Cars that used to be "common", but are gone now

[14Accent]

This is going to vary widely based on the age of the respondent, but let's say 1985 model year is the cutoff. What car (or platform) did you see with regularity, say, through the mid 90's that has fallen off the face of the earth?

I'll start with a couple:

Anything based on the K-car platform. I was driving home today and saw a ~1993 Chrysler Imperial. I thought to myself "wow... who still has one of those?".

GM L-body (Corsica, Beretta) The owner's mother still has one of these! I saw her yesterday, it's a '96 Corsica, white on maroon with the 3100. She's probably got one of the last ones around, at least up here. Minnesota has eaten these cars alive.

I bet you all from salt-free states see a lot more than I do up here. What springs to mind for everyone else?

 

[87sammy]

Honda Prelude.

 

[OVERKILL]

- K-Car
- J-Body (Cavalier/Sunbird)
- Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz
- Chevy Caprice

 

[Leo99]

Escort
Blazer
Station wagons

 

[Gasbuggy]

SRT-4 Neons (idiots bought them)

 

[Rmay635703]

K-cars and Cavaliers are everywhere around here, I've often wondered how folks keep them on the road in the rust belt.

You hardly ever see a square body diesel suburban in this area, used to be one on every block not long ago.

Used to be a lot of Lincoln's of all ages around here too, never see those either.

The number of Geo Metros has really fallen off the last 5 years, hmm odd ones

 

[wdn]

I owned a 1987 Mercury Topaz once. What a piece of junk. It nearly swore me off Fords forever. But that came later.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by Rmay635703
K-cars and Cavaliers are everywhere around here, I've often wondered how folks keep them on the road in the rust belt.

You hardly ever see a square body diesel suburban in this area, used to be one on every block not long ago.

Used to be a lot of Lincoln's of all ages around here too, never see those either.

The number of Geo Metros has really fallen off the last 5 years, hmm odd ones


Years and years ago when we drove through Quebec in a blizzard by FAR the most common vehicle on the road was the Ford Festiva. I was fascinated by this, as I never saw many of them in Ontario, but here they were in droves with their little pizza cutter tires chasing the 18-wheelers down the Trans Canada. I haven't seen any since though, in subsequent visits so perhaps they've all rotted away now

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by Rmay635703

The number of Geo Metros has really fallen off the last 5 years, hmm odd ones


I saw 2 Metro convertibles the other day, one rat and one in really nice shape. Every car under the sun is still on the road here and being daily driven.

Don't recall seeing many Citations around or those big bloaty Caprice station wagons with 4 feet of rear overhang.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by Rmay635703

The number of Geo Metros has really fallen off the last 5 years, hmm odd ones


I saw 2 Metro convertibles the other day, one rat and one in really nice shape. Every car under the sun is still on the road here and being daily driven.

Don't recall seeing many Citations around or those big bloaty Caprice station wagons with 4 feet of rear overhang.




The Chevy Citation kept many mechanics in steady business.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

PT Cruisers, and unmolested Civic Si/Integra

 

[Fifth87]

GM A-Bodies. Used to see Cutlass Cieras daily. Haven't seen one aside from mine in 6 months.
Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz
Any 90's Chrysler product. Vans, LH's, cloud cars, trucks.
Northstar Cadillacs

 

[spasm3]

Cutlass ciera

 

[Bud_One]

Pontiac Fieros and El Caminos

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by 14Accent

GM L-body (Corsica, Beretta) The owner's mother still has one of these! I saw her yesterday, it's a '96 Corsica, white on maroon with the 3100. She's probably got one of the last ones around, at least up here. Minnesota has eaten these cars alive.


Yup these. What's funny is how the A-body (Ciera, Century) keeps on chugging.

Remember the Lumina APV, Transport, and Silhouette? The plastic 1st gens are gone. Nobody wants to truck their family around in something that old and potentially unreliable. (Funny story, I had my kids in a 12-year old U-body van driving to Ohio and when I hit a bridge expansion joint in PA the compressor for the rear air-ride fell off the frame rail due to rust.)

My state seems to get "drops" of 3-4 year old American used cars that came in from rental fleets or somewhere. They'll be disproportionately over-represented and absolutely everywhere. 2012 Impalas are this car, this year. Then they rust out and disappear just as fast.

The Ford Tempo/Topaz and now Contour/Mistake have all disappeared. 1st and 2nd gen Taurus/ Sables too.

 

[bunnspecial]

Around here off the top of my head:

90s B Bodies
K Cars
Pretty much all 80s and early 90s Japanese cars

Funny enough, I seem to see more 80s B bodies than 90s ones. I don't know when I last saw a "ladybug" Caprice Classic, for example, and I use to see them everywhere. I suspect that Cash4Clunkers may have claimed a lot of them, along with plenty of other 80s and 90s full sized rear wheel drive cars.

Also, I use to see "boxy" Civics, Accords, Camrys, Maximas, and what have you all over the place. I suspect that even here(not in the rust belt, but with some salt every year) they've all rusted into oblivion even though they probably ran the whole time.

One last one-thanks to the aggressive buy-back program, the once ubiquitous 90s Tacoma seems to now be an endangered species. It's a shame, too, as they were great little trucks.

 

[CR94]

Since '85? Yugo, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Mercury, Isuzu (cars), Suzuki, Geo, Daewoo ...

 

[Snagglefoot]

Yep, the big old Delta 88's.

 

[Ducked]

Well everything, basically.

My current (1986, so just makes your cutoff) Daihatsu Skywing is the obvious example. Lots around in much better shape than mine when I bought it, havn't seen another in several years.

Its quite possible mine is the last one, though AFAIK there's no way to check, unlike the UK which has a "how many are left" website.

Got used to their being no old cars here (outside the aboriginal villages in the mountains, which I don't get to much) due to face/bling/lack of maintenance and maybe govt scrappage schemes, though the regulatory environment makes it fairly easy to keep a banger street-legal.

Not true in the Yook, with its uber-anal annual MOT test, and this summer it seemed to be the same there. A morbid-curiosity search for a cheap banger eventually turned up a 2005 Ford Ka for 450 quid, but pickings were very slim.

Oddly I think I've seen more old cars in Japan (which has a reputedly fierce, or at least fiercely expensive, inspection regime). I guess its a fashion thing.

 

[drtyler]

Chevette

Olds Cutlass Supreme, RWD 2-door made up through '88