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Yep. I bought a 93 Cavalier Wagon a couple years ago, strictly as a beater for one of my kids. And while it's a cheap piece of crap, the operative word is CHEAP. I paid $500 for it.
Since then, I sold it to my brother-in-law a year ago. It has become such a pile that it's now a matter of pride for him. One of the back windows got broken out, the muffler fell off, most of the body panels have rust through them, it leaks oil, and the back tires are bald. But the stupid thing just refuses to die. He drives it 20 miles - one way - to work every day, and is loving it.
Sometimes cheap crap is not only okay, but pretty good.
That little 2.2L pushrod 4 cylinder (2.0L in the 80's) was a pretty tough engine, the only problems were headgaskets, but that's only if they overheat for some reason. I always thought it was odd that GM used a completely different engine in the Sunbird even though it was basically the same car (Sunbird used the 2.0L overhead cam engine). I had a '89 Sunbird when I was a teenager, that car had around 190k miles on it and didn't burn a drop of oil.
Yep. I bought a 93 Cavalier Wagon a couple years ago, strictly as a beater for one of my kids. And while it's a cheap piece of crap, the operative word is CHEAP. I paid $500 for it.
Since then, I sold it to my brother-in-law a year ago. It has become such a pile that it's now a matter of pride for him. One of the back windows got broken out, the muffler fell off, most of the body panels have rust through them, it leaks oil, and the back tires are bald. But the stupid thing just refuses to die. He drives it 20 miles - one way - to work every day, and is loving it.
Sometimes cheap crap is not only okay, but pretty good.
Wow...that's great. I have heard of vehicles like that, continuing to run and run without major issues and without too much fuss in the way of maintenance. It sounds like that wagon will literally run until the wheels fall off. A friend of mine has one like that, but it's an early 90s Volvo 240 wagon with a ton of miles on the odometer, which runs and runs without too much fuss.
Yeah and that was the key here... these were entry-level cars and were priced cheap... back them these were under $10K. An entry-level '85 Mercedes 190 was like $24K. Apples to oranges. You could also get something like a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord for around that, or maybe a little more... these were excellent cars in the 80s... this was when they really started to be good cars. I had an '84 Honda Accord LX sedan with 243K miles.... the automatic transmission was getting weak though. I think that car stickered for around $12K. A new Accord LX will cost you about $27K now?
I think my 1988 Mercedes 300SEL stickered for like $56,000. Its a tank though. Still is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Omaha Rocks
Yep. I bought a 93 Cavalier Wagon a couple years ago, strictly as a beater for one of my kids. And while it's a cheap piece of crap, the operative word is CHEAP. I paid $500 for it.
Since then, I sold it to my brother-in-law a year ago. It has become such a pile that it's now a matter of pride for him. One of the back windows got broken out, the muffler fell off, most of the body panels have rust through them, it leaks oil, and the back tires are bald. But the stupid thing just refuses to die. He drives it 20 miles - one way - to work every day, and is loving it.
Sometimes cheap crap is not only okay, but pretty good.
They dont rust quite that bad down here. I might see one with an occasional speck of rust or two... probably from up north. I did see one once before with MICHIGAN plates on one of our local freeways..... it was very rusty... rocker panels, etc.
My Cavalier came from Kentucky. My uncle worked at the Chevy dealership we got it from. It only had 46K miles, too. Old lady mobile.
My cousin bought a 1987 new. They had it ten years without problems.
I bought a 1985 Topaz (Mercury badge of the Tempo) and it was such a piece of crap. The walls shred so much metal, shavings ended up in the radiator, clogging it. Engine and entire cooling was replaced under warranty (it cost them $2500. Then the engine blew up AGAIN 10k later, as what to caused it the second time around...I went to turn on the A/C, and BANG! The engine self-destructed. Engine replaced under warranty.
The Topaz had many options, and many of them fell apart from normal usage. I remember the map light wouldn't go off, and it wouldn't stay in the base...I just ripped it out and cut the wire. The passenger side seat broke, causing the center to sit a foot lower than the edges...I was SO glad to trade it in for a brand new 1989 Chevy Celebrity as soon as the Topaz was paid off.
I keep reading about these cars rusting out. It is not the cars fault, it is the city's fault you live in if they chose to put salt on the roads. Salt is highly corrosive, I can not even imagine why they would do it. Snow is not an excuse either as I use to stay in Flagstaff, Arizona where it snows often, ditto for Reno, Nv. No salt and no rusty cars there either. I drive a 1991 Ford Escort with 140,000 miles. Not even a spot of rust on it anywhere. I never see rust on cars out here, and for good reason. Any car will rust out with salted roads. I should also add that although it is rare, I still see some of these cars on the road out here in Vegas, and they may look crappy, they are rust free.
Actually one of these cars *could* be ordered as a "real" car: the Ford. I'm not certain about 1985 but at least some Tempos could be ordered with the V-6 and a 5-speed IIRC.
I could be wrong, it does not matter anymore anyway - if a few of them were built like that and you find a good example, well, lucky you. Not many were built with the V-6/5-sp in any case.
Not as good as a '69 Impala with a 427 and 4-speed, but, something sort of in that vein.
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My uncle worked at the Chevy dealership we got it from. It only had 46K miles, too. Old lady mobile.
