If you have ever read some of the British classic car magazines, you’ll no doubt have noticed the dealer ads showing remarkably preserved examples of middle-of-the-road (by local standards) cars for pretty short money. Of course the relative strength of the pound makes them seem even cheaper, but it seems pretty unusual to find equivalent cars here in North America. Every now and again, though, something interesting comes up, like this 1976 Subaru DL Wagon for sale for $3500 in Seattle, WA.
There are plenty of great classic imported sports cars out there with 4-cylinder engines, but regardless of any power and consumption difference, there’s just something about the feel of a six-cylinder engine, with the minimal filters of sound, smell, and heat that you get in an older car. So that makes it worth taking a look at the Z, with its 151hp/146 lb.-ft. 2.4 liter, most commonly running through a 4-speed manual transmission, and only 2300lb. of weight. However, with that power rating being achieved by some of the better 4-cylinders, like Datsun’s own 2000 Roadster and a European market Alfa Romeo, you’ll find today’s car a more compelling case for the S30 – consider this 1973 Datsun 240Z for sale for $2500 in Newberg, OR.
With the fourth-generation Celica moving to the front-wheel-drive platform shared with the Corona, lower-specification versions of this car were more and more of an appliance with a fancy dress. So normally, the only ST162 Celicas you’d find here are the GT-S with its 135hp 3S-GE twincam four-cylinder, or the homologation version Alltrac Turbo. That said, a convertible top makes things fun, and finding a well-kept one with a manual transmission is fairly unusual, so let’s take a look at this 1988 Toyota Celica convertible for sale for $3200 in Garden Home, OR.
Rusty But Trusty 