(first posted 11/13/2017) Used car lots rarely get preserved in photographs. So when I came across these 35-year-old snapshots of a used car dealership in Fairfax, Virginia, it was akin to discovering a lost world. Dating from 1982, these photos were most likely taken by someone affiliated with the dealership itself, shortly before its grand opening. Whatever the purpose, they certainly give us something to enjoy three decades later.
Before examining the used car inventory, let’s focus on the dealership’s building, since it has changed with the times almost as much as the auto market itself. The original structure on this ⅔-acre corner lot was constructed in 1950 as a Texaco gas station – with a small building and a single pump island. That may seem underbuilt by today’s standards, but in 1950 that was not an unusual configuration for a gas station on the fringe of a metropolitan area.
In the early 1960s, the property was sold and became a car dealership, with the new owners attaching a 1,200-sq. ft. glass-enclosed showroom onto the front of the Texaco building. Parson’s Cars, as it was then known, was initially a used car dealership focusing on imported cars. Within a few years, Parson’s acquired a Triumph franchise, becoming one of only two Triumph dealers in Northern Virginia.
In 1967, Parson’s ditched Triumph for Volvo, and later that year sold the business to new owners who renamed it Fox-Keller Volvo. A service garage was added to the building, nearly doubling its size, and Fox-Keller picked up other foreign-car franchises as well, such as Rover and Renault. But Volvo was by far its biggest success, so much so that by the late 1970s, a ⅔-acre lot with an old building didn’t cut it as a Volvo dealership anymore. The Volvo franchise was moved to another location, and the property’s owners looked for another tenant.
In 1982, a new tenant moved in – a used car dealership called Fairfax City Auto Ltd. The following pictures appear to have been taken shortly before the dealership opened, so let’s take a stroll around the lot and examine their inventory.
A logical place to start is with the car positioned in the place of honor in front of the showroom, which is a 1978 Chrysler LeBaron Medallion 2-door. This then-4-year-old Chrysler could still turn heads in 1982, especially with that shiny Tapestry Red paint, white Landau vinyl roof and aluminum road wheels.
Next to the LeBaron is a blue 1980 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. These two cars occupying high-visibility spaces on the lot reflect the popularity of 2-doors in the early 1980s – either of these cars would have been a respectable and stylish choice for a variety of used car buyers at the time.
Moving down the front row of cars is the Slightly-Better-Than-Riding-The-Bus section of the lot. The Sunshine Yellow Pacer is a 1976 base model, complete with dog dish hubcaps. In 1982, Pacers were far from achieving their eventual cult classic status, and instead were considered somewhat dumpy used cars. Competing for buyers in this price range was the Mustang II Ghia parked next to it. It’s easy to see either of these cars being bought by a young driver who needed a cheap car to get to his or her first job. And today that person can take pride in saying “Can you believe I once owned a yellow Pacer?!”
If I were a first-time buyer in 1982, I’d probably choose the Chevy Monza over either the Pacer or the Mustang. Next to the Monza is a rust-colored ’77 Plymouth Volare wagon – a useful car for a budget-conscious family… at least until it rusts through. Competing for a different market segment is the 1978-79 Camaro Sport Coupe, most likely equipped with the standard 110-hp 6-cylinder engine.
Next up is the truck section of the lot, and two GMCs and a Ford offer as varied a choice as one could expect from just three vehicles. It’s likely that one of these two men is the dealership owner.
And this is likely the owner’s son, showing his appreciation for GM clamshell wagons. This is a 1971 Chevrolet, and while clamshells are desired collectibles now, this was a family vehicle of last resort in 1982. After all, that was the year Merle Haggard released his hit song “Are the Good Times Really Over?” which included the lyrics:
“I wish a Ford and a Chevy would still last ten years like they should…”
Given that widespread sentiment, buyers could be forgiven for not jumping at the chance to own this 11-year-old Chevy.
In front of the Chevy is a Pontiac Astre wagon, and then a Corvair, which wasn’t exactly a sought-after car in the early 1980s, so seeing this one on the lot is surprising. Alternatively, the brown Corolla is one of the few imports on the lot in these pre-opening shots – this one is a 1976-79 Liftback.
