Before the obvious question comes up, I’ll attempt to answer it. Why run a beater car? There could many valid reasons such as financial necessity, garaging the nice car during the winter months, etc. So why do I run a beater? Well to be frank it’s because I want to. Here’s why:
I’m sure my wife would like to say up front that we could afford a nice car if I wanted to do. But I don’t. I suppose that isn’t strictly true as I do have my Mazda 808 Coupe (CC here) for the summer. I could certainly spend a lot more on a winter car, or perhaps even – shudder – take out a loan and purchase a brand new car. I don’t because there isn’t a current new car that calls to me with enough force to actually get me into the showroom. Plus I find that I enjoy the character of older, cheap cars.
There is definitely something appealing about a survivor, last of its kind, barely hanging on to life sort of car. I do get some satisfaction out of saving or making use of something that almost anyone else (quite rightly my wife might say) would have given up on. There is a bit of movement in the UK whre the so-called Autoshite cars are coveted by an enthusiastic minority so perhaps I’m not alone in this.
My current searched started out a bit late this year with warmer than usual weather allowing me to ride the bike work well into traditional winter months. My requirements are pretty modest:
1. Must be able to pass a safety check with minimal work. I don’t mind replacing a set of brake pads but don’t want to be rebuilding an engine.
2. Must be cheap. On the road for well under $500 is the goal. We’ll see how it goes.
3. Decent parts supply in the local junkyards to keep running costs to a minimum.
A few other factors would help as well, like simplicity, which limits the number of things to go wrong and helps with the ease of fixing them. Fuel economy concerns probably take out any big land-barge style cars. There are a number of reasonable candidates locally with most being late 80s to early 90s economy cars or small, rear wheel drive trucks. This is in the sweet zone for my requirements as anything older has usually disappeared from the junkyards and the newer stuff often is more complex and pricy to buy.
Initially, I think I did the semi-reasonable thing and bought a 1987 Toyota Corolla sedan. Dull, potentially reliable, with a still decent parts supply in the junkyard. The car ran reasonably well and with a price of $80 left lots of room to fix a few issues and still be comfortably under my self-imposed budget. I actually spent a decent amount of time and a very small amount of money fixing and cleaning it up but soon came to the realization that oh my gosh this one dull automobile. I soon realized that I’d rather own something with a little more character than play of a game of getting the cheapest possible car on the road price. So I sold off the Corrolla for $180, netting, after parts costs, perhaps $0.10/hr for my time.
With the Corolla cleared out of my garage the hunt resumed again. When shopping at scrap value prices you need to be a little lucky and a lot quick. After scanning the local classified ads for a couple of weeks a nice contender appeared. It was outside the city in a smaller town which was good. For some reason people ignore the ads that are even minutes outside the city even when it is a great deal. Odd, but their loss.
The contender was a rather sad looking 1989 Nissan Micra. On the plus side it was equipped with the five speed manual gearbox, and Micra are interesting, at least to me, as they were sold in Canada but not the US. The Canadian Micras (and a few other smaller markets like Malta) feature sealed beam headlights unlike ones sold in other markets like the UK or Japan. Like a lot of Canadian market cars not sold in the US they have largely disappeared due to parts supply issues. Most chain stores here carry US market catalogs so parts aren’t impossible but it does take a bit more work. A co-worker from years ago had a series of Micras and swore by them as “only add only gas and drive cars”.
I made an appointment with the seller, and as usual I’d pretty much sold myself on it even before I got there. The car itself ran well, was reasonably clean and the asking price was only $200. On the flip side it had some front collision damage, non-working horn and four bald tires. Three others were thoughtfully included in the hatch and rear seat but were a slightly different size than the spare so still one short of a full set. Given that 12” tires are not easy to source anymore I figured a used set of a 13” ones already on rims would be in order.
After agreeing to $160 cash price I came back the next day to very carefully drive it home. Unfortunately by the time I got a plate and the family to give me a lift out, it was night time. Combined that with bald tires, high winds, unknown car and a winter conditions on the highway it made for a white knuckle journey home.
The Micra itself has always reminded me a bit of a 2/3 scale Volkswagen Golf. That same iconic two box shape but made with some of the thinnest sheet metal around. The aluminum hood flexes about alarmingly when open. According to the Canadian market brochure I found the two door model like mine weighs in at 1,490 lbs, and probably the best size scale I can give you for comparison is a first generation Chevrolet Sprint (or any other variant on the Suzuki Cultus).
