Good morning! Well, yesterday I promised you cars that were ready to go. I have made good on that promise. But even though these both run just fine and have had some recent maintenance to keep them that way, they’re not what you’d call desirable.
Yesterday we looked at two broken Ford Escorts, and it’s no surprise that the much nicer and generally more reliable later generation took the prize. Add in the fact that it’s a wagon, and this seems like an obvious choice. It’s only a hundred bucks more to buy, and it should be cheap and easy to fix.
But I will add this caveat: it’s an Ohio car. The leaking brake line in question may very well be one of the steel lines, and it could have rusted through. If that is the case, it would be worth checking the rest of it for underbody rust as well. If it’s more or less clean, then you’re good to go. But if it’s Swiss cheese underneath, and the older ’86 is rust-free, that tips the scales the other way – or at least it does for me. I hate dealing with rust.
Internet classifieds below a certain price level are littered with “easy fixes” like those two Escorts. Sometimes the fix is actually easy; sometimes not. Sometimes the car in question goes on to be a nice reliable driver for a good long time; sometimes not. A lot of folks would rather just shell out a bit more for a car that already runs well and doesn’t need anything right away.
There are two typical schools of thought when it comes to looking for cheap reliable cars. The first is “just get a Toyota,” which is often good advice; you won’t fall in love with it, but it will get you to work and back. The other is “look for an older person’s car,” which usually means something domestic, with fewer miles, but maybe a bit stodgy. We’re going to check out one of each, and you can decide which way you’d rather go.
1993 Toyota Corolla DX – $3,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Mountlake Terrace, WA
Odometer reading: 225,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
A common trope in science fiction is the idea of a “food pill”: All the nutrients your body needs, distilled down to one little pill. It’s an intriguing idea for convenience, but it ignores one simple fact – people like to eat. Food is not simply a means of acquiring energy and nutrients; it’s pleasurable and social, and providing it in the most efficient way possible deprives us of that pleasure. Toyota has spent decades developing the Corolla into the automotive equivalent of a food pill, while largely ignoring the fact that driving can be pleasurable, as well.
I used to own a Corolla of this generation, and while it was utterly reliable and got respectable gas mileage, it was devoid of personality and balked at any attempts at spirited driving. And mine was even a five-speed manual, but that just turned it from a food pill to a plain rice cake. This one, with an automatic, is probably about as much fun as the DMV.
It has been well taken care of, though, and the seat covers are there for protection, not to hide anything. The seller just cleaned and detailed the interior, and it does look mighty nice in there. The car runs well, and comes with some parts for future use; the seller worked at an auto parts store for a while and collected some stuff. The speedometer is wonky, but it has an aftermarket GPS speedometer to supplement it.
Outside, it’s straight, and rust-free, but we should talk about those reflective tape stripes. I mean, safety first, I guess, but on the roof, even? Really?
1988 Plymouth Sundance – $2,200
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2- or 2.5-liter overhead cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Everett, WA
Odometer reading: 71,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Come to think of it, I have a food analogy for this car as well: When I was in college, we noticed a pattern at the cafeteria: One day we would have hamburgers, then the next day we would have Salisbury steak, which was leftover burgers covered in mushroom gravy, then the day after that they served us Tater Tot casserole, when they chopped up the remaining burgers, doused them in cream of something-or-other soup, added some frozen green beans, covered the whole thing with Tater Tots, and baked it into oblivion. Chrysler’s K platform may have started out as a hamburger, but what we have here with the P-platform Plymouth Sundance is nothing but leftovers.
To be fair, while the cafeteria leftovers went downhill fast, Chrysler did manage to improve this basic architecture with every generation. The Plymouth Sundance and Dodge Shadow were available with either the basic 2.2 liter K car engine or the larger and more refined 2.5-liter version. I can’t tell them apart by sight; the only way I could tell you which engine this car has is to read the VECI label under the hood. Either way, it drives the front wheels through a good old A413 Torqueflite automatic.
This car is apparently part of an estate sale and had a bunch of work done to it to get it ready, including new tires, an oil change, and a full tune-up. There may be more to do, depending on how long it was sitting, but it’s a good start. Most of it looks decent, but I get the feeling that Nana didn’t have a garage; there is some badly sun-scorched paint on the roof and rear deck and a little surface rust. Inside, it’s pretty good, but there is one tear in the upholstery. You could probably stitch it up, or throw a seat cover on it.
The Sundance’s claim to fame is that it’s a hatchback, even though it looks like a small sedan. And there’s quite a lot of room back there if you fold down the seats; in fact, I can tell you from experience you can fit a full-sized futon frame and mattress in a Sundance if it’s taken apart.
Yes, they’re both automatics again. I’ll try to find a couple of stickshifts for tomorrow. These will both get you around just fine, though not with any great deal of excitement. One stands out in traffic in the worst way, and the other would have been completely invisible twenty years ago; it stands out now because it’s rare these days. Which one would you rather be seen in?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)