Cars you never see anymore-any surviving?

johnnycortina

Its amazing the cars that were common years back that have totally disappeared. When you ask most people about them, they dont even remember them - apart from classic enthusiasts.
Some are:
Datsun 140J / 160J / 180B. They were nice cars but rusted horribly. I think there was a very cool 140J SSS that was the sporty coupe version.
Toyota Carina - the first mk1 with the twin front headlamps.
Toyota Corolla K30 - They were every where one time, now nearly extinct.
Hillman avengers - the cops had them, and were good rally cars.
Mazda 131 - the early rear wheel drive ones.
Renault Fuego - never mad about them, but they were different.
FIAT 124 - an uncle of mine had one, and he swore by it. Had it for years, and for some reason the bodywork kept very well.
VW Variant - have not seen one for years.

MercMad

I'm actually going out to work on a Variant next weekend ! A friend has one in his garage ............looks in good shape too !

I remember those Datsuns, my fathger had a new 200L Laurel back in '78, great car, smooth 6 cylinder engine !

My uncle always drove Avengers............great cars and very tuneable !

I reckon the government scrappage deal put an end to most of those !

hawkmoon269

I saw a Fuego recently for the first time in ages.

dubtom

Vauxhall Victors were a favorite of mine, the Guards had them for a while, probably talking early 70's here. Really loved the shape of them. Hillman hunter is another one I haven't seen in years. My uncle had a Seat ibiza, I think it was called, a system porche engine it had, whatever that means, wasn't so long ago, early 90's, but yet haven't seen one in a long time.

BrianD3

This topic has come up a few times before and it is always an interesting topic If we're talking about bog standard family cars then it's easier to pick out which ones have survived rather than which haven't. Because the majority of cars that were once common are now pretty much extinct. Even 80s cars. If you see a car from circa 1985 nowadays its likely to be either a VW Golf/Jetta or a Carina/Corolla.

You are very unlikely to see an eighties:
Opel Ascona
Ford Escort or Sierra
Fiat Ritmo or Regata
Citroen BX
Nissan Sentra (although I do know of two of these used as daily drivers)
Renault 18
Austin Montego
etc.

Earlier cars such as the K30 Corollas, Avengers, Mk2 Escorts etc. are now starting to be regarded as classics so there may actually be more chance of seeing one. Some classic snobs would be horrified at these cars being regarded as semi classics A lot of their appeal is due to nostalgia. There have been numerous discussions about the K30 on this forum adn it has been stated that the car is like an "irish classic" They sold very well here (far better than in the UK or Europe) and are a symbol of 70s and 80s Ireland for a lot of people.

ds20prefecture

BrianD3 wrote:

Some classic snobs would be horrified at these cars being regarded as semi classics A lot of their appeal is due to nostalgia.

I guess that makes me a classic snob, then. I hear what you're saying about nostalgia and I applaud anyone keeping one alive and original, particularly as daily drivers

But the Hillman Avenger a "classic"? Why? What is the redeeming feature of this ugly, asthmatic blandsmobile? What is the 1 thing it did that few other cars did? Ditto the Nissan Sentra? Am I missing something?

BrianD3

ds20prefecture wrote:

But the Hillman Avenger a "classic"? Why? What is the redeeming feature of this ugly, asthmatic blandsmobile? What is the 1 thing it did that few other cars did? Ditto the Nissan Sentra? Am I missing something?

I agree in a way but the same could be said of many cars. I've never particularly seen the appeal of a car like the Ford 100E. Yet they are classics because they are from the 50s, have 50s styling, are rare, old and have a nostalgia factor for those of a certain age.

The Avenger is from the 70s, has 70s styling, is rare, old and has nostalgia for those of a certain age.

Not a very convincing argument I know

kyote00

My father had a red Fiat 124 Special T, twin cam 1600 engine. It was a great
car for its time.

He traded it for a Mark IV Cortina in 1979

I usually see a Red 124 Special at Celbridge each year.....

