In reply to LanEvo :
70s/80s Caprice station wagons were popular as entry level American cars in Germany for a while into at least the 90s. The reason was that one could remove the rear seat, bolt in a load platform and register it as a truck. Registering them as a truck meant that they'd be taxed by weight, which was a lot cheaper than they'd be taxed otherwise (by displacement, something like $8-10 per 100cc in 1990s dollars, which sucks mightly when you're paying for 5700cc).
Mndsm said:Perhaps most interesting to me is the USDM movement in japan, where they're doing american stuff to their cars. Meanwhile, Eric an kids are doing jdm stuff- which is really bastardized american stuff.......
I saw an interesting video about a certain subculture of street racers in Osaka, and one of them had a lot to say about how most "JDM" things in the US were appropriated from their group. But since many car enthusiasts get a lot of influence by American car culture, some people in Japan were modifying their cars to be like the Americanized version of JDM instead of "true JDM".
LanEvo said:In reply to irish44j :
As far as I know, Mondeos were designed and built in Germany. Pretty much a German car, even though it says Ford on the grille.
That is because it's a Ford of Germany car. I was kinda excited about them when they were new, but unfortunately they didn't really slot in to the market in the US. They "replaced" the Tempo size-wise in the US but they cost Taurus money, sometimes more. Granted, it was a far better car than the Taurus, but Ford wasn't really selling cars on the strength of chassis dynamics or general build quality.
IIRC it replaced the Sierra in Europe. Could be wrong. There's another model that they tried to sell in the US but didn't do so well.
I remember reading about the love for Astros and Safaris in Japan.
Not sure this is completely in the spirit of the OP, but a Frenchman contemplating a Citroen Dyane back in the day might have looked longingly at one sold in Spain, where they got front windows that could wind up and down instead of slide (not to mention ones in the back that slid instead of just sitting there), or the Netherlands, where those luxury-loving Dutch (that was a joke, BTW) got to swank around in Dyanes with actual gloveboxes.
Full size American pickups are $$$ here (Australia).
Mustangs/F-bodies etc are also considered fairly desirable
Back in the early 80s when I was a harness horse trainer, all of the young Swedish grooms would pool their paychecks to buy the biggest 60-70's era luxury boat they could get.
Since we were in South Florida for winter training, there was a ready supply from the old people that couldn't renew their licenses.
This fits the question but with a twist. Triumph TR8. You say "but thats British" True, but almost all of them came here to the states, and a handful went to Canada. Over the last 10 years or so, the 8s have been leaving the country as fast as they come up for sale. Lots have headed back to England, but there have been many that also went to Australia, Germany and lately the Netherlands. The coupes have been especially coveted, seeing how maybe 400 were made and about half of them still exist. Back in September there was a coupe for sale locally that I thought was way overpriced. Hours later it was sold. A couple of days later I saw it on a car carrier heading out. Later found out it was on its way to shipping container with other TR8s heading to Europe. Long story short, the price of TR8s has finally started to climb, and they are climbing fast. If you ever wanted a TR8, you had better go find one soon. One was recently totaled in Washington state, so cross another one off the list. FWIW only about 2800 were ever made. About 400 were coupes and 2400 were convertibles. Around 400 were 1981 FI convertible versions, and another 400 or so 1980 California FI versions.
ebonyandivory said:Has to be the massive 3/4 ton and 1 trucks. Heck, the 1/2 tons too. I’m fairly certain that they don’t have a Yukon XL 6.0 AWD equivalent. Mine were awesome!
I’d be surprised if they didn’t want our 30’s and 40’s coupes and sedans too.
The pre-war hot rod / greaser scene is pretty big in Japan.... as odd as that might sound.
tr8todd said:This fits the question but with a twist. Triumph TR8. You say "but thats British" True, but almost all of them came here to the states, and a handful went to Canada. Over the last 10 years or so, the 8s have been leaving the country as fast as they come up for sale. Lots have headed back to England, but there have been many that also went to Australia, Germany and lately the Netherlands. The coupes have been especially coveted, seeing how maybe 400 were made and about half of them still exist. Back in September there was a coupe for sale locally that I thought was way overpriced. Hours later it was sold. A couple of days later I saw it on a car carrier heading out. Later found out it was on its way to shipping container with other TR8s heading to Europe. Long story short, the price of TR8s has finally started to climb, and they are climbing fast. If you ever wanted a TR8, you had better go find one soon. One was recently totaled in Washington state, so cross another one off the list. FWIW only about 2800 were ever made. About 400 were coupes and 2400 were convertibles. Around 400 were 1981 FI convertible versions, and another 400 or so 1980 California FI versions.
I raced my buddy's real TR8 in Lemons. Said car is now getting a restoration. There is a new build of a real TR8 I saw campaigned at CMP a few weeks ago. TR8 must be the shape of things to come.
