Wal-Mart Parking Lot Find: Circa 1992 Geo Metro LSi Convertible

A Geo Metro may not seem that interesting to many people, but they have their place as dependable, inexpensive transportation, and they have a cult following much like the Crosley, Nash Metropolitan and Kaiser Henry J had in years gone by and still retain to a degree.

The Metro convertible was the top-of-the-line Metro in the early 90s, and as a reliable source of inexpensive open-air motoring (better than the Cavalier, Sebring and LeBaron convertibles ever were or will be), it is still a great choice.

I spotted this slightly tatty but very usable car in a Wal-Mart parking lot in early 2013, it is still seen around Eugene at the time of publication.

Shitbox Saturday: Show & Shine X-Car Engine Blow Edition

This 1983-84 Pontiac Phoenix, seen at the 2013 Bethel Boosters Show & Shine in Eugene, Oregon as an engine blow contest car, is a spectacularly bad car, albeit a rare one, since any Phoenix is rare in the first place, but a late notchback SE with a 4-speed, V6 and spoiler is scarce as hell. Sadly, this car's engine blew up on the afternoon of May 11, 2013 and will end up crushed by B&R Auto Wrecking of Eugene.

(an engine blow contest is an Oregon show & shine phenomenon started in the 70s, a junkyard employee from the yard that provided the car or a show marshal floors the accelerator on a car with petrol or diesel but no oil and coolant, after taking numbers for how long it'll take for the engine to blow up, person who guesses the correct time it takes for the engine to blow wins $50)

Parking Lot Spot: 1989-92 Infiniti M30 (Nissan Leopard)

The Infiniti M30 was the Japanese auto industry's first try at a personal-luxury coupe for the US market, and being rear-wheel-drive on the R31 Nissan Skyline platform, was ostensibly an excellent alternative to the Ford Thunderbird, Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Riviera, Audi Coupe and Mercedes-Benz 300CE.

Its undoings were being narrower than Americans were used to, being the flagship of an unproven brand, having no options and no manual transmission option, and sharing more parts with the concurrent Maxima and 300ZX than with the Skyline, along with spotty distribution, and it remains a very rare car, with roughly 12,000 made for the US domestic market only. Infiniti never returned to the personal luxury market, only returning to coupes with a rebadged CV36 Skyline in 2008 as the sporty G37 Coupe.

This is one of only 3 known M30s in Eugene (one being a maroon coupe and the other being a black convertible). In 3 months of knowing this car's existence, I have not seen it move once. Perhaps I might make an offer on it, buy it and restore it at some point.

Previous Spot Revisited: 1984-85 Suzuki SJ410 Jimny

I first spotted this Suzuki here on April 4, 2013, but spotted it again in the same place. The racing stripes on the bonnet are gilding the lily a bit given that the 1000cc inline four is barely capable of normal freeway speeds, let alone racetrack speeds, and the J.C. Whitney Samurai hardtop looks out-of-place, but this would be an ideal restoration candidate between its condition and its rarity in the continental US. The outline of Hawaii on the back window may hint at where this came from, since unlike the LJ20 and Carry in the 1970s, they were only distributed on Hawaii and other US outlying islands.

Side Street Spot: Fiat 124 Sport Spider

The Fiat 124 Spider was a popular import car in the US during the 1970s, so popular that Pininfarina carried on full production to the end of the Malaise Era and distributed them through Malcolm Bricklin's networks. This one is in pretty sad condition, sits alongside an industrial side street unnoticed by most people, and being a small-bumper car, is a good project candidate.

Eugene Parking Lot Find: 1979-80 Ford Pinto Runabout

The Ford Pinto, along with the AMC Gremlin, are perhaps the most familiar and most loathed cars of the Malaise Era, and the Pinto will forever be remembered as the "firebomb", the "barbecue that seats four" and similar names due to a cost-cutting measure on 1970-76 Pinto and Mercury Bobcat sedans and runabout hatchbacks. This cost-cutting measure created catastrophic fires upon high-speed impacts (the most notorious of which, a case in Elkhart, Indiana in the mid-70s, killed 4 people, a railroad tie-bumpered Chevrolet G20 van hit a rusty 1971 Pinto sedan with no gas cap at 60mph and then backed away, killing all four occupants, but the G20 drove home with a cracked bumper, bent grille, one broken headlight and a scorched hood after the driver's questioning).

