i’m looking forward to visit taiwan soon and perhaps might consider the possibility of staying for a bit. i’m thinking while i’m there, i would like to look into picking up an old beater from the 80’s or even 70’s (or hey, maybe even older), like an old air-cooled vw or datsun or etc. any one on this forum that’s into classic cars or might know someone that is? or it’ll be cool if you could post pics of any random classic or old beaters that you see in taiwan. i know most of them must have been rusted to hell since it’s so freaking humid there… but it’ll still be cool to see what they look like, or perhaps some nicely restored ones too. thanks in advance! 
There is no scene here at all (or it’s very well hidden). Having a cool old car has zero value to the majority of people here and of course very few people had cars before the 80s so there’s nothing old to pick up.
You need to readjust your interests and values in many ways when you live here. Lots of great stuff here but not necessary the same as the great stuff you are used to.
Garage near where I live in Tainan occaisionally has interesting vehicles in (eg BMW 2002, VW Karman Ghia, Reliant Scimitar, old Austin Healy (?), 1950’s Willy’s Jeep) and has a big collection of old motorcycles, but I think they might have semi-retired now, since the premises have shrunk and activity apparently declined to “hobby” levels.
As stated above you see very little around. I’d guess the commonest “classics” would be VW Beetle and the Austin Mini. There are also a fair number of RWD Datsun/Nissan Sunny’s hanging on, but thats because theyre tough rather than cherished, and driving one would generally be a sign of poverty rather than coolth.
I’ve seen a couple of the Datsun pickups given the full tangerine-flake streamline baby treatment, but most are falling apart, and as a foreigner you wouldn’t be allowed to register a pickup anyway.
Its a cultural thing. Old is bad, new and shiny is good, and conformity is almost complete. Mention any car older than 5 years and the knee jerk reaction is “too old”. They don’t need to know anything else about the vehicle.
I drive a 26 year old Daihatsu Skywing with the paint worn off the roof. Not exactly a classic, but it gets a definate reaction from women. 
How much mechanical knowledge and wrenching skill has been spread around Taiwan anyway? Less than about three cups worth?
Classic cars are too much trouble for those without bags of money to mess with. One reason is simply down to the cost of parking, which is high to say the least. Another reason is the cost of purchase of even a reasonable old, restored Mini for an example. Even those cost anything between 500,000nt to 900,000nt, depending on the level and type of restoration. And then they still don’t like the rain and heat, so are not usable on a daily basis for very long.
Another inhibiting factor when it comes to classics is the general lack of air-conditioning. Certainly it can be fitted. The Mini for example can take a small evap unit on the passenger side footwell, but it looks unsightly and is temperamental.
There are a few collectors of old cars, but their cars are generally never seen on the roads. They are too fragile to drive in traffic, often plate-less and a pain in the arse when hunting or importing spares to keep them going.
I know a few garages which keep them. Some rent them out for photo shoots. Sometimes for movies. They don’t drive them on the street though.
If it was “cool” that wouldn’t matter. The punters would just pay someone else to do the work. Old cars are simpler to work on so I think there would be enough “black hands” up to the job.
Its probably true, though, that they would spend the money on shiny paintwork rather than mechanical maintenance, which may be another reason there are not many old cars here.
In the UK I’m told there aren’t many old cars now either, due to a shameless government conspiracy with the motor trade, where they paid out 2 grand if you scrapped your ten year old car.
2000 pound’s not such a shame if you happened to own a Pyzar or a Corolla or an Escort (i had two of the mofos). I’d never sell the govt my 30 year old Jensen Interceptor for 2000 quid, tho.
Well, a bit OT to discuss at length, so I didn’t. You have to spend the money on a new car. Its shameful because it encourages the scrapping of servicable vehicles (which has an environmental cost) and in the process transfers the British taxpayers money to (predominantly foreign) car manufacturers via the motor trade.
Arfur Daley must have hired some slick lobyists and greased some fat palms to swing that one.