Dades

I have a Fiat 124, but the roof and two doors have rusted off.

I think I'm somewhat of a classic snob too. The only 80's saloon that did it for me was my old Audi 80, 'Bessie'. But given enough time most cars will be classic for someone.

triumphs

My uncle has a very nice 79 140 j for sale. This car is driving perfectly and the interior is complete. The car needs some bodywork,but not too much.

MercMad

I think the Gardai used the Vauxhal VX4-90 as opposed to the Victor. Thats what the special branch in dublin used throughout the 70's. In fact a lot of those old Garda cars were kept for years. They never repaced them regularly !

Alfasudcrazy

I too loved the Vauxhall VX - they were built like a tank and its amazing none of them have survived. The owner of the hotel I worked in had a lovely metallic blue top of the range version which I loved - but I hated him.

I also miss the old peugeot 404 and 504's - again built very well but what happened to them all.

Then there is the Fiat Tipo - I was tempted to buy one ( after all it was galvanised and shoould have lasted longer) but there are none around now.

Still I am doing my bit to keep some of these special cars on the road - it pleases me when someone's jaw drops and they point as I pass in the 504 or Alfasud - then again they might be saying kook at the jerk wearing that silly alfa romeo jacket.

corktina

avengers? oh my god no....i had a new one in 1978...you couldnt hear the radio at 70mph.......horrible horrible cars......(looked quite nice though...) theres one visible from the Athlone to Cavan road

Silvera

triumphs wrote:

My uncle has a very nice 79 140 j for sale. This car is driving perfectly and the interior is complete. The car needs some bodywork,but not too much.

Now that is a rare survivor !
Most 70's Datsuns have been swept up (i.e. heaps of rust) years ago !

Any chance of a few pics / details ?

Silvera

BTW, if any of ye want to see 70's/80's cars still in use, take a trip to New Zealand.

For example I spotted the following around Christchurch on a daily basis -

1979-1984 Starlets
1985 Fuego
1979 Cressida
1976 > K30 saloons and estates, many of which were souped boy racer cars - I kid you not !
etc etc

And cars there have to be NCT'd (Warrant of Fitness) every six months ! :eek:

G Luxel

ok cars that are almost extinct
let me add to that list..........

Ok basically any car with a pre 86 number such as IC,PI,ZI etc

Ford Zephyr/Zodiac Mk 4, the great large big battleship from dagenham
Audi One Hundred from 67
Audi 70/50
Opel Rekord A, B etc
Opel Kadett B, Olympia
Toyota Crown 73
Fiat Fifteen Hundred , Eleven Hundred, Multipla, 600, 2300
Humber Sceptre 67-76, last of luxury humbers at hillman prices
Hillman Minx Mk V & VI
Pre 67 beetle, one that isnt modified
60s Vauxhall saloons like the Victor, Viscount, Viva HA
And finally not to mention all those large American saloons that were so
common on the street and may well have ended up being converted to
hearses.

junkyard

I sold a 1970 Ford Zodiac not to long ago and I have an unmodified Beetle except for the "Herbie" stripes.:) And a Daimler hearse.

skibum

My Dad had a Fiat 131 supermirafiori in the late 70's, fell apart but went like a bat out of hell
When I was working in a ski resort I used to drive a mates Alfasud, fantastic little car. On the straight stretches all the big fords and holdens used to fly by us but when we got to the twisty bits....:p
Havn't seen an alfasud in the "flesh" for years.

Silvera

Yeah the 131's were fast machines in their day.

I see an Alfasud Ti for sale in the 'Car Parts' section of this weeks Buy & Sell (€300).
Rare to see one for sale nowadays!

BrianD3

There's a group test with the 131 in one of the classic mags this month. It's compared with a few other cars including the Vauxhall Firenza "droop snoot" and GASP the Hillman Avenger Tiger. One part of the article that I found amusing given the comments earlier in the thread - the Avenger was deemed to be the most most expensive car of the group to buy today. So obviously there are a few Avenger fans out there

G Luxel

junkyard wrote:

I sold a 1970 Ford Zodiac not to long ago and I have an unmodified Beetle except for the "Herbie" stripes.:) And a Daimler hearse.

