FS: Crazy low miles/kms Metros/Fireflies/Swifts -- Little old lady owners, driven to church on Sundays
 

Not mine!

I am going to use this thread to save for posterity the crazy low miles Metros/Fireflies that come up for sale every couple of months within 500 km (300 mi) of me. (Email alerts are great!)

These are the proverbial Little Old Lady cars that went to church on Sundays and to get groceries once during the week.

Provided these cars didn't sit where the tin worm could get at 'em from underneath, these could be great deals.

EG. this like-new '95 Firefly... WITH 13,000 KILOMETERS ON IT! (8k mi)



https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1538922761


Wrong engine & trans, but remarkable that these barely driven little old lady econoboxes are still coming out of the woodwork here in the rust belt of the Great White North.


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1538922640





https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...0&d=1538922752

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1355520934

That's about 10kms or less a day?

What did she use it for, driving to the bathroom?

~1.5 km a day. (Made me do the math!)



Probably just used it to go down the lane to get the mail. :D

Price drop in aisle three!

Now asking $2150

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1355520934


What's a shiny like-new Metro shell worth?

It's an automatic, so its Ecomodder value is already lower. :p

Yup.


And it's got the Hellcat engine (1.3L) 2 strikes!

1.3/auto? So it gets, what, 35mpg? Lol

You know you're an ecomodder when 1.3L is considered a Hellcat engine on a Metro. :D

This thread has truly brightened my soggy day! :D

Mine, too.

It's a Pontiac! You could topcoat it in black, add gold panel stripes and a screaming chicken on the hood.

And/or, hand it over to someone like Ben Nelson. https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...here-6706.html

2000 Swift with 38000 km = 24k miles
 

Still more barely driven Suzukiclones coming out of the woodwork!

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1540216156
2000 Swift with 38000 km = 24k miles, $2200 Again the wrong engine and trans, though!


https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1392397407

'95 Firefly 1.0 / 5-spd, 51k km = 32k miles
 

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1543350791

Yay, this one has the correct drivetrain!

Mis-identified as having a carb... "very clean, very well maintained, summer & winter tires/wheels, very very rare and very economical"

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1400356371

A qui la chance?!

wrong drivetrain, but still impressive
 

One owner! Literally a little old lady - selling because she's moving to a nursing home.


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1550102659


1999 Firefly. Just 94,000 km (58k miles).


AND IT'S THE SPORT MODEL! :D


Which seems contradictory, considering it has the wrong transmission, sadly.


Asking $2200


https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1414942716

'93 with 77k km = 48k miles
 

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1558124463


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1558124416


$1500 asking price... but wrong transmission! Sadness!


Who drives just ~1800 miles a year?


https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1416259244

If I didn't work out of town, and drive 50 miles to get groceries (yes it pays off, several times over) I doubt I would do more than that. Other than go to work and go get groceries all I ever do is get to church twice a week, otherwise I stay home.

Motorhome dinghy Metro 3/5
 

$500!


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1571749762 https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1571749689

1994 5-speed with 235k km / 146k miles on the clock would seem to disqualify it from this "low miles" thread, BUT... the tow bar attachment indicates it was used as a dinghy behind an RV. So unless they disconnected the speedo cable while towing, the engine & related bits have a lot less kms than that.

It looks like original paint, too, with groovy 90's decals intact! And there's a telltale sign of rust-proofing (oil creeping up from the bottom of the door).

And as a dinghy, it probably spent its winters in the sunny south - yet another explanation for the lack of rust.

Very tempting. It's a bit too far outside my beater radius though, otherwise I'd be going to look at this one ASAP.

No link to the ad, where is it? I also think you mean a 1994, not 2004.

^ Ha! You read me like a book. I did in fact contact the owner.

Location is near Belleville/Trenton, Ontario. :)

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/...ale/1467269812

And correct, it's a '94.

I got confirmation it was towed behind an RV for about 15 years, up to last year. Assuming it was flat-towed to Florida, all four wheels on the ground, the odometer has at least an "extra" 60,000 km / 40k miles that aren't on the engine. There's also a chance it was bought as a dinghy from a previous RV owner.

