In reply to mtn:And your point is?
I don't see why we can't discuss various rides. In fact I've enjoyed being reminded of some much older ones I haven't seen in some time. If the thread starter asked us to list only rides from the last 10 years, 20 years, whatever, I missed that part.
Saw a nice 280Z 2+2 today. I forgot that they made them. Not a ZX.
Bugs are still pretty common. I drove through Joshua Tree and Twenty - Nine Palms weekend before the one that ended yesterday. I saw at least a dozen Baja Bugs, mostly parked ones, there. Some with real A Arm suspension even. I would love one.
As to driving them in the winter, Back in '80 my girlfriend in Portland, ME had one. It had to be moved off the street in front of the house one night by a certain time for snow removal. I was living up on the Eastern Prom. I went to move it, but I started having a blast sliding it around and blasting through the drifts and plow berms. She came out with a sour look on her face and hands on hips. But she got in,and I continued the hoon. We both had fun.
Rupert wrote: Yet Another Beetle! Maybe it's the warm weather bringing them out. I know I never wanted to drive/ride in a Beetle when it was cold! My wife's best friend in high school had a Karman Ghia whose right door latch would freeze up every winter. So every time she took a hard left turn, the passenger had to grab the door and pull it shut again! And no,like many cars of its' era, this Ghia had no seat belts installed. The Beetle I saw today I was a mid-sixties+/- model (hell I don't know how to tell different Beetle model years!) black Beetle. It looked better on the road to me than many of them looked when new. The Beetle's driver was really into the show thing. He had a rear bumper ski rack mounted with a pair of old downhill skis mounted vertically, complete with leather bindings. They were the old style, probably 220cm or longer skis and even the bindings stuck up higher than the roof of his car. BTW: It was about 56* when I saw him. So I'm assuming the skis are part of his show, not snow package.
Jeep Wagonner!(sic probably) It looked to be early '60s, well cared for, but happily not perfect. They turned into a local golf course, so apparently it is still being used as intended.
Wish I had a chance to take a picture!
Can't remember the last time I saw some of the early Jap econoboxes - the early Datsun B210, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, etc.
In reply to TR8owner: Funny you would mention that. A guy up the street has a Honda Civic Wagon. We had two of them in the early '80s. I'm just so used to seeing his, I really hadn't thought of them as being rare yet!
My wife had a Corolla when I married her in the '70s. And I haven't seen one of the old ones in a long time.
In reply to Rupert:
My mom had both those cars. She had an early 70's Toyota Corolla and then a mid 70's Civic that lasted over 20 yrs until the body rotted out from under it. She had less than 60 K on the car because it was basically my parents 2nd car that she only used to get the groceries, etc. Ended up selling it to some college kid who had brought up a perfect body but mechanically beat same vintage from the southwest. He transferred my mom's car mechanicals and then had a great car. Would be considered a classic today if its still around.
BTW, my college sweetheart that broke my heart when she dumped me also had an early 70's Corolla. I'm glad most of them have disappeared. Wouldn't want them opening old wounds.
In reply to TR8owner: Don't worry! If Molly's Corolla was an example, they have all been crushed, burned, smashed, etc.many years ago. That is the only Japanese car I've ever been personally around which I would call a lemon. It was a 1200cc and when I met her it had already had the head replaced at about 40K miles. At about 85K miles, it needed a new head again. I drove it with steam coming out the back for awhile because we needed something for me to drive the three miles to work without bringing my Z-Car into daily duty. I put water in about every other day & didn't worry about the water in the oil. It either leaked or burned enough oil that when I added a quart every gas fill up, we came out about even.
Although I know this model was probably an apparition, I've never even considered another Toyota since!
Almost all Isuzu troopers are now gone by me along with Isuzu/Honda passports.
In reply to Rupert:
It was just like this one. Even the same color. I wonder where she is now, uh, the car that is..not my ex girlfriend.
In reply to Rupert:
My dad also had a 1971 4 dr Mazda 616 when mom had the Corolla. Prior to that the only car in the family was a 1965 Corvair. He let me borrow the 616 in the winter when my 68 Triumph Spitfire was in the garage during my college days. He was pretty pissed however when he found out that I was autocrossing it. Betcha it would be really hard to find one of these nowadays.
And no, that's not my mom in the photo.
They're both turning 90 yrs old this year.
OMNI HORIZON PICKUP! I don't remember ever seeing one when new. but there it was. Parked near a friend's house.
When I first saw that Omni, I thought it was a square headlight Rabbit pickup. Because it had very similar lines. Maybe a "mini" El Camino, not to be confused with a "micro" El Camino, which is what we sometimes call a Lotus Europa. If it's still there when I next visit, I'll photograph it for Ran When Parked.
Speaking of El Caminos, I had a '70 SS, red with a black vinyl top and tonneau. Great for hauling the occasional motorcycle without the noise and poor handling of a regular pickup. I've seen several big bumper El Caminos still around,but can't recall seeing a pre-big bumper one in some time.
In fact a guy I worked with had a '59 El Camino. They were the same size as a full size sedan then, complete with the '59 sedan's wing on the back fenders & tailgate. I would guess one of them would be worth a lot today, because they probably only sold twenty or so.
