Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet 210

Minneapolis Chevrolet Nova

In the 1960s, the little Chevrolet Nova became a compact car phenomenon; decades later, the Nova platform would gain ground as a popular hot rodding choice (yes, I realize this is also the name of a magazine). When I was younger, I wanted a Nova, and it was always the '68-'72 models with little to emphasis placed on the earlier--or the later cars. Slowly, my interest in the Nova nameplate has shifted towards the earlier Nova IIs and the later 1970s models that don't really garner much attention.

After its 1975 redesign, the Nova sort of fell off if you will; rather than looking somewhat like a smaller Chevelle, the Nova looked rather bland Sure, it still packed a (rather uninspiring) V8, and there was an SS option, but this generation of Chevrolet's compact car was gear more toward luxury and economy that the muscle car that preceded it. Gone were the Chevrolet Rallyes and bright colors, and in place were generic hubcaps, subdued neutral colors, and a wide variety of psuedo-luxury interior trimmings. The Malaise-era was here, and it took its toll on Chevrolet's baby--and it showed. By 1979, the once-popular Nova was a sight of the past, and a new generation of compact car replaced it that winter.

I have slowly started to warm up to these and I think this one looked perfect; I like what the owner did here--kept it stock, but added a set of period wheels. Normally, I thought the idea of stock plus wheels was kind of a lame approach, but this Nova was done right. The Cragars looked amazing, and were the right size and width as well. No stinkbug stance was had here.

This generation has been overlooked for quite some time, and now they have finally seen the light of day. I have noticed that as of late, more and more of this generation have been getting saved. Kudos to the owner of this car for saving it, and setting it off perfectly. What a great job you've done sir (or mam.)

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport

In the 1980s, GM was trying to emphasize sportiness more-so than the other "Big Three" automakers. While Ford had the SHO, and Chrysler had its turbo cars, GM had a whole fleet of "sports sedans"; unfortunately, the majority of these sports sedans were in appearance only, and offered no real upgrades compared to more plebeian versions. They sure did look the part, though. Aside from the obvious better looking wheels, the Eurosport benefitted from red-colored trim on the rubstrips, a more "sinister" color palette that was comprised of grays, blacks and white, and it gained a slightly meaner front valance as well. Apart from these cosmetic changes, the car was mostly mediocre, performance-wise, although the Eurosport did benefit from a new  firmer suspension.

While the Celebrity did go away after 1990, the Eurosport name stuck around, and was affixed to the Celebrity's successor, the Lumina; like the Celebrity before it, the Lumina Eurosport also benefited from cosmetic upgrades and a suspension upgrade and various interior bits, but the really sporty Lumina would have to wait-- and readers will too. 

I feel bad; I had to do a quick shoot because the owner was walking to this as I was shooting it. This isa relatively clean example of a fairly rare variant of Chevrolet's A-body. The painted looked great and the wheels were in excellent shape. The only real rotten things here are the bumper damage, and slight rusting on the passenger front door; other than that, this Eurosport is definitely one of the nice ones I've seen, especially on the exterior.

Inside, again, this example was pretty solid; it did show some dash curl, and the steering wheel had its fair share of use, but overall, the interior looked pretty nice, especially considering the age of the driver.  (He was a pretty young guy, who didn't seem to look like he knew anything about cars, judging by his immediate reaction to me commenting on the rarity of his car.)

I am glad I shot this one now before it got totally covered in indie rock band stickers all over; I fear for what the future holds for this rare sedan, and I hope it doesn't stray too far from unsavable.

Lawrence Street Sighting: Chevrolet S10

Starting in 1982, GM decided that they wanted to go the compact-truck route on their own and not use the expertise (?) from Japanese manufacturer, Isuzu. As a result, the GM S-trucks were born; and yes, the blatant rebadging that the full-size trucks shared carried over here as well. Chevrolet had its version, the S-10 (or S10 as it's written here), and GMC's counterpart was a the S-15 Sonoma, more commonly known as--well--the Sonoma. The trucks could be had with engine choices of a series of V6s (2.8L and 4.3) and a much-weaker Iron Duke four, which is commonly known as the "Iron Dookie", as it offers about the same amount of redeeming qualities as receiving an STD as a Christmas gift.