The 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme here sports a dealer license plate, so it’s possible that the owner used it as his personal transportation. Hidden from view behind the Corolla is what appears to be an Opel 1900 (Ascona) Sport Wagon, which is even more surprising than the Corvair.
This shot also shows detail of the building, and we can see the original 1950 Texaco station’s colonial-style facade was still intact, with the 1960s showroom addition having been simply tacked onto the older structure’s front.
This photo was taken a few weeks (or maybe months) later, and inventory has rotated a bit. The Pacer hadn’t sold yet, and appears to have been banished to the very rear of the lot. The blue Monte Carlo is still hanging around, as is the Volare, the Astre, the Pinto wagon and the Opel.
We see many more Japanese imports in this scene, so maybe the Corolla Liftback sold quickly, and the dealer figured that Toyotas and Datsuns made for easy used car sales. Imports, though, were still relegated to the dealership’s second row – no prime street front spaces for those little foreign cars quite yet!
Perhaps the most intriguing new arrival is what appears to be an F-150 pickup with a camper shell… not quite the type of vehicle one sees at a used car dealers much anymore.
During the dealership’s first year, the owners partitioned off half of the showroom, and subleased it to a doughnut shop. This picture was taken during construction (we can see the partition wall being built inside) – but more interesting to us than the building renovation is the Ford LTD parked in front of the showroom.
Here’s another shot taken during the renovations (looking towards the next-door transmission shop), with the most notable vehicle being the Subaru BRAT. With a Knaack job site box where the rear-facing seats ought to be, this was a working BRAT; its owner was likely working on the construction project.
Fairfax City Auto Ltd. survived for about 15 years, after which time the space was leased by Thrifty car rental, and then in about 2001 was again leased by a used car dealer – this time a dealership known as Fairfax Motors specializing in higher-end imports (the above picture dates from 2009). Fairfax Motors is still in business, and that, of course, means we can compare our 1982 snapshots with modern-day scenes.
First, let’s look at the front row. No more Tapestry Red or bright blues or yellows – today’s drab-colored cars look like they’re on their way to a funeral. The BMW i3 makes an interesting choice for the coveted streetside place of honor – at $18,000 it is far from the most costly car on the lot, but maybe it has the eye-catching pizzazz that the LeBaron Medallion possessed 35 years ago. Next down the line is a 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG at twice the i3’s price. But not all of the front row cars are European: The light gray car is a Hyundai Genesis, and the thought of a $30,000 used Korean car must have been completely implausible in 1982.
Today, the amorphous blob of a Pacer has been replaced by the… amorphous blob of an Audi A6. Judging from these shots, it’s hard to believe the Pacer was an evolutionary dead end. Could it be that Dick Teague’s widely panned design really did portend the future?
If the overstyled Mustang II Ghia has an equivalent on the current lot, it might be in the building itself. The 1960s-era showroom has been covered by exterior cladding, heavily stylized parapets and flashy signage in an attempt to make it look fancier than it really is – architecture has possibly entered its own malaise era.
Few automotive contrasts are more pronounced than a mid-1970s LTD and a smart fortwo, but those are the cars we have here parked at the building’s corner. The smart is less than half the big Ford’s length, and two-and-a-half smarts would weigh as much as one LTD. The LTD’s companions of a Pinto and Olds Cutlass Salon have been replaced by black Mercedes-Benzes in the modern picture.
In our final comparison shot, we can gaze upon the one brightly-colored car on the present-day used car lot. A lonely-looking red Honda Civic appears like it was cast to the far reaches of the lot like the Pacer was three decades earlier.
As I browsed the used car lot contemplating how cars and buildings have changed so greatly over 35 years, the past and present collided ever so briefly. Sauntering along the road, and just over the hood of a Mercedes-Benz ML350 came an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser – just the sort of car one can picture at Fairfax City Auto Ltd. in the early 1980s.
“Get ready for the future,” I thought. Just imagine what people 35 years from now will think of today’s used car lot…
Wow, what choices. Had I been looking for a late model used car in 1982 that LeBaron would have called my name. I had a tremendous crush on those around that time.
In the 9th picture (behind the white Cutlass) is what I would have made a beeline for – a 70s Scamp or Dart Swinger. This one looks like it has the bigger 1974+ rear bumper, so it may have been an upgrade over my rusty 71 Scamp that I owned at that time.
Under no circumstances would I have considered that Pacer then. By 1982 those things were more punch line than car.
Second photo – 1971-72 Vega hatchback; Beetle; Transporter. My happy place!
Actually, the vehicle that speaks to me among the bunch is the Corolla liftback. Here’s hoping that it’s a nicely-equipped 5-speed SR5 model.
I’ll take the Corvair please. In 1982 I was 15, and ready to learn the hard lessons about keeping an old car on the road.
Im with you! The ‘Vair is my choice on this lot! (I was rolling a ’50 Buick Super in ’82, So I had the old car experience, the 1st gen Corvair would have been high tech,LOL!) The Corvairs’ current analog could be a ’97 Cavalier, Hmm, Even in the middle of “malaise” era, Good stuff was still available at the corner used car lot in 82!
Pick a quality old rig and keeping it on the road is a non-issue. My 34 year old rig is as reliable, maybe more so,than anything built today. Parts are cheap, and just a keystroke away.
There’s a nice, clean ’74-’76 Swinger with a white vinyl roof in the pre-opening shots. Not there after that!
Never occurred to me but today’s car colors are really dreary. Once I saw a ten yr old sl500, which today I wouldn’t give any notice too, but that one was some kind of metallic bluish green color…looked factory. And I immediately took notice of how nice it looked and set apart from the rest. We really need to get out of the blacks, silvers and whites.
This is a picture I took one day last spring from my office window which speaks to your point. I keep coming back to this image….
That has to be a thing in the US, becuase I keep seeing brand new cars in Norway, and Europe in general with colours like yellow, orange, red, blue ,etc.
Do people there generally order their new cars? Until the post-covid shortages, Americans almost exclusively bought off the lot and there was a financial penalty for not doing so in the form of a constant rotation of cashback incentives all with the disclaimer “must take delivery from dealer stock”.
Dealers, of course, would spec out cars that sold well which meant an ever-dwindling rotation of “meh” colors, acceptable to most but not really desired in particular.
Many years ago silver wasn’t popular because of high fade rate/maintenance, then clear coats came out and silver was everywhere. It can be a beautiful color, my original color 64 Riviera has enough lavender in the silver color it stands out from the rest. Unfortunately silver is the hardest color to see on another car. Mine is noticeable because it’s polished enough to act like a mirror and glare, but in shade, rain, or fog it disappears. A few years ago I saw a Lincoln Town Car done in a 1957 Lincoln coral pink color with wide whitewalls. It was the first town car I paid attention to in years and liked it.
Silver is now more stable, due to clearcoats, but unfortunately it’s still one of the most difficult colors to match when repairs are made.
The first 2000 Sevilles were all silver inside and out, allegedly for quality control. I don’t remember it being a popular color at the time, but it was for late 70s Mercedes.
Awesome little tour down memory lane. The contrasts (from yesteryear to today) are really interesting to note as well.
Definitely the Corvair for me. The Opel 1900 would be my second choice.
I wonder how long those pickup trucks lasted? Then and now it seems that pickup trucks don’t hang out on the lot too long and the black Ford looks like it has a CB radio installed (or at least the antenna)
I wonder how the 1980 Monte got on the lot? It was still too new of a car to traded in and wholesaled at a new car dealer.
That Pacer today in that condition would command a very high price
What is the building across from the trucks? It looks like it was renting/selling work trucks back then and still sell them today.
How can one tell that the Monte Carlo is an ’80 and not a ’78 or ’79? The front and rear ends that would provide the clues can’t be seen in the picture.
As far as I know, there’s no way to tell from the picture alone, but I did come across a newspaper ad from this dealer (below). The ad is from October 1982 (despite saying “Grand Opening,” the dealer had been in business for a few months), and several of the cars in the ad are also in our pictures.
A 1980 Monte Carlo is listed in here — and since the blue Monte is in both the pre-opening and the later shots, I’m assuming it’s the same car. The price was $8,000 (!), which is probably why it hadn’t sold.
