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

Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, I'm going to be a real rebel here and go back a little bit farther ... for no good reason I remember that in the summer of '77 it seemed like two types of cars made up about half the cars on the road - Dodge Dart/Plymouth Valiant final body style ('67 - '76), and the last gen of full-size Chevys ('71 - '76) before they were downsized for '77.

Getting back to the '85 cutoff, the 1st- ('84 - '90) and 2nd-gen ('91 - '95) Chysler vans (Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager) were everywhere for a few years. The tin worm has gotten most of them now. Very rare now.

I also used to see a lot of Mercury Villager/Nissan Quest minivans. Haven't seen one in ages.
 
First gen Mazda 3? Surprised that has not been mentioned. There were tons of them on the road when they were new and there are none in scrapyards around here.

EDIT: did not see the year cut off, but I remember in the 90s there were a ton of G body Monte Carlo SS on the road.
 
Last edited:
My great-aunt and great-uncle have a 98' Plymouth Breeze that almost looks like a new car, has 118k miles.

They live in The Netherlands for 7 months out of the year and are retired, so it doesn't see too many miles these days. It keeps on going (somehow) and they figure it doesn't make much sense to replace it.
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
My great-aunt and great-uncle have a 98' Plymouth Breeze that almost looks like a new car, has 118k miles.

They live in The Netherlands for 7 months out of the year and are retired, so it doesn't see too many miles these days. It keeps on going (somehow) and they figure it doesn't make much sense to replace it.


Oh the cloud cars! I had a customer with a beat up 1st Gen stratus that he clung to forever, but it finally died a rusty death.
 
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.
My Sunfire is nearly rusted all the way through in frame in the back wheel well area. It doesn't have too much longer in this world unfortunately. Its a pretty reliable car that is pretty zippy in town.
 
Originally Posted by 14Accent
Originally Posted by Nick1994
My great-aunt and great-uncle have a 98' Plymouth Breeze that almost looks like a new car, has 118k miles.

They live in The Netherlands for 7 months out of the year and are retired, so it doesn't see too many miles these days. It keeps on going (somehow) and they figure it doesn't make much sense to replace it.


Oh the cloud cars! I had a customer with a beat up 1st Gen stratus that he clung to forever, but it finally died a rusty death.

Here's a post I made about it a few years ago, it still looks the same.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/foru...23991/all/Amazing_what_a_good_washing_wi
 
Originally Posted by drtyler
Chevette

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



I saw a Chevette about 4 months ago. My ex-wife's ex-boyfriend has a Cutlass Supreme. Haven't seen them in a few years.
 
Someone mentioned the Pontiac 6000 and the full size Ford Bronco.

I'd add the Ford Probe.

Someone once told me that Ford wasn't so great on keeping a parts inventory for discontinued cars. Then, some fairly common, but high mileage type failure that couldn't be easily fixed would sweep them from the road at about the same time.

The story I heard is that it was something about the steering in the Bronco and the transmission for the Probe.
 
Last edited:
VW Bugs and other aircooled models used to be very common. Now they're pretty darn rare to see on the streets.
 
Originally Posted by jimbrewer
Someone mentioned the Pontiac 6000 ...


I had a Pontiac 6000 I bought for $200 because the guy was tired of it. Drove it for 5 years and put 100K on it until it rusted out. It got me through college. That Quad 4 engine was noisy but it was durable. If it idled too long the Service Engine Soon light would come on, and then you drive away from the light and it would go out. It was pre OBD-2
grin2.gif
 
Last edited:
I had an 88 Topaz, mine was also a piece of crap! Bought it for $300 in 2001, it died out frequently, changed many ignition modules, finally gave up! I junked it with 42K miles on it.
 
VW Rabbits, Vanagon, and Scirocco.

Olds Cutlass/Buick Regal/Chevy Monte Carlo

Dodge Stealth/Mitsubishi 3000GT

Porsche 944/928
 
The ninth, tenth and eleventh generations of Ford Thunderbirds are pretty much gone around here. We actually saw a tenth gen in reasonable condition the other day and were surprised. There are a few pristine eleventh gens running around (typically owned by older couples as a "weekend fun" car).
 
In Regina, Saskatchewan, Lada, Skoda, Renault and Peugeot used to litter the independent Euro repair shops in the 80's.
By the mid 90s, most had disappeared from lack of dealer network and support.
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
My great-aunt and great-uncle have a 98' Plymouth Breeze that almost looks like a new car, has 118k miles.

They live in The Netherlands for 7 months out of the year and are retired, so it doesn't see too many miles these days. It keeps on going (somehow) and they figure it doesn't make much sense to replace it.


Were they eating at Spinato's tonight?
lol.gif
There was a silver one I walked by that looked brand new!

To the original question, I haven't seen an '86-'89 Accord with popup headlights in ages. Those were really sharp cars! My parents had one when I was a little kid.
 
I see very little 93 and older s10s. Used to be thick around here but all rotted away. Same with the 80s and 90s Japanese trucks.

Basically anything that was pre galvanized body panels is gone. Even the stuff with galvanized panels before 2007 or 2008 is rotted bad.
 
Ford Windstar and Aerostar
GM Dustbusters
Ford Ranger
Mercury Villager/ Nissan Quest
Mazda Miata
Toyota Matrix & FJ
Pontiac, Saab, Mercury, Plymouth, Scion anything
Yugo
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top