Given that they are Toyota, they probably still work at tip top condition. You just need tyres, battery and fuel
Damn, wonder if there’s some nice finds there.
Did they work ???
There should be some nice cars in there for sure. Exploring time
Lot’s of parts stolen from UN staff
I tried so hard to get my hands on those cars…
People have been jumping on the cars…new but not “as new”.
Getting close to 50 years and no one thought to take one?
Is this place publicly accessible? Looks like something that’d be nice to explore a bit.
I served in the army outpost 5meters away from this.
You can walk or cycle round the buffer zone now from the North side at Famagusta , we’ve been round but I didn’t remember seeing the dealership .
It’s interesting to see how built up it was way back in 1974?
What’s the history? You can’t move the dealership but the cars could have moved? Seems weird to leave all your inventory. Was the buffer zone imposed as a surprise?
I don’t think that’s a Toyota dealership.
I remember reading the cars were imported from Japan via the Famagusta port to be sold at Toyota dealerships but were moved to the basement of a shopping center in Nicosia to protect them from the 1974 turkish invasion.
The shopping center located in the UN buffer zone was used as headquarters by the UN before it was abandoned.
The UN soldiers moved a couple of cars from the basement to the ground floor as can be seen in the pictures.
I don’t understand why the UN soldiers would vandalize them and not preserve them.
Edit: I just made a quick search to find more accurate info of what I remember and typed above:
The 52 Toyota cars were imported by Dickran Ouzounian (current & sole Toyota cars Cyprus dealer since 1965) prior to the 1974 invasion and stored at the dealership’s customs warehouse in Ermou street Nicosia (which is now located in the buffer zone).
It is unclear to me how exactly the 52 cars were transported from Famagusta port to Nicosia (might have been driven as some show around 40 miles on the clock which would be the actual distance from the port).
Dickran Ouzounian tried to get the cars back but was not successful.
The cars were rummaged for parts and vandalized.
It’s Toyota just cleared up a bit and nothing will run like a beauty
15 comments
Source
First 4 pictures: https://romanrobroek.nl/a-rare-view-inside-the-buffer-zone-in-nicosia-cyprus/
Rest: https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/more-nostalgic-toyotas-from-cyprus-un-buffer-zone/
Given that they are Toyota, they probably still work at tip top condition. You just need tyres, battery and fuel
Damn, wonder if there’s some nice finds there.
Did they work ???
There should be some nice cars in there for sure. Exploring time
Lot’s of parts stolen from UN staff
I tried so hard to get my hands on those cars…
People have been jumping on the cars…new but not “as new”.
Getting close to 50 years and no one thought to take one?
Is this place publicly accessible? Looks like something that’d be nice to explore a bit.
I served in the army outpost 5meters away from this.
You can walk or cycle round the buffer zone now from the North side at Famagusta , we’ve been round but I didn’t remember seeing the dealership .
It’s interesting to see how built up it was way back in 1974?
What’s the history? You can’t move the dealership but the cars could have moved? Seems weird to leave all your inventory. Was the buffer zone imposed as a surprise?
I don’t think that’s a Toyota dealership.
I remember reading the cars were imported from Japan via the Famagusta port to be sold at Toyota dealerships but were moved to the basement of a shopping center in Nicosia to protect them from the 1974 turkish invasion.
The shopping center located in the UN buffer zone was used as headquarters by the UN before it was abandoned.
The UN soldiers moved a couple of cars from the basement to the ground floor as can be seen in the pictures.
I don’t understand why the UN soldiers would vandalize them and not preserve them.
Edit: I just made a quick search to find more accurate info of what I remember and typed above:
The 52 Toyota cars were imported by Dickran Ouzounian (current & sole Toyota cars Cyprus dealer since 1965) prior to the 1974 invasion and stored at the dealership’s customs warehouse in Ermou street Nicosia (which is now located in the buffer zone).
It is unclear to me how exactly the 52 cars were transported from Famagusta port to Nicosia (might have been driven as some show around 40 miles on the clock which would be the actual distance from the port).
Dickran Ouzounian tried to get the cars back but was not successful.
The cars were rummaged for parts and vandalized.
It’s Toyota just cleared up a bit and nothing will run like a beauty