I hope you restore that hearse, especially with that late 60s PI plate, it would
be a shame to destroy it. I see the Zodiac is an import, does that mean that
there are no Irish Mkiv's left? :mad:

junkyard

I intend to restore the Hearse at some stage, even though it looks poor it's in very good condition and is still driving. I have a matching 1966 Daimler Majestic Major car. I also have a 1970 Ford Zodiac Hearse on Irish plates. The Daimler Hearse was sold new to O'Conner's Funeral Home in Coburg St. in Cork when it was new and was later used by O'Sullivan's Funeral Home in Turner's Cross. I remember it when I was a kid and eventually bought it.

Con_316

johnnycortina wrote:

Its amazing the cars that were common years back that have totally disappeared. When you ask most people about them, they dont even remember them - apart from classic enthusiasts.
Some are:
Datsun 140J / 160J / 180B. They were nice cars but rusted horribly. I think there was a very cool 140J SSS that was the sporty coupe version.
Toyota Carina - the first mk1 with the twin front headlamps.
Toyota Corolla K30 - They were every where one time, now nearly extinct.
Hillman avengers - the cops had them, and were good rally cars.
Mazda 131 - the early rear wheel drive ones.
Renault Fuego - never mad about them, but they were different.
FIAT 124 - an uncle of mine had one, and he swore by it. Had it for years, and for some reason the bodywork kept very well.
VW Variant - have not seen one for years.

Theres an old slightly tatty Corolla k30 in kenmare last time i was there. it was parked up in a sort of 2nd hand car place.

Swear i saw a 16o datsun yesterday in newcastle west on uk plates.

Had an ancient mazda rear drive like you mentioned. had it as a field car when was about 14. Sold it to some guy for hot rodding.

My uncle used to have avengers but now has some really rare saab and a peugeout 307 (horrible car.)

My grandfather drove a 70s beetle from new until '99 when he got a lupo due to a hip replacement.

Saw what i think was a 120 y in adare co. limerick today.

My father used to have a sunbeam ti or some such sporty model when he was young, he drove old asconas later, a renault 4, renaulr 9 auto, triumph dolomite, ford granada and various others. Out near where i live there are a good few old cars in farm yards and ditches just rotting away.

There are a good few old fords such as capris, cortinas, escorts still going, see them fairly often.

Zaph

Mention of the Variant and 131 reminds me of the cars my father had when I was a kid:

VW Variant - it seemed absolutely huge when I was a small child. Probably was, but I haven't seen one up close in years.
Fiat 128 - a hatchback type thing with awful vinyl seats that would cause 3rd degree burns on the backs of bare legs in the summer. Again, haven't seen one in years.
Fiat 131 - first car I ever drove. Bit scary as it was, as others have said, a fast car.
Triumph 2000 - absolute beauty of a car. Saw one a few weeks ago that had obviously been restored and it looked great.

Abelloid

Variants are out there alright -

Blue850

zaph wrote:

Triumph 2000 - absolute beauty of a car. Saw one a few weeks ago that had obviously been restored and it looked great.

My father had 4 of them through the 70s, first car I ever travelled over 100mph in. Bought one a few years ago to use as my brother's wedding car, going to get properly sorted when the garage is finished as its an Irish reg'd MK 1 .

Traumadoc

Due to the low rain here in Australia there are still plenty of old Datsuns and toyotas

http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/DesktopDefault.aspx?Make=DATSUN&ShowThumbnail=True&SortBy=4&ResultsPerPage=20&TabID=3328&Alias=carpointau

el tel

There are hardly any Austin Ambassadors, Rover SD1s or Austin Maxis around anymore.

