Happy new year!

I hope all of you will have a happy year 2012!

Here is a preview to what will be the first post of the new year:

[Special] One year "Abandoned cars"

Today, this blog celebrates its first birthday.
I want to thank all the readers, who viewed this site almost 18000 times in total.

Now, let's look back at the five most popular posts of the past 365 days.

With far more views than all the other posts, the very first one takes the "victory".
This Ford Escort Mk2 abandoned in Great Britain opened the blog.
One year later, here is another example standing in the same country:

(Photo by iron_mighty07)

Unlike the Datsun 411 posted almost one year ago, the one below is far beyond restoration:

(Photo by edsel)

The third-most-clicked post is this Porsche Cayman
As it's probably impossible to find another abandoned Porsche Cayman, the next picture will have to represent the fourth place as well, which is taken by another Porsche, this time accompanied by a Rolls-Royce. Containing quite a lot of Porsches, I think it will do this job just fine (I highly recommend to click on the picture to view it in a higher resolution).

(Photo by reverendtheef)

The Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia on fifth place is one of the few stories told in this blog which have a happy ending.
In this photo, another VW is still waiting for being rescued:

(Photo by Rolfen)

So now, I am looking forward to another year of hopefully interesting pictures and stories. Let's see which posts will be in the Top 5 next year...

AMC Pacer

(Photo by ic21985)

Unlike the Citroën DS in the previous post, which undoubtedly is a beautiful car, the AMC Pacer may be argued about.
Many things were special about this car.
As an answer to a growing demand for compact cars, AMC created the "first wide small car" (original advertisment slogan) in 1975. Despite only being 4,32 metres long, the Pacer was 1,98 metres wide, which lead to unusual proportions. The very high amount of glass (37% of the exterior) further contributed to the extraordinary appearance, as well as the passenger's door being 10 centimeters longer than the door on the driver's side.
Another speciality had originally been planned for the Pacer, but the intended use of a Wankel rotary engine foundered on emission regulations in the USA. Therefore, the only "strange" engine available was a 5.0l V8 introduced in 1978.
Unlike this oversized engine, the versions with six cylinders sold quite well, although they also consumed quite a lot of fuel for the size of the car. This was largely due to AMC attaching importance to safety features causing a high weight.
Today, the AMC Pacer is increasingly popular as a collectors' car. A well preserved example can be seen right below the one in an extremely sorry condition here:

(Photo by 731132)


(Photo by pontfire)

[Multi] Citroën DS

(Photo taken in Great Britain by St33ly)

This Citroën DS has been abandoned in a barn of a farm in Great Britain, along with many other classic cars. If you want to see cars like a Triumph 1200, two Vanden Plas 1100 or a VW Beetle covered in moss, I recommend a visit to St33ly's Photostream on Flickr. For another photo of the DS shown above, click here.
Update 16.3.13: The cars in the picture above have obviously been vandalized, as you will notice in this picture.
The Citroën DS, famous for its elegant design and the innovative hydropneumatic suspension, is a popular classic nowadays. It has many fans around the world willing to pay high prices for a good example of the "goddess" (from the French pronounciation of the name: "Déesse"). These fans have to be strong now, as not all 1,5 million examples built by Citroën have always been loved by their owners and I have collected some of those that weren't.
As usual, you can click all photos for higher resolutions.

VW New Beetle RSi

(Photo by Danny McL)

It's the second abandoned car from Dubai in a row here, but this one is so special I just had to show it.
This car actually is not an ordinary Volkswagen New Beetle, but one of only 250 RSi-models built in 2001.
Its massive spoiler on the boot lid does not promise too much, as the 3.2l-V6-engine with its 224 bhp is capable of accelerating the car to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6,4 seconds and makes it reach a topspeed of 225 km/h (140 mph).
I don't know the reason for a car even more rare than the Ferrari Enzo shown previously and still worth at least 30000€ is gathering dust in a parking lot in Dubai, but maybe there is hope that the owner is just enjoying a long holiday trip abroad.
[Update] According to the photographer, the car is still sitting in this spot half a year after he took the photo.