I looked very hard through several local newspapers for an earlier ad that had more of our featured cars listed, but couldn’t find one. But the Monte Carlo, Volare, Astre, Pinto wagon and ’76 Cutlass are all listed here.
There is that brown F150 camper in your picture. It is a 1980 that sleeps 4.
It is definitely an 80. If you enlarge the first photo and look over the hood of the Chrysler at the front fender of the Monte, just under the Monte Carlo nameplate, the front side marker light is just barely visible. 80 was the only year of the 78-80 style to have the side light, rather than wraparound lights. Boy, these pictures do take me back to 1982! That year, my sister Decided that the 68 Chevelle of mine that she was using, was too old, and she wanted something newer. She had just gotten her license two years prior. So she and I went looking for a newer car for her. The first car that she wanted and almost bought was a 76 Monza just like the one in the picture. Oddly enough dad decided to go on a trip with us another day, and she came home with a white 78 Monte Carlo Dad was not big on small cars and felt the few extra bucks per month that the Monte would cost was worth it. Later, my Dad would also own a used 80 Monte Carlo in the same blue as the one in these photos, sans vinyl roof too. A year later, I bought a used 80 as well, that I still own.
A friend that started a car lot here had a 1 year old Riviera (90’s) and a new Jeep SUV from his wife. Because of start up cost, they put their cars on sale and he started driving a 65 Bamboo Creme Riviera GS, and his wife a 68 Bonneville wagon. Initially the new cars were a draw he placed a high enough price on they might be able to go back driving them. After a short time they realized they liked the older cars and moved the newer ones on to new owners. Eventually he changed it to a collectors lot and had wonderful cars from the late thirties to late model specialty items.
Fairfax County Public Works is the building across the street.
The Monte Carlo could have come from a rental car fleet. Back then, the Big three owned major rental car companies and used them as dumping grounds just to maintain production volumes. Rental fleets were jettison with as little as 18k to 24k miles. That’s how I got my ’83 Cutlass from a National Rental car sales lot at a very reasonable price.
Just to show how the market has changed, I was assigned a four year old Chevy Trax from Budget rental during a trip to Florida with 65k miles on the clock. My personal car at home had less miles!!
Yep, all our dealers in town with the exception of the Chevy and Toyota place, have seen the same or similar transformations, with the big fancy facades over the old 60s styled buildings.
The Chevy/Subaru and Toyota places are the only two new builds. Chevy place was in a flood plain orignally and too many water damaged vehicles. Ford is same place since 1962. Dodge is in a building from who knows when and has had every name except Ford and Chevy in it. Johnny Cash used to do the radio commercials for them. SPOCTOMA – Skyline Pontiac/Olds/Cadillac/Toyota of Mt Airy. Buick moved in with them eventually, as well. Dodge/Chrysler moved here and Nissan moved from a hole in the wall to the old Dodge/chryco beside Ford. And the used dealers come and go, except one place that has been in a service station since 1967. Probably still have the original 1967 cigarette butts in the tire ashtray on original owner’s son’s desk. (not really).
Love the articles that bring back memories like this.
Who else noticed that the brown Mustang II was replaced with a tan Fox Mustang in a later shot, and is in the exact same spot on the lot?
Thank you for all of this work Eric.
Looking across the street, I remember the saturated powder blue that was available on the early Aspens and Volares.
A wagon in that shade of blue was featured in the ’76 Aspen brochure.
Great pictures from the past, but the shot with the new MB’s and the Olds wagon is priceless! By the way, the specialty used car lots seem more common now … our town seems to have three categories: late model German stuff, late model trucks especially 4wd Toyota Tacomas, and cheap transport aka car loans, marketed by the monthly payment
There’s a lot down south from me in Medina that specializes in only diesel powered pickups!
Kind of sad when you mentioned someone buying one of these as a first car with a first job.
One big difference today is it’s so difficult to find a really decent, reliable used car for the prices that existed back then. A few thousand dollars doesn’t go as far today.
The problem was getting a loan you could afford. In 1981, the Prime Rate for loans reached 20%. By the end of 1982, it was cut in half, to 11%, but it still made auto loans crazy expensive, especially for those with less than perfect credit. I personally knew a girl who had a Camaro with a five-year loan at 22%.
