Cars that you used to see everywhere, but now have disappeared from the roads, part II

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Yesterday, a zombie thread from 2007 got revived: Older cars you still commonly see. That thread referenced another thread: Cars that you used to see everywhere, but now have disappeared from the roads. So I went and searched for that thread, and I thought it might be an interesting topic to revisit. I didn’t want to revive another zombie, so here is part II.

Interestingly, the first car I thought of was the same one as the OP in the old thread – the Chrysler “K Cars”, the Dodge Aires and Plymouth Reliant. Some other cars that quickly came to mind that were already mentioned in the older thread: Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon, Chevy Chevette, Chevy Celebrity. So I think it might be more interesting to discuss cars were still fairly common in 2007, but have disappeared since the old thread was active.

For example, in the companion “old cars you still see” thread, the 1980s Chrysler minivans were specifically mentioned. In 2007, those were still somewhat common, but now I can’t remember the last time I saw one. Even the more rounded second generation ones are pretty rare. There’s a maid service in town that has a fleet of very old minivans, including some early 1990s Plymouth Voyagers, but I think those are the only ones I still see driving around. You still see the third generation ones introduced in 1996, but those seem to have mostly achieved “beater” status at this point.

Also, the first generation Ford Taurus. At one time they were the best selling car in America. They were probably still pretty common in the 2000s. Now they seem to have mostly disappeared. I still see them occasionally, but they’ve gotten rare enough that I take notice when I see one.

Same with the Ford Tempo. A car blog I read coined the phrase “cockroach of the road” to describe old, relatively unloved cars that nevertheless seem to never die. For a long time the Tempo held that title, but now they seem to be mostly gone.

The 1980s “Fox body” Ford Mustang LX seems pretty much extinct. If you see a Mustang from that era, it’s inevitably the V8 powered GT model. No one cared about the smaller engined versions.

And speaking of American sports cars, can you remember the last time you saw a Dodge Daytona? I think those were probably already gone by 2007, along with the K Cars (on which these were based, just like almost all Chrysler cars of that era).

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Used to see Chevy Beretta’s everywhere in the 90’s. Haven’t seen one in quite a while. They did have bad paint jobs but they didn’t seem to rust, just peeled off to reveal the primer.

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Uh - basically what I said in my 2 posts to the OTHER thread … (not really sure why a separate thread was required.)

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There are some older cars that may not be the usual collectable cars but someone still has one that they are keeping up on. For whatever reason they became important to the owner and they kept it.

K cars are probably not in this category. Nor are Fox body Mustang II’s, all though there are a few lovers of those.

I am mainly thinking of American cars like some Pontiacs, Buicks, off brands or models that you just wonder why the person invested time and money keeping them.

But now I see all the newer cars that I call ‘crunchables’. As in recyclable like a beer can. All the jelly bean shaped cars that people drive for a few years and trade in, then they get another life as a used car, maybe, and then they are gone. I may be wrong, often I am, but I just cannot see going to a car show 30 years from now and seeing a Kia or Mazda, or whatever. There will be Supras and other such cars but most of the vehicles I see on the road now are not meant to be kept.

Now, park on my lawn.

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Also some of the off brand cars were maintained so that they could be used in period movies. Now with advanced CGI techniques there may not be much of an actual need to maintain a Chevy Gremlin any more.

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Because that thread appeared to be about cars you do still commonly see. This thread is about cars you don’t see anymore.

I think because cars last longer now than they did in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, it will take longer for people to start to see them as “classics”, but eventually they will get there. It kind of blows my mind that in most states a car from 1995 technically qualifies for “historical vehicle” plates in most states. But I think once they get to be, say 40-50 years old, any that still survive will probably turn heads just because they’ll be relatively rare by then.

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dodge diplomats … one of the nicest cars my family ever owned a more modern car is the pt cruisers… for about a decade everyone had one even the low-income people had used ones … now I barely see them these days…did they just go extinct en masse?

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For that matter, 1990s era Dodge/Plymouth Neons. I still see the second generation ones sometimes, but I never see the first generation ones anymore.

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missed the edit dodge diplomats … one of the nicest cars my family ever owned I only seen 3 or 4 when they were being sold

a more modern car is the pt cruisers… for about a decade everyone had one even the low-income people had used ones … now I barely see them these days…did they just go extinct en masse?

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Since Gremlins were an AMC product, the Chevy variant will be a very rare bird indeed.

Back the OP: Having once owned a couple, I used to see Ford Broncos & Chevy Blazers all the time. Nowadays it’s a rare treat to see one still on the hoof. IMO the impending Bronco reincarnation for 2021 doesn’t count.

There’s just one remaining Oldsmobile that lives near me that I occasionally see on the road. Used to be Oldmobiles were everywhere in their myriad of models. Now it’s been so long the logo is almost unrecognizable; I see it and think “Hmm, is that Saturn? Is it Hyundai? Oh yeah; it’s Oldsmobile!”. The particular example near me is a rattrap that I don’t expect to be seeing too much longer.

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Jeep Cherokees, the second generation (XJ).

My wife and I bought one (a 1990 model IIRC) in the early 2000’s and they were absolutely everywhere. You couldn’t drive across town without seeing a dozen or two within a few miles – I even recall mentioning that phenomenon to my dad at the time.

Today I don’t see them on the road at all. Indeed, I can’t remember the last time I saw one. Months, certainly. Maybe a year. I almost never see first generation Grand Cherokees on the road, either. They were never as common as the XJ Cherokees, but still pretty popular. Now they’ve all but disappeared.

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I still see those, but it seems like they’re all driven by off-roading enthusiasts at this point. So the ones I see all have been lifted, have huge mud tires, light bars, etc. You do hardly ever see stock XJ Cherokees anymore.

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Jeep Liberty is another that s used to be like cockroaches: underfoot everywhere. Not much anymore.

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Chevy Monte Carlo with the silly bowtie headlights.

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Yes, those disappeared quite quickly. They seemed like fairly sturdy vehicles but I guess they weren’t.

My vote: Dodge Stratus or Intrepid. My impression is that they had weak transmissions that killed many of them early.

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Same with the Jeep Liberty’s. Bad trannies.

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Pontiac everythings used to be everywhere you looked. They’ve been out of production for over a decade now but they’ve disappeared extremely fast over that decade. Apparently they were not built for long term use.

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My first two cars have gone extinct, and probably for the reason I got rid of mine…they both blew their engines at about 100,000 miles. 86 Mazda rx7 and 95 ford probe gt.

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This thread makes me feel guilty. I’ve got 2 PT Cruisers in my yard, and 2 Jeep XJ’s. :blush:

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It seemed for a while there every douche in the world had a hummer H2 on the road, and to a lesser extent the H3. I almost never see anyone driving those anymore.

For a while even into the 2000’s I saw a lot of Isuzu Rodeos and troopers, I don’t really see any of those anymore either.