plankhond

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The ultimate doesn’t exi…. Oh wait, it does. But chances are little it will ever be mine. This wonderful early if dr...
26/06/2026

The ultimate doesn’t exi…. Oh wait, it does. But chances are little it will ever be mine. This wonderful early if drom@the Renault factory collection and taken to Obiza to brighten up the launch of the 2026 Twingo. Not that it needed brightening up - the new Twingo is a bubbly joyful little thing as it is.

Anyway: the perfect Twingo. Even though O drove a Bleu Outremer one back in 1993 (for one weekend only), given the choice, I’d probably go for this Rouge Corail. It looks red under the Balearic sun, but it sits really more somewhere between pink and salmon. Of course it needs the original Soho interior that just screams early 90s. Other must-haves are the two-tone steering wheel and an original radio with green buttons (that is missing on this car). I’ve been a Twingo fan ever since I first laid eyes on it back in 1992 and I’ll always adore it 😍.

There’s a rather interesting connection between the facelifted and the Citroën C6, which you can read about in the boo...
24/06/2026

There’s a rather interesting connection between the facelifted and the Citroën C6, which you can read about in the book on the last big Citroën by Citrovisie.

The C6 had a difficult birth. The project experienced significant delays, and the car was only launched six years after Citroën first showed the C6 Lignage concept car in 1999. Around 2002, the C6 project ran into very rough waters after it was decided to halt it entirely for financial reasons. Once the team working on the car had been disbanded, its members would move on to other cars, and it would have been impossible to bring them back together, meaning the C6 would probably never see the light of day.

At the same time, a facelift of the still-new C5 was imminent. The design of the first-generation C5 had been harshly criticised, and something had to be done to address that. The C6 project manager made a smart move: he argued that his team should work on the facelift of the C5. That way, he could keep the team together and continue work on the C6 once the situation improved. And it did: after a while, the decision was made to restart work on the C6, and the original team could carry out the car as planned. Which makes the C5 II — which I consider not the best example of a facelift — the car that ensured the C6 exists!

Citroen C5 1.8-16V Cool Tech, 27 April 2007.

You have to look carefully, but the good people at Volkswagen do have their flights of fancy every now and then. Somewhe...
17/06/2026

You have to look carefully, but the good people at Volkswagen do have their flights of fancy every now and then. Somewhere between the Phaeton and the Polo Harlekino, there’s this: the with the ‘Tim & Tom’ interior. The names refer to the upholstery, which consists of cartoony images of a cat (Tim) and a mouse (Tom) on a bright green background. For a moment, I thought Tim & Tom were the German names used for the famous cartoon duo Tom & Jerry, but they appear not to be.
You only see Tom -the mouse- here. I haven’t taken pictures of Tim, by the way, because I only discovered his existence afterwards. Going back to the scrapyard would have been useless —the images date from last August and the car is gone (I checked to make sure). So, as for Tim, you’ll have to make do with a picture I took from the internet (4).

Tom (the mouse) appears exclusively on the seats, Tim (the cat) on the door cards. I imagine Ferdinand Piëch personally ensured Tom would never be ‘caught’ by Tim by keeping the two apart. He probably did not want to scare his grandchildren. Still, things do get a bit exciting when you close the doors and the two come dangerously close to one another. The internet is full of people wondering who’d ever want an interior like that. I can answer that question: I do. It’s all very weird in an exceptionally cute way, plus I think the is a very well-designed, underestimated little car. Might I say a , even?

A first series in basic spec which was named Ligne Séduction in our market. Which is a big overstatement of course, un...
13/06/2026

A first series in basic spec which was named Ligne Séduction in our market. Which is a big overstatement of course, unless you’re Séduced by steelies with ‘Arromanche’ plastic wheel covers, like me. The Blanc Banquise paint seals the deal here - nothing makes a car look cheap like solid white paint.

On a different note: it was only after taking that first sideshot that I noticed how much the five door C4 berline looks like its smaller sibling, the C3 from the same era!

Citroen C4 1.4-16V Ligne Séduction, 25 June 2008.

Before the Renault Espace and Chrysler Voyager made the MPV mainstream, the Japanese were already experimenting with the...
05/06/2026

Before the Renault Espace and Chrysler Voyager made the MPV mainstream, the Japanese were already experimenting with the formula. In the early 1980s, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Honda added tall, roomy station wagons to their line-ups, clearly inspired by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s brilliant 1978 Lancia Megagamma. They weren’t quite full MPVs yet in terms of practicality, but they came remarkably close. The Nissan Prairie (1982), Mitsubishi Chariot/Space Wagon (1983) and Honda Civic Shuttle (1983) were true trailblazers for the people-carrier boom that followed later in the decade.