Canadian market cars were only offered with the larger MA12 1.2L engine with a five speed manual or three speed automatic. Other markets had a base MA10S 1.0L with four or five speed manuals and the three speed automatic. The all aluminum engines still featured an electronically controlled carburetor, and the larger engine managed 59hp. That doesn’t sound like much but my car is quite zippy around town although it does run out of steam on the highway if you attempt to exceed the posted speed limit.
In Japan the Micra was known as the March, and there was even a performance version called the Super Turbo. Larger wheels, mild body kit with fog lamps give it a distinctive look.
That pocket-rocket was equipped with the MA09ERT 930cc four cylinder engine that featured both a turbo and supercharger as well as fuel injection. The supercharger helps with low end torque while a relatively large turbo produces the peak horsepower at high rpm when the supercharger disengages. The Super Turbo engine produced 108hp and even features a limited slip differential.
Perhaps even more wild than the engine was this very odd kitty-cat key that was standard issue for all Super Turbo cars.
I always start with a decent clean on any car I buy. Most cars at this price range are pretty dirty and giving it bit of a clean gives you a good chance to see what you are working with. I like to think of it as bonding time as well. The engine was absolutely filthy and I had briefly considered sending the previous owner an oil funnel for Christmas as well as instructions on its use. The interior wasn’t too bad, and as a nice bonus I found $5.12 in change cleaning it out. Not bad and it worked out to slightly over a 3% discount off the purchase price! The interior is definitely bare bones, which exactly how I like it. No toys mean no toys to go wrong.
I was able to straighten the front bumper a bit. I used the sophisticated method of attaching the tow hook on the one side to chain and then wrap around a suitable cemented in steel pole. After that all you need to do is just reverse back and forth a few times. With some minor whiplash it is much less lopsided looking.
The previous owner nicknamed it “The Dragon” after this and another decal (spells out Dragon on the rear window). A rather grand name for an unassuming little car. It is a brand of snowboard/ski goggles. A little bewildering to me that a brand of goggles can inspire such loyalty, but practicing minimal cost motoring likely seems odd to other folk. I’m tempted to keep both the name and decals.
I have to admit the car is growing on me as it is indecently fun to drive. You can toss it around in the corners with abandon as well as zipping in and out of small spaces. Probably too much body roll to be an auto-x contender but the larger 13″ tires have certainly helped make it feel more planted. Around town you flog the engine by driving it flat out all the time. No traffic laws are broken and the engine seems to love being pushed. Rather similar to what I’d imagine a classic Mini is like to drive. I got me some good Autoshite.
Even though I am a big land barge kind of guy, there is something oddly appealing about a teeny tiny Japanese strippo. I have no experience with the Micra. My closest was an 83 Mitsu (Plymouth) Colt. It was a blast to drive, but was probably quite a bit larger and more powerful.
There is also something compelling about the idea of a winter beater. Actually, yours looks mighty nice for autoshite.
Those things are generally a good little bomb. Autoshite yeah Ive been there and done that and got good service out of cars most people throw away my 323 wagon was a classic example cost a case of beer it had been pronounced dead by a garage but it did go just, one used engine later and it was a reliable car that stood up to all sorts of abuse for 3 years I ported the dead engines head and installed it along with a straightthru home made exhaust it was a bit loud maybe but it would slide around on the gravel roads we lived on in fine style I kinda miss it.
Damn! A Ketterkrad!!!!! And a couple of weeks ago, I finally got around to seeing, “Jackboots on Whitehall”. SS hotties on Kettenkrads!!!!!!!
Shot at Southwards museum 10 years ago
Damn wrong pic try again Thats better one case of beer car carting firewood
That looks like the rear drive 323 – very, very few left around here.
82 with 1500cc mill
The driver’s Ed course I took back in ’90 had one of these. It was actually the first car I drove, except for my mother’s ’89 Escort.
My friend and I took the driver’s ed course at the same time. He was over 6′ tall and could not manage to get into a proper driving position in that car. He put the seat the whole way back and still had his knees hitting the wheel.
After the first driving class, he got to drive in the Corolla they had, much to my dismay. I was stuck with the Micra for at least half the course, then I “graduated” to the larger Corolla.
None of these Micras are left in salty Eastern Canada, rust got them.
