Old cars parked: October 2023

22 comments on Old cars parked: October 2023
3 minutes

Here are all of the old cars I found parked during October. Here are the rules I follow:

  • The car is parked on the street or in a lot
  • The car is not in a car show
  • The car is (or could be) 20 or more model years old

Do you have a blog and like old cars? You can play along! Just create a post of your own early each month showing the cars you found last month, and leave a comment on my monthly old-cars post so others can go read it.

1967 Ford Galaxie 500. What a delightful find! It was parked in front of the Buffalo Wild Wings in Whitestown.

1981-93 Dodge Ram. Handsome trucks in their time, they always placed distant third in the sales race after Ford and GM trucks. Spotted in downtown Indianpolis.

1992-96 Ford F-150. A good, honest truck. Spotted at the Lowe’s in Whitestown.

1996-99 Subaru Outback. I’ve never featured an Outback here before and was happy to find this first-generation example parked in my neighborhood. A friend of mine had one (with the five-speed transmission) and it seemed like a good, practical family car. She drove hers for almost 200,000 miles. I love the look of the rimless door frames and the way they gave it a hardtop look using a hidden B pillar. I’m not impressed with what the Outback has evolved to become. It’s no longer a slightly raised 4WD station wagon — it’s a full-blown SUV. The world doesn’t need more SUVs in this class. However, the sales numbers show it: Subaru made the right move. I don’t have to like it.

1997-2002 Honda Passport. The first two generations of this SUV were not manufactured by Honda, but rather by Isuzu. Spotted near my home in Whitestown.

1998-99 Toyota Corolla. The beigest sedan ever. Spotted in a parking lot in Whitestown.

1998-2000 Ford Ranger. That’s…quite a spray-can paint job. Spotted in a parking lot in Whitestown.

1998-2002 Ford Escort ZX2. These little cars were among the fastest in Ford’s fleet during the years they were made. Spotted in Greenwood, Indiana.

1999-2006 Toyota Celica. These are pretty rare here in the Midwest. I wonder why. Maybe they were all hooned to death. Spotted in Zionsville.

2000-05 Mercury Sable. Spotted at my ophthalmologist’s office in Carmel, Indiana. These were …not attractive.

2001-02 Honda Accord. This is an unusually good example of this attractive midsized coupe. I’d love to find one of these to run around in, especially if it had the 5-speed. Spotted in Whitestown.

2001-04 GMC S-15. Spotted in downtown Nappanee, Indiana. These are still plentiful, so I photograph them only when they’re in especially good condition.

2003-05 Chevrolet Cavalier. These were incredibly outdated cars by the end of the run, of which this car is an example. I don’t see many Cavaliers rolling anymore. My memory of them is that they were ill built, and then owners drove them hard into the ground. Spotted in Whitestown near my home.

2003-06 Toyota Tundra. I waffled on whether to include this truck as it’s barely within the 20-year limit. But I can’t remember the last time I saw one — which is remarkable, given these trucks’ reputation for reliability.

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Comments

22 responses to “Old cars parked: October 2023”

  1. Tam Avatar

    We have a similar pastime! We’ve even photographed some of the same cars.

    https://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2022/01/automotif-cclxxiv.html

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Looks like you and I are hunting many of the same grounds. I’ve always loved old cars, and have documented the ones I’ve found on this site for several years now. My Old Cars category captures it all:

      https://blog.jimgrey.net/category/old-cars/

    2. Jim Grey Avatar

      and p.s., I also sometimes write for this site about old cars found parked: http://www.curbsideclassic.com

      1. Tam Avatar

        Curbside Classic has been an occasionally valuable resource for my Automotif blog posts, so thank you!

  2. Peter Miller Avatar
    Peter Miller

    The Tundra is very desirable as it is not a club cab. The Cavaliers were made at Lordstown, near Youngstown. The Cavalier became the Cruze which finally was a pretty good car and then General Motors stopped making small cars domestically. Whatever was wrong with the Cavalier was the fault of GM management — Exhibit #1 the Chevrolet Vega. Friends and neighbors worked at Lordstown…

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      In 1989, I test-drove a new Cavalier and bought a Beretta instead. They were both fairly basic cars, but the Beretta seemed so much better built.

      One of our sons owned a Cruze for a while and it seemed like a terrific car.

      1. Gabor Avatar
        Gabor

        I bought a Beretta a few years ago too, in 9mm. I too, prefer it over the Cavalier.

        1. Gabor Avatar
          Gabor

          Love cars, particularly 50s and 60s, Alfa Romeos any vintage. Can’t afford them nowadays, almost like film. :)

        2. Jim Grey Avatar

          Your Beretta is certainly more deadly than a Cavalier!

  3. Jon Franklin Avatar
    Jon Franklin

    Great show. I really enjoyed seeing the 1967 Ford. I have a 1967 Ford 4door hardtop. Thanks for sharing

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Thank you for preserving your 67!

  4. Charlie Audritsh Avatar
    Charlie Audritsh

    Lots of nice ones in October! Especially the Galaxie! Wow!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      That was an unexpected find for sure! Especially parked out in front of a Buffalo Wild Wings.

  5. Simon Hollander Avatar
    Simon Hollander

    The Galaxie makes me salivate now, as it did then. I wonder why Ford chose to spell Galaxie with an “ie” at the end instead of a “y”. Perhaps to differentiate it? I think the car’s lines spoke for themselves.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      It’s an affectation, for sure, but it works. My dad had a ’66 Galaxie when I was small, and I just loved the ie ending.

  6. matt Avatar
    matt

    Look at how small that Tundra is… The ‘full-size’ pickup truck Toyota introduced (I remember poking fun of the Tundra when they were introduced).

    Now, the small pickup trucks rival that size.

    Vehicles are making Richard Foster’s “A Nice Morning Drive” a reality.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I miss regular pickups being that size.

  7. marcusterrypeddle Avatar

    I’ve long thought anything from Mercury was unattractive. One day back in 2001 I ran into a bookseller I had known in my tiny-Korean-village teaching days. It was nice to see him and he was glad to see me, but he was even gladder to tell me he had bought a used American car from an import company. Owning a foreign car at the time was something of a luxury (still is, a bit) when 99% of everything on the road was a Hyundai, Kia, or Daewoo.
    “It’s parked over here,” he said happily, and brought me over to see a late 80s/early 90s Mercury Sable.
    “That’s great,” I managed to croak. What I wanted to say, but couldn’t because he looked so pleased, was, “You had the money to buy an imported car and that’s what you chose?!” Anyway, I hope he enjoyed it until he could afford a BMW.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I hear that in the car sales world there’s a saying, “there’s a butt for every seat” — meaning someone will buy even the homeliest car.

      1. marcusterrypeddle Avatar

        Ha, that’s funny.

  8. J P Avatar

    That 67 Galaxie is interesting – it includes the mid-body chrome strip that was optional, but lacks the lower body trim that was standard. It went over both wheel openings and along the lower body character line a few inches above the rockers. Also, this one either has the very rare saddle color interior or it has been redone in a custom color.

    I always felt sorry for people who bought those Honda Passports – most of them probably thought they were buying Hondas when, in fact, they were buying Isuzus. I don’t think Honda dealers liked servicing them.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Either the owner liked the looks without it, or decided not to bother to source a new one in his restoration.

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