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Apr
14
Before writing anything meaningful about the pictures you see here, I must apologize for the bad quality. The pictures have been taken with an old compact camera, not really suitable to night-time shooting without utilizing a tripod. The area itself was a bit dodgy after sunset, so we didn’t waste any time digging out the better cam. Actually, I didn’t even look at the cars on display then and there. All in all it took no more than a couple of minutes to snap those pictures. Quite a nice display, I must admit. Would have been nice to drive stop by during opening hours.
Mar
31
Drive-by Snapshots | The first three months
The motivation
Yes! I do love traveling by car. It all started when I was sitting in the back seat as a young boy, traveling long distance with my parents. Looking out of the window at the various landscapes, cloud formations, towns, cities and the odd church has been fascinating as a child. This fascination evolved over the years. I used to ride my bicycle everywhere to take pictures of classic vehicles – with my eyes, saving them to my memory because I didn’t have a camera back then. Eventually I acquired a camera, got my drivers’ license and bought my first car.
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Mar
30
As promised in the last post, Drive-by Snapshots now features a guest blog. My dear friend Hanna currently lives in Beirut / Lebanon and found this Honda Accord Mk1. She likes my idea of blogging about (often overlooked) daily drivers and survivors. A survivor? Yes – if it was imported to the Lebanon when new. Back then in the late 70’s / early 80’s, the civil war was in full swing. When the war ended in 1990, this first generation Accord was already 20 years old! OK, we’ll probably never figure out if the car was actually imported later, but it certainly looks like it has seen a rough day or two in its’ life.
Mar
17
Late Sunday afternoon. We are driving home from a pleasant weekend we spent near Oostende. Passing a couple of vintage air-cooled Volkswagen on the ring road around Brussels brightens up the slow and rather dull traffic. For some reason they always make you smile 🙂
I missed most of them, due to the camera bag being hidden under some stuff on the back seat. However, I did manage to take a few snapshots before the sun set. Please excuse the bad quality of the images. The ride on most new cars is not suitable for taking pictures in low light conditions.
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Mar
13
A hot Sunday in early summer 2010 with a thunderstorm looming at the horizon. I was craving a sundae while driving on the speed limited part of the A6 in my 190E. I stopped at the McDonald’s in Sinsheim, right across the famous Museum. Seems like it was a good idea to stop just there, because upon entering the parking lot I discovered something unique: A pair of Škoda S100L – lowered to the ground, done up nicely in the (then new) rat style, complete with roof racks and odd luggage. Owned and driven by a group of friendly Czech guys. I inquired about their whereabouts… and they told me they are on the way back from a Škoda meeting in the Netherlands! Four people in each car – but to my huge amazement, they didn’t send sparks flying when they rejoind the Autobahn. I drove in convoy with them for a while and had a huge smile on my face. Seeing other peoples reactions was hilarious 🙂
Mar
12
Living in West Germany and having relatives in Berlin made it necessary to drive through German Democratic Republic (GDR) frequently. I remember sitting in the back seat of our Audi 200 as a young boy, waiting for endless hours in ridiculously long queues at the Drewitz border crossing. The round building and the service station always fascinated me. It marked the point where we re-entered familiar territory after the arduous Transit through the eastern part of Germany. Leaving the big city on the way home, it marked the point where we literally left our relatives behind and entered the Transit route once again. Fortunately those days are over, and Dreilinden now serves as a landmark that sparks memories of times long gone.
Mar
09
Putting up a tent in the paddock at the Nürburgring at a VLN racing weekend isn’t really an option. Instead, you might want to have something more solid. Rain is a common weather occurrence at the ‘ring, after all. And while driving in the Eifel mountains isn’t really much fun in an asthmatic vehicle, you might as well bolt a few extra ponies into the engine bay – just as this gentlemen did. Having fun on the way to the track, enjoy the weekend there and have fun on the run home. That’s not only double the fun, but triple. Volkswagen T3 + Porsche 911 engine + proper brakes and suspension = 🙂
Mar
07
The Aepyceros melampus is so common in South Africa, that it is actually called lions’ fast food. The antelopes’ heavyweight namesake immigrated from Detroit in 1966 – and is a rather rare species by now. I found this two-tone painted Chevrolet Impala 4-Door Hardtop in Camps Bay, Capetown. The late afternoon light was glorious, again! You can even see a glimpse of the Table Mountain in the background of the second picture.
Mar
04
There might be tales about mountain lions in the area around Pilgrims Rest, South Africa. However, the biggest feline beauty we found was this red cat: a classic Jaguar Mk2. Overall, it was in great condition and purring like new. However, a wee bit of patina on some parts made it look alive and told a few stories of it’s past adventures.