For comparison, here is a cleaner example of the New Beetle RSi:

(Photo by newbeetledriver)

Ferrari Enzo

(Source of all photos: TopGear)

While abandoned cars in Dubai are nothing uncommon, this one sure is. Unlike most other cars left to rot there, this is not standing on a street, but is gathering dust in a police impound lot. And although even the likes of relatively new Porsches get abandoned in Dubai sometimes, this car is much more valuable than the cars that normally are abandoned there.
Used Ferrari Enzos easily reach 1000000€, as only 399 examples were built between 2002 and 2004. Its 660bhp can accelerate the car to 355km/h (about 220mph).
I'll update this article with any news about the fate of this dream car.

Update 3.5.2012: According to this article, the Enzo is about to be auctioned by police after having stood there for 20 months. Added two new pictures above.

Update 26.5.2012: This article explains the Enzo actually is a piece of evidence in a criminal case and therefore won't be auctioned.

Mercedes-Benz W120 Kombi

(Photo by Stig Baumeyer)

This Mercedes-Benz W120 Kombi (=estate/station wagon) found in Norway not only is a remarkably rare car, but also has a very interesting story to tell. But more about that later.

The normal W120 was built 171746 times between 1953 and 1961 and therefore was quite a common car in Europe at that time. Many examples survived, so it's still not too rare. In addition to these sedans though, Mercedes-Benz also built 5667 chassis frames including engine and transmission, which were meant to be converted to special versions of the W120 by other companies (to help your imagination, here is a picture).

(Source)

Skoda 1000MB

(Pictures by Stokpic)

Although more than 400000 Skoda 1000MBs were built in the Eastern Bloc between 1964 and 1969, it is a very rare car now, partly because these cars already left the factory heavily rusting (for having that bad reputation, the abandoned car above looks remarkably good, though).
The rear engine concept also lead to massive cooling problems. The 1000MB even had an extra cooling water reservoir because blown head gaskets made many of them lose this fluid.
Due to the lack of better alternatives east of the Berlin Wall and because of it being considered exceptionally elegant, the 1000MB sold quite well nevertheless.
The car pictured above (which has been found in Berlin, Germany) is an example of the first series, which was produced till 1966 and is, in my opinion, a much more beautiful car than the later models, which got a rectangular grille and lost the lights on the C-pillars.
One of the rare, but still not expensive 1000MBs looking like new is shown below.

(Photo by xavnco2)

Jeep Wagoneer

(Photos by Hoodicoff)

Being "Styled for beauty, built for duty", the Jeep Wagoneer was the first luxury SUV ever built. Without major technical changes, the Wagoneer was produced from 1963 to 1991.
The body of the example above belongs to the second generation, which was built from 1967 to 1971.
Below is how it looked like when new.

(Photo by XBXG)

BMW 3-series E 46

(Photo by farvellasberzas)


(Photo by farvellasberzas)

So, finally, here is a new post.
And not only a new post, but also a comparably new car.
Although its current condition seems to be not the best, it is still strange to see such a new and expensive car left on the roadside.
I suspect that this BMW 3-series a photographer found in Spain had been stolen and then left behind, but you are invited to find your own explanation for this sight.

The car in the photos is a pre-facelift E46-model, meaning it was built between 1998 and 2001. According to the photographer, this example is a 320i, so it has 150bhp and once cost about 27000€. Even with very high milage, this model is still worth more than 2000€ today if not left on the roadside.

Holden HJ

(Photo by salsablue)
This car is probably the one in the most advanced stage of decay on this blog so far.
While HJs in good condition are worth quite much money today, this example with all its missing parts, rust and bullet holes won't be worth anything anymore.
Probably it has been used for spare parts before being too rotten for that.
Sold in three versions called "Belmont", "Kingswood" and "Premier" plus coupe, wagon and different commercial versions between 1974 and 1976, 176202 HJs were produced.
A properly maintained HJ looks like this Premier:

(Picture from Wikipedia)

Abandoned luxury cars

(Photo by Ackers- Schoolboy Hero!!!!)
While many people would sell their mother-in-law to be able to afford these three cars, someone in Leeds obviously decided to simply not use them any more.
According to the photographer, the 1993 Range Rover is off the road for at least six years and the 1997 E-Class has been standing there ever since at least 2007.
So the current photo of this place you can see in Google Street View was probably taken between 2005 and 2007

The S-Class probably joined the collection in 2010 or 2011.

The first generation of the Range Rover, that was sold between 1970 and 1994, can already be called a classic, the two Mercedes probably are future classics.
The E-Class W124 is often considered "the last real Mercedes-Benz" and is famous for its reliability.

