Never expected to see this on the road (different car this time)

This is the winter for seeing cars on the that I would have NEVER guessed. A few weeks ago I saw this car that blew my mind.
For todays car, let me set the stage. When I started my car this morning, the temp was -12 F, actual temp not the wind chill. By the time I headed home from work it had warmed up to nearly double digits!! So, it was cold. I-75 was icy. I saw more cars in the ditch than you can shake a crappy driver at. My 40 mile drive home took 2 hours. So, the roads were real bad. I stopped at a rest area to wee and saw this.

Yes folks, that's an '85 Celica in near showroom condition. 60,000 miles and perfect from what I could see. For those not in the rust belt, I used to think these cars were delivered with rust holes in the wheel wells and missing floors. I can only imagine the white-knuckle drive he had in a RWD car with no ABS and those wide tires!

But it was nice seeing it out. I just hope he made it home safe.

Cool! My first new car was an '84 Celica notchback. Great car, but you almost never see them. Last one I saw was a fastback about 4 years ago. Guess they were one of those disposable cars...

Yeah, you just don't see them very often, especially not up here in the rust belt. I was blown away. I just hoped he didn't wreck it on his way home

It was probably rust holed by the time he got to his destination.

My guess is his daily wouldn't start in the cold and the garage queen got to take an unscheduled trip. Kind of a shame, actually.

I miss those cars...

I think that may be an '82 or '83. I would have made him an offer on the spot.

My nephew (a 22 or 23 year old? artist, probably would be considered a hipster by you guys) drives an '85 Celica. In perfect condition, gold, with an automatic which is probably why it is in such good shape. (less hoonability for prior owners...)

It's a pretty awesome car.

I talked to the owner. It's an '85. I didn't ask why it was out. I didn't want to get lippy with him since, by him driving that car in those conditions, it was clear he had bigger cajones than me.

Bought one of those cars for $100 bucks in high school. It ran and we made a rally course in a friends back yard. Ended up clipping the house with the rear qurater and pulling a vacuum line to make the car smoke a pack of Marlboro reds. Not sure what was wrong with us at the time.

I've driven mine to upstate NY 4 or 5 times for X-mas and had to deal with lots of snow/ice during those trips. Yeah, doesn't do too well in really slick stuff, but at least it's very predictable when it's sliding around. Having grown up driving RWD cars in the snow all winter, it isn't too bad.

DrBoost wrote: This is the winter for seeing cars on the that I would have NEVER guessed. A few weeks ago I saw this car that blew my mind. For todays car, let me set the stage. When I started my car this morning, the temp was -12 F, actual temp not the wind chill. By the time I headed home from work it had warmed up to nearly double digits!! So, it was cold. I-75 was icy. I saw more cars in the ditch than you can shake a crappy driver at. My 40 mile drive home took 2 hours. So, the roads were real bad. I stopped at a rest area to wee and saw this. Yes folks, that's an '85 Celica in near showroom condition. 60,000 miles and perfect from what I could see. For those not in the rust belt, I used to think these cars were delivered with rust holes in the wheel wells and missing floors. I can only imagine the white-knuckle drive he had in a RWD car with no ABS and those wide tires! But it was nice seeing it out. I just hope he made it home safe.

why does the rwd or lack of ABS mean that it would be hard to drive? that was the norm up until fwd cars started hitting the USA big time 30 years ago and people got where they were going on a regular basis.

i agree on the tires- but not because they are "wide", rather because BFG Radial TA's are crap tires that don't do anything well besides looking cool on some cars.

I'm talking about driving on the sheer ice that was the conditions the day the pic was taken. A RWD sports car isn't any fun on a 2 mile long sheet of black ice. Not that my Golf was either.

Mine

I've been driving it all winter, don't be such a Bob Costas. Yes, I will probably have some rust repair to do over the summer, but it's worth it to have a fun, reliable, cheap DD that I can drive sideways in the snow.

Woody wrote: I think that may be an '82 or '83. I would have made him an offer on the spot.

That was my thought, too, since it has the earlier coon-huntin' flip up headlights. The owner may have put the earlier lights on his later car, tho.

DrBoost wrote: I'm talking about driving on the sheer ice that was the conditions the day the pic was taken. A RWD sports car isn't any fun on a 2 mile long sheet of black ice. Not that my Golf was either.

some of the most fun i've ever had driving in winter was in rwd cars from the pre-nanny state days... and i've never owned anything with "proper" winter tires on it..

Rear wheel drive, an open diff, and bald tires WILL teach you how to drive in the winter.

Appleseed wrote: Rear wheel drive, an open diff, and bald tires WILL teach you how to drive in the winter.

bonus points if it's either a Fox Mustang or 3rd gen Camaro, 2 cars that are not known for their winter driving prowess.. i put a lot of miles on my mom's 86 Mustang the first winter i had my license, and drove my 86 Camaro thru 3/4 of a winter that saw a few good blizzards and a lot of ice on the roads..