Notable eco-cars (old & new) spotted in the wild: post your pics!

[War_Wagon]

Here's a couple you don't see every day.

1992 Metro LSi Convertible. 143k KMs (88k miles). Looks to be original paint, some rust bubbles here and there but nothing none repairable. Floors look like new. 1.0L, sadly an automatic.







And one of the weirdest things I have ever seen at the public auction. A 1987 Kia Besta van. 106k KMs (65k miles), with a 5 speed. And it's left hand drive? So it's isn't a JDM vehicle. I didn't know you could buy a Kia in North America in 1987.

[darcane]

Spotted an Electric Focus on my commute home. Also a Metro with fender flares and Ferrari logos (crappy pic tho).

The two Volts, three Teslas, and a half dozen Leafs no longer count as "notable" to me.

[freebeard]

I found headlight housings at the local recycler labelled 'electric camry'. I was half way to checkout with them when I noticed they were asking $60 (w/o the bulbs) each and they had thrown them on a pile rather than wrapping them with paper so one had deep gouges from some sharp metal object. I was going to shove them together to make one crescent shaped light bar for my electric rat rod.

Oh well, the Nissan Pulsar taillights were at a good price.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

1992 Metro LSi Convertible. 143k KMs (88k miles). Looks to be original paint, some rust bubbles here and there but nothing none repairable. Floors look like new. 1.0L, sadly an automatic.

Too bad it couldn't be privately-imported into my country, at least not until 2022

A 1987 Kia Besta van. 106k KMs (65k miles), with a 5 speed. And it's left hand drive? So it's isn't a JDM vehicle. I didn't know you could buy a Kia in North America in 1987.

If it was JDM, it would be a Mazda Bongo on which the Besta was based

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

1992 Metro LSi Convertible. 143k KMs (88k miles). Looks to be original paint, some rust bubbles here and there but nothing none repairable. Floors look like new. 1.0L, sadly an automatic.

Another autotragic!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Another autotragic!

I'd still like to deal with such tragedy

[War_Wagon]

2022? You have to wait until something is 30 years old to import it? Dang! My friend was looking at exporting cars to the Ukraine, they have some crazy rules about taxes based on engine size etc, but you can get around all of that if they are brought in as a "rental". Of course, we would have "rented" them for a very sizeable, non-refundable, damage deposit, and rental payments that would be much like a car payment ha ha - there's a loophole in every system

I went to go get groceries and spotted another wet coast, rust free, Canadian model Civic CX so I got mine to pose with it for a picture. Sadly, it was another autotragedy! That grocery store parking lot yields a lot of neat stuff, there is a mint Civic wagon that I see there sometimes, a Leaf, a Civic VX, and multiple Priuses.



And I haven't saved an old eco car in a long time. Hate me if you must, but man I ended up with a bunch of them sitting around, and nobody in this part of town wanted them. I managed to get rid of most of them without losing too much money, but I had to break my self imposed "no more little cars!" rule with this one.





I think it's a '91, I can't remember. Toyota Corolla obviously, 189k KMs (117k miles), 5 speed, no rust, Aircared (our local smog test), clean body, paint, and interior, even some fancy stereo that has a USB input etc. All it needs is 2 back tires. I drove it around and it drives nice. It sold to the scrap guy for $200. So I bought it for $250 (Having worked at the auction for 10 years means you get to make weird things like that happen ha ha, but its for a good cause). I make my living by finding big, mostly never going to be used for their intended purpose, trucks to export to the States for soccer moms to drive around in. And yet this car that is a well made, low mileage car that would fill that role perfectly and get good MPGs while doing it, is only valuable to the scrap guy. And me apparently ha ha. Sometimes I really want to get out of the car business, it's just depressing seeing what the majority of people think they "need", and what goes to waste as a result. /rant lol

[War_Wagon]

Here's a blast from the past, an '82 Chevette! It only has a 5 digit odometer that shows 23000 Kms, so I am thinking it's actually 123,000 Kms (76k miles). Yet another autotragedy. Original windshield still in it (There's a dealership sticker on the inside of it in a typeface right out of the '80s), looks to be original paint but the 1/4s are finally bubbling through with rust. New tires, expensive battery in it - I'd guess it's probably only had one owner, and they probably were old and passed away, and whoever inherited it took it to some dealer as a trade in. Inherited trade ins always have a certain look to them, and this thing has it in spades ha ha.





I drove it around for a bit, it just about stalls when it goes into 3rd gear at lower RPMs. The '80s were a crazy time!

[War_Wagon]

1989 Micra. 260k KMs. New tires and exhaust. Went to the scrap guy for $150.

Oh and the bill of sale from the dealer the previous owner bought it from in 1997 was still in the glove box. The man paid cash, all $1200 worth plus tax ha ha.

[MetroMPG]

If that had been a low miles creampuff, I might have asked you to grab it. There was another 89 5 speed around here last week with 30k kms on it that went for $500 at a used car dealer. Though the body was shot, of course.