It is interesting that you can buy functional $200 cars in Alberta. Scrapyards here are giving out $300 to $400 if the vehicle arrives under it’s own power. Also any car priced under $2k is likely to be too corroded to mess with. Replacing things like brake lines, fuel lines, and wiring harnesses gets old fast.
I wondered about that too. In my part of the US, I have long said that there is no such thing as a sub $1000 car, meaning that all of the fixes to make it roadable will put you well above that. However, if you just need something to do short city trips and have something available for emergency backup, I suppose it could be done if you are careful. But in your price range, I commend you for what you found.
For rust I have one hole in the front fender plus some bubbling here or there. I’m going to the welder out this weekend to fix the hole but otherwise it is decent. There is one other Micra in town that is immaculate – not a spec of rust anywhere but they have otherwise largely disappeared from here too.
Scrap price is very low in my city for some reason. Only a handful of junkyards so perhaps they are working together to keep prices paid low. In Calgary you get double at least but not many folks willing to drive a couple hours in a questionable vehicle.
That said a reasonable sub-$500 is tough to find but not impossible.
I always have a beater and a new car for mama. Current beater is an S10 with 81k miles from 1991. Former plant truck. Have one I like better that is an 87 nissan with a frozen z24.
The chevy is turning me back into a diehard nissan fan thanks to it’s problems with smog test. I think I may get creative with the Nissan as I have a couple small block chevies in the house and it is now exempt from the sniffer tests so long as all equipment remains intact.
Old plant trucks are the beater you are describing in the Houston area. The low mileage is worthless if it was all in first gear but the bodies are good except for drivers door and seat. I also see a lot of blazers, citations etc.
Hard to beat nissan. The frozen engine is the third z24 in a truck with over 300k miles.
Yeah I always keep the wife in a nice vehicle too.
Here in the UK this generation Micra has been a remarkable survivor – there are still quite a few on the road, and they are definitely a little-old-lady vehicle of choice – the modern Morris Minor, if you will.
My wife had one when they were new (so some time ago), and it was reliably unmemorable. They’ll be around over here for a few more years yet.
I would love to import a Skoda to the US. Are there any soviet era Skodas left in Canada?
Very few. Ladas seem to have lived longer due to better parts supply and larger initial sales. I saw one in a car show two years ago and this one maybe five years ago. I’d love one of the last ones myself with the bigger motor and 5spd. They are Czech by the way.
Although Iam British I visit Ontario Canada regularly and recall seeing ( to my astonishment) Skodas …driving around out there..however was totally gobsmacked to come across a left hand drive Skoda with Ontario licence (number)
plates parked at the side of the road opposite The Abbey on the remote Scottish Isle of Iona…..about 1995.
‘Round these parts the most common “beater” by far is the aptly-named t-shirt style; the sleeveless t-shirt worn by the oft-times uneducated riff-raff infesting the human herd hereabouts.
Well-tattooed with wimmenfolk often equally endowed with “body art” I am unable to comprehend what compels the horde to pay for when, so often, they rely upon various taxpayer-paid handouts to cover the costs of their vile spawn.
Did I read that wrong, or did you just say that the taxpayers gave you hordes of free tattoos?
In Canada the “wife beater” refers to the red plaid flanned overshirt, also referred to as the Kenora Dinner-Jacket.
No, it means that they are using entitlements (taxpayer-paid handouts like food stamps) to pay for their tattoos.
I meant using entitlements to pay for their kids.
David, thanks for the nice write-up. Perfect counterpart to yesterday’s big 98. Yes, the closest we got to these was the Suzuki-built Chevy Sprint, of which there are still a few around. They’re popular with the Autoshite crowd, and for good reason. Good luck with yours.
Dont forget the Festiva! Or as a friend of mines father nicknamed theirs ” the Mini Pooper”
There was already a CC on it, but how about the Subaru Justy? The Micra is practically a carbon copy of it appearance-wise.
You bought that Corolla for $80? Thats not a typo? Thats cheap. Cheapest car I ever bought was a $400 77 Chrysler New Yorker with cold air and 4 brandy new name brand tires, that was worth the $400 iteself.
Since I like where there are no vehicle inspections and no snow, you can enjoy a beater all year round, cars still rust from the humidity, but there are less and leass really inexpensive cars, the problem that I see around here is once anything gets to be 20 years or older, everyone thinks its “collectible”.
