Minneapolis Street Sighting: Toyota Corolla wagon

The Toyota Corolla (and its Camry sibling) have always been known as boring cars among car-folk, but that's mainly the newer ones with the whole beige stigma. However, despite being a boring, bland car, certain versions of Toyota's long-lasting subcompact-turned-compact have garnered a "cool" factor lately. Now, obviously, if someone puts together "Corolla" and "cool", chances are they're blabbering on and on about the AE86; nothing wrong with that, but the AE86 isn't the only cool Corolla around.

Chances are, if you grew up in the early 1980s, you'd think differently; I grew up in the 1990s, and even then, these weren't that common. I don't remember seeing these very much in my childhood, but I assume that they were sold in Lawrence, but probably in small numbers; I've seen more sedans than wagons--by a longshot. 

In 1985, the Corolla went front-wheel-drive, and aside from the AE86 coupes and hatchbacks, the coolness all but disappeared; it was almost like Toyota decided to take the fun out of driving for their best-selling car--and it all went downhill from there. One by one, Toyotas got lamer and lamer as the sporty models started disappearing for good. Thankfully Toyota isn't Honda, as I would probably be sued right about now. 

 As I stated above, I do quite like these; I've loved wagons for the longest time, too, and I have a soft spot for vintage Toyotas. Yes, I can call this "vintage", since it is over thirty years old now.  Now, obviously, this is a far cry from today's Corolla, and for good reason; for one, Toyota actually built sturdy cars back in the early 1980s; you'd think that old 'yotas would rust or at least develop surface rust, but honestly, I haven't seen any of these here with iffy cancer--they're either mint or close to it, or they're a lost cause. This one was pretty damn mint, and with a couple hours of claybarring, this probably could pass as  "used car" circa 1986.

I was mostly impressed--not only by the awesome condition, but by how original it was, right down to the dealer plaque on the liftgate; if this is the same "Freeway" that sells Fords now, they've done business for over thirty year--which honestly is quite a feat in the ever-changing dealership
 landscape.  I think this car could go on to be one of the nicest classic Toyotas in Minnesota--even though this obviously wasn't intended as a sports car, it's been well kept. And for that alone, I think this is probably one of the coolest Japanese car I've shot.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Fiat X/19 five speed

I don't know whether this counts as cheating or not, but I will be sporadically posting cars from a friend's collection here on The Automotive Way. He has decided not to disclose his age, nor how long he's been into the hobby, or what he does for a living, but his collection of cars is immense, ranging from the eclectic to the downright sublime. All of his cars are foreign,and a vast majority of them are Italian, and fall under one major automotive group, with the exception of a scant few.

What you see here is what he calls a "summer toy"; it's a 1979 Fiat X1/9 by Bertone, and its not the first one of the breed he's owned--and it certainly isn't his first Fiat. Fiats from this era are finicky cars--either they run or they don't. But that's what makes the car hobby fun for my friend; while other people spend the winter snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, or just being in the snow, my friend spends his winters looking for project cars that he can get running over the winter; over a typical winter, his collection grows by four or five cars. Since I've known him, he's gained about ten vehicles that he's kept.

Onto the car, though, it was found via craigslist, and it was acquired for a measly $400 thanks to some redneck who simply wanted it gone. It ran, and drove fine, it wasn't wanted on the property any longer. How cool is that? I wish I could score a running and driving car for that little! Damn.

In these pictures, the paint appears to be flat, but with an afternoon with clay, this things shines right up. The decals are cracking a little bit, but that's to be expected in a car this old. The wheels, the trim, everything is in good order, save for a taillight lense. Other than that, this little X1/9 is pretty awesome. I've ridden in it a few times, and sitting so low, you feel like you're going twice as fast as what you actually are. Even though the power these put out is relatively lame by today's standards, these aren't bad cars. I just wish rust wouldn't have eaten so many of them.

I obviously had fun shooting this car, and I can't wait to feature more of this collection!

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce 2.0 Injection

When I go out shooting, I tend to look for cars and trucks that aren't from the US; Italian cars have always tickled my fancy, but I realize that in the Midwest, finding Ferraris, and Lamborghinis--much less Lancias, is a difficult task to undertake--so I "settle" for Alfa Romeos. Over the years, I have come to adore the early Spiders like a child adores his or her parents; unfortunately, the newer cars lost some of the simplicity that made the early cars so endearing. Instead of slim chrome bumpers, and neat like accents here and there, the Alfa Romeos of the 1980s were slathered with black plastic that only GM could be fond of; they went from being slick little sportsters to ugly-bumpered, once-awesome roadsters. I guess that's what happens when the US interferes with the design of imported cars.

In 1995, Alfa Romeo stoppped US sales, and their last hurrah in the US were honestly some of the ugliest old-body Spiders to be offered; painted in cliche colors, all one color with no chrome at all, and ugly wheels, these Spiders best represent everything wrong with Alfa's last US dealer network. Hopefully, the brand will come back (and Fiat keeps promising so), and with it, a new Spider.

I usually appreciate Spiders in colors other than red--and I tried to appreciate this one the best I could; there's just too much black plastic for my liking. In addition to that, the main color is just...blah. I don't like it, nor do I absolutely hate it, either. It seems to be more of a Chrysler minivan color than a 1980s Alfa Romeo paint hue; I suppose it would look good on say, an Arna or Milano or something, but on the Spider, it looks very unsporty.

