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So what's yours called ? Chat, but someone has to start it


 
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jon
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Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 12
Location: bosnia

PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2003 21:57    Post subject: So what's yours called ? Chat, but someone has to start it Reply with quote

We all drive a "Monica Lewinsky" and don't know it. I wonder if they all own BJ models.

Article from Friday's San Jose Mercury:

Vehicle of choice in Iraq is late-model `Monica'
By Michael Currie *beep*
Knight Ridder

IRBIL, Iraq - It's a car.

It's a truck.

It's a ``Monica.''

In Iraq, no set of wheels is held in higher regard than the large, mostly white Toyota Land Cruiser sport-utility vehicles long favored by government officials, intelligence agents and VIPs from Basra to Kirkuk.

Locals call the vehicles ``Monicas,'' as in Lewinsky, after the former White House intern whose appearance meets Iraqi standards for both feminine and automotive beauty.

``She's a beautiful girl, and it's a beautiful car,'' said Ghazi Abdullah Dormari, whose auto-trading lot in the Kurdish city of Irbil features several late-model Monicas.

``They are a very tempting car,'' said Marwan Shaban, a car dealer in the nearby northern city of Mosul. ``Just as Monica tempted Clinton, they will tempt you.''

Nicknaming cars is an Iraqi tradition. A slightly older Land Cruiser model is known as the Leyla Alawi, after a glamorous Egyptian actress. A Nissan SUV is named after Najwa Karam, a famous belly dancer, Shaban said.

The Monica, like its namesake, is trailed by the scent of scandal.
Thousands of cars were looted from Iraqi cities in the chaos that followed the collapse of Saddam's rule. Many of them were Monicas stolen from presidential compounds. A series of carjackings cemented the vehicle's reputation as a crook's favorite.

As a result, the four-wheel-drive's reputation has taken a hit.

Last month, the United Nations' Iraqi office ordered its fleet of white 4-by-4s painted royal blue. The decision arose from concern that drivers of the ubiquitous vehicles would be mistaken for bandits, said Sonia Dumont, an Irbil-based official of the U.N. Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.
In Irbil, many of the Monicas on the streets have Baghdad license plates -- suggesting that they, too, were recently liberated.

``The people here, they bought them from looters,'' said Jabar Mohammad-Amin, 47, a car trader.
The vehicles, said Jawad Mohammad-Amin, 40, the owner of one of the trading lots, are ``less valuable now, because so many are around and because they're associated with looters.''

A Monica with ``good papers'' costs $30,000, limiting ownership to the same stratum of fat cats who owned them before the war. But a Monica -- where you buy it from someone who says he will never see you again -- can go for just $10,000.

The discount price is part of a trend of tumbling car prices since the postwar looting.
On the street in front of Irbil's auto traders, men behind the wheels of several Monicas bearing Baghdad tags quoted prices of $8,000 to $14,000. The vehicles were described as being in good working order, though one man noted that a door lock was broken.

The owners of official and licensed auto-trading lots all insisted that when it came to looted Monicas, they didn't have commercial relations with that vehicle.

``We don't sell looted cars here,'' said Dormari, one hand resting on the pistol tucked into his trousers. ``People sell them only in secret places.''

What about the white 2002 Land Cruiser with Baghdad tags that was parked right in front of his office door?

``That car has been here for nine months,'' Dormari said.
========================================


Ours is 'Charlie the Cruiser'
Smile Smile
cheers

jon
_________________
'92 HZJ80 military spec ex UN surplus in Bosnia registered in Vanuatu -


1988 Pajero 2.5td in UK
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2003 21:57    Post subject: Google Ads keep this community free to join!


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The Proff
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Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 28
Location: Bolton

PostPosted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 14:22    Post subject: Reply with quote

Haven't really got a name for mine yet. Either gets called 'The Cruiser' or 'The Tank'!

I used to make up names from the numberplate letters, but gave up on my last car with KBV! This cruiser could be " 'enpecked" - guess the letters! But I'm not married, and that's too obvious anyway!
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jon
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Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 12
Location: bosnia

PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2003 11:13    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well proff pleased to see come action on the list now - speaking from the very important position as the first subscriber to it !

My reg is - 782 T 868 - so you see it had to be 'Charlie the Cruiser'.

I keep a Pajero in UK with the reg HJI 292 (which I have had for years), so it gets called 'harry'.

Isn't it all a bit stupid for grown me to call their cars names ?

Perhaps we need stupidity at times to break the monotony of our working lives. Especially out here.

Might want to UK reg Charlie in the very near future, so does anyone know of any possible problems registering an Asian market HZJ80 in UK ?

(Its LHD but does have a rear foglight and all the safety belts etc)

Cheers

Jon

Sarajevo
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'92 HZJ80 military spec ex UN surplus in Bosnia registered in Vanuatu -


1988 Pajero 2.5td in UK
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