Down on the Street - Taipei Edition

Justys!
My first car was one of these diminutive shitboxes. They're VERY rare cars in the US now, disposable in nature and very prone to rust.
These two were parked within a block of each other. I've probably only seen a half a dozen of these in the last 15 years.
These are both 1990-'94 models with slightly rounded styling. The silver one is even "Super Deluxe"!
I wonder if the Super Deluxe moniker means that it has an accessory cupholder.

Here's my first car - an '88 Justy DL just in case you care (I know you don't but it's my blog so I'm showing it anyway).

When I bought it as a two year-old car, 1990:
The luxurious and sporty interior:

also shown, the first of many nice stereos to be pried from the dashboard by thieves

The stomping 66 HP 3 cylinder, 9 valve engine, which once propelled me, assisted by both gravity and a strong tailwind, to an indicated 95 MPH:

not-so fun fact: The Justy was the last car sold in the US with a carburetor
Good friend Joe and the Justy, ready to head to Green Lake with a crappy sailboat on the roof

After four and a half years and 113,000 miles, the car had had enough. Despite my best efforts, Midwestern road salt had started taking it's toll, the cheap vinyl seats were splitting and it had an seemingly-unfixable electrical gremlin that made it sputter. I parted ways and traded it in on a then three year-old SAAB 900.

At The Zü

We've had annual passes for the World Famous San Diego Zoo for nearly a year now. During that time I've joined the grrrls a few times for excursions to the Zoo's Wild Animal Park in Escondido, but had not yet hit the actual zoo. The weather was fit for a summer day on Sunday, with temps in the mid-80s. Is it really March?

The zoo had just opened a new polar bear exhibit a few days prior, so we hopped in the zoo's Skyfari® to zip across the park to see the bears.
Nice views from up here - Balboa Park's World Exhibition building:
Lookin' down on some exhibit:
Balboa Park's Cabrillo Bridge and the SD skyline:
Celeste and a six month old bear representation. Still much bigger than Juno:
Popping thru the "ice":
Piloting a Bell Jet Ranger:
Gen-u-ine gauges:
Oh yeah, and a polar bear - this a female, weighing in at about 600 lbs:
The trip was cut short due to a sick and overheating grrrl. Maybe we'll renew the membership and return in the near future for a longer visit.

Down on the Street - Taipei Edition

More Euro iron in Taipei.
This crusty little Super Beetle lives in one of Taipei's alleys. It's the first air-cooled VW I've seen on the island during my travels.
Unfortunately it's seen better days, with abundant rust munching away at the aforementioned iron.
It might be a good idea to get a fresh tetanus shot prior to driving it.
I wonder how much time before this little Käfer gets scrapped.
That duct tape appears to be structural.

Names You Shouldn't Give Your Company

This post's title pretty much sums it up. As seen on the floor of the Taipei Cycle Show.
"Enex" is a pretty innocuous name, if a little boring. Great tagline though:

"Creat the Landmark of Future"

And Now A Word From Our Sponsors

This week's posts are brought to you by Phillip Morris Taiwan. Taiwanese dogs just love the high quality tobacco-laden cancer sticks of Phillip Morris.

Down on the Street - Taipei Edition

I've always thought that Peugeot's 205 was a sharp-looking little Euro hatch. This 205 GTi looks attractive on the grey streets of Taipei.
Nice OZ wheels too. Wonder why the front end is so high. Missing engine?
It's unfortunate that Peugeot stopped selling cars in the US and that they never imported this model.

Taiwan: Scooter Poetry II

Upon returning from Taiwan last March, I posted some of the great Taiwanese scooter "poetry" on the blog.

I'm happy to add a few more to the collection. Here goes:

"Flying Angel of Elegant, Nimble and Beautiful."
"Diamond Team High Quality By Dock"
"SUPER COMPUTER ACCESS
POWERED BY BLITZ"
"Welcome To The Cabin Z Scooter
It's A Scooter With European Styling
And Dynamic Movements
RACING TEAM"
"YOU CAN TRY!...GOING!...BLAZE IT UP!
THE CUSTOM MADE OF GOING."

"This is a new concept for creative your life"

"THE SCOOTER OF WIND CALLED"

"SET ME FREE, LET ME ALONE"
THE MODERN SCOOTER, CITIZEN
fancy jog
my fancy free

Apparently one scooter maker had a series of dog-themed scooters.

"THE
DOG
Chihuahua"
"TNE DOC
Artlist Collection"

And while this is not a factory-applied sticker like those above, I find it amusing that the owner has a thing against unleaded fuel:
No self-respecting US tradesman would show up at a job site with anything less than an F-650 Super-Duty® dually 4x4 with a 12.5 liter turbo diesel, but here they manage to get by on two (or sometimes three) wheels:

loading a floor buffer
nice rack!

And just in case you forgot what you're riding is called:

scooter

Taiwan Good Luck Charm

Apparently it's not uncommon to find money glued to calculators. In this case, $1NT (about 3¢ US). It's believed to bring the user great fortune.