March 2015 – Car Spotting in Greece

In February I visited Turkey for the first time. Istanbul is very much an unusual city, being the crossroad between Asia and Europe there are many different influences in term of architecture, food etc. Having looked around online at cars others had spotted in Turkey, I had expected to see more American cars, however I only saw one Impala coupe. Over all I’d say the car spotting is interesting, although not entirely varied. It’s also an interesting place for license plate spotting, I spotted cars from Macedonia, Syria, Iran and Greece.

Turkish cars

It’s hard to avoid Turkish cars in Istanbul, although not as common as they once were, it seems many Turks are still faithful to the archaic cars made by their countrymen. Sadly I didn’t spot the most widely known Turkish car, the fibreglass Anadol, designed by Reliant (makers of the notorious Robin). The two most common Turkish cars by far are the Oyak-Renault 9 and the Tofas Sahin/Kartal. The Oyak 9 in the photo above is a fairly early example, abandoned down a Sultanahmet alley. The early example were mostly identical to their French made equivalents however the later versions are more unique.

Above is a Tofas Kartal, slightly more common than its sedan brother, the Sahin. These are a common sight, and are often seen packed up to the roof ferrying products to market. Few seem to be particularly well looked after, although that’s hardly surprising for a fairly old and cheap car. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to ride in any, as they were banned as taxis due to their cramped interiors. The Sahin and Kartal are based on the Fiat 131, which was also made in Turkey as the Tofas Murat Dogan until 1984. As well as in Turkey, the Sahin was also made in Ethiopia and Egypt, where it lasted all the way until 2010, while Turkish production ended in 2002 due to a lack of demand.

Turkish commercial vehicles

Turkish commercial vehicles are also a common site. I’ve not bothered to include pictures of vans and trucks made in Turkey which are the same as their equivalents made for other markets, such as the ever present Ford Transit. A slightly more interesting Ford is the one above, an Otosan P100. Based on the Ford Cortina and made in Turkey until 1996. The Taunus/Cortina sedan was also made in Turkey, up until 1994, but I didn’t see any of those.

Above is a BMC Levend, which will look rather familiar to British readers. It’s based on the LDV Pilot, a common site in the UK and Ireland. They were available as two and four door cab pickups. They may have been available as vans like the LDV, however I didn’t see any and there isn’t much information regarding these trucks online. The Levend name was also used for several other vans, which weren’t as overtly based on existing designs.

Lastly we have the Karsan J9, based on the Peugeot J9. They were made until 2010, but heavily facelifted unlike the earlier one in the photo above. These are predominantly used as share taxis, which run on set routes ferrying passenger all over the city, in Turkish they are known as Dolmuş. As you cans see in the photo, most Dolmuş are more modern and safer minibuses based on Mercedes Sprinters, Ford Transits etc.

Istanbul taxis

I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about taxis in Istanbul, with taxi drivers taking advantage of tourists lack of knowledge of the Lira exchange rate in order to charge ridiculous amounts for short journeys however all the taxi journeys I took were all reasonably priced. Like Athens Turkish taxis seem to be regulated, with a few certified vehicles used, the most common taxis being Fiats, Albeas or Lineas. The one above is one of the larger options, a Dacia Logan MCV

Other vehicles of interest

An unusually well kept Tofas Kartal