As I drove by this apartment parking lot, it was the Sentra that first caught my eye. But I quickly noticed it was in good company; three other CC’s all sitting nearby keeping it company. Must pull in and check them out.
This is just like the beige Sentra I drove in 1985 for four or five months, a long-term rental while we were getting the financing together to buy KVEA in LA. A classic econobox, but it wasn’t too bad, even with an automatic. One just had to press harder! It handled the tight curves of Coldwater Canyon pretty well; that was my daily commute. It was more fun than the dull Dodge Aries the rental company swapped me into for some reason. Once the station was up and running, I treated myself to an upgrade: a new MB 300E. What a contrast!
This Sentra looks mighty hale and hearty still. Wow; where has it spent the last forty years?
I probably wouldn’t have included this Explorer if it had been the omnipresent four door. But the two-door was always much rarer, and they are more so now. If only it had been a Mazda Navajo; we’ve never had one yet at CC. Somebody out there find one, please, before they’re all gone.
The best Civic wagon ever, and one of my all-time favorite cars from the good old days. An AWD version was my lust mobile for some time; I’d probably still be driving one today.
The fourth car? It’s just on the other side of the center aisle, a big gnarly old Blazer. These were everywhere once upon a time, and guys would put big tires on them and jack them up and head off to the desert, river banks or wherever they could test themselves and their machines by churning up any land they could still have legal access too. It was these Blazers and their drivers (and the ruts they left behind) that rather put me off off-roading.
The Blazer: you mention the owners jacking them up and putting big tires on them and heading off to the mountains. I think most of these jacked up babies never went any further than the local 7-11!
Interesting concept to peruse lower-income rental housing for CC worthy candidates. Probably not going to find anything far out of the ordinary, but undoubtedly a few older rides that the owners were still able to keep in relatively good, operational condition, given their less than ideal economic circumstances.
I’d go so far as to suggest some examples that personify the old adage, “GM cars continue to run badly, when other cars stop running, at all”.
I saw a near mint Mazda Navajo yesterday and thought it would be appreciated here. I was driving but too slow with the camera . It was red and looked as if it was only out of the factory for a year or so. A friends mom has a 4dr Sentra of that vintage in the same color when I was in 6th grade or so. I remember it being very nice. Also oddly enough, a friend of my dad bought that civic wagon new (same color albeit with the white steel rims).
For some reason, what I remember most about that generation of Sentra was that the upholstery was much nicer than most cars in its class. They had some kind of perforated fabric that really made the car seem nicer than most cheaper cars. And I don’t think the following generation had the same stuff.
And I didn’t realize that CC’s never featured a Navajo. I’ll keep my eyes open for them now.
Between the tendencies to rust and Cash for Clunkers, old Explorers in general are mighty scarce in my area. The 2-door models were odd when new, and they are really rare now. Nice catch!