The then-and-now side-by-sides are my favourite part of this post. Great stuff!
Hah! I see what you did there. They were all rust-coloured, sooner than later.
Due to the front fenders recall, the Aspen/Volare are the only brand new cars I can remember routinely seeing with mismatched paint on their fenders.
Very nice, thanx for this .
I enjoy watching old low budget movies shot in and around Los Angeles for the great back ground car spotting…..
-Nate
The Volvo franchise moved several miles away to dual with Volkswagen on the west side of Fairfax at Kamp Washington (correct spelling, by the way).
The original VW/Volvo building was unusual – a concrete curved ramp in front to move cars down to the basement level service department and up to a rooftop storage lot/garage. Even then Fairfax was site-constrained.
The VW building has been significantly remodeled and now houses the Rosenthal Honda franchise.
The donut shop was Pam-E-K’s Donuts. It lasted for a couple of decades. It was our Sunday after-church stop unless we went to Mister Donut.
Once I got my license, I can’t tell you how many times I went through that intersection.
Nice pictures.
Beeing as old as the pictures, it is very intersting to me to see a used car dealer of that special year. Far more interesting than todays in my point of view.
btw: I´ll take the LeBaron. Would be a good companion to my current ride, a 90s Saratoga (LeBaron) in the same color.
Also, another weird variant of the CC effect: this morning I turned onto Station Street (in Vancouver near the, ah, railway station) and immediately noticed an unusually clean ’79ish Mercury Marquis parked at the curb. I suddenly found myself quite disorientated because behind it was a late ’70s LTD, an early ’80s Accord, an early ’80s GM A-body wagon…and the more I looked, the more cars from that era were parked on that block. Then I saw they all had period California licence plates, and there was a smoke machine hidden behind a van, and (current-model) police cars at all the intersections, and self-important film industry types scurrying around. Oh, they’re setting up to make a scene.
I wonder how much they wanted for the Corvair?
If I’d been buying my cars at dealers then, I probably would’ve gone for that Opel wagon, if I didn’t already have a ’71 Audi wagon at the time.
My first car from a dealer came in 1987 – an overpriced ’72 Mercedes 220 sedan, that turned out to have a lot of problems. Good thing I knew how to make lemonade!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Ninth photo with the import row: two station wagons up against building, could the white one be a Peugeot 505 ? Anyway, I’ll take the Opel 1900 wagon in another photo, preferably a 1975 one-year-only fuel injected 4 speed manual.
“If I were a first-time buyer in 1982, I’d probably choose the Chevy Monza over either the Pacer or the Mustang”. I wouldn’t touch that Monza with a hundred meter cattle prod. Look at that door gap and the paint mismatch between the door and fender, that thing’s been hit and put back together poorly. I’d definitely check its Carfax before purchasing it. Oh, wait……
Other than the pickups, the Bug, and the Camaro, I can’t remember the last time I saw any of these cars in person. What a great find!
Of note, according to an inflation calculator, $2,500 then is now about $6,500. Checking Ye Olde Liste du Craigge you can get some pretty decent looking, albeit 5-10 year old, vehicles for that money around here.
If I were buying used in 1982, I would have gone straight for that Scamp/Swinger. The LeBaron, as pretty as it was, would probably have been out of my price range. Besides, if it had a /6, it should have been pretty good on fuel, which was just coming down from historic highs that year.
If I were feeling adventurous, the Pacer might have been a good choice. While a dumpy car, it would have been fully depreciated by then and if not highly optioned (which it doesn’t look like it was) should be fairly simple and robust. It’s a safe bet it would have the 258 six (as V8 Pacers had a different hood) and the Chrysler Torqueflite 3-speed autobox. Not exciting motoring by any means, but not a bad way to get around inexpensively. But, working on one of those 258’s in that engine bay will teach you a whole new series of curse words.
Ask me how I know.
“If I were feeling adventurous, the Pacer might have been a good choice.”
