They say when the world as we know it ends the cockroaches will probably be left in charge. I suppose it has something to do with their hard-to-kill nature that makes them seemingly impervious to the effects of thermonuclear war.

It's true that certain creatures seem to survive less-than-ideal conditions. They live a lot longer than they probably should.

The same can be said of cars too.

Lately I've been noticing a lot of late 80's - early 90's Plymouth Sundance/Dodge Shadow cars on the road. Shit I think I see one or two every day. They usually look thoroughly abused too....but then these aren't exactly enthusiast vehicles we are talking about.

My Dad had one. I think it was maybe an '89. In that somewhere-between-maroon-and-turd-brown color. RRMan and I used to beat the living hell out of that car. It never complained. It never broke down. It took a T-bone meeting with a pickup truck to put it in the scrapyard.

My '86 Laser however went through three motors in four years. Chalk one up for the superiority of the MoPar 2.2L over the 2.4L.


There are other cockroach cars out there too. Early 90's Chevy Berettas seem to be holding up pretty well. So do late 80's Ford Escorts....strangely only the teal-colored ones survive. Going back a bit further you still see the occasional Chrysler 5th Avenue on the road. And you might see a Dart or even a Duster creeping along too. These aren't low-mileage garage queens that I'm talking about. They're well-used cars.

Are there any other candidates for the cockroach vehicles list? Surely I haven't identified them all. Which ones have you found hard to kill?

-Trevor

Wow.... Chevy Chevette... and the original caravan. Those things are everywhere... still puffing blue smoke! The caravans blow my mind. I always thought they were the biggest hunks of crap. Dodge had really bad interior then and I hated them. But they are everywhere.

Funny you should mention that. I saw three of the cars you mentioned on my drive home from work yesterday (5th ave, Beretta, escort). I saw a K-car following me into work this morning and the other day I saw a Horizon! That K-car impresses me too... I see a lot of them.

i was gonna say k-car. see em everywhere. i've worked on all the cars you list and they are by no means a sturdy car. but i guess the drivetrains are pretty good as long as you can keep the wheels from falling off.

my stepfather had a 3/4 ton chevy pickup ... 82 or 83 not sure which year. he towed a 4 ton tractor with a bucket loader and backhoe around with this thing for years and years. he finally scrapped the truck maybe 5 or 6 years ago with the original engine and tranny at like 230kmi ... that was a carbuerated 350 small block, and it worked every day of it's life.

new generation vehicles will be pushing over 400kmi when run into the ground like the current 80's-90's equivalents at 200k.

The only difference is, people will be paying for them a lot longer too, or not owning them at all (leasing). I have heard that some banks will offer out to almost 7 years. Plus, price of fuel is going to be a consideration when buying a car in the future... if it hasn't already for most. Kind of like taxes are when buying a house.

i had a dodge aries, plymoth horizon and a plymoth varlie....all three were pretty much bullit proof and with my driving record im surprised they lasted as long as they did.. actually the valarie is still on the road 1980 model too..somone in albany owns it the back window is probly still blown out dark blue proly dark rust now but that fuckin thing was just unstopable.., my horizon shit.. it had one mount on themotor that WASNT busted.. and it still drove, i beat the snot out of it on a daily basis.. what a turd that car was.. the door fell off so i duct taped the shit back on.. oh yeah good times

i was offered out to a full 7 years when i bought my tahoe ... payment at 5 years was 829 and at 7 years was 760. 170x60 = 10200 .... (760x24)-10200 = $8040 ... so pay an extra 8000 to drag the loan out two more years ... yeah no.

I don't know where the price of gas is going to go. I just recently read last year exxon was the income giant of the world at 400 billion dollars.... wow.

I had a 89 plymouth sundance..I got it free cause the guy said it sucked a valve in the head and the exhauste was fucked. I jerryrigged the exhauste and drove the fuck out of that car. It was a 5 speed and as long as I kept my foot in it, it ran just fine. I really beat the piss out of it every day. I would just race around a parkinlot at my work as fast as it could go without sliding through the fence. That car was unstoppable. I traded it to a guy who then drove it all the way to Florida. Drove it a year down there. He finally blew it up cause he kept fuckin with it. It was known all over as the lapdance...

Reminds me of a friend of mine who had a Chevy Spectrum he drove the same way. They called it the Rectum.

Dodge Aspens!

I still see em every once and a while

My old yo-yo had 248,000 on it when I sold it to the neighbor. It has 310,000 now and wiring problems, but still runs.

late 80's Ford F250s

I think I'm gonna add another one to the list.

Late 80's - Early 90's Olds Cutlass Cierra. The smaller ones, FWD. Not sure what platform they were based on. I think they were too old to be variants of the Lumina.

Whatever they were, I have a feeling they were the first "new" car a young couple bought back in those days. They must have held onto the car and eventually given them to their kids to drive because I see a ton of 'em running around the University.

-Trevor

Its like they were in between a J and a W body....i had a 95 Cutlass Supreme, 4 door leather macked out with dark tint....my girlfriend called it the cutloser haha!

but i know what your talking about, those cierra's are still around! I think my grand father had one for a while.

You know what you never see anymore, A Chevy Citation... I had one YEARS ago, that freaking thing wouldn't die.

Yeah I can't remember the last time I saw one of those. Not even one.

I still see the occasional VW rabbit pickup from time to time on the road. Hard to believe they are still ticking along.

-Trevor