Production cars with no known surviving examples

[jz78817]

@pkbites

Yep. One of my very first cars was a ‘68 Valiant. Didn’t have power steering or power brakes which made city driving a chore. But that engine was a champ!! My parents had a 1960 model with I believe the same engine. My Ma called it “the truck” because of how rugged it was for it’s size.

What surprises me is how I almost never see Dodge/Plymouth Neons anymore. It wasn’t that long ago they stopped making them and they used to be everywhere, like freaking flies.

they stopped making the Neon 15 years ago.

[Bijou_Drains]

Saturn stopped production in 2009 and I almost never see one now. My son has a 99 Acura Integra and I only see a few Integras a year not counting his car. they were made up to 2001.

[Bijou_Drains]

Had a friend who had a Vega. I thought something was odd when I drove it and then figured it had no power steering.

[lobotomyboy63]

@wolfpup

If you include that, you may as well include the Chrysler Turbine, which was technically a concept car but in addition to five prototypes, they eventually handbuilt 50 of them that were lent free of charge to select drivers for 3 months at a time as part of a public test program, and over the years 203 different drivers in 133 cities drove a cumulative one million miles in them. Technically a “concept car”, but with a much bigger presence than a typical concept car that might only appear at an auto show. Chrysler eventually destroyed most of them, as GM did with the EV-1, and today only nine exist, most of them in museums and not operational. One of the most famous is the one Jay Leno bought from the Chrysler Museum, which is one of the very few operational ones – there’s even a Jay’s Leno’s Garage video of him taking it out on the road. Would love to know what he paid for it – it supposedly cost Chrysler nearly a quarter of a million in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars to hand-build each one.

A bit different, perhaps. Big automakers like Chrysler or GM can afford to do that; Tucker was trying to get his company off the ground.

With the final design in place, Preston Tucker took the pre-production cars on the road to show them in towns across the country. The cars were an instant success, with crowds gathering wherever they stopped. One report says Tucker was pulled over by a police officer intent on getting a better look at the car.[citation needed]

Tucker 48

So these were not experimental prototypes or engineering exercises. They were going to be bread and butter. The Francis Ford Coppola film portrayed it that he couldn’t get steel because the Big 3 were so threatened by his innovations that they pulled strings to squash him.

Tucker suffered another setback when his bids to obtain two steel mills to provide raw materials for his cars were rejected by the War Assets Administration under a shroud of questionable politics.[21]

The SEC got involved, too.

Although all charges were eventually dropped, the negative publicity destroyed the company and halted production of the car.

YMMV.

[md2000]

My nephew used to have a Yugo back in the day. I looked in the engine compartment, and the washer fluid reservoir appeared to be a 1-gallon pickle jar - glass. The windshield on th passenger’s side has a large flaw in the glass, which distorted about 2 inches of the view directly centered on the passenger’'s vision and gave me a headache. Build quality was so bad they even cancelled the country it was built in.

[lobotomyboy63]

@md2000

My nephew used to have a Yugo back in the day. I looked in the engine compartment, and the washer fluid reservoir appeared to be a 1-gallon pickle jar - glass. The windshield on th passenger’s side has a large flaw in the glass, which distorted about 2 inches of the view directly centered on the passenger’'s vision and gave me a headache. Build quality was so bad they even cancelled the country it was built in.

Watch Saturday Night Live Clip: Adobe - NBC.com

[P-man]

@Bijou_Drains

Had a friend who had a Vega. I thought something was odd when I drove it and then figured it had no power steering.

My brother had one with a steel sleeved engine rather than the more common aluminum block. He shocked a couple of guys at the junkyard when he picked up the original aluminum block with one hand and put it on his shoulder (it weighed 50 pounds of so). At that time, though, he also picked up the block of a Chevelle 442 engine and carried it from one end of.The workshop to another.

[OldOlds]

@jz78817

It would depend heavily on what the car is and whether you have an “agreed value” or “stated value” policy.

I’m surprised nobody else has weighed in, but here goes

I have a '67 that I insure through Hagerty. I have regular plates on it, since I don’t want the driving restrictions. Hagerty allows me to drive as many miles as I like, but at least officially I am not supposed to use it as a daily driver, I’m not supposed to drive it to work, and I must have a non-antique for daily use. It is an agreed value policy, and while mine is not especially valuable, I have it insured for about 20k- it’s an uncommon model, so setting a value is tough. Despite living in a fairly urban area, the insurance is stupid cheap- like $250 per year. Interestingly, I don’t know if there’s a limit, but every year they ask if I want to up the value.

[pkbites]

@jz78817

they stopped making the Neon 15 years ago.

