I decided to pull out my phone when I spotted this Geo Metro Convertible, since it’s been a while. But when I got closer, I saw that this one has been rebadged as a Suzuki Swift. The Swift was never available in the convertible body style.
There’s the Suzuki badge on the hood too. Someone wanted to stand out from the crowd of all those Metro convertibles.
Nice find Paul and what an obscure rebadge, I like their sense of humor.
If you want to see Metros, Swifts, Fireflies, and whatever else they are called you should head to the Oregon Coast. Just did a road trip from Astoria to Klamath and they are still relatively common.
I read that generation Metro was designed in the US. Indeed it looks like a mini Cavalier!
Pure Suzuki out of Japan GM badged it in the US Geo and in Aussie Holden no doubt other local market badges were used too.
That American Metro would be a nicer Opel Corsa B.
One of the cars I find simultaneously great and horrible. Certainly not an enthusiast’s car, not a comfortable car, not at all a fast car.
But GM/Suzuki had gotten a pretty good handle on the rust monster by this time, and from anecdotal reports, they were mechanically pretty durable as well. In 1991, you certainly didn’t see many 20-year-old Japanese(ish) cars on the road, but this Metro is pushing 30, and there are still plenty of them about.
I am with you Evan, I am at once attracted to and repelled by these all at the same time.
They’re like an updated 1960 Nash Metropolitan convertible. Simultaneously horrible and attracting at the same time, like a coked-out Lindsey Lohan…
I Guess in USA you guys got this instead of Renault 5.
According to Wikipedia Le Car aka Renault 5 was sold in the U.S from the late 1970s to early 1980s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_5
The Renault 5 was labeled “Le Car” to promote it’s “French-ness”, but didn’t sell that well. The Alliance was a big hit its first year, then faded by 1987.
1982 LeCar was my first new car.
The dealer-installed roof rack was affixed with wood screws that ran thru the ceiling and aimed their pointy tips at my cranium. But that rack held a wind surfer at highway speeds, and the skinny tires plowed across the snow
Can’t beat those 145-R-13 Michelin XZX’s on 3-lug-nut wheels.
Wow!!! My stepmother had one of these when I was a kid, same color too. I remember thinking how cool it was as I had never ridden in a convertible before. I used to sit on the little hump behind the front seats that resembled a back seat but was actually just storage space. My parents ended up trading it in for a Tracker because we were living in Kentucky at the time and as you can imagine, these were awful in the snow.
I rented one on a business trip, for a hoot. Instead, after dropping the top and driving on to the 91 freeway in SoCal, I got a welt where the June bug struck my forehead.
I rented one in Florida. I was surprised by the high build quality. The automatic was a big drain, but a 5 peed would have been much fun. I fit and I’m 6’2″‘ I actually washed it; not to make it look better, but to take the dries salt spray off the glass.
These had t be cheaper than a Mercury Capri, which I bought in 1993 for $13,000.A Dodge Shadow which, IIRC ,had a sticker of $16,000 or so and 3 or 4 thousand in rebates. All similar; slow convertibles. We had the Capri s a third car for 7 years with no out of pocket repairs; just maintenance.
I cannot even remember the last time I saw a Metro convertible. This was a nice surprise.
This era of Swift was indeed available in the convertible body style… just as a Suzuki Cultus and not in the US. The ones in Japan had the far better 16 value engine and power windows to boot. I owned a ’92 Geo Convertible and it was a rattle trap for the entire 200k I put on the thing. But I loved that little car so much.
Paul, if you really must there are currently two advertised on willhaben.at – one in Styria and one at Upper Austria:) They were in fact reasonably popular back then and remained a curbside classic for many years after production ended. And here they were always sold as Suzuki Swift Cabrio, no fancy names applied.
I had always imagined the GTi version of this car rebadged as a Pontiac Firefly Trans Am!
I always wanted to see someone swap in Suzuki Swift GT/GTi mechanicals in to one…
Wow! I’m famous.