As has been lamented before on these pages, there are very few companies selling a light, compact sports coupe any more. Of course there’s the Scionbaru FR-Z, and with some liberal interpretation you might also look at the BMW 1-series and some hot hatches like the Abarth 500, but aside from that, this genre is courting extinction. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, most manufacturers – Toyota, Datsun, Fiat, VW, Opel, Mitsubishi and more, all had entries in this slot. One of the rarer and more luxurious competitors in the category was Lancia, with its Beta range. You can find this 1981 Lancia Beta 2000 Coupe for sale in Los Gatos, CA for $2800.
Archive for the ‘Feature’ Category
Pretty Coupe – 1981 Lancia Beta
November 5, 2013Early Smoothie – 1967 Fiat 124 Sport Spider
November 5, 2013As mentioned in a previous feature of two Fiat Spiders, finding an early spider is not as easy as uncovering a later car with the large, double tube bumpers they had from 1975 to 1985. However, one pops up every so often, and in spite of their rarity, style and sporting specification, they still fail to bring in big, or even moderate numbers. One example of this secret bargain is a very early 1967 Fiat 124 Sport Spider, for sale in Edmonds, WA for $4000.
More Rare ‘Vair – 1961 Chevrolet Corvair Lakewood
November 4, 2013While the first generation Corvairs are arguably the less-attractive older sister, they do have some things going for them, including rare variants that didn’t make it into the second generation. They can also benefit from improvements to the younger generation, among them powertrain upgrades, which appear to be as simple as a direct swap of the engine and fan shroud. Their design was also quite influential, finding its way into cars like the NSU Ro80, NSU Prinz 4, and BMW E10 (2002, etc.). One of the rarer variants of the first-generation Corvair was the Lakewood wagon. You can find this 1961 Chevrolet Corvair Lakewood for sale for $3900 in the San Gabriel Valley, CA.


