KUSADASI, Turkey – I

’m always tickled when I run across another car enthusiast in a most unlikely place, like Kusadasi, a small town on the western coast of Turkey that is visited almost daily by cruise ships that disgorge passengers to visit nearby Ephesus, an ancient Greek, and later Roman, city.

Ephesus was, at one time, the second largest city of the Roman Empire. It had 250,000 people in the 1st Century B.C. The archaeological site of Ephesus is about half an hour’s drive from Kusadasi. While my wife and I toured Ephesus with two of our friends, our guide, a young Turkish man named Mutlu Bulut, asked what I did for a job. When I told him I wrote about cars, he asked if I would like to see a local car collection. With great anticipation, I answered yes, not knowing just what I might find.

After a delightful Turkish lunch, our private van driver pulled into the parking lot of the Turkmen Art and Rug shop just a few minutes outside of Kusadasi. At the back of the lot, under a corrugated tin awning sat eight cars, seven of which were American. The eighth was a Volkswagen Super Beetle.

Cuneyt Balcik, one of the owners, spoke excellent English, and he said he was a huge fan of American cars because “their soft ride makes you feel rich.” He said he was especially enamored by the ride quality of his 1957 Chevy BelAir.

“In the 1970s, all of the taxis in Kusadasi were Chevys,” Balcik said. “There were ‘62s, ‘65s and ‘67s, but because of the economy the drivers all switched to small cars.”

Later that afternoon, while walking around the village, I saw a 1966 Chevrolet taxi parked between two of today’s small, box-shaped Fiat Doblo taxis. Compared to them, it looked large and out of place, but it also looked more comfortable.

Balcik had a nice collection of BMW motorcycles, ranging in age from 1948 to 1957. To me they looked more impressive than the collection of cars, but Balcik seemed to treat them more dismissively.

Balcik said that the famous American racer Parnelli Jones was one of his most memorable guests. Jones and his wife were on a cruise ship. “He had fun with the cars, and the missus purchased some carpets,” Balcik said with a hearty laugh.

The 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook convertible is the oldest car in the group, but which is Balcik’s favourite? “Oh, the 1966 Mustang convertible, with its whop-whop-whop V-8. That rumble that makes you sick.”

See, car guys are the same the world over.

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