I was in Europe on a river cruise recently, and kept an eye out for American cars. I saw a decent number of late model Mustangs and Camaros out on the highways, but not really in the towns we stayed in. Still, those were probably the most commonly seen cars.
Other observations:
You know how a Defender is a status symbol in the US because they're so hard to get? By me, that's how we see Wranglers. Most foreign diplomats seem to have one, and because shops don't stock parts for them there's one guy running a parts and repair operation for them. A Defender, on the other hand, is just seen as a nice truck.
Also a Hummer or Escalade is seen as being even more of a (perhaps trashy) status symbol. They're as hard to get as a Wrangler, plus they're far too big for the roads here and no mere mortal could afford to fuel one.
Also every kind of sports car gets a status upgrade due to the expense.
A cheap sport compact is like a low-end/midrange sports car.
A low-end sports car is like a high-end sports car (a Toyobaru costs about as much here as a ZR1 does in the US, for example).
A high-end sports car is like a supercar.
There are no supercars here...yet.
I sold a C4 Corvette to a couple Scandanavian guys who were working with a buyer in north Europe.]
The most surprising one may have been the popularity of Astro and Safari vans (not to mention Dodge full sized vans) in Japan. Supposedly the Scion xB was styled to look like a smaller Astro.
Older Skyline GTR, any of the rallye car homologamation specials, like the Lancia Delta Integrale, Ford Escort/Sierra Cosworths, Audi RS2, S2, RS6 wagon, RS4 wagon, Mercedes 2.3-16V Evo's, M5 wagon, VW Rallye Golf....
In reply to tr8todd :
Saw an article in one of the UK rags about importing Volkwagen 914s from the US, because so many of them still exist here and they were apparently MUCH more expensive on that side of the pond.
I assume that is relative. Article featured a car that still had black and gold California plates.
Nathan JansenvanDoorn said:Full size American pickups are $$$ here (Australia).
Mustangs/F-bodies etc are also considered fairly desirable
Interesting that that’s a 2005 with a 7.3. 7.3 production ended early 2003 in the States.
Madhatr said:ebonyandivory said:Has to be the massive 3/4 ton and 1 trucks. Heck, the 1/2 tons too. I’m fairly certain that they don’t have a Yukon XL 6.0 AWD equivalent. Mine were awesome!
I’d be surprised if they didn’t want our 30’s and 40’s coupes and sedans too.
The pre-war hot rod / greaser scene is pretty big in Japan.... as odd as that might sound.
The old Shovel/Pan Head Harley scene is alive and well too.
Knurled. said:In reply to tr8todd :
Saw an article in one of the UK rags about importing Volkwagen 914s from the US, because so many of them still exist here and they were apparently MUCH more expensive on that side of the pond.
I assume that is relative. Article featured a car that still had black and gold California plates.
IIRC good ones are, because they rusted like nobody's business, and they weren't that popular back when GBP10k bought you a Carrera 3.2.
ebonyandivory said:Madhatr said:ebonyandivory said:Has to be the massive 3/4 ton and 1 trucks. Heck, the 1/2 tons too. I’m fairly certain that they don’t have a Yukon XL 6.0 AWD equivalent. Mine were awesome!
I’d be surprised if they didn’t want our 30’s and 40’s coupes and sedans too.
The pre-war hot rod / greaser scene is pretty big in Japan.... as odd as that might sound.
The old Shovel/Pan Head Harley scene is alive and well too.
Forgot about those. Yes, they're pretty popular in Europe, especially amongst certain types of m/c clubs. Harleys in general are also pretty popular in France - which makes sense, because they probably have the roads that bear closest resemblance to the US ones (lots of long straight-ish roads).
American hot rods ,muscle cars,land yachts ,trucks etc are popular in japan as stuff like the mooneyes show showcases
In a lot of European countries, Alfa Romeo
A TR8 just sold on BAT for $20K. Consensus opinion among wedge heads is its a $10K car, that could use $5K worth of work, and end up a $12K car. Really wish these European buyers would take their money and go away. Now every time my wife sees these ridiculous prices, she looks at my collection of TR8s and thinks she is that much closer to getting her dream home on the lake.
gonna be boring and say when I first came to the states in '94 it was the Altima. I like japanese econo boxes and the body style was completely unlike anything in the U.K./Europe. I did also like the Camaro but I thought the recessed headlights took some getting used to. Before that I suppose it would have been a white Mustang GT in the 80s. Trucks yeah. The t..v show Petrocelli might have been to blame for that. The A-Team van. But I still have a boner for the original Altima. Gotta get one to play with soon. Any ideas on what to do with one? 
captdownshift said:I have several Canadian friends who wanted Scions when I wanted an Echo Hatch.
Truth. my ex and I used to take her xB up to ontario every year. People drooled over that toaster like it was a centerfold
I know that I (states) drool over Utes. I also drool over compact commercial trucks from asia and central america
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