Back then, I barely noticed cars like these. To me, they were just oddly tall station wagons and not especially handsome. Now? I think they are incredibly cool. You can sign me up for this Civic Shuttle any time. I still would have picked different wheels, though. I also think this is a very car.

Honda Civic Shuttle 1.5 GL, 25 September 1991.

During a side hustle I stumbled upon this absolutely outrageous Mercedes W201 ‘Avantgarde Rosso’. And fell in love. So w...
03/06/2026

During a side hustle I stumbled upon this absolutely outrageous Mercedes W201 ‘Avantgarde Rosso’. And fell in love.

So what happened? To celebrate 10 years of the W201, Mercedes launched three limited Avantgarde versions of the 190 — intended to give the ageing W201 series a fresh breath of air and aimed at buyers who wanted their Baby Benz a little less sensible and a lot less beige.

The Avantgarde Rosso (ca 2.200 built) was powered by a 1.8-litre petrol engine. It was the most accessible of the trio — and probably the least subtle. Mercedes wanted it to be the most artistic of the three, which is easily explained by the completely bonkers ‘Arcade’ interior, inspired by modern art and the New York graffiti scene. At least, that’s what Mercedes wants us to believe. The Avantgarde Verde (ca 900 built) was the most sensible of the three. It was green inside and out and came with the 2.5-litre five-cylinder diesel engine. At the time, this model was classified as a low-emission vehicle. And finally, the Avantgarde Azzurro (ca 950 built), was the sporty one. It came with Mercedes’ Sportline suspension, which was stiffer than the regular setup. The Azzurro was the driver’s choice and had a four-seat interior with individual rear seats. Each seat had its own colour: blue, yellow, red, and green.

The Avantgarde Rosso is my favourite version of course. Who can say no to an interior like that? The detail that got me is the original folder for the instruction manual. It’s covered in the same wild ‘Arcade’ cloth and it’s apparently very hard to find. And suddenly I can see myself driving a Mercedes…

Mercedes-Benz 190 1.8E Avantgarde Rosso, 28 October 1992.

At their the owner of my old showed up - with the BX. I must have felt this coming, cause I had picked my clothes t...
24/05/2026

At their the owner of my old showed up - with the BX. I must have felt this coming, cause I had picked my clothes to match it exactly 😍

The former flagship of the fleet looks splendid as ever and is taken incredibly good care of. I couldn’t have imagined a better custodian than .bruggen !

Citroen BX 19GT, 7 January 1985.

GM: “Here’s your platform.”Saab engineers: “Cool, we’ll fix it.”The NG 900 spent its whole life being called “not a real...
19/05/2026

GM: “Here’s your platform.”
Saab engineers: “Cool, we’ll fix it.”

The NG 900 spent its whole life being called “not a real Saab” by people who never drove one longer than 14 minutes. Meanwhile it was a real Daab: the story goes the car’s development was very advanced before GM came aboard. Saab quietly stuffed tue 900 full of turbo weirdness, fighter-jet ergonomics. Plus they gave us Black Panel, something I still believe actually improves safety during nightly drives.

Yes, the second generation of the shares its genetics with an Opel. But so does your body with a potato and that doesn’t make you french fries. The “fake” Saab kept the company alive for years while everyone complained about it. Isn’t that a very Northern European thing to do: hating the thing that saves you?
Now the good ones are disappearing, and suddenly everyone talks about the NG900 like a misunderstood genius instead of a disguised Vectra. I’m in on the 900NG. Are you?

Saab 900 2.0, 20 November 1997.

18/05/2026

Dacht je dat je alles wel wist over de Volvo 300-serie? De 363 CS die het merk overwoog had een heuse V6 met 140 pk, de motor van de 264. Het is er nooit van gekomen maar wat een spektakel had dat kunnen zijn!

The undisputed king of cannot be anything but the . The index is crystal clear about these: the 307 is an undiscove...
16/05/2026

The undisputed king of cannot be anything but the . The index is crystal clear about these: the 307 is an undiscovered gem. Within five years people will want these as a . Get one while they are still cheap!

Peugeot 307 1.6-16V XS Pack, 5 March 2004.

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