Hino Contessa

[Guest Pitter]

First I'm a new poster and not sure whether it's ok to post this here or if it should be in the Japanese car section. Please advise. Anyway this car was in the annual old car Christmas parade in Cali, Colombia a couple of years ago. As I understand it it was a French Renault licensed to Japanese Hino which now only produces big trucks. I think this is a 1961 model and I actually know where another one "lives". It's always "home", parked in the street in front of a house in Cali so I think it's out of commision.

[nzcarnerd]

This is a 1964-on Contessa 1300. They were quite popular in New Zealand while they were in production. Hino became part of Toyota in 1967 and from then on has the been Toyota's heavy truck division. Hino Motors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - EVENTS: New Year Meeting 2011 Part 06: Rolling Stock | Japanese Nostalgic Car

[Guest Pitter]

nzcarnerd thanks for that model year correction.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Pino welcome to the forum. I always like to hear from new sign ups especially from foreign countries. It's nice to hear about old cars that survived in the far reaches of the world. The name "General Discussion" implies you can talk about anything old car related and get a quick response.

[rocketraider]

I have seen Hino trucks here but did not know they were Toyota's heavy truck division.

We in the States are often unaware of what the rest of the world was driving. I had a little exposure to Renaults and Peugeots since my uncle was the French car mechanic here for many years. We had MB and Volvo dealers which their North American sales divisions closed, saying the area's demographics didn't fit their product- though you'd never believe that based on how many Benz and Volvo vehicles you see. And there are BMW out the wazoo, though the closest BMW dealer is 60 miles away.