February 5, 2010 by Chris Keen
Inspired by a recent magazine feature on the early Toyota Celicas, I started looking around for one to feature. As the article (accurately) mentioned, they’re really quite hard to find in decent shape, and certainly at our price point, so I kept digging through listings for other older Japanese cars. And that’s when I came across the Honda Accord, which you could arguably say was the beginning of the end for lower-end European and American cars in the US market. First sold in 1976 as a compact hatchback, they were already being built in Marysville, OH in 1982. While the first Accords only had 68hp from their 1.6-liter fours, they were also probably smaller than today’s Civics, and likely not much larger than a Fit. At about 2000 lbs., they were definitely lighter.
So we come to today’s second feature, a 1977 hatchback. As it happens, it’s listed in Marysville, WA, for $1500. Finished in a lovely shade of gold metallic, with turbine-style wheels (could they be vintage Mugen?), it’s amazing what good condition this car is in – when’s the last time you saw one on the road, let alone one this nice?
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Tags: accord, Feature, hatchback, honda, japanese
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February 5, 2010 by Chris Keen
There’s been quite a bit of talk about Volvo lately, what with the sale of the company to Geely wrapping up, and in my little world, a recent feature of a 142S on BringATrailer.com. So I thought I’d try to find an interesting Volvo built in the times when things were simple. When Geely was just a glint in Li Shufu’s eye, and when Volvo was a purely Swedish company. When selling 3 versions of the same brick-shaped car (and a mildly sporting coupe/shooting brake) was considered sufficient to run a business.
So here it is, the 1966 Teknikens Värld car of the year, the fuel injected Volvo 140-series wagon, or 145E. My fantasy has always been that one of these might be fun to drive, or maybe to flog on a dirt road in the mountains. Like many older Volvos, it’s well-used, but underneath it appears to be a well-loved car that’s had some cleaning up already done to it. You can find this Volvo in North Portland, OR for $1500.
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Tags: 145, 145E, Feature, station wagon, swedish, under $2000, volvo
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February 2, 2010 by Chris Keen
Along with the Alfa Milano and Peugeot 405 Mi16, the Merkur XR4Ti imported by Ford in the second half of the 80s is an under-appreciated alternative to more common cars in its category, such as E30 BMW 3-series or M3, Mercedes 190E 2.3-16, and Saab/Volvo turbos. It’s got unusual styling that was very modern in the 80s, keeping up with the baby Benz but making the 3-series and Swedes look very dated. Nonetheless, it did not get the same kind of popular appreciation, no doubt thanks to poor marketing on the part of Ford/Lincoln-Mercury, who were as excited about pushing high-margin floaty-boats like the Town Car and Cougar (couldn’t sell a car with that name nowadays!) as they were in the days of, say, the Capri.
As with many under-appreciated cars, good examples are hard to find. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a clean example of one of these for many moons now, and this is the first one I’ve found which I would take seriously. Most are project cars that have blown turbos, missing exhaust components, and faded paint. The bonus of being under-appreciated is that even the really nice cars are affordable, and this one seems to be a case in point. Behold, for $2500, this solid looking example in Mesa, AZ. With only 123K miles and running great, it looks like a decent deal.
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Tags: capri, Feature, ford, german, mercury, merkur, xr4ti
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