That's also 15 years of not being exposed to road salt, which is the only reason it still exists in this part of the world.

I asked for more photos - esp. of the underbody / control arm mounts. If they come through OK, I may go look at it.

They just cancelled the insurance last week because one of the brake lines sprung a leak, so it's clearly not as MINTY underneath as the outer paint colour indicates.

ASS-U-ME
 

So... it wasn't a southern dinghy (that was my assumption).


The owner towed it during summer road trips in Canada. So the rust/odometer question is a bit more up in the air. Still awaiting underbody pics.

barely used
 

This one, on the other hand, was hardly driven:


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1571855796


'94 with 61k km = 38k miles. Wrong transmission, though! Asking $2500 in Toronto.


https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1467485988

snooze = lose
 

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1571749762


I heard back from the seller...



1) About the underbody: it was regularly oil sprayed, so "no rust".



2) Someone picked it up yesterday for $450.

How many of these have you owned?

Would I be paying too much for an XFi at $1000?

Would it make sense to Plastidip everything from the rub strip down satin black? With diagonal orange conspicuousity stripes?

How many miles on the XFi? I assume there's zero rust. If compression is good and the synchros are OK, $1k seems reasonable.

Ha! None!

Yet.

I attempted to own the teal one last week. Most of these little old lady and little old man-mobiles have the wrong transmission, and I'm not looking to do that kind of project.

How many Metros, Fireflies, and Swifts have you owned Metro?

Batman Junior — "Around 100,000" I may or may not get a more accurate number later. He bought another six months insurance so the pressure is off to perfect the sale.

So it's all on me to let go of prolly the only 3-door Dasher diesel with 5-speed and Ronal wheels in the Western States. So sad.

^ What's the motivation to even consider it?


Xist: 5 roadworthy & 2 parts cars in ~12 years. Not too excessive!

Consider selling it? If the Dasher has a name, it's Old Smokey. The hood shakes when it idles.

But bottom line, I don't have the space. The Metro is a foot shorter.

134,914 miles. I will be third owner. I drove it as a loaner maybe 10 years ago. Curiously, I drove the Dasher as a loaner 10 years before I bought it.

The current plan is to drive the Superbeetle out there to borrow the Metro and then just never bring it back.

I borrowed my Accord about ten years before I bought it.

Another barely used Metro with the wrong trans
 

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1584318136

48,000 km = 29.8k miles.

Located in SW Ontario.

Asking price: $2600


https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1492547855



If you had the parts to do a trans swap, it might be interesting. Hey... I have the parts!

Wrong trans again, but still impressive...
 

I like this one because it's an original owner first gen 1987 Firefly!


And it's a bit of a barn find (parked indoors for the last 10 yrs).


https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1604331179

Not particularly low kilometers in absolute terms, but extremely low for a 33 year old car @ 148k kms = 92k miles.


But then it's the wrong transmission, of course. As most of these tend to be.




https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/...ner/1529019782


I like that he doesn't know who made the car. (First gen were made in Japan by Suzuki. After that they were made in Ontario by GM.)

Is the well running dry?
 

For the first time ever, when I renewed my email alert for Metro/Firefly/Swifts, there is NONE currently for sale within 500 km of me.


I assume that means my horde will be going up in value soon. :D

I paid off the XFi and put it up on the rack. There's a 3-4ft piece of exhaust pipe spliced in and the middle exhaust hanger is missing. Sticky windshield wiper switch.

Other than that, it's daily driver-able.

Nice.

I think I'm going to sell the '91 Firefly convertible I snagged years ago but haven't gotten around to repairing (needs floors). The unexpected MPGiata windfall supplanted it anyway.

I'm very happy with the Miata's ~50 MPG, not to mention more entertaining driving characteristics & better prospects of holding value vs. ~65 MPG and less of the other things with the Firefly convertible. Even though the Firefly has less than half the kilometers on it as the Miata (110k km = 68k mi. vs. 230k km)