The other day, an Autopian named Peter was using Google Maps to poke around the “highest elevation capital in the world, La Paz Bolivia,” for reasons that he declined to share (my guess is he’s trying for some ballooning altitude record), and I didn’t pry. But Peter was nice enough to send me the location of a particularly interesting cluster of dusty cars parked alongside a road in Cochabamba, and I thought these were interesting enough to share with everybody, because we’re basically like a mind-commune of cool cars, after all.
I have long believed that South America is one of the most under-appreciated car markets in the world, with a lot of really interesting variants and excitingly-mutated versions of cars from other parts of the world, and all sorts of fascinating indigenous carmakers. This cluster is just a random one, and while there’s not anything super-exotic here, there’s a certain charm to a lot of these hard-working rides.
Let’s see what we’ve got here! First off, there’s one of my favorite South American-market Volkswagens, the Brasilia:
I love these! We’ve talked about Brasilias here before, but I think the key thing to know about these is that they were the only true VW Beetle replacement that was actually built on the Beetle chassis. These were essentially Beetles re-bodied with a more modern wagon-type body that offered a front trunk and hatch-accessible cargo area at the rear, over the engine.
These were clever and practical little cars, and I’m excited to see this green fella out there tooling around LaPaz. But look just in front of the Brasilia! Look at that fantastic cluster of cars! Let’s peek closer:
Hmm, yes, yes, many good things there. I especially like that white car with the red stripes – I’m having trouble identifying it – it’s close to a lot of early ’70s Japanese cars – Mazda Capella, Mitsubishi Galants – I just can’t quite place it. Those taillights are familiar, I think? Dammit. Oh wait! A Datsun! We had them here as Datsun 710s!
They were also called Datsun 160Js in other markets, likely in Bolivia, too.
There’s plenty of other good stuff in there – a Mustang II, a Chevy pickup, even that Hyundai Excel, and that looks like an early Nissan Patrol on the right there– but I especially like this flame-jobbed Peugeot 504:
I think there’s some word inset into the flames over the rear quarter, unsettlingly covering the fuel filler, but I can’t quite make it out. Power? Is that it? This very-open Land Rover Series 1 or 2 or 3 here is also pretty sweet:
The other side of the street also has some interesting things; look at this Ranchero with those interesting cargo rails:
Behind it I think we have a Ford of Brazil Del Rey? I’m not entirely sure it’s a DelRey, but I am sure this rear window mural thing is awesome:
What exactly is going on here? A barbarian couple, living in a world filed with flying scorpions? Is this A Thing?
Finally, we have this big, very worn LeSabre. I’m kind of amazed that vinyl top is in as good a shape as it is!
I know we don’t consent to these Google Earth photos and there’s likely some ethical issues there, but I have to say I love being able to snoop in little neighborhoods all over the world and geek out about their cars.
So, thanks, Peter!
I believe you may have found David’s secret stash.
That 504 is something else. What would possess somebody to paint flames on it?
I knew I had to share with Torch once I saw that mix of vehicles, right up his alley. Thanks for the shoutout Jason!
The taxis in Bolivia are sweet. Old Toyotas, lifted, with a lot of extraneous aero glued on plus decals of random things.
I visited Bolivia almost a decade ago, and I enjoyed it immensely, especially for the petrolhead like me. Datsun 160J was very common sight there.
What struck me the most was prevasive number of secondhand JDM vehicles being imported in Bolivia on the cheap. However, Bolivia prohibits the right-hand-drive vehicles from being registered for public use. So, the cottage industry of converting them to left-hand-drive.
Many of those JDM vehicles still have the headlamps pointing to the left and wipers at “wrong” position (wiping to the right rather than to the left). I had ridden a few of them and noticed that the cottage industry would use the LHD dashboard from one Toyota model to fit almost all of the JDM Toyota vehicles except smaller ones. That dashboard didn’t really fit well, causing lot of squeaks and rattles as well as showing lot of gaps. Even the automatic gearbox selector wasn’t reoriented to the left side (release button and label still on the right side).
