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

PS you can blame Boris for a lot of things, but Bendy Buses were down to Ken ‘A lot of my friends are Jews’ Livingstone.

Boris buses were the retro styled double deckers that cost £250k each. 

Left wing and right wing nutters tend to blend into one...  we have blamed/will be blaming Boris for lots of things, but I stand corrected.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

19 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

..... Ken ‘A lot of my friends are Jews’ Livingstone.... 

That's not quite Labour's campaign slogan nowadays:

[Snipes]