Last pseudo beater I was turned on to was a 1979 Cutlass Salon aeroback coupe that some told me about at work, the car ran, but it was weathered from sitting outside for a few years and it had some starting to develop behing the passenger seat. I told them that the car was worth around $500 and the owner countered back, “No way, these are collectible, this was the last year they made this body style!”
Yes indeed. $80. I’ve also bought a $50 Tempo and snagged a free Jeep Cherokee. Best buy thus far was a $160 Chrysler LeBaron which I literally did nothing to in a year of driving.
That 1979 Cutlass Salon aeroback coupe might be collectable … but it still doesn’t make it valuable.
I read somewhere that the body shape for the first gen. Micra was sketched by an Italian gentleman for Fiat to use for their new Uno. Fiat gave it the thumbs-down, so he sold the shape to Nissan and sketched something slightly different for Fiat.
Do mine eyes deceive me, or is that distributor driven off the water pump?
Your driving description puts me in mind of the Le Car I used to have. No power to speak of, but the motor just loved to rev. Combine that with mountain bike tires (135/70R13) and it was a hoot to drive without ever pushing the speed limit on country roads.
Former formula one champ James Hunt drove an A35 Austin van he said with his skills he could drive it flat out every where and not get booked it was too slow
I think you’ll find the distributor is driven off the end of the camshaft, and the water pump is under the alternator.
I had one of these, on which the cambelt went. Under warranty, so pretty much had the engine replaced for free.
On a related note, I seem to remember having a pig of a time getting the points to behave – hard to believe that by the time this car was made they weren’t using electronic ignition, but that’s what my memory says.
Mine rotted pretty quickly due to UK salted roads, but it was peppy enough for a 1.0 litre. Memorable for some fairly sharp lift-off oversteer as well.
Never seen one of these, thanks for the story. You’re right that something about these little critters just asks to be flogged. The family of my high school Car Buddy Zach had an early Tercel that was slow for a car, but fast for a roller skate! 🙂 A good stick shift and a handbrake…who needs a hundred horsepower?
I enjoyed a well-aged Geo Prizm until I started to worry that other parents wouldn’t let their kids ride in it. Of course my daughter wishes I’d kept it for her to have in a few years.
“I don’t because there isn’t a current new car that calls to me with enough force to actually get me into the showroom. Plus I find that I enjoy the character of older, cheap cars.”
At least you can admit all of it.
Absolutely correct about the character of “beater” cars. I myself live in the land of the beater and my daily driver wheels are 70’s and 80’s vehicles.
Half the fun is searching out the wee beasties and giving oneself, a self imposed challenge to get it on the road for as few shekels as possible. An art form indeed.
Yes, the scrapper prices are up there ($300+, minus the tow), here in Manitoba. But there is a plethora of older beater vehicles sitting in driveways and back alleys, ripe for the picking. Lots of folks don’t know what their car is worth for scrap and are only too happy to let it go for $50 – $100 and you haul it away. Some are duds to be sure, but there are as many to be found as David Saunders did, provided you aren’t afraid of a little grease and are handy with a wrench.
Kudos to David. A man after my own heart.
Good for you! Not sure why Micras were never sold in the US; maybe the (then) “micro” market was left to Suzuki, Chevy and Ford (captive imports Sprint-Metro and Festiva respectively) to battle it out in that thin-margin segment. Maybe Nissan USA didn’t want to cannibalize sales of the Sentra?
During this period, America had the Daihatsu Charade and Subaru Justy.
Interestingly Canada didn’t the Daihatsu Charade. We did get a the face lifted version of the four door variant of the Justy and I believe the US only got the two door and early four door.
Years ago, living in salt country, I made a sideline business of buying “winter beaters” to fix up for resale. Over the years I bought probably 100 of them.
Your comment about finding loose change during cleanup brings up one of the rules I developed during this process.
Rule #1: the higher the value of the change you find, the worse the car. People who take care of their car also take care not to lose their money.
Rule #2: try to buy from only the most conservative of sellers. They are far too ornery to tolerate any defect in their cars.
Rule #3: never ever buy a car from someone named Patti, Cyndi, Barbi, or Jewel.
Growing up in Steel Country, everybody drove beaters. Even if they didn’t want to, the environment would speed the rusting process along. In the 70’s, five year old cars were pretty much beater material. And scrapped soon after that.