Most surviving, non-wagon 1970-76 Pintos and Bobcats will have had the brace and baffle between petrol tank and rear bumper and baffled petrol tank installed by the dealer, and that is a good thing since Pintos are finally starting to be taken seriously as a collector car.

Aside from being dirty, this appears to be a nicely preserved stock example of the final Pinto, with the two-year-only front-end design that appears to hint toward its replacement's styling as well as nodding toward its European cousin, the Cortina. 

Parking Lot Spot: 1988-90 Toyota Corolla SR5 AE92 (Sprinter Trueno)

It is refreshing to see an AE92 that is not a GT-S, has not been riced and has not quite been driven into the ground, the two-tone grey color scheme reminds me of a JDM Sprinter Trueno (the USDM AE92's basis, as with the USDM AE86) and is rather eye-pleasing, and the well-worn but not junky look is pleasant, with the prospect of this car being restorable as J-tin demand increases only adding to the appeal.

Side Street Find: Datsun 510 Wagon and Suzuki SJ410 Jimny

I spotted this tatty but solid Datsun 510 station wagon whilst carspotting/old-iron hunting in an industrial area near me, it was in front of a warehouse, and appears to be a daily driver.

But what's that behind it? Surely it's a Suzuki Samurai! Still a worthy spotting in uncut condition like this.

Here we have an early 80s Suzuki SJ410 Jimny, a model not sold in the continental US, but distributed on outlying islands like Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Mariana Islands. It was the successor to the smaller, lighter-weight, less substantial LJ jeep of the 1970s and differs in numerous ways from the more familiar Samurai. This one is left-hand-drive, evidently has a few aftermarket Samurai bits on it, and appears to be owned by someone who knows what they have. The yellow Oregon plates indicate that it  has been on the mainland since at least 1986 (N numbers on Oregon plates were 1986-1987 only)

Side-Street Triple AMC Find

While I was out hunting for old iron, I took a side street in a questionable industrial neighborhood (the 40-ounce malt liquor jugs, sex toy and condom packaging and shell casings in the gutters made me think twice about where I was), and found these three classic AMC products. I had prior experience with all three: the AMXs were in a backyard off of Eugene, Oregon's "Northwest Expressway" in the late 90s until a subdivision displaced them, and the Ambassador was once owned by someone notorious for exposing himself to children, and was at one point set up to be a mobile rape dungeon with one seat, carpeted decking elsewhere and no inside door handles. (I looked close at the car circa 2007)

Juice on the Ambassador's history can be found here, or for the link-phobic, the section from the April 25, 2006 Eugene Register-Guard follows:

Man reported exposing himself near school 

Eugene police are looking for a man who was allegedly exposing himself in a car near Bertha Holt Elementary School Monday morning. 

A parent reported seeing the man about 11 a.m. on Calvin Street exposing himself while reading a magazine and watching students on the playground, according to an e-mail sent to parents. No children reported seeing him. 

When approached, the man drove away. 

According to the e-mail, the description given to police was of a man who appeared to be in his 50s or 60s, balding with gray hair, about 5 feet 6 and weighing more than 200 pounds. His car was an older American four-door sedan, green with brown doors, in visible disrepair. The Oregon license plate reported was THA-952. 

Eugene police are investigating. 

Holt Elementary officials want anyone who sees a suspicious person near the school to alert the school office immediately. The school will increase its supervision of the area for the next few days and remind students of safe behavior around strangers, according to the e-mail.

 I find it strange that I ate breakfast & lunch at the same supermarket delis that the former owner of this car did.

With the recent increase in muscle-car and AMC values, it is likely that both AMXs will be restored, but given its condition, background and interior "modifications", the Ambassador will likely be scrap metal. The AMX with a bonnet, a 1970 model, appears to be the high-performance variant with a 401cid V8, and will bring big money when restored. 

Parking Lot Sighting: Mazda RX7 FD

I spotted this RX7 on my way out of Wal-Mart with a new memory card for my camera and a refreshing energy drink, and HAD TO shoot it. It has some modifications, but has not been heavily riced or hooned like most other surviving FDs. Pics have not been put through an HDR filter, however, I had to edit them because the RX7 color & detail were washed out in the original pics.

