Posts Tagged ‘Feature’

High Visibility – 1980 Triumph TR7

March 24, 2016

While it’s not for everyone, there’s something nice about bright yellow paint on Malaise-era cars. Maybe it’s that the bright cheeriness of yellow helps offset the drabness of giant bumpers emphasizing what was sometimes already gawky styling. Think about a Datsun B210 in brown, and then imagine the same car in yellow Honey Bee trim. It’s not that it makes it a better car, but it’s certainly a lot easier on the eyes, and 30-odd years on, might make you feel more warm fuzzy feelings of nostalgia than root beer brown or beige. While the TR7 was not a drab shape, it was certainly controversial, and it did have rather protuberant bumpers. Finding them in yellow is pretty unusual (well, unless you type “yellow TR7” into the world’s most popular search engine) so let’s consider this 1980 Triumph TR7 for sale for $2900 in Covington, GA.

1980 Triumph TR7 left front

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Beige Before It Was Uncool – 1975 Chevrolet Impala

March 23, 2016

Back in the days before we were overwhelmed with beige khakis, computer parts, and more, to the extent beige is a metaphor for “boring”, Chevrolet decided it would be a suitable color to offer on their full-size B-body sedan. As the largest sedan offered by Chevrolet (and in fact, the largest sedan ever offered by them), it was suitable for all kinds of roles, including government, taxicab, demolition derby car, law enforcement, rental, and hogging the left lane of rural highways with the blinker on. There’s really no reason why a car with available V8s named TurboFire and TurboJet should have not also garnered the attention of driving enthusiasts, but that may have something to do with their ubiquity and emissions-strangled outputs. That said, it’s now unusual to see one of these low-spec Impalas, even in car friendly Western climates – after their usefulness as a transportation module disappeared, their reason for being did as well. Funny enough, that makes it a pleasant surprise to see this 1975 Chevrolet Impala for sale for $2800 in Norcross, GA.

1975 Chevrolet Impala right side

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Two-go – 1987 Yugo GV and 1988 Yugo 45

March 22, 2016

Once the butt of many jokes, together with the Hyundai Excel of the same time, the Yugo has now been largely forgotten by most people under age 30. Which, incidentally, is about how old the oldest Yugo is – their North American run lasted from 1985 to 1990. As has been pointed out here before, while they’ve been much maligned in the past, they share many Fiat 128 parts and therefore qualify for similar performance upgrades. And indeed, with a little work, some enthusiasts have made these into fun little go-karts that will hold their own on back roads and autocross tracks. That said, many were neglected, and quite a few still remain as I’ll-get-to-it-someday projects in someone’s back yard. To wit, one example is this 1987 Yugo GV for sale for $1000 in Atlanta, GA.

1987 Yugo GV right front

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