Fiat Multipla

(Photo by leylandbus)
This car definitely has a special story to tell, although it is your guess, which.
First registered in January 2001, taxes for it were only paid till December of the same year. So after just one year on the road, the owner parked it in his garden, where it has been standing until today.
My guess would be it had some kind of incident involving water that destroyed the engine and wasn't covered by warranty. That would still lead to the question why it wasn't parted and scrapped.
Another possibility could be the death of the owner and disunity between the beneficiaries.

However, the Multipla became famous after its release in 1999 because of its looks, which were considered extremely ugly by most people.
In 2006, the exterior was redesigned to look normal.
If the example above wouldn't have been left to rot, it would probably still look like this one:

(Photo by Dmentd)

Ferrari 348 tb

(Photos by farvellasberzas)

Most people rarely see a Ferrari. And most people have never seen an abandoned Ferrari.
Nevertheless, this Ferrari 348 tb has been discovered in Spain.
It looks undamaged, but at least the paint will have suffered from the plants growing over it.
The 348 tb was the "small" Ferrari between 1989 and 1993.
Only 2894 examples were built in this time.
When the car looked like the example below, it had 300 bhp, acclearated to 100 km/h in 5,7 sec and had a top-speed of 275 km/h (172 mph).

(Picture by tautaudu02)

[Special] Abandoned dealership - Jetberg Ltd.

This abandoned dealership is located in Swadlincole, United Kingdom.
The newest photos (from October 2009) show that there are 10 cars left there.

Chrysler New Yorker

(Photo by sahlgoode)
This abandoned 1966 Chrysler New Yorker has been found in Canada.
Although it seems this big car (5,54 metres long) has been standing there for quite a while, it still looks saveable.
Providing the 7,2l-V8-engine with its 350bhp is still in it, this could be well worth a restoration.
Here you see another one of the 185000 examples built of this generation of the New Yorker:

(Photo by dstone7y)

Oldsmobile 98

(Image by Fairlane221)
After some years in the desert, little of this Oldsmobile 98 is left.
Almost all paint has gone, leaving a crumpled, but still somehow beautiful body.
After the second world war, the 98, also called Series 90 in some years, was the flagship of the three Oldsmobile-models. It was powered by a 110bhp-V8-engine, that seems to be missing in the car above.
As usual for cars of that era, the 98 is quite rare nowadays.
So there are restored and well-kept examples, which still have the original chrome parts and wheel covers:

(Photo by willemsknol)

Alfa Romeo 156

This 1998 Alfa Romeo 156 has not only been abandoned in a building area, but also been heavily vandalized.
The 156 was a very important model to save Alfa in the last 14 years.
First introduced in 1997, it is still being built in Egypt today.
Here you see how the car in the photos above looked some months earlier:

(All Photos by FiatTipoElite)

Volkswagen T2

(Photo by GoldScotland71)
Within 12 years, 2,5 million transporters just of this generation were produced from 1967 on.
Many examples of this kind of iconic car are now rotting on scrapyards, while the same model is still built with only minor changes in Brasil.
However, the fate of the car in the picture is rather special, as it has been abandoned on a city street in Scotland.
As everyone knows how a VW Transporter looks, here is another abandoned example instead of a comparison picture.

(Picture by stone.rome)

BMW 502

(Picture by luft-kraftwerk)
This BMW 502 is standing on a scrapyard in Switzerland.
Although only 23000 examples were built between 1952 and 1964, the "Barockengel" was, just as the 507, important for BMW to find it's role in the car market after the war.
Nowadays, this model is so rare that even in the condition of the pictured example a restauration could be worth consideration, as good examples cost about 50000€.
After such a treatment, the now abandoned car could look like that one again:

(Photo by pierredepascale)

Toyota Celica

(Photos by www.urban-travel.org)
This Toyota Celica has a very special story to tell.
It is standing in a Toyota dealership in a military buffer zone on Cyprus that had to be abandoned in 1974.
Since then, this and some other cars with as little as 37 miles driven in their whole lives are standing there collecting dust.
A comparison picture is not necessary this time, I think, as the car is "new". Only the motorhood looks damaged and the mirrors have probably been stolen, as you can see from the holes in the fenders.
Here you can find more photos this photographer took when he had the opportunity to visit that great place. The town is still not accessible and guarded by soldiers.