The owner of Auto Vintage Bangkok, Jay, was kind enough to give me a tour of his whole facility.   While most of the cars were classic Mercedes-Benz there were a couple of Volvo P1800s, some BMWs, Jaguar, Daimler and a few other miscellaneous cars such as a Range Rover and a Lancia.    Jay also showed me some photos of some of his personal cars, including a 250SE Cabriolet, a 280SE 3.5 Coupe, a couple of W108s, W123s and more.

Of the cars there, it was surprising how many were previously USA models.  Some of these were converted to right hand drive.   I guess for many years these cars had very little value in the USA. States like California and Texas were sources of rust free examples.   The humid Thai climate is not.   You can see some of the USA specific features on a few of the cars.  It’s unusual to see those on right hand drive cars.

The cars under the cover in the main building are the complete or mostly complete projects.   A lot of them were in final stages.   The cars out the back are in the full restoration stage, being taken back to bare metal and having their engines done.   Under way was a W108 with a lot of welding and back to bare metal.  Soon to start was a Ponton 220S cabriolet, and W111 220SE coupe.   The coupe currently has an M110 engine, but will be put back to a M127 during the restoration.     They were also working on a W114 airport limo, quite a rare car.    Along the sides were other rare cars like the 60s BMW, Volvo P1800, 190SL and more.

Out the front are future projects.   There were a couple of finnies, a few W126 models and a 107 that looks like it will need a very comprehensive restoration.    At Auto Vintage Bangkok, not only do they have the cars, but a good set of spare parts for the restoration and the walls are covered in amazing memorabilia.

I was very lucky to get a full tour of the place.  After that took a taxi back to my hotel.  I didn’t want to stay too long as it was a busy business and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.    Next time I have to transit in Bangkok, I hope to stop by Auto Vintage Bangkok again to see what other projects they are working on.  It’s great to see the amount of effort going into these cars.

The post Auto Vintage Bangkok appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I’ve been surprised how many classic Mercedes are still on the road and in daily service.    I see a lot more of them than I do in Sydney.   On most days I’ll see a couple of W123s and a bunch of W124s.    Most of them a clearly doing daily use, but there are also a few that have been nicely done up.   I’m sure it takes real effort to keep these cars on the road as the climate (which is very humid for much of the year) is not kind to the cars.

The cars I’ve seen on the road have all been saloons.   I’ve seen a couple of coupes in various stages of repair, but not wagons.     Seeing an S-Class is also very rare.

The car culture is also very different here in Surat Thani than in Sydney.   Most of the cars are modified in some way – normally wheels, steering wheel, radio and even bumpers, complete interiors and sometimes body kits.    I was also told about one that had an Isuzu motor and gearbox.

The W124s are mostly the final facelift models, predominantly E220s, but with some E280s in the mix.    The pre-facelift models are mostly 230Es, but I’ve seen a couple of 260s and a 300.    The wiring harness issues that scare off buyers in Australia off the final models are probably less of an issue here as labour is cheaper than parts.

I read somewhere that there were a lot of UK delivery Mercedes exported to right hand drive countries in this part of the world during the 80s, 90s and 2000s.   This seems to make sense, as all the W123s I could see past the tint had their instrument clusters in MPH.  Back then, they were basically worthless in the UK, but fairly valuable out in Asia.

On the first day I noticed a mechanic shop with a bunch of classic Mercedes out the front.   I was able to stop buy a couple of days later to take a few photos and have a chat with the owner.   There were a lot of nice cars in there, including some other models I don’t normally see on the roads here.

These included a W116, C123, C124, W201 and a /8.  There was also a C107 shell that had just been painted.    The W116 was badged as a 450SEL, but it had a manual transmission, and looked like a short wheelbase.   The /8 model was a 200 petrol.    The C123 was a very early UK model with the burl wood interior.   The seats had been redone in modern pattern like a W126 SEC.     Regardless it was great to see these cars still on the road.    They probably wouldn’t be if they had remained in the UK.

I also stopped by another mechanic shop that had a couple of W123s  in the lot.    The only other marque that is even close to as well represented on the roads is Volvo.  I’ve seen a couple of 7 and 9 series models driving around.

Both mechanics indicated they find their parts mostly from Bangkok or overseas, but that old Mercedes were popular in the Muslim areas in the south of the country and its sometimes possible to get parts from there too.

In addition, the city buses seem to be old Mercedes from the 60s.   Most of them have Mercedes badges on them.   However, a couple have Hino badges, and look very similar.   They seem to be front engined, which according to wikipedia doesn’t seem to make sense for Mercedes buses of the era.    They all have W123 turn signals!    Possible they were older chassis, or even truck chassis locally bodied.  Or perhaps they are all Hinos and the Mercedes Badge just has more cache.

The post Classic Mercedes in Surat Thani, Thailand appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

This Toyota Fortuner is the 3.0 turbo diesel model.   Unlike the last couple of woefully underpowered rental cars, the 3.0 diesel has plenty of power, especially around town.   It has loads of torque down low and the transmission is geared for economy.   This leviathan gave me about 11l/100km which is excellent.  Those numbers included some extended idling to keep the A/C running.   This is better than the 3 cylinder hatchbacks I’ve had as previous rental cars.    The only downside of the engine is that it doesn’t like to rev so its fairly poor trying to overtake on the open road.   The acceleration from 60-120km/h is fairly average.

The A/C in the car is quite effective.  The only time it didn’t quite keep up was idling for about 20 minutes at 38C.    It has a separate button for rear A/C, which I left on the entire time we used the car.

The suspension is quite soft and the ride quality is only average.   Interior comfort is reasonably good, although it doesn’t have much in the way of tech.   It took me about 20 minutes to connect my phone to the bluetooth after much trial and error.   I had to first go deep into the setup and delete the previously connected phone.    Some people like the high driving position but I just found the ride quality substandard.

The biggest problem with the Toyota Fortuner is to do with the rear seat setup.   We had two child seats in the middle row.   This meant that 3rd row passengers have to enter the car from the tailgate which is very high.   We had a pensioner and a child in the 3rd row.   This meant the pensioner had to attempt to climb in through the back with one half of the rear seat folded up.   Then, the other half was unfolded, the booster seat passed over the back and the child lifted over the back into the booster seat.   It was a major pain.    Once the 3rd row is set up there is very little luggage space at all.

Overall the Fortuner has a good engine around town and is surprisingly frugal.   It’s a bit of a pain as a seven seater and only average to drive.

Rating: 3/5

The post 2004-2015 Toyota Fortuner Review appeared first on Classic Jalopy.