May was another heavy month of carspotting in which I found 27 parked cars that are 20 model years old or more. Our trip to Denmark and Germany began in late May, so some of the cars spotted are European.
1961 Mercury Monterey. Spotted in front of St. Elmo’s Steakhouse in Downtown Indianapolis, this well-restored convertible really stood out. The fellow standing in the street behind it is one of the software engineers on my team. I was pleased to see him dive behind the car and look for dates in the tail light lenses. That’s a trick you can use to date old cars.
1962 Ford F-800 fire truck. I came upon this one after voting in the primary election this year, as it was behind the polling place. It was a primary truck for the Zionsville FD for a long time, and then it was sold. Now it’s back, after Zionsville firefighters found it for sale again. It’ll be restored and used in parades.
1962-68 Austin Mini. I’ve seen a few Minis parked in my time, but never one badged as an Austin. Spotted in Berlin.
1964-67 Volkswagen Samba. We called these Buses over here, but in Germany these multi-windowed versions were Sambas. Spotted in Berlin.
1964-90 Trabant 601. In Berlin near Checkpoint Charlie is a Trabant museum of sorts, and it offers drives in these tiny East German cars. The bodies are not made of steel, but rather of a composite resin material.
1968 Chevrolet C-10. I went to a Cinco de Mayo event sponsored by a couple consulting firms I know. This old truck was parked there, in the South Broad Ripple neighborhood in Indianapolis.
1976-86 Mercedes-Benz 280e. Spotted near Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. This was wedged in tight with no good angle to photograph it.
1979-88 Citroën 2CV6 Club. I’ve never seen a 2CV with square headlights before! I spotted this one parked near the harbor of the fjord in Aalborg, Denmark.
1979-91 Mercedes-Benz 500 series. It looked just right parked as it was in front of the Berlin Cathedral.
1982-87 BMW 525e. Parked near Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, after I made a couple images of it a fellow behind me asked me in English if I liked the car. I said yes, of course, and he replied that he had purchased it within the past hour. He was pleased when I congratulated him in German.
1985-92 Volkswagen Golf. Once plentiful, these are now scarce on US streets. But I found this one in Berlin.
1986-90 Ford Escort XR3i. I had no idea that you could get an Escort convertible in Europe back in the day. I found this one parked at a grocery store in Aalborg, Denmark.
1986-93 Toyota Supra. To me, these were peak Supra. I didn’t care for the car after they took it in the direction of a supercar. Spotted in Aalborg, Denmark.
1989-97 Volkswagen Taro. Did you know that in Europe, for several years you could get a Toyota truck badged as a Volkswagen? Now you do. Spotted in Potsdam, Germany.
1990-91 GMC Suburban. I was astonished to find this brute parked in Berlin. It looks enormous compared to the typical small cars there.
1990-91 Trabant 1.1. Spotted in Berlin, doing duty as a rolling advertisement, this late East German Trabant had a water-cooled four-stroke four-cylinder engine. That was a big improvement over earlier Trabants’ air-cooled two-stroke engines.
1991-95 Volkswagen Caravelle Westfalia. The camper version of the Volkswagen Transporter of that era, I found this one in Potsdam, Germany.
1994-2000 Renault Express. The French sure can design weird-looking cars. Spotted in Berlin.
1995-97 Lincoln Town Car. Spotted at the shopping center nearest my home, this Town Car looks showroom fresh.
1995-98 BMW 328i. Spotted at the shopping center nearest my home, this BMW is a frequent visitor. It’s the first time I was able to photograph it, though.
1996-99 Toyota Camry. These are still fairly common on the streets, but I say, photograph the old cars now before they’re gone. Spotted in the parking lot at work in Downtown Indianapolis.
1998-2005 Ford Focus. This is the first Focus ever to make Carspotting. I’m a little surprised by that, as these were decent cars that lasted under proper maintenance. I should have found one long before now. Spotted in Berlin.
1998-2006 VW Golf. Spotted in South Broad Ripple in Indianapolis at that Cinco de Mayo event. VWs of this era must not have been hardy as few remain on the streets here.
1999-2005 Pontiac Grand Am. For a long time, these were everywhere as they were a common cheap used car. Not so much anymore. Spotted in Downtown Indianapolis.
2000-02 Saturn SC. Not much to say about this one other than I found it one night in Downtown Indianapolis.
2002 Mercury Sable. I met a colleague for coffee one morning and found this parked in the lot. Turns out it was her car! She said she’ll keep driving it until it drops. Spotted in Zionsville.
2002-04 Honda Odyssey. A church I used to go to owned one of these, and I drove it a time or two. I really liked it. It was easily the best-driving minivan I’ve ever driven. Spotted in my neighborhood in Zionsville.
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