I drive a beater these days, mostly because I have to. With my forced job loss, and subsequent re-hiring at a 20% pay cut, I’m not in the market for any kind of car loan, other than the one for my wife. Once we get that paid off, and providing one of my beaters doesn’t get destroyed in the interim, I’ll look at getting a nice used car.
My best beater is my “Cockroach of the Road”© 1997 Cavalier with 2.2L pushrod 4 banger and 252,000 miles. Other than my destroying the transmission with my ignorance early in the ownership process, it’s just been the regular maintenance items on this car. Best $1000 I ever spent. Since my younger kid has been so lackadaisical about getting her license, I’ve lent the Cavy to a family friend, rather than have the car sit all winter.
My current daily driver, my 1995 Sunfire GT, was originally intended to be a project car with my older kid. However, my FIL intervened and bought her a car for HS graduation, so for a while there, I had a “spare” car. Since the job change, I’ve been using it for daily transportation, and actually have the mechanicals of the car in pretty good condition. But the body is not loving the salt laden winters in W. Michigan.
We’ve had a few economic scrapes in the last couple of years, so I’ve been happy to have cars that are fully paid for and running well. I think I’d be in a world of hurt otherwise.
Beater Life!©
Beaters are good though I got myself a good car now I had to run heaps for the last couple of years The first one after my PUg blew was a 350000km Subaru clean and tidy but a demon on fuel Im on a fixed govt benefit and gas gzzlers dont work for me I spotted a diesel Corona wagon at the auctions and bid $300 for it it was a wreck but ran ok I put a new cambelt on new seals in the injector pump and a crank seal which stopped the oil pouring out a new left CV joint all up $250 in parts and drove ot for a year sold the subie to a mate last year i bought my Citroen Diesel and bought that its fast comfortable reliable doesnt use oil uses hardly any fuel mechanical fuel injection so I can disconnect the speedo to avoid road tax diesel is taxed by kms travelled here but is 60c per litre cheaper than petrol at the pump. My mat who bought the Subie blew the trans and bought the diesel Corona off me for $600 so I broke even on that one.
The only beater that I have owned was a remarkable car, a 1965 Dodge Polara with a slant six. It cost me about 200 dollars after I replaced the exhaust system to pass the safety check. I needed a car as I was working for a mapping firm that year. While hired as a surveyor, I was put to work in the mapping office for a few weeks working ten hour days until going “out in the field”. The “in” joke in the office was that I would be going out in the feild and that my much older survey partner would be staying on the road.After a few weeks of commuting to an industrial park for a 6am start, I had little furter use for the car as I was living in a soutern Ontario motel. There are more stories to tell about my adventures in this car but when it came time to junk it, I called a yard that would pick-up old vehicles. They told me that they could come out within two hours. My car was parked in front of my younger brother’s rusted 65 Corvair so, moving that was a priority. I called my brother and found out where to find his keys. I went out to his car and started it. Our parents driveway was on quite a slope so my plan was to back his car up and pull it into our carport. Unfortunately, reverse was so dificult to engage that in the process, I managed to find myself holding the shifter, and other parts of the linkage in my hand, with nothing between them and the car that I was seated in. I set the handbrake and called my brother. Amazingly, he was not upset, I think that he knew that the end was near. That day, the auto recycler got two cars for one call.
My gift this year has been this low k (130.000k) 89 Micra my brother found in a little old lady’s garage on Vancouver Island in B.C. Canada. It has the 1.2 litre engine mated to the three speed auto, it’s light weight so it is a hoot to drive when both wheels spin like it has some sort of limited slip front end. I tend to drive it with the gas peddle to the floor, the all aluminum 155lb engine love to scream once it is warmed up enough for the Royal Purple oil i put in it to flow. I moved the air intake off of the top of the rad & pointed it off to the side, pathetic attempt at cold air intake lol. All i know is it sure has been a joy, the money saved on fuel has made my life much less stressful. 12″ tires are available at your Nissan dealer for $56, need new front tires due to the fun this car generates up to 80 mph in a corner with fresh chalk from the new pavement leading me closer to the meridian then i wanted but wow it was fun.
Note the poor attem at cold air intake so far…
Great purchase price on that Micra. I have bartered two cars, no cash changed hands…I got an 86 BMW 528e, gave the seller a BMW baseball cap and a BMW windbreaker jacket…I paid $93 for the the cap and jacket at the dealership using my employee discount. A also got an 85 Lincoln Continental for a set of Snap On combination wrenches and a set of Snap On screwdrivers. I love cheap beaters!