I’ve been passing by this lot every few days for just about ten years now and over that time have noticed that the lot inhabitants do change, albeit not particularly frequently, some move in and back out again fairly quickly, others seem to be here for extended stays and others more or less permanently. This location is right at the northern edge of “Old Town” and would be considered absolutely prime real estate now, however what seems to be a repair operation seems to be clinging on just fine with no sign that they would consider moving. While we have some dirt roads around our town, this is the only dirt lot I’m aware of for a commercial operation anywhere within a reasonable distance, certainly within Old Town.
There’s a train crossing just around the corner and back in April we got stuck right here in a line of traffic waiting for the train to cross. I’d been meaning to take pictures of this place literally for years and since my wife was driving on this occasion, this was a great opportunity to simply roll down the window and snap some shots without even taking the oh-so-herculean effort to get out of the car. Let’s take a look and see if anything here is of interest to anyone.
Starting at the left, there’s a circa 1985 Toyota 4×4 Pickup with some serious rust developing as these tend to do. Tan with tan wheels is a good look for these without any of that alloy wheel nonsense, this truck was meant to work hard and likely did so (and still does). Just to right is a similar era Nissan Hardbody Pickup, well, likely a couple of years newer than the Toyota, and it also looks like a 4×4 model. This may be the newest vehicle here actually.
That seems to be a Dodge van behind the Toyota and I also see a motorcycle that I believe is a Harley-Davidson as well as a newer red scooter that I can’t identify offhand.
Panning to the right just past the green trailer, that looks to be a Plymouth Volare wagon in the background and then there is a wonderfully patinated Jeep Wagoneer without license plates and what looks like an office chair inside. I love these but can’t tell the years apart at a glance…The camper shell looks like it would belong on an ’80’s F150, but then there is the front end of a Chrysler just peeking in at the right. Let’s see if we can get closer to that one.
You guys will know the year and model of the Chrysler I’m sure, of interest to me on that one is what I suppose is a temporary “30 Day” plate from Nebraska. Hopefully it wasn’t on its maiden voyage back in the 1950’s and had to stop here for a fan belt or something which it’s still waiting on.
Ed Snitkoff will be poring all over the Taurus Wagon, which seems to have the supposedly rare lower cornering light option, denoting this as likely a fairly high spec vehicle. The front end is nicely protected by a LeBra or similar horrific device, but the wheels have the Robocop black treatment on them for some reason. This bull ain’t runnin’ anywhere as far as I can tell, I believe it’s been here for at least a couple of years.
And there’s a surprise at the right that I missed in my opening panorama shot.
A Chevy K-10 longbed with a lot of Bondo patches on its flanks, another survivor that probably still has a lot of life left, missing front bumper notwithstanding. White slotted wheels and BFG’s are always an appropriate look for this era truck, and it’ll likely go anywhere the owner would want it to. Behind it I think is an Explorer Sport, which likely is the newest vehicle here after all, but it could be a Mazda Navajo as well, although that’s be a real rarity.
So which one do you like, assuming the shop will make sure the battery’s charged and the belts are snug? Me, I think I’d like the Wagoneer or the Hardbody with the K-10 next.
The Dodge for me, please. Will be the easiest to put back in running order, I bet!
That’s a 52 Chrysler, and a six cylinder version, too (it lacks the big V on the hood that bragged about the hemi). That would be my choice, and since Ed just misidentified it as a Dodge, I think that puts me at the front of the line. 🙂
If the ruling goes against me though, put me down for that Volare/Aspen (and barely possibly Diplomat/LeBaron) wagon.
Whoopsie! Probably a good thing to let you have first dibs anyway… I already have too many project cars in the garage!
It’s all yours, JP, especially since I already identified it as a Chrysler and Ed just looked at the pretty pictures… 🙂
Guilty as charged!
It’s an Aspen or Volare wagon. The Diplomat/LeBaron wagons have a thick C pillar with vinyl trim.
First (and only) car my Grandfather owned was a ’51 Chrysler Windsor…with the flathead 6, and semi-automatic transmission…he bought it new. My Mom learned to drive in it, and my Uncle took it over after my Grandfather died (Aug 1 1966, the day of the tower shooting spree…though his death had nothing to do with it). My Uncle had it almost all the way through college, but a few months before he graduated it had what sounds to be a head gasket blown, and my Uncle not into cars and lacking time to deal with it, junked it and bought a new 1969 LTD 4 door hardtop with the 302. Later that year my Dad bought a Country Squire wagon with the 351 I think based on his purchase (he did similar thing in 1984 when my Sister bought a Pontiac Sunbird, but that turned out terrible, it was the worst car he ever owned, needing 2 engines in well under 100k miles despite being dealer maintained.
The Nissan D21 Hardbody is an early model with that hood. The Navajo/Explorer Sport would be newer at 1991 or 1992. I’ll take that Toyota pickup and Nissan Hardbody!
Jim – I know that lot and just a little bit about the goings on in the red brick building to the north. It is sort of the club house for guys who only like old stuff – especially motorcycles. There may be beer and some repairs involved. I have a friend with very old Harleys and an old Toyota Landcruiser and he fits in well with this bunch. I’ve met a couple of the others of the crew. They certainly have contempt for any motorcycle or car from this century. They’re nice guys but generally quite dirty (like grease & dirt). I don’t think there is any commercial purpose at all nor any intent to do anything productive. Some of the guys, like my friend, are professionals who are slumming it. European bikes are there too.
Interesting, that makes sense, I’ve often wondered why it seemed that it was usually the same vehicles there for the long term and much less rotation that you’d expect at a “normal” repair place.
