Residents of Korea have probably noticed that Koreans aren’t big on “classic cars,” so to speak. The Busan Ilbo reports today that for the filming of “Remember 5.18,” producers actually had to re-import five Hyundai Ponies from Egypt, where they’re still used as taxis.
The Hyundai Pony, Hyundai’s first domestically designed model, first hit local markets in February 1976. In July of that year, five Ponies were exported to Ecuador, making the historic beginning of Korean car exports.
From 1976 to 1985, some 70,000 Ponies were exported worldwide (although not to the United States, where it failed emissions standards. The first Hyundai exported to the United States was the Excel, of which my family owned two).
Oddly enough, I actually spotted a Hyundai Pony in Buyeo on Sunday and, like a National Geographic photographer on safari, had the presence of mind to snap a photo of it:
That’s a Pony 1400 GLS pickup, pimped out as a mobile DVD/CD/tape store. The owner is clearly aware of the role he plays in preserving Korea’s cultural heritage, with the phone number of the Pony Aficionado Club painted on the side.
27 Comments
Your family had two early model Hyundai cars? My apologies for the anguish your family suffered and I did not realize you come from a family of modest means. That means you are not a legacy kid and got into Gtown on merit.
I thought about customizing a Hyundai before, but I don’t have the $$$$ to spend on what would basically be a private joke.
The pickup is truly pimped though. It’s bitchin’.
Hey, it’s not like we lived in the ghetto, either. And reputation aside, the Hyundai Excel was a good car. My parents would swear by them. We had a red one and a cream-colored one.
It is my dream that, one day, I’ll have enough money to pimp out a Daewoo Tico… oh wait, I can just do that with my paycheck from my part-time job.
http://www.hyundaiusa.com/Tuner/Gallery.asp
There is/was a gold one in Songtan a couple of years ago.It looked to be very well cared for.I’d like to have it.I was told a halmoni owned it,it was full of cardboard for recycling. I also thought it’d be a hoot to stuff a V6 into the back of a Towner/Damas van.
I owned an ‘86 Hyundai Stellar. An absolutely terrible car. Manual choke, rusted out gas tank, constant alternator problems, unintelligible controls/dials, etc. Held together with duct tape near the end. Best of all, there was no block heater, so it wouldn’t start on many Canadian January and February days without the assistance of a hair dryer. I do not have even the remotest sense of nostalga about this complete piece of shit. (Heck, fifteen years later, it still winds me up just thinking about it!)
Having said that, I would be happy to drive a Sonata or Elantra back home sometime in the future. Good bang for the buck. Much improved, and no longer the Lada/Yugo-like stigma.
Lada? Those were never sold in the US are you a Canuck?
English article on the re-imported Ponies here.
I learned to drive standard on a mid 80s Pony. Can’t say I miss it.
“Lada? Those were never sold in the US are you a Canuck?”
Reread his post.
Rob, you might want to shade out the license plate number and the phone number on that Pony unless you want to get sued.
And reputation aside, the Hyundai Excel was a good car. My parents would swear by them.
But Robert, that’s just what folks here are saying: by them, in them, near them - it’s basically the same thing.
Like that?
Ah the things I did in Ponies…
Anyway there used to be a joke about Gaepo-dong.
“Gaepo-dong got its name because it was the dong that even ‘dogs gave up on’. Now it’s the dong where dogs drive Ponies.”
“개도 포기한 동네였다가 개도 포니를 몰고 다니는 동네가 됐다고.”
I was in Korea when the first Ponies came out, a vast improvement over the old Shinjins that were the standard then. I was in one (a Shinjin taxi) when the front passenger wheel came off and another where the rear passenger door fell off into the street. Ah, those were the days!
Is the reason for the lack of older cars in Korea due to a mandatory vehicle inspection system? Autos in Japan have to be inspected every couple of years (after the first three, I think) and then annually once they reach ten years old. It costs money to do this, partly because you have to fix or replace anything the licensed garage doing the inspection tells you to fix or replace. This is one reason there are also fewer classic cars in Japan.
I know from experience it’s not easy maintaining them. Before coming to Japan in the early 80s, I drove a 61 Tbird in California. Women loved it, but the time and money on maintenance were a son-of-a-gun. It seemed like I had to change the carburetor every time I filled the gas tank, and at 7 miles to the gallon, that was all too frequently.
wJS,
Well, cars are probably the one status symbol that Koreans have. Nearly everyone lives in a concrete box, so there’s little else to serve that purpose.
Romantic nostalgia for old Korean cars is not the same as for old American muscle cars. There’s simply nothing sexy about driving a 1976 Pony.
Hey, be a bit more discerning about the sweeping generalization of “concrete box”. Some are mansions, others are villes, a few are castles and brownstones, and I live in a hometown. The true connaisseur will immediately recognize the mediocre concrete work of the mansion when constrasted to that of the castle. The cracks are much more noble.
ItalDesign Pony Coupe Concept (1974):
http://www.conceptcar.ee/itald.....index.html
I might point out that design might have been used for the De Lorean:
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2005/.....-delorean/
#17,
The vast majority do live in apartments, that’s not a sweeping generalization. You won’t find many mansions in Kangnam, you know. Besides, even those who can afford mansions here prefer living in apartments. Mind you, they are much larger than mine, but they are apartments nonetheless.
#19.
…and the Bricklin…
http://images.google.com/image.....amp;tab=wi
PS. The Bricklin SV-1 predates the Pony Coupe Concept, which came out before the DeLorean DMC-12.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricklin_SV-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Lorean_DMC-12
@ someguy, you been here long? Some of the first apartments built here were tagged “mansions”. And all the others derive from that. And yep they all are concrete boxes, but once its tag loses cachet no one wants it until it’s ready to be torn down. To be replaced by a castle or an obelisk.
Man, that joke went right over my head. The Mansions, the Castles, and the Bils. It seems so obvious now that you explain it. LOL
By the way, Malcolm Briklin’s new thing now is trying to import Chinese made Chery cars into the US. Chery is notorious for having copied the designs of Korean cars, namely the Matiz and the Magnus, for some of their cars.
#25
Amazing Cherry car crash test clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....%258F%2599
“Chery is notorious for having copied the designs of Korean cars, namely the Matiz and the Magnus, for some of their cars.”
Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?