As with many other older sports cars, MGBs have moved from being a 15-20 year old used car to a classic sports car. With that usually comes an attendant price increase, and it’s no different for the MGB. If you’re looking for the typical British sports car experience, you could hardly do better, but where $4000 or so used to get you a nice driver, it now gets you a driving project. Check out this 1969 MGB for sale for $3600 in Fremont, CA.
So what do you do if you’re intimidated by the experience of owning a needlessly complex Italian car, but you still want wedgy 1980s styling and a suggestion of sportiness? Giving up on some driving excitement by accepting a durable 22R-E inline four that’s probably only halfway through its lifespan at 165,000 miles will certainly make your life easier, if not more fun. This car also comes from what you might call something of a golden age for Toyota – they had moved beyond a lineup of mostly tinny economy cars, but had not yet arrived at the mostly-appliance lineup they still have today, and had a significant proportion of sporty cars in the family. The Celica was outdone by the Corolla GT-S, MR2 and FX16 in terms of sportiness, but was still a popular contender. Check out this 1985 Toyota Celica convertible for sale for $3900 in Vallejo, CA.
VW Beetles are still so common in the western states that it’s often hard to get too excited about them, unless they have some special feature. And by the late 1970s, Beetles were antiquated cars, largely superseded by the Rabbit/Golf and Jetta, and the convertible awaiting replacement by the 1980 Rabbit Convertible. However, they did benefit from updates such as fuel injection to pass the new emissions standards, better impact protection, a catalytic converter, rack and pinion steering, and strut suspension, along with minor luxuries we would now expect as standard. As one of the last true convertibles to be sold before the expected ban on open-top cars, various special editions were made. Today’s car is not one of those, but it does benefit from many of the end-of-days upgrades – check out this 1976 VW Super Beetle Convertible, for sale for $4000 somewhere on the San Francisco peninsula, CA.
Rusty But Trusty 