Paul and other contributors in various parts of the country with more car-friendly climates have no shortage of great CCs that end up here. I was in northern California recently and was astounded at the old metal people were driving around and was continuously rubberneckin’ to check them out. I loved it! Here in southeast Michigan, the climate and third-world quality road lay waste to cars pretty fast. It’s rare to find a 15-20 year car on the road or in driveable condition, summer cars or collectibles excepted. I found however that CCs are right under your nose, if only you take the time to look.
I’m a washed up ex-distance runner, and nowadays I walk a lot more with my wife than run, and it’s wonderful we have that time together. It gives me the opportunity to be a bit more observant about my surroundings than trying to lay down 7-minute miles, and I decided to start snapping. Thus, I could not believe my eyes when I stumbled upon this Neoclassic about a mile from me. Cannot say I am a fan of this particular species. I don’t know what the appeal is but, hey, I am a firm believer that to each his/her own. They became popular in the 70s and a chassis and engines from various sources could be found underneath. Quick online research shows that there still is a market for buying and selling of these sort of cars. Sorry, I couldn’t get to close to this one as the owners were out… I apologize for the grainy photo.
Now here’s something I can get behind, especially as the owner of a quirky European car myself. An Americanized version of the quite successful European Ford Scorpio, it was sold here as the Merkur Scorpio from 1985-1989 with limited sales success. I asked permission to take a picture from the very gentlemanly and friendly owner, who was doing yard work and cited what great drivers they were (when running right), and asked about parts availability for my Saturn Astra. Way tougher for him than for me at this point I’m sure. But it gets better: he actually has a second Scorpio in the garage!
These twins are owned by the same owner, of that I’m almost certain, but they couldn’t be more different. I estimate the Escort at an 1986-1990 and it is in beautiful shape. It was a far better car than the dismal 1985 Escort I owned briefly in 1995-1996. I would put this Buick somewhere between 1973 to 1976, and I didn’t think to catch the nameplate to see if it’s a LeSabre, Electra, etc. This one is in much rougher shape, but it must run well enough to move it now and again, and had valid plate tags. Wish I knew what the story was here.
This fellow has triplets! How is that for devotion to F-bodies? As the owner of a Camaro I can relate, and I do have a soft spot for these as well. A car for which I was the target demographic for half a life ago, but I couldn’t afford to buy, much less insure. I wonder what the plan is for these, unless they are doners for something really special behind that closed garage door. All three bodily at least look pretty solid and are Z-28’s Off in the distance is a pretty crusty perhaps early-to-mid-1980s F-100 Ford. I’m not sure if it’s a runner.
I’ve been walking/running/cycling past this spot for a number of years and this Class A RV (make/model unknown) has always been wasting away and sunk up to its hubs. They say for some people with boats, RVs and other big boy toys, the best two days of ownership are the days you buy em’ and the day you sell em’.
It is hard to believe the PT Cruiser had a nine-year production run, from 2000 to 2009. In these parts at least, these things were selling like hotcakes when they first came out. Then or now, I cannot understand why, except for the obvious utility of the hatchback and comfortable driving position. Yet, Chrysler sold an astounding 1.35 million of these. Then you throw in the similarly styled Chevy HHR, sold from 2005-2011 and add another 500,000 to the retro-mobile tally, and that my friends is a lot of metal. This PT is a pre-2006 facelift model. At least in these parts, they are becoming a rare sight.
Not everyone is a lover of the fourth and fifth (final) generation Seville, made from 1992-2004. I personally liked the lines on these and think they’ve aged well. Nevertheless, this one, which I believe is a lower trim SLS version, is in super nice shape and is definitely somebody’s baby.
If someone had asked me in 2005 what I thought of the final Seville, I would have said it looked boring and forgettable compared to the then-new Art&Science CTS and STS. Yet today, the Seville looks timeless and stately to me – as the faddish Art&Science cars grow more dated by the day.
Back when Scorpios were new, most gearheads wanted a Turbo coupe. Me? I wanted a Scorpio with a manual transmission. Though this “solid” black example somehow doesn’t look all that appealing.
The rest of the cars pictured? Meh.
A very nice variety, especially for your part of the country.
The Buick looks to be a 76 and is definitely an Electra. That one reminds me why I hated silver cars so much after about 1977 or so. They became ubiquitous and they all seemed to convert themselves into a hopeless finish like this after about 4 or 5 years.
“Limited sales success” – what a polite way to describe the Scorpio. Perhaps you should be more like him by doubling down and getting yourself a second Astra? 🙂
Yeah….maybe an Astra coupe would be nice to go with my sedan? As long as were on the subject of Astras, a quick update on my COAL article from last December on mine. I stated it was the best, most reliable car I’ve ever owned to that point and I guess it still is in a lot of ways. 141,000 miles. However I guess I jinxed myself. Since then I put a new timing chain on it which was preventative because it is an interference motor. Also an ignition coil. Both of these things tallied to about $1300.00. Next up it needs ball joints, But that doesn’t look to be too bad cost wise.
There’s a selection, all right. I’d love to borrow that Gazelle kit car for a day.
What amazes me about the PT Cruiser is that despite having a nine year production run of 1.35 million DCX spent about $1.35 on the refresh and didn’t have an improvement or succession program. Well, it was the dark days of DCX..