“They certainly have contempt for any motorcycle or car from this century.” They may in fact be reading this very site currently! 🙂
They all seem to have fatal rust, so I’ll pick the one that is useful and guaranteed to run as a beater, the Hilux.
Given the Taurus appears to be high spec(though I don’t agree that cornering lights are “rare” from my observations), it probably has the 3.8. No freaking way.
The 3.8 only became standard on the LX wagon for the 1991 model year, so there is still a chance it has the Vulcan V6.
As for the cornering lamps, they were standard on all first gen LX models and offered as a standalone option on everything else. So I don’t think they were that common.
They were offered on the early second-gen models too, at least into 1993.
Here’s the scene from 8 years ago. The Aspen and Chrysler haven’t moved in over a decade. It’s an Aspen as you can see where it said ‘DODGE’ on the rear. The Wagoneer is also stationary. Using the timeline you can go back to 2007. At different times there’s a Falcon, early 60s Thunderbird, a Mustang II, early 70s LeSabre, a Buick Apollo(?), Tempo, and various other beaters.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@40.5907659,-105.0766337,3a,75y,7.77h,72.55t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1smolRrBbMk7NKX9sJeQKUxQ!2e0!5s20120801T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
You can click all the way back to 2007 on that and most of the cars today were there then including the Taurus with the bra in better shape.
That is in fact a Mazda Navajo, not an Explorer Sport, I drove by there this morning and noticed it.
A black Nissan N1600 was also there today and it’s been a long-term tenant as well, visible in the 2014 Google shot.
I believe I see a yellow Monza in the 2007 image.
Mustang II
I could use a beater truck for hauling mulch and dump runs and such. I’m torn between the Toyota and the Nissan. The Nissan is a bit newer and from this angle looks like it’s in somewhat better condition, although there’s probably rust we just can’t see in this photo. I’m going to assume they’re both equally rusty, and taking that into consideration I’ll take the Toyota, since we know those are indestructible.
Wait… I live in California. Why would I want any of these when I can find a rust-free example here? 🙂
i think in the mid 80s onward there was an independent mercedes repair place on that corner.. but its been a few years now….
This is my local repair shop, out on a dead end road. I have no idea the stories of all those vehicles. I never knew about the way-out-back cars until just now. There’s no room for the customers’ cars; they’re parked on the street.
That Toyota can’t be a CO car. It looks like it spent most of its life in a state where rust never sleeps, probably one of the upper Great Lakes states. Still a good work truck, though.
Toyota has a lot of strengths over most vehicles, their steel quality in the 1980s was not one of them.
Lots of 20- and 30-year-old rust free Toyota trucks running around Colorado today with a quick check on Craig’s List showing quite a few for sale. The Wagoneer and Chrysler are typical old Colorado cars; the relentless sun beat down on them for decades obliterating the paint and allowing surface oxidation, but probably zero rot.
I beg to differ: my Dad had an 87 Toyota pickup in Wisconsin that was so fatally rusty it got junked in 1993. Like, he took the topper off and one of the bed sides fell off rusty. The bed floor was mostly gone already, too. I was helping him load something in it a year or two before he got rid of it, I stepped onto the back bumper and it came right off under my foot… I’d bet that truck only spent a year or two in a salty environment because my dad’s truck was that rusty by the time it was 5 years old…
Yes, I suppose I am contractually obligated to comb over any Taurus that gets posted to this site by someone other than myself 🙂
It appears to be a 1989-1991 model. With the keyless entry keypad, basket weave alloys, and cornering lamps, it’s probably an LX. And I do think someone attempted to paint the wheels and the lower trim black.
Odd that so many of those cars have stuck around for so long.
It is indeed an LX because while a lesser model could be optioned with some of the items seen here, that lower body cladding was LX-exclusive, all other trim levels only had a rub strip embossed with the “TAURUS MT5/L/GL” script.
My family had an ‘89 LX wagon in the same color which unfortunately conked it’s transmission and then following that repair, blew the gasket on its 3.8 and rightfully earned Ford my mom’s everlasting scorn but I would be lying if I said I didn’t but fall in love with it
Surprised that place has sustained over the years of your observations given Colorado’s voracious appetite for real estate [re]development.
Neat place Jim. Would imagine the interior is just as interesting as the outside…
There are a number of places like this around CT but they are slowly disappearing. There is one around the corner from me filled with British sports cars.
I like the red scooter in the first picture. Looks like an Aprilia to me by the size of the large front wheel. Hopefully it would be the 100cc version which I could ride in Michigan with only a moped registration.
Places like this interest me far more than any current new car dealer lot. How sad is that? There is literally nothing to look at besides rows of 4 door massive pickup trucks and cookie cutter 4 cylinder crossovers.
If you can get it fixed up, I’ll take the Wagoneer for a trip through the Rockies…..
Nobody mentioned the trailer in front of the Wagoneer, but I assume that’s what the Harley-Davidson motorcycle & red scooter were brought here on. I might consider the Taurus if it has the 3.0L Vulcan V6; otherwise I’d walk away from it. The 2-door Explorer Sports are already becoming a rarity–I only saw one of the final models on the road just yesterday–so the Mazda would certainly be an interesting find for an avid SUV prospector if they were into that sort of thing. Unless it was sourced from a short-bed F-150, it wouldn’t surprise me if the camper shell fit the K-10; combined with the green trailer that would make for an impressive cargo hauler, gas mileage be damned!
If the white Dodge van is still in good structural shape the do-it-yourself camper has an excellent base on which to build their future house-on-wheels. Rust issues aside, the Toyota or Nissan are in fact very tempting for daily run-about beaters while still being off-road capable like the K-10. Either of them would be my pick if I didn’t have my 2011 Ranger!
I agree with Joe Yoman that this whole lot is far more interesting to look at than any new-car dealership right now.