Today a sports car colored Shocking Pink passed me; the license plate said “LUXE.”
I recently spotted shocking pink, too.
Recently saw a VW ID. Buzz, first time seeing one in real life.
Brain
I’m still anxiously waiting to spot my first one in the wild.
A friend had a Viper roadster and let me drive it. I don’t know the year but it was 1st generation with the 450 hp engine. It was a bit crude but that also made it a lot of fun. I was impressed.
Wicked fast for its time, but not any more. My Model 3 would beat it on any track I can think of, except for a veeery long straight.
No photos, but walking from our car to the ski lifts I spotted a 5th generation Mitsubishi Minicab pickup. I suspect it was a local, based on the shovels and sand in the bed.
It looked like this:
Bad news:
Yesterday, a beautiful 2018 Dodge Challenger
This one belongs to a good friend of mine. We met for lunch yesterday.
The Dodge Challenger has gone through three discontinuous generations, from 1969–1974, then the forgettable second generation from 1977–1983 (based on the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda which was also exported as the Plymouth Sapporo), and then 25 years later the nicely retro-styled third generation from 2008–2023.
In 2008 when Dodge rolled out the retro-styled 3rd generation, they designed it very well and it was a winner.
Dodge discontinued the Challenger line, and also the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler 300, because of tightening US EPA emissions requirements. The final Dodge Challenger, a Pitch-Black Demon 170, rolled off the assembly line in Brampton, Ontario in December 2023. That assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario has been re-tooled to assemble electric vehicles and the next-generation Jeep Compass.
Dodge Challenger, 1st gen (orange, web pic); an American Muscle Mopar classic
Dodge Challenger, 2nd gen (white, web pic); a forgettable car — many were in the 1980s. This was based on the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda which was also exported as the Plymouth Sapporo. Many cars in the 1980s sucked big time.
yep the 80ies were weired at least in the USofA … lots of rebranded 2nd tier jap. cars … (when japanese cares had by no means the standing they have today … probably more the quality and prestige of chinese cars of today.
Chevy had the Geo/Vitara/Tracker thing going on … also a very small iirc fun roadstar … those were all Suzukis.
In hindsight, somewhat the beginning of the end of american cars (if you start selling 2nd or 3rd tier international brands as your own)
Disagree. When the Japanese cars invaded, they took over because they were cheaper AND they were more reliable. At the time, it was a milestone if your car made it to 100,000 miles. Toyota/Datsun/Honda in the 70s and 80s routinely made it to 100,000 miles. The Big 4 (then Chrysler bought AMC, so Big 3) tried to compete on price, so they cut their quality. 80s Detroit sucked. Then, they started partnering with Japan. Kenosha, WI had a Diamond-Star plant for Chrysler/Mitsubishi.
Now, if you want to compare the Yugo the Chinese cars today…
Agree wholeheartedly! When I said upthread that many cars in the 1980s sucked I was mostly thinking of US cars. There were some exceptions of course, but many sucked big time.
I owned two used 1980s Toyotas and they were excellent cars that just ran and ran and ran. In 1985 I bought a used 1983 Toyota Starlet 2-door hatchback, and then much later in 1996 I bought a used 1981 Toyota Tercel 4-door sedan. Like these web pics:
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With regular basic maintenance these cars were nearly indestructible and were two of the best cars I ever owned.
The Starlet was front engined, rear wheel drive with a 5-MT transmission. I bought it around 1985 or 1986 with about 60,000 miles which was a high mileage car but they were almost exclusively highway miles. I put over 80,000 more miles on her before finally selling it. A great car.
The 1981 Tercel was bought in 1996 and was similar to the Starlet except it was FWD. I named it the “Divorcemobile”, for obvious reasons. I drive that old Tercel from several years and many miles.
That Tercel was the car I had when I met my now-wife. That’s a sign of true love, when she doesn’t care a lick about the POS I was driving. She and I rode in that car, sometimes just the 2 of us, and sometimes with my 3 kids in the back seat, for years and years and miles and miles. That Tercel is long gone, and my wife and I have been married coming up on 23 years now.
They both ran excellently and served me well for many years and miles. At a time when Detroit iron sucked.
Next sign of true love: you buy a new car and they drive the new car and you keep driving the POS with 180,000 miles on it.
I don’t think “my” car has had less than 100,000 miles on it in the last 25 years.
Very chivalrous of you, sir.
IMO it’s a little of both. Toyota/Datsun/Honda were indeed better and more reliable than American cars of the time. But then the “2nd tier” Japanese brands, Isuzu/Mitsubishi/Suzuki, were just kind of riding their coattails. They IIRC weren’t that much better than American cars, but people just assumed they were better just because they were Japanese, based on the reputation of those former brands.
In the work parking lot, an Ineos Grenadier.
Damn! What’s their commute like if they need a snorkel like that?
Too late to edit my previous post, but I thought I should add an example. Back in the 1990s when Honda sold a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo as the Honda Passport, people who bought Passports were supposedly disappointed in them. They saw the Honda badge and expected Honda level quality, and the Isuzu-built vehicle did not live up to that standard.
what you say might be true, comparing jap. cars to 1980ies US-cars, but not so much to european cars (e.g. the omnipresent VW-Golf, 3xx BMWs (before they went upmarket) or even Renault 4 and 5)
… they had quite a poor reputation for a.) rusting out and b.) extremely expensive spare-parts.
FWIW: Chevy is still selling ISUZUS in LatAm
My MIL bought one of those (guessing: about 2015) … and the keys were still ISUZU branded.
also around the 2000s there was the Chevy Trooper, which also was an ISUZU
overall, the 1st gen was quite utilitarian, but had a lot of “toyota hilux” qualities, bumpy, crude but very hardy, square, boxy lack of amenities
the 2nd gen was already way more SUV - GF had one of those … nice for street/bad roads, but the 3.2L v6 was quite thirsty
Most interesting car I saw yesterday was an older red compact pickup. What made it interesting was that it was driving down a residential street WITH NO LEFT FRONT TIRE! Shredded remains of the front tire seemed to be in the wheel well. The guy was just driving along at a decent speed, on his tireless wheel. I wish I had taken a pic. At least he had his flashers on! 
We were riding our bikes up and down streets as the paths were frozen. We later saw him probably 4 cross streets later, at the side of the road.
I saw a guy in a large Mercedes SUV driving on a flat down Irving Park Road along the airport (near Bensenville) a week ago on one of the cold mornings. To his credit, he has the flashers on and he was off to the side, sort of, but there was miles to go ANYWHERE on that long stretch.
I’m suprised it didn’t have runflats but his was flatflat and the real damage to the rim, brakes, possibly bodywork was about to start.