#EconomyCars
Rare Rides: The 1986 Toyota Camry Five-door Liftback, Brown Plus Brown
Rare Rides has never featured a Camry previously, and that’s mostly down to the model’s general abundance in salt-free locations. However, a fine liftback like today’s example in brown, brown, and tan is well worth some coverage!
Come along as we check out the Camry body style which passed away long before any of the others.
Rare Rides: The 1991 Mercury Tracer LTS, Put It on Your List
Rare Rides has featured Ford’s compact Escort offering previously, in a first-generation EXP from 1986. Today’s Escort hails from the model’s second generation and wears a Mercury badge instead. It also has three important letters on the back: LTS.
Let’s check out a sporty economy sedan from the good people at Mercury.
Rare Rides: An Ultra Brown 1984 Oldsmobile Firenza Cruiser
In the Eighties, did you seek a compact car with the highest possible number of lamps at the front? If so, the choice was clear in ’84: Oldsmobile Firenza.
Rare Rides: A 1986 Pontiac 1000 - Preserved Performance
The Rare Rides series has previously featured many Pontiacs, and today’s hatchback is our ninth to wear the Red Arrow badge. It’s also the smallest Pontiac we’ve ever featured.
It’s not a Chevette, but it is the Chevette’s sporty Driving Excitement cousin!
Rare Rides: The Practical and Luxurious 1979 Mercury Zephyr Villager
Today’s Rare Ride comes from a time when the family wagon segment was alive and well and Ford was eager to use its brand new Fox platform on as many vehicles as possible.
Presenting the wood-clad Mercury Zephyr Villager wagon, from 1979.
Rare Rides: The 2005 Ford Saleen Focus S121 - an Improved Hot Hatch
Most examples of the popular first-generation Focus lived life as appliances. Use and abused, they filtered to the used car lots during the late 2000s alongside brethren like the Mercury Cougar and Jaguar S-Type. However, a select few were spared from such an ignominious fate by performance tuner Saleen. The Californian company took some new Foci and imbued them with extra performance.
Today’s Rare Ride is among the chosen — it’s the 2005 Saleen Focus.
Buy/Drive/Burn: Economical, Basic American Sedans for 1985
It’s the mid-1980s, so having a gas-guzzling, rear-drive Malaise box from the late ’70s is unthinkable. No, you’re a modern consumer, and you demand something front-drive and economical, but still with Malaise build quality.
Today we pick a compact Ace of Base from 1985.
Rare Rides: The 1989 Ford Tempo - Luxurious and All-wheel Drive
Today’s Rare Ride is an example of a vehicle that was fairly common in the early Nineties. However, the passage of time is never kind to low-value and oft-forgotten economy cars, so survivors like this little blue Tempo are quite a find.
Rare Rides: A 1976 AMC Gremlin, Fully Covered in Jeans
The AMC Gremlin celebrated its 50th birthday recently, a fact which would have passed by without notice were it not for commenter Steve Biro. And since we’re talking Gremlin today, we may as well take a look at an oddball trim that’s as quirky as it is rare.
It’s a Levi’s Gremlin from 1976, and it comes standard with an invitation to the Pants Party.
Where Your Author Requires a Volkswagen Quality Control Remedy
In the most recent installment of Your Author’s CPO Volkswagen Follies, I shared the slow process which was the purchase of my 2019 Golf Sportwagen. At the end of that piece, I mentioned it was already at the dealer for a rattle after two weeks of ownership.
It’s back in my possession now, and it’s fixed. Any bets on how long it took, and how many trips were made to the dealer’s service center?
Where Your Author Spends Dollars on a Mexican Wagon
All of you have shared in my car shopping experience, which began at the end of 2019. Starting with a solicitation for recommendations back in October, the process of finding the right replacement for a 2012 Outback extended longer than planned and was punctuated with a particularly poor experience at a Volkswagen dealer.
But it was all worth it, because now I’ve got a new (used) wagon.
The Incredibly Growing Mitsubishi Mirage Gains a New Face
Christmas just came early for many of you. The Mitsubishi Mirage, a truly inexpensive vehicle sometimes seen wearing a worrisome shade of magenta, will soon be even better than before.
That’s because the subcompact hatch and sedan is about gain an even more dynamic and expressive exterior. Brace yourselves.
Rare Rides: An Air-cooled Berkeley Twosome From 1959
Today’s Rare Ride comes from one of those little European brands you’ve never heard of. The company was in business for just a few years, and produced tiny cars powered by even tinier engines. Let’s take a look at the Twosome, from 1959.
Rare Rides: A 1972 DAF 66 Two-Door Wagon, Small and Not Quite a Volvo
Today’s Rare Ride is from an automaker headquartered in the Netherlands which faded away long ago. It’s a little DAF 66, from 1972.
Rare Rides: A Ford Probe From 1991 - the Mustang Replacement
Probe is a significant name in the history of Rare Rides, as the series started off in early 2017 with the Ghia-designed Probe I. That design study was the kickoff of a series of Probe concepts from Ford; a series which ultimately resulted in an aerodynamic liftback that entered production in the late Eighties.
Let’s see a clean, original example of the all-but-vanished first-gen Probe.
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