Tehran Cafe Racers

Hi,

It was an honor and a pleasure for me. The magazine is great, and thank you for sending the copies. I read it cover to cover.

Warmest Regards,

Ramin

 

Hi,
It is such a pleasure to hear from someone, who unlike our good friend, can even appreciate the merits of a 412. The car is in pristine condition. Believe it or not, I also found a K70 VW which I had hoped to put on display at the show, which, as Murphy's law would have it, was involved in an accident right before the show (with a truck of all things). Hopefully, it will be back on the road in time for another event.

We also had a visit from one of your countrymen who spent a day with us and our Mercedes Club. I don't have the link handy but if you search the internet I think the blog he wrote was "A Cruise with the MB club Tehran" and was on ozbenz.net. He was a true gentleman and we had a great day with him.

Best wishes

Ramin

 

H

Hi,
This one also has the 914 engine. Thank you for the kind words.

Best Regards,

Ramin

 

Dear All,

Though F12KID beat me to the punch, allow me to wish all a Happy Nowruz. I hope to re-start posting soon.

Best Wishes

Ramin

 

Hi,

I am over a year behind in posts. The Nowruz holiday has provided some much needed time. We had many events, but it would be unfair if I did not wind down the show with the remaining stands.
Hope you all enjoy the pics. As I mentioned, the hurdles our guys face in maintain their cars would be daunting in many other countries, here it is a part of maintaining our passion.

First visit is to the English and Italian Car Club pavilion. enjoy.

Best Regards,

Ramin
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This Beta Zagato was originally presented to the winner of the Miss Iran beauty pageant. Yes friends, before the revolution we had beauty pageants. Its fun to watch the reactions of the post revolution generation Iranians when they hear the history of this car. Disbelief would be the understatement of the year.
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Daimler Sovreign
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This Fulvia in a past life was a well known rally champion.
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Mini and MG. Hard to believe that one is now owned by the Chinese and the other by the Germans.
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TR3 and GT6
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Austin / Nash Metropolitan
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Beautiful Jag
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Beautifully restored Range Rover.
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Will follow-up shortly

 

MG
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The Paykan (the former Hillman Hunter) was the car that jump started the Iranian automotive industry. Today Iran is the largest automotive manufacturing country in the MENA region and according to Boston Consulting is one of the fastest and largest markets in the world.

It all due to this car, which was localized and became a national icon. The US has baseball, apple pie and Chevy's and Iran has tea, soccer and the Paykan. There is club dedicated to this car who are among the most diehard which I have ever met. This first picture is of some of the members of the club with your truly.
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Here is one of their members restorations.
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The yellow Paykan is a GT "Javanan", which had twin carbs and other performance enhancements. During heyday of the 1970's this car was the aspiration of many young Iranians who were seeking their first car. The name of the vehicle "Javanan: was clear in who its target was as "javanan" means "youth".
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Hi,
As far as I know this was a common color, quite popular for the Range Rover's which were exported to Iran (which were quite a few). I don't have the VIN, but I can try to check with the owner.

A piece of trivia, in the 1970's the Iranian police used Range Rover's in their fleet across Iran due to the vehicles capabilities.

Regards,

Ramin

 

As long as we rounded out the last post with the Iranian Paykan, then we should go to the opposite aisle (pun intended) and visit the US car Club. The first picture is of celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Firebird.
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We had a sample of all the generations of the Firebird on display up to 1991 which was the end date of the import of any US cars into Iran. Here is a nice 79.
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Many would not believe that Cadillac's were assembled locally in Iran before the revolution. This was a huge step forward for the still nascent Iranian automotive industry at the time. Here is one of the locally assembled Cadillac Seville's.
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