Mini Classic Cars: A Car Entrepreneur's Dream

A '76 BL MINI 1000 MK-III, I believe, one of the famous mini classic car variants that remind me of Mr. Bean's mini. I recall those hilarious scenes where Mr Bean locked the car doors with a padlock or when he bumped into the same old rickety car to park his Austin mini and specially the episode about the death of his car. 

Minis have changed a lot over the years, and now you can even design your own at will (see Mini) but I still prefer vintage cars. 

This is a picture from my archives. It was taken at Auto Retro Barcelona (check Google labels below for more or see my Classic cars set at Flickr), a classic car exhibition at Fira de Barcelona in Montjuic. 

It was a delight to see these old timers so close and I stayed in the parking lot shooting. It was an event for classic car enthusiasts and dealers so I was thinking about starting a classic car loan company (collector car financing is becoming a big business nowadays) but suddenly I found out that the entrance fee to the venue was not affordable so not more dreams about being a car entrepreneur!

Citroen DS: Classic Cars at Auto Retro Barcelona

Citroën DS, one of the most beautiful classic cars as seen at one of the parking lots in front of Fira de Barcelona at Plaça Espanya during past Auto Retro Barcelona exhibition last Dec 10th.

As I said before I am not much of a classic car enthusiast but I can see beauty and art in such nice design.

For the picture I had to climb a wall which gave me an attractive perspective. The orange reflection on the left comes from the plastic barriers next to an improvised mechanical inspection ramp nearby but in my opinion not even this noise can alter the nice look of the DS, the elegant sleek shark of classic automobiles.

Classic Cars: Beetle VW in Blue

According to Wikipedia, the Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German the Käfer (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, intended for five occupants (later, Beetles were restricted to four people in some countries), that was manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003. 

The need for a people's car (Volkswagen in German), its concept and its functional objectives were formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network (Reichsautobahn). Members of the National Socialist party, with an additional dues surcharge, were promised the first production, but the war shifted production to military vehicles instead. Lead engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design. Béla Barényi is credited with first conceiving the original design for this car in 1925,—notably by Mercedes-Benz, on their website, including his original technical drawing,—five years before Porsche claimed to have done his initial version. 

The influence on Porsche's design of other contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570, and the work of Josef Ganz remains a subject of dispute. The result was the first Volkswagen, and one of the first rear-engined cars since the Brass Era. With 21,529,464 produced, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made. 

Although designed in the 1930s, due to World War II, civilian Beetles only began to be produced in significant numbers by the end of the 1940s. The car was then internally designated the Volkswagen Type 1, and marketed simply as the Volkswagen. 

Later models were designated Volkswagen 1200, 1300, 1500, 1302, or 1303, the former three indicating engine displacement, the latter two derived from the model number. The car became widely known in its home country as the Käfer (German for "beetle", cognate with English chafer) and was later marketed under that name in Germany, and as the Volkswagen in other countries. For example, in France it was known as the Coccinelle (French for ladybug).

Auto Retro Barcelona: Antique Cars and Motorcycles Exhibition

Auto Retro Barcelona (2006) came to an end after four days of exhibition in the Fira de Barcelona venue.

I am not a big fan of classic cars or motorbikes, at least not from the point of view of engines, value and so on. What I do like is the aesthetic aspect of these collector's exhibits, especially when you can capture them in your pictures.

Admission fees were a little above my standards (not being a fan and all) so I wandered about the esplanades at the entrance where improvised parking lots lodged some beauties you could easily snap. This was the case of this black Citroën. I've had a hard time identifying the brand and finding a proper link so I leave it up to you to suggest.

Fortunately, it appeared unexpectedly driving down the access road and against the marvelous Palau Nacional building in the background where MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia) is.

If you want to know about the history behind Fira de Barcelona i.e. the International Exhibition of 1929 please check my previous posts about this topic.

Classic Cars: Ford

This weird, rather customized classic Ford automobile I spotted during Barcelona Harley Days 2008 event last month.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Classic Cars Series: Volkswagen

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Classic Cars Series 2

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Classic Cars at Auto Retro Barcelona: Jaguar

Thanks to some of you I found out that the red car on the right in my recent post about Auto Retro was a Jaguar and you even revealed some more details about the model. Well, in this image I can tell that we are also dealing with a Jaguar but as homework it is your turn to guess again the particular model.

Classic Cars in Barcelona

If you can see both colors you are not Daltonic or color blind...I digress. These are classic cars in the past Auto Retro exhibition in Barcelona. The one on the left is an MG but I can't tell the other make. I know there are some fans among you, for example Curly from South Shields in the UK, who can help me with this.

PS: After I wrote these lines I paid Curly a virtual visit and found out he underwent an urgent operation recently so some words of support would be just great.

Update: The car on the right is a Jaguar XKE type "E". Thanks for your help in the comments.

Classic Cars Gallery in Barcelona

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Citroën DS 23 in Black, A Sleek Shark

One of the best French cars ever made and I believe of the most beautiful in the whole history of car design is Citroën DS. This Citroën DS 23 in black with that sleek shark look, so well taken care of, so polished, I shot during a Classic Car exhibition in Montjuic a long time ago. Check this article about DS 19.

Other cars who became classics appeared in Barcelona Photoblog in the past. Take a look at some of them now that you are here: Classic Cars

Classic Cars Series

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Classic Cars: Citröen DS

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Classic Cars: Citroen DS

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Classic Cars Exhibition: Auto Retro in Barcelona

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s