Seen in Thailand - Classics, Customs, and more - pt1

Some choice picks from the archives of some of the cool cars in Thailand - whether classics or modern, fully custom or being launched at a show. All 'seen in Thailand' since 2010 until about 2020. This post is really all about getting some of the photos taken of cars and more spotted around the time I was visiting or living in Bangkok. Before this blog, website, or anything else a lot of them were taken just for personal reasons. Now however I thought it a good time to get this content out, and share it here before carrying on with newer content.

There will be other parts of this collection released as time goes on. It's been a long time coming, some of the these shots were taken on older smartphone cameras and some on prosumer digitals - whatever I had available at that time. So apologies if the shots weren't always well lit, future and new content will be. Regardless of which, this still serves as a document and archive of classic car scene in Bangkok from about 2012 onwards. I'm happy to finally share it with you here. Enough ado about nothing, let's dive into today's collection and then I've written a little about each one on the way through.

Roving the Streets

Classic Range Rover passes on the streets of Bangkok

An ideal place to start - the opportunist spot. Walking through the city streets of Bangkok when out of all the bland modern Japanese metal appears this British classic. An original 1970s Range Rover, and an early 2 door version with the 3500 V8. A very rare sight in Thailand indeed!

Piton ashtray

Sometimes it's the small things and not even an entire car. I was sat at this cafe one day and noticed the ashtrays looked curious. They're made from old car engine pistons! Nice way to start the day with a coffee and inspiration to do more car spotting today.

Rover V8

Not everything is in motion. In this case, another Rover V8 - the same 3500 unit that powers the Range Rover above in an older Rover (not Range Rover but was all part of the same group at the time). This time, the car is under a cover and looks in need of some TLC. I wonder what happened to this vehicle, if it's still in this spot, gone, or been restored. Perhaps one day it'll pop up. Again, an extremely rare car to find in Thailand.

VW Karmann Ghia

Outskirts - 'Yard Finds'

Really a bit of a poor photo due to the lighting conditions and not having a decent camera on me this time, this classic Volkswagen was parked outside the Sofitel hotel in Bangkok.

Somewhere outskirts of Bangkok

BMW had a CKD (Complete Knock Down) importer in Thailand for a very long time before doing so officially by the main BMW company. There are a lot of older 1980s model BMWs that can be found in Thailand. Many have had running gear swapped out for Toyota engines and gearboxes, few remain fully original. There is a also a mixture of US (big bumber) and Euro (pretty chrome bumber) models to find around. Here, location unknown somewhere in a superb on the outskirts of Bangkok I found this collection sat outdoors in a fairly sorry state. Perhaps they were lined up to one day be restored - however I wondered how long they could be left outside like this before they would become beyond reversal. It's a common sight to see 'barn finds' just sat outside like this.

Old Volvo and a Fiat

We talked about the indestructibility of Volvos in this recent post. Here a much older model, which appears to barely be bothered about being outside like this - it looks almost ready to drive off and keep going another million miles!

BMW e12

This US spec 5-series BMW looks to have seen much better days. Perhaps now a parts car for another restoration? The engine was missing but the headlights, interior, glass, panels, and even original 15" alloys are all valuable to the right person. Just not those gross US big bumpers - if the Euro chrome bumpers, they'd be worth good money also.

BMW E28

Right there with it a second gen 5-series, (model codename e28). Original BBS alloys, body in great shape, and with the Euro bumpers. Starting to be worth more and more money now. If only it has the original straight 6 and a manual, then it starts to really get precious and rare. Too many have been trashed with a Toyota replacement, when the owners got tired of fixing BMW parts and wanted to keep the pretty car and make it reliable, they dropped in Toyota running gear. Depending on the quality of the build this can also work well.

Special Vintage Dealers

Classic Mercedes dealer, greater Bangkok (On Nut)

Out of the city center a little way up On Nut main road, there's this place we'll be back for a full post on soon. The owner was always happy to show me around and all his latest projects. He's always got a bunch of really impressive old Mercedes and a few BMW's on the go! Some more of his in the next few shots.

Jaguar Mk2

This particular visit he even had a Jaguar mkII with the 3.8 straight six engine in for some servicing and tuning. Really we must call in here again soon and catch up with the owner.

Heading to the Retro Night Market

Retro Nintendo Vendor

Not cars, but still classic and retro which is what we're also about at NewtonClassics. This vendor collects repairs and sells vintage gaming consoles - unbelievable these toys from childhood are now becoming real collector items - which you can also have fun on! Ideally an old TV to go along with it for the full flashback ...

We're now jumping into the night retro market 'Talad Rot Fai' which translates to Train Night Market - located at a disused train station in Bangkok. This place was somewhat a 'cars and coffee' hotspot, attracting gatherings of classic and custom cars every night on the weekend. I would visit often and look around at all there was on offer. I think the market is still going, or just restarted post-pandemic but may have changed location - update to follow, soon we will get there to see what's changed since 2016 when these were taken.

VW bus

Very popular in Thailand, at one time there was a good number of the old VW combi buses imported to Thailand. Many of them met fate as street bars and are too chopped up to ever be put back on the road. But a few made it to be restored or kept as well as this one. Parked in a nice spot at the market, attracting lot's of girls to make selfies with it ...

Rod's hotrods at the night market

Many of the vehicles seen at this night market were for sale. There was a big vendor there doing all these custom hot rods and more, there was always plenty to look at. Is it all still going? We have to go find out very soon!

More retro

Vintage and 'antique' stalls and shops are dotted around the market. A lot of stuff to find for putting in your garage or mancave!

Nissan Twin Cam

Also at the night market. The trend is take the old model of Toyota or Nissan, and have it looking totally old and tired on the outside. Then when you look underneath, it's crammed with some of the hottest engine and tuning parts available. They call it 'Rat Rod' style, it's also part 'sleeper'. You don't know by looking what it under the hood! Very much this style has been strong in Thailand for ahwile, although currently the clean builds are coming more into style. Pretty much following the global trend - Rat Rod's were trending strongly a few years ago.

Rat Rods

They may look like old bangers to the casual eye!

Under the hood

Classic Nissan Skyline GT - one of the earliest sporting models

First gen (69-72) Skyline. Likely originally just a Skyline with the GT badges added, or it was a 2000GT - hard to tell. In this case they've taken the paint off completely to the metal, then treated it for rust and painted it just in clearcoat. The effect could divide some people, either you think it's really cool or it's really messy!

Clearcoated bare metal Nissan Skyline. Exact original model unknown, any spotters let us know!

American Pickup Trucks

In the Vietnam war era quite a lot of these trucks were imported, mainly for civilian use by American soldiers who stayed in Thailand to settle following the war. You can often find them at classic car shows around the country, and some have been rebuilt to a very high standard. They sure have road presence being as large and chunky as they are.

Conclusion

We'll be back to Bangkok for more car photography and new content soon. For now, this was a look back at some of the sightings in previous years. A good idea of what to expect, is cars like this in much more detail and higher resolution photography to come. Going through these photos has reminded and helped plan for where we will go next! Thanks for reading and your support as we strive to keep the content coming here at https://newtonclassics.co.uk/

Even more cool cars including a past Bangkok Motor Show to come in Part 2!

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