I went on the Death Road bicycle tour, and the medium-sized bus that we rode from La Paz to the drop-off point was JDM Nissan Civilian (W40, 1982–1999) that was converted to left-hand-drive. Even the Kanji and Hiragana characters were still left on the body. The passenger door was still on the left side, leading to the interesting and awkward boarding and disembarking, especially on the busy streets.
Is this where DT took his honeymoon?
“I have long believed that South America is one of the most under-appreciated car markets in the world, with a lot of really interesting variants and excitingly-mutated versions of cars from other parts of the world”
Yeah, that reminded me of how an avid collector of vintage Fords named Edward Towe would travel through South America in search of such cars. For example, in 1968 he found an extremely rare 1934 Ford Model C Phaeton at a gas station in Paysandu, Uruguay, which he then purchased and (astonishingly) drove all the way home which was in Montana. That’s one way to avoid dealing with car transporters, ha, like what’s been happening with the poor hapless 375,000-mile NYC taxicab.
Edward Towe established a museum for his collection of Fords named…the Towe Ford Museum. The museum moved from Montana to Sacramento, CA sometime in the 1980s where it expanded its scope beyond Fords and became the Towe Auto Museum. Now it’s the California Automobile Museum and is eminently well worth visiting (their collection includes one of the few surviving GM EV1s, albeit sans a functioning powertrain/battery.)
The rare case where the car was both driven home and Towed.
Saab fans should check out this street. Going back through the image history it would appear that the Saab fanatic moved in sometime between 2014-2018.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/JS5UjTexsN21p7pW8
Torch, have you nothing to say about the extra, round tail light on the maroon Lasabre?
I don’t know what the SUV without roof or doors is yet, but I don’t think it’s a Land Rover. I don’t think any of them had so square fenders, and the top of the side of the body is not rounded off enough. And the hood is too high.
It looks like an Austin Gypsy.
I thought that too! I just can’t make out the forward-leaning fenders, but that could be the angle the photo was taken from. Too bad we can’t see the telltale lower rear fenders too. But I think you might be right!
You know what, I checked the dashboard of the Gypsies, and it’s a match! You got it!
You have good eyes! I could tell it wasn’t a Series Land Rover, but I saw stumped beyond that
Butch Cassidy: Kid, next time I say let’s go someplace like Bolivia, let’s GO someplace like Bolivia!
Sundance Kid: Do they make you wash your cars in Bolivia?
Butch Cassidy: Kid, you’ll never have to wash a car again
Sundance Kid: Sounds kind of sketchy to me.
Butch Cassidy: That’s all you know.
Sundance Kid: But… Bolivia is quite a long way from here.
Butch Cassidy: Oh, please! Everything with you has got to be perfect!
Sundance Kid: I just don’t want to get there and realize that it stinks, that’s all.
Butch Cassidy: At least think about it.
Sundance Kid: All right… I’ll think about it.
Without reading the headline I thought the picture was of a Trader Joe’s parking lot from the 1970’s.
Mural is a tribute to the Scorpian King movie, with that “the Rock” guy. But those sure look like VW/Audi taillights on that green car…..
I saw Ford on the trunk lid, but also saw Audi 80 tail lights. But then I thought they might have been Euro spec Ford Granada lights. Then I say the side view and thought it looked like a Nissan Stanza or Bluebird and then I got confused and just read the comments.
No, Del Rey was completely designed in house by Ford do Brasil, using no parts from European Ford models, including engines (which was derived from Renault engine).
The things you learn. Thank you!
Audi was my first reaction.
Yes Jimmy, your beloved pets made it to heaven, but your beloved beaters only made it to La Paz.
Dig the 3 lug wheels on the Ford, a sign of its French roots.
I feel like Carmen Sandiego was always hiding in La Paz.
The HOA complains, fine, I’ll move. Zoning changes, fine, I’ll move again. The state changes land use laws, the country loses its F’ing mind, and plunges into chaos. Alright already, I’ve had it! Move to the most remote location possible away from prying eyes.
When I lived in another city in Bolivia 20(!!)-some years ago I really enjoyed that the taxis and buses were mostly Japanese market cabs/minibuses imported used, many of them still with orginal-but-faded livery. Unlike other places where used JDM vehicles wash up in droves, Bolivians drive on the right. For the taxis, they swapped the steering over to the other side. So if you rode shotgun in a cab, you looked straight at a functioning speedometer with a hole where the wheel was which was a bit disconcerting, but usually not as disconcerting as the driving…no idea if it’s still the case.
