Talking of derelict cars!

I was on a UN tour in Cyprus two years ago and even though I'm a chef in the Army, I asked to go on a few foot patrols along the Green Line (officially described as 'The Demilitarised Zone') through the very middle of Nicosia. There is an underground garage / car park facility along the route of the patrol which has been out of bounds and therefore out of the reach of destructive thieves and robbers, kept under lock and key. In that garage there are dozens of derelict cars which have been been trapped there since the Turkish invasion of the north of the island in 1974.

The basic story of how the cars came to be there is briefly as follows. All the cars were stored in or near the docks of Ayia Napa, I believe, and when the Turks were advancing lightening fast around the Famagusta area, the owner of the vehicles diced to move them somewhere 'safer'. He got them moved to this underground storage facility right in the centr of Nicosia, thinking the Turks would never advance so far. Eventually the Turks did manage to advance that far and took over half of the city and when the dust finally settled and a 'peace line' had been drawn and UN peace keepers installed, all these dozens of cars were discovered ensconced in this underground garage.

All modern cars of their time, quite a few have sadly been damaged and ransacked, allegedly by some Canadian soldiers not long before they left the island and handed over the sector to the British. One or two of the cars have actually been worked on and made to work! A few are stored within what became a Canadian / British troop house.

In that troop house, it's former occupants put together a little museum of 60s and 70s artifacts including TVs, parafinn cookers, maps and loads of other everyday items. It really is a gem.

The Cypriot public have been denied access to this and hundreds of other areas and there are miles of proprties lying completely abandoned on each side of the track which is the DMZ.

Please forgive me if these pics are not relevant in any way, it's the first time I've posted pics on here.


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr


Untitled by armychef, on Flickr

<< I've seen that I should or could add a title to the pics for ease of description. I'll do this in the future. >>

I like that,great first report!!

You may get shot down though mate as reports on cars are banned, but this mainly came from a report that a member put on here with a load of classic cars in the garden and a fair few of them ended up getting robbed by the residents of Dale Farm.

Yours is i Cyprus so hopefully won't be a problem

Yes, I really like it too. The 'museum' is fabulous. We did stop having threads about derelict cars, so you might want to take those pics out...as it would be a shame for the whole thread to be put in the pit or deleted. If you want a different title on the thread just give me or one of the other mods a shout and we can change it for you.
Great first report, armychef.

nelly said:

I like that,great first report!!

You may get shot down though mate as reports on cars are banned, but this mainly came from a report that a member put on here with a load of classic cars in the garden and a fair few of them ended up getting robbed by the residents of Dale Farm.

Yours is i Cyprus so hopefully won't be a problem

Click to expand...

Well I guess the cars were only a part of the overall subject as the accompanying story hopefully explains. The whole DMZ, certainly through Nicosia, is a picture straight from the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Hundreds of properties simply abandoned, doors and windows left open as the fleeing owners left them, personal belongings left to the elements for years and years.

I have just seen a category for foreign derelicts so I guess I would be appreciative of the admins if it was moved there.

My apologies if I have infringed any written or unwritten rules!

Chef

They are derelict cars inside a building.

Good to see some more photos, shame it's out of bounds for most people.

I'd love to go down through the Green Zone... we did have a wander looking for a way in a few years back but I clocked some bored looking Turks with an MG in a tower so I decided the wire wasn't worth approaching. At least I think they were Turks!

I see one car there with 2 Lancs on it along with RRF... 2 Lancs? Who the hell was that? I thought there was only 1 each of South Lancs, Loyals and East Lancs at that time and then just 1 and 4 QLR (my old outfit) until recently. Maybe it's the new Lancs Regiment "created" after the latest army fc*k u.... ooops... amalgamations?

I enjoyed that report.

Loved your report.

I dont think it breaks rules as it isn't only cars but other interesting bits too

Cars and vehicles are banned here because they were getting stolen pretty much as soon as they appeared on the internet. I'd like to see someone steal these out of nicosia.

I'm very pleased you posted this, thanks. Nicosia is of the same level of fascination for me as others rightly feel for Chernobyl.

The more pics you can put up the better mate.

good pics there thanks for posting . would love to see more

Great little report that, like to see the theaveing Dale Farm Pikeys steal those.

TeeJF said:

I'd love to go down through the Green Zone... we did have a wander looking for a way in a few years back but I clocked some bored looking Turks with an MG in a tower so I decided the wire wasn't worth approaching. At least I think they were Turks!

I see one car there with 2 Lancs on it along with RRF... 2 Lancs? Who the hell was that? I thought there was only 1 each of South Lancs, Loyals and East Lancs at that time and then just 1 and 4 QLR (my old outfit) until recently. Maybe it's the new Lancs Regiment "created" after the latest army fc*k u.... ooops... amalgamations?

I enjoyed that report.

Click to expand...

2 Lancs were until recently actually garrisoned in Episkopi, Cyprus. They are a Regular unit in the army and have now returned to UK (Preston). I don't believe they have been subject to any amalgamations in their recent history.

1 Lancs are currently based in Catterick.

4 Lancs are the TA Battalion and stretch right across the North West of England.

We were told that blatant photography by us for personal memories etc was definately a 'no-no' as the Turks were especially sensitive to pictures of their OPs being put around everywhere, especially on the net. They would point their weapons in your general direction if they thought you were up to anything they didn't like. They can be very touchy and sensitive along the DMZ, particularly in the very close proximities in Nicosia of Greek Cypriot guards and Turkish Cypriot soldiers, which at times are in OPs as close as 3 meters apart!!!!

Not often moved to respond on here, but those are well cool.

Judging by photo #5 it looks like Chuck Norris must have been stationed there at some point.