It would have been the last adventurous thing you ever did, Geo. It would have ruined your life. You would never have gone out on a date and you would even now be living in the basement of your parents’ old house. 🙂
Absolutely. Dad bought a new white/blue Pacer in 1975 and my older brother and I were utterly mortified. We had to borrow the Pacer when our own cars (me: very-well-used ’65 Mustang six convertible; bro: 1974 Fiat 124 Spider) were laid up. I don’t care how long-blond-hair, tanned, surfer-cool I looked at the time, there was no way I could avoid being a lame laughingstock when pulling up in Dad’s Easter-Egg-with-windows.
JP: With a fold down rear seat and the widest small car ever, how could I not get a date? 😉
My wife dated me when I had my craptastic Maverick!
In 1983, my Mom inherited a tan ’76 Pacer with ‘Indian-blanket’ upholstery, after her mom passed away. Talk about cheap plastics and shoddy body hardware. My grandparents bought it new in Michigan – without AC! But my folks lived in Virginia Beach, where those fishbowl windows made it a real summertime penalty-box!. Two years later it was on it’s third steering-rack, so my folks sold it before the money pit deepened.
Compared to a Pacer, any Maverick (especially the 2-door) was a babe-magnet!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Oh yes, the Pacer interiors were biodegradable. Most AMCs were already ready to return to the earth as it was, but the Pacer made sure the plastics would degrade as fast as the bodies.
I’m not surprised that your grandparents didn’t buy the A/C; most of the children of the Depression didn’t spend more money than absolutely necessary. My folks were the same way. Not. One. Penny. More.
Having owned a Dodge Dart Sport (with a 360) and a Maverick, the Dart Sport wins easily. Just my $0.02.
Haha. I had a girlfriend who had one of these, metallic blue with the Navajo pattern seats. It even had the fancy wheels. It remains to this day the only car I was ever embarrassed to be seen driving. I asked to drive it once because I had never driven one. Then I found myself being completely self-conscious, imagining that everyone was looking at me, thinking “Wow, he picked out a Pacer.” I wanted to hoist a big “It’s Not Mine” flag on the antenna. 🙂
I had a girlfriend back in the day who had one of these. Well, the kids call it a ‘friend with benefits’ now… Actually, if you can imagine the car in the dealer pix in pea green instead of the sunny yellow, it would be very similar. I have to admit: the times my turbo Capri was in the shop, riding in the Pacer was a lot better than walking.
You should know by now I have no shame when it comes to cars. I wouldn’t mind having a Pacer now, but I’d like to re-power it with something good. Maybe if I could figure out how to get a Chevy Volt drivetrain underneath that oddball body…
Actually, the Pacer didn’t get the V8 option until the 1978 model year. At that time all Pacers got the raised hood and the ugly, ornate grille.
Yes, I neglected to mention that the V8 didn’t come on-line until 1978…
I actually prefer this front-end look over earlier Pacers. In the right colours with the right wheels, they really weren’t so bad looking. But this yellow stripper with the dog-dish hubcaps – ugh!
IMO the wagon carries it off better than the coupe. Same thing with the 1979-80 square front Ford Pinto and for that matter the classic-Mini Clubman.
Smog controls choked the /6 more than most. From ’73 on they had only a shadow of their 60s performance.
CU once described it as having “the power of a 4 and the economy of a V8.”
Smog controls killed the performance of all of the cars back in the mid-70’s. You know it was bad when I got better fuel mileage out of my Maverick by installing a small block V8 Ford motor with no emissions controls. The original 1974 250 ci six cylinder was a weak gas hog. With the V8 installed, I got the same fuel mileage but the car was a great deal quicker.
When I was buying cars for the first time, I tried to avoid anything from the mid 1970’s with the exception of my Dart Sport. That car got about 12 MPG, but at least it was pretty stout for a smog car.
For the mechanically inclined apart from correcting the timing deficiencies and stuff, replacing the cam shaft in most post 1974 engines wakes them right up ~ one you try this you’ll be sold for life .
Most of those mid 1970’s onwards engines used retarded cam timing to reduce emissions and power .
3° retarded cam timing is a _LOT_ when it comes to power .
Sometimes (BMC products) it’s as simple as replacing the cam gears .