On the plus side, this example seemed to be free of rust, and it didn't possess the wide array of dents and dings that most cars of this vintage possess, so that's a plus. Honestly, aside from the color, this little convertible was pretty nice. I wouldn't sport it based on color alone, but then again, I prefer the older cars anyway. I still had fun shooting this one, and I wouldn't really turn it down if it was given to me, but this era isn't my favorite.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Oldsmobile 98 Regency Diesel

With all the talk lately about how Oldsmobiles are the most common make for older cars here, I figured I should post one soon; so here it is. I have a thing for "rare" cars, and then there's rare. Diesel technology in the late 1970s and early 1980s was nowhere near what it is today--but that didn't stop GM from trying it out. Rather than spend money making a few decent smaller cars, the firm decided it would be an awesome idea to have its bigger cars powered by a diesel--which wasn't a bad idea in itself; rather, the execution was piss pood, and as a result, not only was fuel economy rather dismal, performance was.. somehow even less exciting than the petrol versions of the said car. Slow, wallowy, and soft-riding, complete with the clatter of a 1960s-era city bust at stoplights.

In an era where Oldsmobiles were presented as luxury cars without the luxury price-tag, offering a diesel probably wasn't the best idea.  And both car magazines and the buying public agreed; very few diesel GMs were sold new, and even less remain today. I'm not even sure if this one is still powered by a diesel, let alone the standard 305 diesel.

In any event, this is a fairly boring car that was kept in nice-enough shape to warrant attention; and because I did pay attention, I found a pretty rare beast--even by Oldsmobile standards.

 As I said above, this 98 is a fairly boring car; I still see these from time-to-time in less than stellar condition; I took a close peek at this one since it was the most interesting car on the block, and I'm glad I did.  The paint was immaculate, with absolutely no indication of rust or rot anywhere--a sure sign that this thing has been babied from day one.

The only thing that leads me to believe this Regency may not be stock still is the dual exhaust; although the pipes appear to stock size, I don't know whether dual exhaust was an option on the diesels; if this thing was still a diesel, it'd be one rare piece. Even if the diesel did get chucked in favor of a petrol engine, this thing is still a nice car.

I normally don't give these Oldsmobiles a second glance, but for some reason, my gut told me to shoot this--and I'm glad I did; I haven't seen a diesel GM car since.

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?

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet Lumina two door

I'm just now coming to terms with the fact that the cars I grew up with are now bloggable if they're in good condition still; like the Caprice, the Lumina was a fairly popular car for Chevrolet, expept for the two-door model. Good thing they realized that early one, and canned the two-door after the first generation. Oh wait. In 2002, the Lumina was put out to pasture after serving its twelve years on the scene, and was replaced by a rehashed Impala--which carried the tradition of being a big, family car that was relatively cheap--in both quality and MSRP.

 Not even in drier states like Kansas did many first generation cars survive; I can't recall seeing very  many Lumina two doors at all; and now I know why Ford didn't make a two-door Taurus.  In any event, these things are quite a bit rarer than the sedan counterparts, and I wasn't expecting to see one here. On that note, I don't think I've seen any early Grand Prix coupe here either; the most common W-Body car here in Minnesota is the Cutlass Supreme coupe--and even those are getting fairly scarce now.

 Initial first reaction to this one was pure shock; for one, I've never seen a Lumina two-door base model before until this one, and two, I've never seen these hubcaps on a two-door before either. Even the normally hated fender trim doesn't look terrible here--and it was likely applied when this guy was new.

The paint on this example is immaculate--and I do mean immaculate; I don't think there was a mark on this thing's entire body; hell, this thing even has factory "Lumina" mudflaps". Certainly, the owner cares about this car--and that's what makes this thing even more so; it's an oft-forgotten model that's been saved--and could potential live another twenty years

I normally don't like these, but I had fun shooting this; I hardly ever see two-doors that aren't the special models, and since this one was in such immaculate shape, I now have a new standard to compare future potential Lumina two doors.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet Caprice Estate Wagon

Growing up, station wagons were a huge part of my childhood; we had a Subaru DL (which was very short lived), and my grandpa had a Ford Taurus wagon. I rode in my fair share of wagons, as well. One of my friends' parents had a Buick Estate Wagon, and that's as close as I would come to riding in a GM B-Body wagon; I rode in that car only once, but I loved it.

Station wagons were a part of Chevrolet's lineup until the demise of the Caprice in 1996; well, there was the Malibu Maxx, but I don't really think that counts. Not only was it a fairly ugly car, the thing wasn't a staple of Americana--and never will be. The Caprice on the other hand- if you grew up in the 1960s to the mid-1990s, you either owned one, or you knew someone who did. If I remember right, there were two or three in my neighborhood alone, and I used to not go a few hours without seeing one. Unfortunately, that's not the case anymore; good Caprices are hard to find, mainly because either a) they're not really collector cars yet and b) a large chunk of them ended up in demo-derbiers' hands--much like their 1971-1976 predecessors
.

This thing is awesome; I'm slowly becoming more and more fond of these as the years go by; when I was little, I didn' overly love these--and I didn't hate them either. These were common, so I never gave them much thought; as I explained above, I don't see many of these anymore. I still see the plain-jane wagons but never the ones with wood trim.

Maroon, I would have to say, fits the Estate fairly well, especially with the wood "trim", which as you can tell, is likely vinyl -wrap/applique. In the 1980s--and even into the 1990s to an extent, this was all the rage; these had wood trim, Jeep Grand Cherokees had wood trim (called the Wagoneer), and Chrysler minivans had wood trim. Why? I suppose to stay true to "traditional" family car values.

I didn't get to peek inside here, but I assume that the interior looks like the body; in great shape on the surface, but the devil is in the details. I'd wager that this a regularly-used vehicle that the owner has tried to take very good care of. Like almost all cars that are used daily, age is starting to take its toll on the big brute.