Fortunately, not many Iron Dukes survive--but somehow, some way, this one did; this example is a pre-facelift early first-gen, produced from its initial 1981 debut, to the end of the 1989 model year. Actually, this one might have the even less lethargic 1.9L carburetted four; either way, not much of a powerhouse--but it did wonders for fuel efficiency--or so it was promoted as.

I quite like these first generation S-trucks, and I think these do fit into the category of "timeless" designs as far as GM trucks go; they're not "sexy", but I have liked these since childhood. Apparently so do minitruckers, as that fad really took off in the early 1990s, with first-generation S-trucks often chosen as a blank canvas with which to start customizing from.  Nowadays, finding a decent first generation is hard, as most examples are older than twenty years old now, and rust will have taken its toll if a series of wannabe minitruckers haven't yet.

I know this isn't really a prime specimen of the breed, but it's what the average first-generation S10 looks like now; a set of once-cool aftermarket wheels (that would look great on a Lamborghini Countach replica), modest wheel gap, and faded paint coupled with fender rot round out the package; okay, so that's a tad harsh.

 While the paint is far from perfect, it is at least stock, and while the truck is an older model, it appears that the taillights are not so; in fact, they look Blazer taillights. Oh well--they look okay, I suppose, but I hope that doesn't suggest that modding is in this ride's future. I've seen enough modded S10s to care.

Inside, though, this truck sported a very cheesy red and black steering wheel with equally crappy APC floormats and matching seat covers. So maybe this once-stock pickup is getting the ever-so-common minitruck makeover. Quite sad, really; I can hardly remember what the stock interior looks like since most trucks I see have various stupid mods done.

I used to like the minitruck hobby, but after seeing so many older trucks fall victim to it, I wish I could reverse the trend and save some of these trucks before stock examples go extinct. I really like first generation Chevrolet S10s, and there's simply not too many left.

Lawrence Street Sighting: Chevrolet Custom 10

Like I mentioned in earlier posts, hard-working pickup trucks were a common sight in my childhood; in Kansas, if you didn't own a truck, you knew someone who did. Since I grew up in the 1990s, and trucks last longer than cars (no clue why, they just do.), it wasn't really uncommon to see 1950s trucks plugging along--and even I remember the occasional 1940s truck hustling down 6th street; time change, and the "40 year old truck" gets newer and newer.  As a stark contrast to yesterday's rather unusual Ford Econoline, I present you this; one of my favorite bodystyles of Chevy's pickup ever.

This year, this bodystyle turns a stonking forty years old--and it sure doesn't look like it; to me, this is one of the most timeless truck designs around, and will never cease to look good. Introduced in 1973, this bodystyle was miles ahead of the 1967-1972 truck it replaced, and to prove it was ahead of its time, GM kept it in production well into the 1980s; the last model year for these trucks was 1987, and the bodstyle that followed this one is equally as timeless. That twenty-five year span marked some of the best trucks GM made in terms of design, durability, and cool-factor; growing up, the 1973-1998 trucks were always a favorite of mine--and likely will continue be so.

This Custom 10 is about as basic as it gets; orange paint, and white steelies suggest that this one did time as a KDOT truck or had a job in construction before being used as a personal vehicle; again, as I mentioned before, I saw quite a few of these in my childhood, and most of the ones I saw were this very color. Coincidence? I think not.

What's even more odd is that despite being a KDOT truck, it appears to have served its time well and shows no rust, or otherwise unsual wear and tear; even though one of the hubcaps (centercaps in this case)has left the truck, everything else seems to be in order. I didn't look inside, but I would imagine it rocks white or orange vinyl upholstery and a colormatched steering wheel, and probably is shifted with a 3 spd manual on the tree.