A “mild refresh” such as the one that the PT CRUISER got isn’t so much about a new look as it is that everyone who buys the “refreshed” version, has to buy factory replacement parts in the event of a crash. After 5 years or so they start to filter into junkyards creating a cheap source of parts that the automaker isn’t profiting from, that’s why the “refreshed” parts are the ones most likely to be damaged.
I never even realised there WAS a refresh!
What was the replacement for the PT Cruiser? I can’t seem to remember it…..
Jeep Compass/Patriot, pretty much. Wikipedia considers its successors the Dodge Caliber (which lasted only two more years), Fiat 500L (I can see this one), and Lancia/Chrysler Delta (in Europe).
How do you refresh a. car that looks like a ’37 Ford. Make it look like a ’38 model?
Nice stuff! I would say, that at least for county-maintained roads in my part of California, and quite a few state/interstate highways as well, pavement condition isn’t much better than what I’ve experienced in the Midwest and Eastern US. I’m sure the climate and general lack of road salt help older cars here, and maybe some older cars with sturdier suspension and higher profile tires actually withstand our potholes better than modern cars with 40 and 50 series tires on 17” and 18” rims. Oh, BTW the Mercury Scorpio was the European Scorpio/Granada, not the Sierra; the latter was the Mercury XR4Ti when sold here.
Nice article and nice cars too.
I beg you pardon but that Skorpio is not a Sierra, it’s actually a Ford Scorpio. The Sierra was imported too, but sold as the Merkur XR-4, if I’m not mistaken.
Nice walk! The Merkur Scorpio was the Ford Granada/Scorpio in Europe, not the Sierra, that became the XR4Ti over here.
PT Cruisers are in the local junkyards by the dozens here, something makes them give out, although I’m sure they mostly have close to 200k miles on them by this time.
And I too like that generation’s Seville shape a lot, one of my favorites. Alas, also a fairly common junkyard find.
Isn’t that a fifth-gen (1998-2004) Seville?
My wife had a PT Cruiser as her daily driver for several years back in the early oughts. One of the prime selling points, for her, was the ease of entry and egress. Her previous car was a Chrysler Sebring convertible, which she loved, but knee issues made getting into and out of the vehicle problematic. The more upright driving position in the PT made it much more comfortable for her to drive. Her PT had the high output turbo and that made the car very entertaining to drive; for sure you would want to make sure the front wheels were aimed straight ahead if you decided to punch the gas. I still see PT Cruisers on the road around here; most of them are pretty much used up by now. Occasionally you will see one that has been kept in pretty good condition but most of them quickly moved down the food chain into beaterhood.
Yea I see these almost everyday I’m out and about. Always in nice condition and driven my older folks. My bosses wife had one and liked it because it was small but could hold a lot of stuff and the kids. The only negative was the poor gas mileage for a “small” car.
Nice write-up, and the variety is similar to what would be found in Northwest Indiana. Once-common stuff like the Escort is neat to see now. The big Buick isn’t too bad for it’s age. The Seville is handsome, though to me less distinctive than the prior generation. That gen of Camaro looks better to me as time goes on, but at the time I thought they looked kind of blobbish. Sad to see an old RV decomposing like that. You just know it smells all mildewy and will never be nice again.
“You just know it smells all mildewy and will never be nice again.”
They reach a point where they are no good for much besides spectacular police chases.
Or meth labs…
Ever since Breaking Bad I can’t look at an old RV like that without thinking “meth lab”.
Or engine doners for Roadkill
Great find in that Merkur Scorpio!!!
The Excaliber is nice, ive always liked them. The Seville is cool, but i prefer the 1st gen and the 2nd over this one. That Electra is a bit worn but really salvagable.
Nice finds! The Camaros are grabbing my attention today because my brother-in-law has a 1995 Firebird Formula that he bought new (when he was squarely in the car’s target demographic), and has kept all these years. But just yesterday he called to say he’s finally letting it go. One too many leaking head gaskets, and lots of other things in life to fix.
I’ll be sorry to see his Firebird go because driving that car gave me a new appreciation for this generation of F-body, which I didn’t care too much for when new. They’re really fun… heck just sitting down low in one is fun, let alone driving it. And as they get less and less common, a pretty high proportion seem to be falling into the hands of folks who own several of them.
As mentioned the Buick is a Electra/Limited as it is a “4 holer”, ie it has 4 rectangular “port holes” in the trim, The lesser Buicks are 3-holers. The Finlets, the fender skirts, or at least the fact that the car once had them also denote it as a Electra.
Cruising Craigslist recently I was very very tempted by a 1975 LeSabre Convertible. It did have newer paint but the listing noted it needed a new top and it won’t really fit in my current garage. So I resisted the temptation on that one and found something that may be coming home with me Sat.
As a fellow southeast Michigan resident, I understand the predicament of finding CC’s. But just today as I was sitting at the intersection of Farmington Rd and Plymouth Rd, I saw a clean, late 1970’s Nova with a VERY healthy sounding engine. If it ran slower than a 12 second 1/4 mile, I would be disappointed.
And I had a little chuckle over the PT Cruiser. A couple of years ago my sister got a great deal on one to use as a cheap commuter, to give her a little relief from feeding her Explorer.
And one of these days, maybe my own garage candy will be a CC; a 1965 VW Variant/Squareback.
Call me crazy, but I’m lovin’ that ‘76 “Deuce and a Quarter” hooptie-mobile! Just the right amount of character for me. And more than enough to keep the HOA board in a fit if I parked out front every night!