Mar
01
Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fairy tale called ‘The Ugly Duckling’. The story revolves around a little bird that suffers abuse from the other birds, until eventually maturing into a beautiful swan. Looking at the Volkswagen 412 Variant I found in Karlsruhe a couple of years ago, you can see a similar story. A vehicle that was considered ugly by most people and received a lot of bad comments right from the start.
However, the end of the story differs dramatically from the fairy tale version. In real life the story doesn’t have a happy end. Even now, almost 40 years later, nobody would ever confuse it with a beautiful swan. But hey… it does have a brightly colored 76 sticker. 😉
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Feb
24
2009 wasn’t such a good year for funfairs. With the financial crisis hitting the economy hard in 2008, many people didn’t have a lot of money to spend on rides, hot dogs, popcorn, etc. This and the chilly bloody cold temperatures during the Karlsruher Mess’ gave us the rare opportunity of taking some nighttime funfair pictures, without having to worry about a crowd. Most of the pictures turned out to be awesome – but lonely and sad at the same time. Proof, that an economic crisis takes the fun out of a funfair.
This post is dedicated to the beautifully lit Vita Popcorn® themed stall. A homely, warm glow that really stood out from the more colorful neon lights surrounding it.
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Feb
23
We tried to spot the famous Glen Seilisdeir sea eagles at the Isle of Mull, but failed miserably due to cold and rainy weather. Later on the same day, we encountered torrential rain on our way from the Iona Ferry Terminal to Craignure. The road was flooded and I jumped out of the Hyundai Terracan, armed with an umbrella and my trusty Canon DSLR. I awaited their return to take a couple of splash pictures, pointing the camera at the road. And moments later… a speeding Mercedes-Benz came around the bend. He slammed hard on the brakes, probably thinking that I’m a policeman with a speed gun. If he would have hit the flooded section at the speed he was going, he would have crashed. After wading through the flooded section he even stopped and said thank you. Friendly people, those Scots!
Feb
23
Sometimes location and subject don’t really match. I would have never expected to find a BMW 7-Series E32 stretch limousine in South Africa – let alone in Beaufort West, of all places. But hey, I guess there is demand for a limo service even in rather remote places.
Feb
21
On the way from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein we found a couple of new livestock trailers parked at a service station. Looked like one of the animals just loved the motto on the DairyBelle delivery truck and enjoyed a ding dong day. Sometimes, advertising really does reach an audience 😉
Feb
18
It just happens sometimes, that you are in the right spot at the right time. Imagine walking past a vintage Shell petrol pump that is blocked by a boring new car, thinking you mustn’t forget to take a picture of it on the way back. And as you walk back an hour later after a cup of baie lekker hot chocolate and a biscuit, there is a matching vehicle parked right next to it. In this case a yellow Datsun 1200 GX with beautiful patina. A couple of minutes later it was gone again. This really happened in Pilgrims Rest, back in 2007 – imagine the smile it put on my face! 🙂
Feb
16
After looking at the famous Clachan Bridge and checking out the slate pits on Easdale Island, we deliberately took a ‘wrong’ turn on the way back to Oban. Taking such a turn usually isn’t such a bad thing, as it often leads to interesting places. In this case we ended up at the Cuan-Seil ferry across the Cuan Sound. Quite literally at the end of the road, we found a nice Scorpion Sports Cruiser called Hot Lemon. The lettering on the side pointed out, that this particular boat holds the record for the fastest loop around the UK at 31 hrs and 22 min. Check out the Hot Lemon website, to read about many more records they set. The little boat in the water was in a rather sorry shape and isn’t going to to set any records soon with the engine partially submerged.
Feb
16
A sunny weekend at the Blyde River Canyon. We took a little detour to visit the provincial heritage site Pilgrims Rest in the Mpumalanga region. A tranquil little town that dates back to the Transvaal gold rush in 1873. The Massey Ferguson 165 tractor we found resting there wasn’t quite that old. While taking pictures of it, I had a look at the side facing the corrugated iron shed. And… surprise! The hood featured a sticker from a German Opel dealership! Auto Thielmann in Aerzen. Ever since then I’ve been wondering how the sticker ended up on a tractor in a rather remote part of South Africa. The dealership still exists today, but has a different phone number.
Feb
15
First seen from a distance across the road. Later on up close in the paddock area. Did I like the Ford GT? You bet! Would have never thought it could look great in silver with grey stripes…
Feb
12
Advertising is sometimes… weird. Create a new version version of a Renault 16 called TS, add a Le Mans racecar sticker to the rear window and a set of extra headlights. Et voilá – you have a sporty version of a rather sedate family car with plenty of roll in corners. Don’t forget to add elf oil and wear fancy sneakers – for that extra sporty pedal feel 😉