-Nate
I don’t know if any of you folks recall, but sometime in the past , I confessed that back in the day, I rather liked the AMC Pacer. Even considered buying one. Until I realized I might not make enough for the car payment, gas and insurance. I’d graduated but was still living at home.
OK, so get this. The one that I wanted most was a yellow one almost just like the pictured one. Yep, seriously. And, just like some potential romances, it was just not meant to be. And, probably all for the better, when viewed from hindsight. But, seeing that photo vividly reminds me I really did very much want a yellow Pacer years ago. Around that time, I sold my 1969 Charger R/T and bought a 1971 Dodge Challenger. A bright red 318 V-8 base model with a black vinyl top and a flat black R/T hood added by the previous owner.
I’d happily take a car from here – either the i3 or the red 1978 LeBaron.
And did you see that the white pickups across the road are still there?
Yes, they are — that facility is a property yard for the County, and County fleet vehicles are pretty similar now vs. 35 years ago!
I was thinking that those pickup utility bodies are one place in the automotive world where time has essentially stood still. I took this picture today, but compared to the pictures above (the photo with the Monza, for instance), these truck bodies are nearly indistinguishable.
Yeah not really any change in the basic service body design in the last 50+ years.
The blue GMC with camper shell would have been my choice. None of the passenger cars would have appealed to me at the time.
Count me as bidding on the Opel wagon. I had two… a green ’74 that I bought with 24,000 miles on it and ran to over 150,000, and a red ’75 fuelie (“Yuge” increase in power to 81bhp!). The ’75 had a semi-lunched gearbox, so I transplanted the ’74’s into it and all was well. These were pretty sweet handling cars vs the alternatives of the day.
The front end on the Chrysler has always looked upside down to me.
You must be a Dodge man.
Something you don’t see anymore are roadways with darkened lane centers due to oil stains.
Lol I see them all the time. We don’t have safety inspections in SC and the roads are mostly asphalt so I see that quite often
You should see the tollbooths on the PA Turnpike… Yikes! The Exxon Valdez got nuthin’ on them!
I would’ve chosen the white 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, they’re one of my all time vehicles built during the Malaise era, I do wish it had sport mirrors instead of the steel mirrors, I’ve thought the rectangular headlights looked a lot better than the rounded headlights on these cars.
One last shot: Before I dated her, my wife had a 75? 76? Monza Town Coupe. While it was good on fuel, she hated it. She went ‘upside down’ to get into a 77 Olds Delta 88 Holiday Coupe. THAT was a great car.
Corvair, please.
I want the green pinto wagon and the two blue Datsun sedans
You’re gonna have to fight me for that Pinto 😀 !
That LeBaron is beautiful. A serially underrated design. My choice of the lot!
82,lets see I sold my 66 HA Viva and bought a one owner/driver 74 HQ Belmont 202 manual, good car it went well never let me down, sold it late 82 and bought a 63 Humber 80 1600 also a good car, none of those would be farmiliar to most of the readership I guess but thats the nature of what was on the roads over here in that era.
Pacer, LeBaron, and would totally buy that BRAT if it were for sale.
“The LTD’s companions of a Pinto and Cutlass Supreme ”
The Cutlass shown front end looks the Aeroback Salon. Supremes had small waterfall grilles 78/79.
Great catch on that — thanks!
The LeBaron is gorgeous in that red paint. Too bad it’s not a woody wagon though.
Going by memory here so I may be off by a year or two but I believe that the movie “On Golden Pond” had some nice shots of the wagon that you mentioned.
Nice job! These different era past and present comparisons are great.
In 1982 I was in the market for my first water cooled AC equipped VW, with a 2k dollar budget (wound up with a ’75 Rabbit) none on this lot but the Opel wagon would have been one to look at.
The Old’s wagon haunting the lot today is perfect!
Mom’s car in the ’80s was a gorgeous ’77 1/2 LeBaron Medallion.
Had all the options – factory tinted side windows, power moon roof, you name it.
And it was triple black with 3″ wide white walls. Wheel covers though, not those wheels.
Loved it’s “hips” and the parking lights above the headlights.
It was sprung a tad soft. Would get floaty around 90 mph.
Drove the heck out of it and my ’65 Riv just after high school.
Cool pix!