I will never get tired of seeing this bodystyle; it's a shame many of these trucks succumbed to either dumb rednecks who lift them and put huge tires on them, or they've fallen victim to the custom truck phase and have been hacked up beyond recognition. I would love to find more clean trucks of this generation, but since I live in the rustbelt, that will probably never happen very often.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet Camaro "Z/28" convertible

Out of all the cars featured here on The Automotive Way, I can't think of two more cliched cars than Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros; as a car enthusiasts, I love both cars, but so do millions of other car enthusiasts; they're popular at car shows, and I see them by the tens every day, usually with at least one tacky aftermarket add-on aside from a blinging set of wheels that generally don't work with the car.

Growing up in Kansas in the 1990s, classic Camaros were a relatively common occurence, and I thought nothing of seeing multiple on the same day. As the years went by, I began to see less and less first-generation Camaros, and even the much-bashed third-generation slowly got less and less common--and that was in Kansas.

Minnesota is a whole different ballgame; rust hits cars rather hard here, and even some of the early fourth-generation cars are starting to look fairly shabby. I don't see very many pre-third-generation Camaros at  all, thought at shows it seems like the cars are in droves--and usually look quite a bit alike. These early cars look good, and its hard not to make them look even better than stock. Sometimes, going the cookie-cutter route when it comes to modifying can make a car look worse than stock, instead of better.

First off, as a member from a car forum I'm on pointed out, this is not a real Z/28 as the badge would lead you to believe; instead, it's a very good phantom "clone"; the only things bringing it down are the modern (and tacky) footwell speakers and the rather obvious choice of Torq Thrust/Bullitt style wheels, except in chrome. While the wheels look great, they don't really suit this classic Camaro.

The paint on this thing is fantastic; the color's beautiful, and the white stripes really work here; I dig the stock badging and it's probably my favorite part of this car; insider, as I said, the modern touches ruin the feel of the interior and I'm not sure about the seats.

That little blurb being written, I don't hate this car; in-fact, I think I do like it, but as with most Camaros, I'm just not into it. There are other cars I like more, but for what it is, this tribute phantom Z/28 is very nice.

I am glad I shot this, because I have not seen it since; I hope it's still living, and I hope it's either been returned to as stock as possible, or at least had some new wheels put on it that are less blingy. 

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet El Camino "SS"

Throughout my ongoing tenure of shooting and blogging about cars and trucks, there are those vehicles which I probably shouldn't admit to liking, but I like anyway; of those on my (extensively long), one of them seems like an almost common fixture in the midwest--the Chevrolet El Camino. First introduced in 1959, the El Camino would go on to skip a few model years, then return for the 1964 model year. Oddly enough, the Ford competition didn't skip a year at all between 1957 and 1979. However, the El Camino was in production from 1964 to 1988, so it was in production longer than its competition. While I don't like all generations of the Ranchero, I do like every iteration of Chevrolet's trucklet.

Perhaps my favorite was the last-of-the-breed. Based on the 1978 Malibu sedan, this last-generation trucklet ran basically unchanged for the last ten years of its life.  Available with a choice of V6 and V8 power, there was one for everyone--and if you got tired of the factory powerplant, any number of GM powertrains bolted in without too much hassle.  I wonder why these aren't as common in the pro-touring hobby as their car counterparts? I like them, and I think these look great when done the right way. However,this example could use a few nips and tucks here and there. I'll explain below.

First things first, this isn't an SS model to begin with; aside from that gripe, this thing is generally pretty clean. I'm not a fan of the relocation of the license plate, nor am I fan of that damn grille, but as a whole, this truck is clean. The paint is relatively nice, although it does have orange peel on the doors and fenders. I'd get it resprayed in black, and get a nicer (and probably stock-fit) grille, and possibly a small cowl hood.

The wheels could be better, too, but they're not too bad. I would've chosen some Budniks or something; these look.. blah. I am thankful that the rear tires are decently sized, and not dragster width like many other Elcos are here. I'd also add traction bars below the rear suspension, and add anti-sway bars as well.

The owner said this was powered by a 350. Nice, but a tad lame; I'd go bigger--and forced induction. I think this thing would be awesome with a turbo big block smaller than 400 cubes. Turbo 383 maybe? I'd want it to haul ass (who wouldn't?) but I'd want it sound a little better than a generic V8 though.

There; now that I've stated all the things I'd change, I just gave readers an idea of my perfect El Camino. Anyone wanna help me build it?