Thank God for that.

molloy86

You are very unlikely to see an eighties:
Opel Ascona
Ford Escort or Sierra
Fiat Ritmo or Regata
Citroen BX
Nissan Sentra (although I do know of two of these used as daily drivers)
Renault 18
Austin Montego
etc.

Cuoldn't agree any more, my uncle has a 1988 Citroen BX 1.9 Diesel Estate, only thing is it sits in the corner of a field surrounded by weeds. No sursprise that the Ritmo/Regeta aren't seen any more, they didn't surivive our Irish weather!

It's quite hard to see an eighties car in general, even my own car, a '90 Micra, seems to be ancient compared to everything else on the road.

Silvera

I spotted an '84-TN reg 4-door Escort which looks to be in regular use (parked on street outside house).

There seems to be more older cars 'down the country' than in the Leinster/Dublin area.

BrianD3

Two ordinary cars which are still common in everyday use are the Mk2 Golf/Jetta and the AE80/90 Corolla. These were produced from around 1983-1992. There are still loads of post 87 Mk2s and AE90s about. Earlier Mk2s and the AE80 are less common but you still see the odd one.

Other older stuff I saw on the road recently includes a Datsun Laurel circa 1980-83, a Renault 4 c. 1980, a couple of Mitsubishi Colts c.1986. All Irish cars with old style registrations.

I agree that these cars seem more common down the country. But some country areas seem to have very few while in others you might see a few pre 87 cars in the one small town.

In Dublin, the Merc E-class from c. 1975-1985 is quite common. A lot of these look to be weekend cars and/or are the coupe version.

Oh and did anyone see the film "Poitin" on TG4 over christmas. It was made in 1979 and there were a few old cars in it including a Chrysler Avenger Garda car and a Ford Anglia van.

stratos

I have a Vauxhall Victor I use a lot.
It's not molly coddled or even has a garage but it still goes!

dubtom

stratos wrote:

I have a Vauxhall Victor I use a lot.
It's not molly coddled or even has a garage but it still goes!

Post a pic of that if you would stratos, haven't seen one in years.

stratos

here's my Victor.
Never posted a pic before so this may go wrongly.

stratos

try again.27032005.jpg

stratos

and04042005(006).jpg

Squirrel

A guy who lives near me had 2 Citroen BX's, last time I saw thm would've been at least 4 months ago. I didn't think they were that rare

325sport

A friend of mine has a 1981 datsun 240k(the original skyline).2.4l straight six.Its in great nick.green metallic in colour.They are very rare.

Ive got an 89 bmw e30 325 sport,metallic black,170 bhp,ltd.slip diff,leather etc.God i love that car.

Con_316

325sport wrote:

A friend of mine has a 1981 datsun 240k(the original skyline).2.4l straight six.Its in great nick.green metallic in colour.They are very rare.

Ive got an 89 bmw e30 325 sport,metallic black,170 bhp,ltd.slip diff,leather etc.God i love that car.

Test drove one of those datsuns in england was lovely to drive but it had too much rust to bother buying it.

I also have A 325 sport, '88, lsd, leather, electrics etc. Damn good cars aren't they? Got Chip and remap done for mine, plus induction kit with heatshield, ported and polished head and stainless exhaust. 191.4 bhp now, lovin it. You should definately go for some of that if not done it already, made an already superb car even better. .. Hmm that was bit irrelevant to this thread , sorry.

325sport

Con_316 wrote:

Test drove one of those datsuns in england was lovely to drive but it had too much rust to bother buying it.

I also have A 325 sport, '88, lsd, leather, electrics etc. Damn good cars aren't they? Got Chip and remap done for mine, plus induction kit with heatshield, ported and polished head and stainless exhaust. 191.4 bhp now, lovin it. You should definately go for some of that if not done it already, made an already superb car even better. .. Hmm that was bit irrelevant to this thread , sorry.

Sounds good con.I havnt done much in the line of engine mods on mine except for a k+n panel filter and im fitting a full stainless larini exhaust system(manifold back).Yea they are great cars,ill post a couple of pics in the relevent section.