This one is literally close to home for me. I drive past that location in Fairfax quite frequently, and that Olds Custom Cruiser is probably the same one that I see once every several months around McLean, always in the same place on Rt. 123. The Olds has always eluded my taking a good photo of it.
I’ve seen that Custom Cruiser around before as well. It couldn’t have picked a better time to surface again! Oddly enough that wasn’t the only Custom Cruiser I’ve seen driving around over the past few weeks. I saw this one today stopped at a traffic light in Falls Church:
A little late but my parent’s 78 LeBaron at 4 years old was a clapped-out pile. Even had a wheel bearing failure where a front wheel flew off! Paint blisters, electrical , you name it. Some friends of theirs in the neighborhood had one that never gave them a single problem. Talk about feeling like you got a stick stuck you-know-where!
To anyone who said, “I’d take the Opel”, that probably would have been a poor choice in 1982. I had a buddy in HS in this era who drove a beat hand-me-down Kadett, and parts were unobtanium in the US. Even though Buick dealers were still selling “Opel by Isuzu”, the guys at the parts counter couldn’t (or wouldn’t) sell my buddy any parts for a German Opel, most everything was listed as NLA. Parts stores like NAPA couldn’t get much, either.
The 3 supports for the roof rack means it’s a Kadett, not the handsome 1900. For some reason, the frumpy, under-tired Kadett makes me think of Milhouse from the Simpson’s.
In ’82, I was tooling around NoVa in a ’74 Fleetwood in Earl Sheib Copper Metallic, but not very much, because gas was about $1.30 or so and I was unemployed. My first thought was the scene looks like Virginia, but it’s a stretch of Rt 236 that I don’t think I’ve ever been on.
I drove a Pacer once when carpooling home from college. No thanks. A wider, taller small car was a good idea, but not like that.
Maximum malaise. Whoa, check out the size of the panel gap at the leading edge of the front door of the Monza Towne Coupe (sixth image). Compare it to the much tighter gap on the Pacer.
Love the metallic red on the LeBaron. Though I would have preferred a Diplomat, for the more conventional front parking light location.
Looks like a Dart or Valiant behind that white Cutlass. Possibly a 75 or 76 model.
That Olds looks like it’s about ready to start corroding. Up here, they were all rusty around the lower edges at about the 5 year mark. Maybe in VA they lasted a bit longer.
I agree with some commentators above – that Corolla (SR5?) wagon looks appealing. As does the LeBaron.
Great visit down memory lane.
I wish I was smart enough in 1982 to have bought any of the pick up trucks. But, alas, I wasn’t and would have chosen the car I loved to drive during that time, the Ford Fairmont sedan.
One thing that strikes me is the diverse colors that the cars in the ’70s had compared to the drab colors choices today-mostly black, white, silvers and greys. I really don’t see anything that appeals to me; the build quality of my domestic cars in that time period was terrible. In the late ’70s it was something of a standing joke if you bought a domestic car on a four year loan by the time the loan was paid off the car was falling apart.
I was a transporter for Hertz in ’77 and ’78, and though in those days Hertz seemed to rent mostly Fords (at least my location) we did have some Dodges…for some reason no Plymouths (for that matter, no Pintos nor Mavericks, though in ’78 we got the Fairmont). I drove quite a few Diplomats and even the original Magnum (once, mostly Thunderbirds were rented in that class). I even saw a ’78 Corolla liftback, one of the two Japanese cars our location had (the other being a Datsun 510). My Dad owned a ’76 Subaru DL he bought new in those days. I had a ’74 Datsun 710 sedan.
We lived not far from Fairfax from ’69-’75, in Manassas. My Dad moved down from Vermont when they were building the plant, but by ’75 the reason for the plant evaporated and we moved back up to Vermont. My Dad owned a ’68 Renault R10 he bought new in South Burlington, we had it most of the time we lived in Manassas.
By ’82, he’d moved to Texas, I followed them the next year. I had my ’78 Scirocco back then, Dad still had his ’78 Caprice Classic wagon and his ’80 Dodge Omni (neither the Omni nor Scirocco had A/C, which was a big omission once we moved to central Texas, hastening the demise of both cars from our ownership).