Re the Denmark pics: just shows how to stop a Lancia Beta rusting - never take it out

Yesterday I actually stopped in Kolding on my way back from the Danish westcoast. Pity I didn't have internet access there, else I would have looked for the dealership myself.

I am just happy that it wasn't a Land-Rover dealer ... I would have kicked my own rear end for missing it ...




This is Denmark, a rather peaceful place.

There is an old story of a man who found a 100 Kronen note on the street (at that time still a lot of money). He nailed the note to the next lamppost for the owner to collect it. One month later he passed the same spot and the note was still hanging there!

I know this story. The city of Famagusta was caught in a demilitarized zone and no one except soldiers can go there (it is heavily mined). Indeed there is a Toyota dealership with a full inventory and has been there since 1974. I've only seen few pictures of the place. Our national newspaper had a story about this place about ten years ago. According to the paper the dealership has occasionally flooded and soldiers have walked over the cars destroying the roof panels. Very interesting place. I hope that the recent negotiations continue in Cyprus and the secrets of Famagusta can be revealed some day to the public.

Ah, I forgot: I've heard several time rumours about a forgotten, resp. "forbidden" car-dealer in the demilitarized zone of Cyprus (if I'm not wrong, in Famagusta). The dealership was closed during the Cyprus-war in 1974 and never closed again, because it was in the UN-zone between the Turkish and the Greece-part.

I don't know, from which brand the dealer was, I think, Fiat or Peugeot, but I haven't heard verfied facts about that.

Soem years ago there was an old Ford-dealership in Germany with a similar history.
It was a smaller garage, owned by and older man. After he died (1980 or 1981), his widow has closed the garage and never went in again. After she was dying, too, the garage was openend and the cars sold. So suddenly there were some brand new Taunus MKII or Fiesta MKI on the market.


More than 10 years ago, a VW-dealer in Melle (close to Osnabrück) was going into bankrupcy, so his cars were sold on an auction.
Alle the cars, he liked, he has put in the cellar and hasn't sold them (perhaps a reason for his bankrupcy).

At this auction there was sold -among a lot of other cars- a K 70, which was never in registration with original 352 km, an Audi "Ur-quattro" with original 0 km (!!!) and a car, which was never been sold officially: a VW Karmann Ghia Cabriolet Typ 34 (!!!!!).



In the early 90ies there was a Yugo-dealer in my former home-town Dortmund. When the Yugoslavian war started, he closed his dealership. A brand new Yugo was still standing in the showroom. Over the years the show-room-window was getting more and more dirtier and dustier (it was in an ugly area of Dortmund), but the Yugo was still standing untouched.
7 or 8 years lter a new owner opened annother car-garage.
What happend with the brand new Yugo? He was standing outside, under trees and bushes - and finally picked up by a scrap-dealer for the shredder.
Noone had the idea to buy it.

How nice indeed!!

And i'd like to get some of them, but how come those cars have been there for such a long time, i cant comprenhedn it, and the ones in the showroom, they could have been stolen but they were not!

These pictures remind me of a bit the reportage of Longbridge, the Rover factory, there's a reportage on the net showing prototypes, destroyed cars, brand enw cars, shells, etc etc resting when the factory was close, have some of you seen it? its interesting.

That's nice to find such things

A collection of some 200 old cars (mainly Fiat's) has been found in Kolding, Denmark. Many of the cars have never been sold!!!! Brand new Fiat 127, 128, 131, Ritmo etc.

Here's a link to AutoBild site:

http://www.autobild.de/mmg/mm_bildergalerie_668983.html

And here's the story:

"Jens Sørensen owned a Fiat garage in Kolding, Denmark, and for some reason didn't resell the cars which he took in part-exchange for new ones between 1973 and 1981.

Then in 1981 he was made to choose by Fiat Denmark whether to run the business as a truck agency or a passenger car franchise. He opted for the trucks, and just left all the passenger cars where they were, including some unsold new models.

Now a descendent of his who appears to be Kjeld, son of Sven Sørensen, finds that he owns about 200 old cars, and has decided to sell most of them. So far this has only been publicised by word-of-mouth. He plans to keep the best examples of each model, but others are for sale, ranging in value from the equivalent of €250 for an accident-damaged Fiat 600 to €6500 for a Lancia Beta with 16,000 km on the clock, which was run as a company car.

There are some second series Fiat 127s with delivery mileage, but it seems that there are problems with cars which were never actually registered when new. These cannot now be put on the road in Denmark because of emissions regulations."