I can’t imagine that too many with a car beyond 1973 would give them up as they are tax exempt. That’s quite a big saving and a bonus if its a classic.
Where i live (xindian) theres a proper AE86 thats well used and not a anime boy collectors special and also a Audi RS2 avant… if you know cars then you would know how awesome that is, the same guy also has a RUF CTR2 in yellow.
There’s a bloke up the road here with one too. His is decked out with a turbo, intercooler and all the gubbins. It’s mainly used for drifting.
As it happens, I saw another one at the track a couple of weeks ago.
[quote=“sulavaca”] There’s a bloke up the road here with one too. His is decked out with a turbo, intercooler and all the gubbins. It’s mainly used for drifting.
As it happens, I saw another one at the track a couple of weeks ago. [/quote]
wow all souped up with turbo and stuff? interesting… from what i remember of the DMV in taiwan (Department of Motor Vehicles), they had a pretty strict regulations on what you could do to cars in terms of modifications. i recall they didn’t even let you repaint your car in different color other from the original factory color. but it’s been a while so not sure if they might have relaxed the regulations, or maybe this dude just found a very “friendly” DMV inspector… 
ya… good point there! car culture in taiwan def seems to be still rather “shallow” shall we say…?
[quote=“superjACK”]
wow all souped up with turbo and stuff? interesting… from what i remember of the DMV in taiwan (Department of Motor Vehicles), they had a pretty strict regulations on what you could do to cars in terms of modifications. i recall they didn’t even let you repaint your car in different color other from the original factory color. but it’s been a while so not sure if they might have relaxed the regulations, or maybe this dude just found a very “friendly” DMV inspector… [/quote]
Everyone will tell you this but the reality is very different.
Anything can be passed with money, next to the DMV there are tons of little shops that charge you a fee to pass your car, takes 10 mins.
Say you have HID’s but its not on your cars document, its about 500nt extra over the standard test price, or something more extreme like an engine swap… about 4000nt extra.
The same people can also permantly change the documentation for the car to represent what you have installed… but it costs about 10k.
Its all very corrupt and dodgy really, dont let anyone convince you otherwise.
[quote=“smellybumlove”]
Its all very corrupt and dodgy really, dont let anyone convince you otherwise.[/quote]
Who would try?
[quote=“Ducked”][quote=“smellybumlove”]
Its all very corrupt and dodgy really, dont let anyone convince you otherwise.[/quote]
Who would try?[/quote]
Everyone… so many people always tell me ‘this is illegal here you know’ or ‘you wont pass your test with that on you know’ this is from various tuners and owners of modified cars.
They all seem to have it in their head that the country is upright and proper like back home and just love to remind foreigners of that b.s fact.
[quote=“superjACK”][quote=“sulavaca”] There’s a bloke up the road here with one too. His is decked out with a turbo, intercooler and all the gubbins. It’s mainly used for drifting.
As it happens, I saw another one at the track a couple of weeks ago. [/quote]
wow all souped up with turbo and stuff? interesting… from what i remember of the DMV in taiwan (Department of Motor Vehicles), they had a pretty strict regulations on what you could do to cars in terms of modifications. i recall they didn’t even let you repaint your car in different color other from the original factory color. but it’s been a while so not sure if they might have relaxed the regulations, or maybe this dude just found a very “friendly” DMV inspector… [/quote]
Naa! Anyone in the motor trade can get anything past inspection. We all know the testers, so its just a nod, a twiddle on the exhaust gas tester and Bob’s your uncle!
Well I’m in Taipei and I gotta say, after years of searching for a lovely Datsun
I only found a couple of beaten up pickup trucks and a fairly nice B210 (1978) for which
the guy (who is a car mechanic by the way) laughed his head off when I asked him
whether he’d be interested in selling it… After lengthy negotiations though, he finally
offered me a price: $NT 1,500,000 ! ! !
I politely declined hoping I could go back after a few years and talk some reason into him
but since then that Datsun has disappeared 
sweet.