Yes, but a 15 year old car isn’t really all that old. I see 30 + year old cars still out there. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a Neon. They were crap but recent crap. And there were a lot of them of just a bit ago.

[pirviii]

Even back in the 80’s i didn’t see many, Plymouth Horizon hatchback.

[kenobi_65]

@pkbites

One of the first cars I bought brand new was an ‘82 Chevy Citation with the 6 cylinder engine. Ugly as shit but it was very roomy inside.

The back seat was very roomy, indeed. My first girlfriend had an '82 Citation, and I lost my virginity in the back seat.

[Bijou_Drains]

Honda elements are rare. I rode in one and it was unusual. Floor was vinyl for easy cleaning and all seats folded up. Was made for outdoors people but did not catch on. Instead many older people bought them. Made until 2010.

[KneadToKnow]

It’s been upwards of a decade since I saw a Chevrolet Celebrity in the wild. Having owned one, I’m not the least bit suprised.

LOL, cars.com doesn’t even list the Celebrity as an available Chevy model. Cargurus apparently has 1 listing nationwide.

[pkbites]

@kenobi_65

The back seat was very roomy, indeed. My first girlfriend had an '82 Citation, and I lost my virginity in the back seat.

Heh. I believe it.

One of my kids was conceived in the back of mine. We had gone to a triple feature at the Starlight drive in theater in Menomonee Falls. My wife and I joked about how cliche it would be to get in the back and start making out. Well, one thing lead to another and…!

[Dewey_Finn]

So what’s the kid’s middle name? Starlight or Citation? (I think it was Ron Howard who said he gave his children middle names based on where they were conceived.)

[WildaBeast]

@md2000

My nephew used to have a Yugo back in the day. I looked in the engine compartment, and the washer fluid reservoir appeared to be a 1-gallon pickle jar - glass. The windshield on th passenger’s side has a large flaw in the glass, which distorted about 2 inches of the view directly centered on the passenger’'s vision and gave me a headache. Build quality was so bad they even cancelled the country it was built in.

Yugos were actually still being built until 2008. So while you might never see them in the US, apparently they’re still pretty common on the road in Serbia.

Getting back to the OP, I think the Dodge St. Regis might be the best candidate of the cars mentioned so far. I did a little reading on them – they sold poorly when they were new (they were big cars and they came out exactly when Americans didn’t want big cars). Of the ones that were sold, a very high percentage were police cars. More still were destroyed in the production of 1980s cop shows.

[jnglmassiv]

@Dewey_Finn

So what’s the kid’s middle name? Starlight or Citation? (I think it was Ron Howard who said he gave his children middle names based on where they were conceived.)

I used to work with someone that was delivered in the car before her parents got to the hospital. Her middle name was the street she was born on which fortunately was a less common spelling of a girl’s name.

@wolfpup

If you include that, you may as well include the Chrysler Turbine, which was technically a concept car but in addition to five prototypes, they eventually handbuilt 50 of them that were lent free of charge to select drivers for 3 months at a time as part of a public test program, and over the years 203 different drivers in 133 cities drove a cumulative one million miles in them.

I saw one driving around the grounds at the Mopar Nationals in the early-mid 90s. I think it was owned by Chrysler, possibly the same on Jay now has.

[aruvqan]

@pirviii

Even back in the 80’s i didn’t see many, Plymouth Horizon hatchback.

I had a Horizon hatchback [that horrible beige with the light brown interior]

For a number of years we had one of the few [under 250 remaining] legally registered, insured and running 1979 Buick Opal. Nice little vehicke [but then again, in the early 70s Moms runabout was aSimca =) ]

I happen to want a Matra-Simca Bagheera =)

[dorvann]

@KneadToKnow

It’s been upwards of a decade since I saw a Chevrolet Celebrity in the wild. Having owned one, I’m not the least bit suprised.

LOL, cars.com doesn’t even list the Celebrity as an available Chevy model. Cargurus apparently has 1 listing nationwide.

I owned a Celebrity from 2004 to 2010. It was a POS when I bought it and ended selling for $100 to get rid of it. I am actually lucky am I got any money for it. The people who bought it trashed it even more; I know cause I watch them smash it up in a demolition derby at a local fair. At least they had fun with it.

[Philliam]

@Bijou_Drains

Honda elements are rare. I rode in one and it was unusual. Floor was vinyl for easy cleaning and all seats folded up. Was made for outdoors people but did not catch on. Instead many older people bought them. Made until 2010.

You must live outside the Pacific Northwest. Tons of them up here - Honda dealer always asks if we might want to sell it. Seems they get lots of requests for used ones.