In reply to TR8owner:Yes, that was the Deluxe version. Lots of chrome and a bigger engine with an OHC, if I recall correctly.
Molly's was very basic and had a 1,200CC OHV engine that ate a cylinder head about every forty thousand miles. Apparently for that Toyota motor, 40,000 miles per head was the norm. I know it makes no sense but we've never even considered another Toyota since.
In reply to Rupert (re: El Camino's)
I bought a new El Camino in the late 70's. Second worst POS I ever owned. I won't go into the litany of things that went wrong and it wasn't even considered a lemon. It was just typical piss-poor GM quality from that era. Anyway, my reason for responding to you is because you mentioned the '59 El Camino. I think that was a great looker, as well as the '60 model year. I wouldn't mind having one today. And I don't think you need to have a mullet hair-do and listen to music that originated in Muscle Shoals to drive one.
(If you're wondering what my #1 worst POS was, I bought a new Buick Skyhawk in I think it was '75 or '76. Terrible car, only because of piss-poor GM quality. You'd think I would've learned my lesson and not bought the El Camino. But anyway, I've never owned another GM vehicle since. And based on more recent experiences dealing with GM as a customer before I retired, definitely will never buy another GM product. Their procurement engineers were the most arrogant, unreasonable SOB's I ever encountered during my working career. They never considered themselves wrong and always put the burden of their errors and myopia on their suppliers. It wasn't that way with any of the other automotive customers I dealt with. After many encounters with those prima donnas, I vowed to never buy another current GM product. You'd think they would've learned a little humility after bankruptcy and bailout, but no. But, I digress ...).
In reply to Gary:Having worked for a OEM supplier to Saturn and Corvette, I know exactly what you are talking about! The Saturn people wouldn't even provide their vendors spec. limits. They maintained the Saturn spec. was +/- 0! Having checked out a few Saturn parts made in house, I'd guess their spec was maybe as good as +/- 5mm!
The Corvette people weren't quite so hard to deal with. We did a couple of processes for them no one else would bid on & they knew they couldn't do in house so they left us be. To be honest, I had bought several new US branded cars new before I bought that El Camino. I have never even considered a US branded car since.
I did buy a couple of new Ford Rangers. Of course that had something to do with the fact they were made at LAP then. And I spent a lot of time at LAP then as well. Ford's quality on the Rangers and the Explorers was considerably better than on any GM piece I ever measured.
In reply to Rupert:
I know we're a bit off topic on this, but I know you're a kindred spirit, so I'll take it a step further. The guys at GM Powertrain HQ in Pontiac, when they develop an RFQ, apparently never consult with the individual production facilities on specific needs. It's all theoretical manufacturing processes as far as they're concerned. So when a supplier is awarded the contract and attempts to deliver to the production facility in accordance with the RFQ requirements, it's like they're coming in from another planet. Total disconnect. Powertrain HQ doesn't want to hear any problems after a contract has been issued, and says just deal with it if you ever want to see any more business from GM. That creates a major hit to the supplier's projected margin on the project. So from a supplier's perspective, that's total arrogance by GM, and a strong indication that GM manufacturing is dysfunctional.
And now back to topic ...
First two generations of Eagle Talon/Mitsubishi Eclipse's are also getting very thin on the ground, with the third and forth dying off rather quickly too.
In reply to maseratiguy:
I had one of the 1st gen. Spent a lot of time in the shop but was a fun car to drive.
In '96 I bought a left over '95 Mitsu Mirage, (couldn't afford an eclipse) I drove that car for ten years and 328,000 miles. Other than wear items nothing ever went wrong with that car until the end when it went through rear axle bearings twice in a year or so. The interior fell apart, the floor where the seat mounted to it fatigued and tore - leaving me to do an expedient block of wood and long bolt fix one morning, and the motor leaked like a sieve after 250K But the clutch, exhaust and all of the other major systems were original.
In reply to maseratiguy:Sounds like you're describing George Washington's Cherry Tree Ax. LOL!
My mom's 70's Dodge Colt wasn't like that. It had a short life. The cam chain skipped and it was an interserence engine. It was also not nice to drive. The steering felt like you were winding a spring, not like it was connected to tires on the road.
maseratiguy wrote: In '96 I bought a left over '95 Mitsu Mirage, (couldn't afford an eclipse) I drove that car for ten years and 328,000 miles. Other than wear items nothing ever went wrong with that car until the end when it went through rear axle bearings twice in a year or so. The interior fell apart, the floor where the seat mounted to it fatigued and tore - leaving me to do an expedient block of wood and long bolt fix one morning, and the motor leaked like a sieve after 250K But the clutch, exhaust and all of the other major systems were original.
Bumping this thread up, as I have noticed something recently. Despite the Fiesta being made from 2011-2019, and the third gen Focus from 2012-2019, they are rapidly disappearing around me. I still see them almost every day, but they used to be everywhere around my area, which still has a lot of "buy American" sentiment. Guessing the powershift debacle is causing a lot of them to get scrapped at a pretty young age. Offhand, I can't think of any of them in my neighborhood, but I know of one Gen 1 Focus, and three Gen 2 (1.5?) Foci.
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