Also, Bolivia is/was a quirky transportation wonderland in general. For example, I recall they used to have stripped DC-3 planes that would fly beef from the lowlands to La Paz and you could fly along if you paid the equivalent of your weight in meat.
Even if you are making the ‘weight in meat’ thing up, like it.
Once worked wit a guy from La Paz, he had a barrel-like chest from growing up at that altitude.
I don’t think there’s any vinyl left on that roof. Looks like the primer coat underneath.
I think that back glass mural is a movie poster for the scorpion king with the Rock, Dwayne Johnson where he was horribly CGI’d to be a strange scorpion centaur-like creature. Yes, I watched it. It does not deserve a window mural so it only brings up more questions!
But really interesting wedge shape under that cover in the topshot. Nissan 300Z maybe? And that green… Bronco(?) to the right of it? Very cool stuff in the middle of nowhere!
I’ve seen a few old vinyl tops replaced with truck bed coating and the result is – OK. Actually makes more sense if the car is being driven with any regularity.
The Scorpion King DelRey absolutely needs to be paired with the Nairobi “Jean Claude Van Damn Van” from Sense8
If these don’t prove the rule of, “everything has some devoted fans,” I don’t know what does.
Came here to say Scorpion King, and yeah thats what it is for sure.
The green SUV is a gen 1 Patrol. But that might be even cooler!
You’re thinking of The Mummy Returns, where The Rock’s Scorpion King character first shows up, with that awful CGI. In the actual Scorpion King movie, which was a spinoff of The Mummy movies, he’s not CGI’d into looking like a PS2 character.
Maybe… I don’t really remember (or want to) in that level of detail.
Which is a credit to you. 🙂
It’s amazing how Paramount screwed up the series that badly after the explosive reception the ’99 remake had. The Mummy Returns basically threw out all of Evie’s character that everyone liked, The Scorpion King previewed the curse of all Dwayne Johnson movies where he can’t play anyone but The Rock, and Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor came out long after everyone stopped caring and was stuck in development hell for so long it missed the martial arts zeitgeist of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill that it wanted to ride the coattails of.
And then nine years later we had Tom Cruise Screaming On A Plane.
Did you know that the Brazil Del Rey had an upmarket edition with an interior completely upholstered in wool? They called it the Lana Del Rey. When the eponymous American singer heard about this, she immediately collaborated with Glenn Danzig on a track called Scorpions in our Midst and they immortalized the single with a custom series of murals and vinyl wraps.
It was Alpaca wool, a Llama Del Rey
Hark! The alpaca-lypse. Or is it llama-geddon? Did they lube the car with lana-olin? Sorry, wrong critter. I feel sheepish
I think the LeSabre’s roof may be painted now, and not the OG vinyl… but WHAT is the small fastback under the tarp between the Mustang II and the red pickup? I’m at a loss.
All those decades in the sun. Maybe the vinyl started out as black.
I’m thinking 240-280 Datsun Z based on the distinctive top of door cut line. Zoom and you can see it.
agreed, you nailed it!
Torch, enjoy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_King
Wait a minute, I think I recognize that barbarian couple…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/315558948183
The flying scorpion gave it away.
With the 12,000 foot elevation and 50 years of wear and tear sapping power from that already malaise-choked Buick, it would be a wonder if it could even move under its own power.
Sure it can. 12,000 feet is a long way downhill.
Yeah, it definitely has a lot of potential.
Hey-ooo!
Yup, that unfortunate car didn’t make it to the “sea level” from El Alto, getting inexplicably stuck in the crevice.
The highest capital in the world!
This is a place where I would probably insist on a turbo.
I used to drive between Dallas and Denver with my Chevrolet Celebrity a several times. It would lose lot of power when climbing up on I-70 between Raton, New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado. Then, it drove just fine in Denver.
When I drove back to Dallas, the carburettor took longer to readjust to the sea level altitude. That led to fast and furious acceleration and great grunting noise! Yet, the needle in the fuel gauge moved to the E quicker, and lot of diesel-like smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe.