It’s become something of a tradition to walk down to the Lane County Events Center (and fairgrounds) to shoot the cars in the parking lot for Eugene’s Holiday Mart, which sells only handmade items. This event goes on on weekends starting on Thanksgiving, so if I had gone down every time, I’d have ended up with quite the collection.
So this is just a small sampler of what shows up, but it does give a decent cross section of what goes down our streets here regularly.
That’s a Mitsubishi iMiev, one of the first EVs sold here.
Amazing! So many legendary workhorses there, allowed to continue doing their thing free of road salt.
Here, every car is pretty much 20 years old or newer and as such, are alien-looking SUVs or dumbass, lifted pickups…
And I would take the Volvo 245 out of this lineup. They have become so scarce around here.
A Trooper and a mid-90s Montero LS! My two favorite pre-SUV-craze SUVs. I haven’t seen a sample of either of those in my neck of the woods for years.
I suppose that part of what keeps cars on the road out there is the lack of applied salt, but it also seems that there’s a certain dedication to keeping old yet still useful stuff running. Or at least using older vehicles until they are fully used up (e.g., your VW post from earlier today). I very much admire that and wish I saw more of it out in my area…where it’s getting mighty hard to find anything that’s not under 5 years old.
I also know that some may say that our annual state inspection requirement does a good job at sweeping most older, yet still functional, vehicles off the road; but I don’t think that’s a big an issue as it might initially seem. Just my opinion.
Sigh…I love, love, love the fifth-generation Celica! This one is probably a lowly ST model since it lacks fog lights, but it still looks like a million bucks.
I tried looking for one of these cars in 2007, when it was still semi-common to see them in use as daily drivers…but alas, it was not to be. And now they’re all gone from the roads, at least in Salt Country.
You could have edited out everything besides the 1st generation Odyssey and this would still be a fantastic post! 🙂
Thanks. That’s good to know as I almost didn’t put this post up, as I tend to forget what’s so common on the street here is not quite so common elsewhere. I’m jaded.
The white Riviera has maintained its dignity well and that is my pick.
I was glad to see the Riviera, they are rare even around the South Bay. My buddy bought a pearl white Eldo just like that one after I bought my Seville. Great car but they had their problems as they aged. Around here you see a lot of older expensive cars and trucks. Even with high gas prices you see a lot of old Expeditions and Tahoes, and Escalades. Mercedes, Acuras, Cadillac CTS, Many of these cars are not pristine examples, but they are in regular use. Public transportation here is not that good, though Bart and the light rail serve some people’s needs. The bus lines aren’t very convenient, but I imagine that they will be improved in the upcoming years.
Fun collection! Looking through made me realise that several of them used to be common here but are now rapidly vanishing from the roads. My pick would be either of the Volvo wagons.
The low December sun makes photography tough.
I see you caught a Nissan Frontier of the 1998-2000 vintage, similar to my ’98 (although mine is a regular cab), plus an older Hardbody.
Wow an I-Miev, I’ve never even seen one of those in person.
My 1997 Previa would blend right in! I still see them in San Francisco, amidst the Aston Martins, Range Rovers and Maseratis. There is even a Chevette gracing our streets along with a 1969 Grande…