Random Street Spot: 2008 Hazen XP-HUMM-E

Here is an oddball EV built by Eugene, Oregon resident David Hazen, spotted in the wild on the streets of downtown Eugene. With a handmade wooden body, Kawasaki rear suspension, VW front suspension and a Saab 900 windshield, it is certainly an odd marriage of bits, and its open T-topped design is not too practical for Oregon's damp climate, but it is definitely remarkable. EVs are the future, and this is THE most unique EV I have ever seen.

Here is a video of the builder showing off his creation.

Parking Lot Spot: Early 1970s Mercedes-Benz 280S

This metallic beige classic Benz was spotted near my apartment. Looks to be either a home-market car or one with its sidemarkers shaved during a repaint.

Eugene Winter Sighting: Malaise Era VW Bus

This tattered Type 2, one of many in the Emerald City, has seen better days, but is most likely still reliable transportation and is known to be drivable.

Eugene Winter Sighting: 1990s Saturn sedan

90s Saturns were technologically interesting, odd in some ways, yet appealing. Many have been neglected severely, but this circa-1994 sedan is holding up well despite a possible gradual extinction  of roadworthy Saturns.

Lost Junkyard: The Monroe Street Hoard, Eugene, Oregon

Buried boattail Riviera. This picture is known to readers of video-game webzine Ctrl+Alt+Defeat, it was published in issue seven.

R107 Mercedes-Benz SL and crunched early Datsun 240Z

R107 SL in a dire state of neglect, amid lots of parts.

I first spotted this property as a kid riding the school bus through the bowels of Eugene, Oregon in the early 1990s, while not as exciting as the decaying marvel full of 50s, 60s and Malaise Era American & Japanese metal that was J&W Towing's lot on West 2nd Avenue (cleaned up in approximately 2007, no pictures are currently known to exist on the internets, and my film pics & their negatives are long-gone), this was a greatly exciting thing to see for a young car person and brightened up my noisy, boring bus ride and made my school day brighter. The lot continued to fill up with rotting car parts and eventually had a final car (tarped black BMW E30 four-door) added, but was cleaned up in early 2012, most likely between being adjacent to school-district property and being an eyesore.

Sad E21

Buick Riviera rally wheel hiding amongst an E21 Bimmer and random parts

E21 3-series, random parts and a Boattail Riviera

After almost everything was removed.

A random assortment of BMW parts

BMW parts, early Mustang parts and more...

As the property sits today.

Diecast Car Review: Corgi "Kojak" 1970s Buick Regal (1999 issue)

   

This casting was a 1999 partial retool of a classic 1970s Corgi casting, with added details, and manufactured for collectors. It originally retailed for $36.99, but has been on markdown status at my local hobby store, Eugene Toy & Hobby, for at least two years and was purchased on January 9, 2013 for $18.59. 

Onto the review... proportions are nearly spot-on except for a highly arched roof with no rear vent windows. Tampo details and cast-in details are as much as one could want, save for no detail to the bumper guard rubber and no detail on the stamped rear taillight trim. There is also no glass in the left rear door. But it is a retool of a 1970s Corgi toy car, not a Franklin Mint or other high-end collector diecast, so that is excusable. 8/10.

Interior leaves a lot to be desired, but again... par for the course on 1970s Corgis. The seat and seat upholstery designs are reasonably accurate, the cast-in door panels on the opening front doors are accurate, but the dashboard is quite crude, the steering wheel the typical 70s Corgi four-spoke black plastic piece, and no door panel detail at all for the rear seat area. 6/10.

Fit and finish are first-class and are everything expected of a Corgi diecast. 10/10.

The less said about the included hand-painted white-metal figure of Detective Theo Kojak, the better. Homies minifigures are well-suited to this scale of Malaise Era American diecast and are fairly easy to find (I bought a huge bag of them for 99 cents at Goodwill just before Christmas 2012)

All in all, a decent little casting, and just about the only medium-scale casting of a Colonnade-body GM car available, but be prepared to pay big money for one online, these are not normally available in stores over 10 years after they were issued.