Toyota Estima Lucida :


JP import, UK plate
it has a sticker written in Japanese on the bottom left

Registration number: K376 SWP
✔ SORN
✗ No MOT Expired: 17 July 2013
Vehicle make :TOYOTA
Date of first registration :01 November 2004
Year of manufacture :1993
Cylinder capacity (cc) :2200cc
Fuel type : DIESEL
Vehicle status : SORN in place
Vehicle colour :GREY

So no MOT for 2 years, no tax, and a SORN declaration. Unless there's an error in DVLA data, the van is being driven illegally. And it's impossible to insure a car for road use unless it can be legally driven. And no GB plate or national identifier on number plate.

I didn't think about checking DVLA info
Interesting to see that it is "illegal" then... good that it was in front of me and not behind, would be annoying to be hit by a non-insured car

Maserati BiTurbo taken from far away:

@ Lateef : nice BMW, makes me think it was the BMW 318ti's ancestor

@ dsl: what is that SORN thing in the report about antp's Toyota ? is it kind of " retired from the road " vehicle ? ( sorry, don't know how to say it in english )

SORN = Statutory Off-Road Notice. It means the car is legally off the road and isn't Taxed. It can be MOTed but usually isn't.

A couple more sightings that I Don't think I've posted yet?

Thanks Sandie

For that reason I have the camera ready, when I drive with a car: using mobile phones while driving is illegal in Germany, too (I think, the only European country, where it's allowed, is Sweden) - but not photo- or video-cameras.

I don't have a dash-cam, but I will ask my wife to use one. She drives minimum 140 km/h per day to work via five different Autobahn-routes and every day she notices something weird or crazy.

About a friend as passenger: well, several times I told my -annoyed- wife "Hey, take a photo of this car!" (or plate)

And MOT stands for?

Motor Ordinance Test (I actually had to google what it stood for myself ) It's a basic check that every car must go through every year to prove road worthiness. Vehicles under 3 and over 55 years old are exempt from it.

Motor Ordinance Test - carried out each year on road vehicles over 3 years old. Illegal to use the vehicle without one. Sometimes gets confused with the MOTT.

Thanks, guys!


Gasp! My ears are bleeding, now

Perhaps this will help.

Kraftwerk didn't invent anything

I know the "Fast & Furious" car, it's actually a 1990s Celica disguised as a Supra ! I can see it almost daily, through the window of my commuter train to Brussels. It's parked somewhere between Halle and Ruisbroek. The car was originally silver until last year, then became "Polyfilla beige", and now bright orange.

As for the VW, I don't know about Brussels, but the "USA look" is MASSIVE in the Hainaut where I live. I have probably seen about thirty Golfs, Polos, Jettas, A3s, Ibizas, Civics and so on, in town since last year. Even a Fabia ! All with orange blinkers (which don't blink anymore, they're always on), bike-sized license plates, yellow foglights (not very american, IMHO), wide wheels, and a driver whose head is barely visible above the dashboard.





I've seen one of those Lucidas in Molenbeek a few years ago, with the same colors. It might be that exact one, after all. UK-plated JDM cars are quite rare there.

The japanese sticker is probably from the garage where the car has been originally bought back in 1993.

The photo was taken on boulevard Mettewie, so not very far from there.

saw this one yesterday .

it is about 400 meters from home. i came in the neighborhood in 1988 and feels like it was there forever. It is mostly hidden by their second vehicle or in the garage but now for sale so in full display. not as nice, rare and exciting as you guys had post but Beretta are not seen often now

Returned from my class trip to Hamburg today. Spotted an Opel Kapitän, a Goggomobil 250 and a totally rotten Opel Monza B on the bus (unmarked MAN Lion's Coach) ride home today.

Also a Mercedes SLS, SLS convertible (yes both) and a white Gallardo Spyder driven by some CEO (as identified by my friend who thought the car was an Aventador rather than a Gallardo) All three spotted in the city's upper-class district.

Other pictures from my trip:

Mini Moke just a few meters away from the Queen Mary 2. Sorry for the bad picture, I took it through a fence.


Legit or a replica?




At the Heide-Park Soltau:



Closer view of the rear...if you can't read it, it says "Optimus Prime" on the rear
Still, I guess? Mike?



At the park's "Desert Race" attraction:


Another attraction let you drive replica Model Ts on rails, here's me driving one of them:

Replica, I'd say, Can be either a Homark Criterion or a Fluer De Lys. The Fleur De Lys was the later more usual one (I'm fairly sure they were both related to one another).