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

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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This thread got me thinking about cars that were quite common on the roads five or ten years ago, but which seem to have entirely disappeared; you just don’t see them anymore.

For instance, the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant. When they were first made in 1981, they were snapped up wholesale by Buffalo-area senior citizens. In the 1990s, K-cars were still EVERYWHERE, the majority in powder blue for some reason, most being driven by little old ladies apparently on their way to church, the doctor or the pharmacy.

Then, all of a sudden, they disappeared. It seemed like one year, K-cars were everywhere on the road, and the next, around 2003 or so, they just all vanished. I haven’t seen a Dodge Aries or Plymouth Reliant in the wild in months.

Same thing with first generation Ford Escorts. They used to be everywhere, but they all disappeared around the same time K-cars vanished from the roads, as if those remaining operable all committed mass suicide.

I just remember it’s been a while since I’ve seen an old-school Volvo around. Tthey all seemed to disappear en masse a couple of years ago, too.

There’s probably other cars seemed to be plentiful one year, and then … poof!, they’re all gone. What are they?

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These all seemed to poof overnight, though not recently:

The Yugo
Chevy Chevette
AMC Pacer

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Dodge Darts. They hung on for a long time as old daily drivers - now they’re in the classic car bin.

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Gremlin
Duster
Monte Carlo
Rabbit

Cars I Wish Would Go Away:

Those ugly Suzuki Samurai/Geo jeep wanna-be things

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Chevy Vegas
Ford Mavericks
Ford Grand Torino

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Remember when you used to see those little blue Neons everywhere? And they all had paint falling off them?

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The Pinto (w/ hatchback)
El Camino
Ranchero

A little bit farther back - Galaxy 500 -

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Porche 928s.

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Geo Storm
Mitsubishi 3000GT / Dodge Stealth

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Mustang IIs.

Had a '74 for my first car. Chucked the 4-banger in the weeds and [del]shoehorned[/del] dropped in a HP 289. I could smoke the tires in the first three gears.

11

That was another one I was going to mention. They used to be quite common, but then sometime in the late 1990s, they all vanished from the roads. It wasn’t where I saw fewer and fewer Samurais over time; one day there were a lot of them, and then they just disappeared.

First-generation Saturns seem to be fading away with a whimper, not a “poof!”

Despite the overnight disappearance of K-cars, I still see a lot of Dodge Dynastys on the road. Same vintage, but for some reason there’s still plenty out there. I predict thisis the last year, and they’ll go “poof!” in 2008.

You know, also it’s been a while since I saw any Eagle-branded cars out of the road; not even the Talon. I’d say the “poof!” date was 2005.

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Ohhh, I saw one of these just the other day. It was shiny and black and had lots o’ chrome. Still makes me drool to think about it.

TikkiDad’s Dynasty went “poof” last year. Or rather, “crash!” Two days after he sold it to some guy for his daughter to drive, she managed to total it. She was OK, as far as I know.

But, yeah, I still see a lot of those around. Along with their twin of that era, the Chrysler New Yorker.

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Those cheap little GEO METROS: surprised they don’t make them anymore-they got 50 MPG on the highway-although they were cramped and had a very noisey engine.
-VW Beetles (the old ones)-haven’t ssen one in years
-those 1st-generation Hyundais-they all rusted away. Regarding the “K” cars; yes, there used to be a ton of them-driven by white-haired old ladies. I suspect they and their drivers are now in cemetaries.
One car you see a lot of: ex-police FORD Crown Victoria sedans-they are rugged as hell, but drink gas-they must go for cheap $$!

14

I forgot about those. My sister bought a '72 as her first car. I pulled the four banger using a tree limb and a come-along. Then dad and I set the motor on the front porch (yes, I may be a redneck) where I put new rings and bearings in it. Then we carried it back to the tree limb. We were younger and stouter then. I did a little body work on it and repainted it. It ran pretty good long enough for her to trade it in. She got a couple of grand trade-in on it, which isn’t bad considering we had about $500 in it.

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That’s odd. I see old VW Beetles all the time around here. Maybe I’m just sensitized, since I own one.

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Ha! my friend in high school (mid to late 80’s) had the powder blue K car.

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Nova

(we used to have several)

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Dodge Omnis and Colts.

My Colt was a great car, at least until it got caught in a parking lot that flooded during a Biblical rainstorm, and I had to drive it home while bailing frantically with a Coke can.

Never smelt the same. :frowning:

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For many low-end cars, they come to a point where a thousand dollar repair could save the $1500 car, so the car gets bunted into the scrapyard. Many of the K-cars had a Mitsubishi carburetor that was expensive to replace. The Vega had a self-destructing engine that seemed like a great idea at the time. :smack:

A few cars have beauty or soul, so the best of them are lovingly preserved. On the other hand, I’d be surprised if there are more than a couple dozen restored Chevy Chevettes or Chrysler K-Cars in the whole world. Cars like that are not worth saving. That’s my opinion.

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Did you know some of those Geos were made with Prizm labor?:smiley: