Rusted Automotive

If as an automotive enthusiast you've been paying attention to the recent auction trends, then you may have noticed that vintage Japanese vehicles are on the rise in terms of collectability. The rise has especially favored vintage Japanese trucks, especially ones that have optional four-wheel drive. A prime candidate and rarely-seen in any condition is this 1986 Isuzu Space-Cab pickup 4X4, which also has the desirable manual transmission. Find it here on eBay in Los Angeles, California, with reserve not met.  After being marketed for years as the Chevrolet LUV (Light Utility Vehicle) in the North American market and Chevrolet bringing its own midsize pickup to the market (the S10), Isuzu hit the ground running and rebadged the LUV as P'up (short for pickup). Available as a two-door pickup or extended-cab (Space Cab) pickup, the P'up was sold from 1981 to 1991. This P'up is a 1986 Space Cab model, and is a rare sight in any...

While I was writing the other day, I saw a commenter on another car website talking about how muscle cars are becoming more expensive and thus are further and further away from the grasp of blue-collar enthusiasts. While that statement is fairly true, the problem with that statement is it pertains mostly to 1964 to 1974 muscle cars. While the later muscle cars are not as desirable and fast as their predecessors, their handling is fairly decent, as is their performance. This muscle car is a 1979 Hurst/Olds, and is believed to be the first one built for 1979. Find it here on eBay in Naperville, Illinois, with no bids, a Buy-It-Now price of $8,900, and a little under eight and half hours left to bid. After a four-year hiatus, the Hurst/Olds returned for 1979; now based off of the Cutlass Calais coupe, the Hurst/Olds came in either white and gold or black and gold and came with unique 15X7 aluminum wheels. This 1979 Hurst/Olds i...

For the past few weeks, my brother and my dad have been looking around for a vintage Dodge pickup to build up as my brother's nice-weather driver. The reason this search began is my brother is mechanically-redoing his 1990 GMC K2500 extended-cab, and he's hit every major obstacle thus far. One of the trucks he's viewed thus far is this 1979 Dodge Macho Power Wagon, which is a rare and desirable four-wheel drive pickup from the 1970s. Find it here on Craigslist in Falls Township, Pennsylvania, with an asking price of $950. Built from 1977 to 1981, the Macho Power Wagon was an option on the W150 (four-wheel drive half-ton) Power Wagon. The easiest way to spot a Macho Power Wagon are the black and yellow accents and massive "Power Wagon" callouts. This Macho Power Wagon is a 1979 long-bed model, and was one of the models marketed in Dodge's famous "Adult Toys" line, which was suppose...

If you've been paying attention to the articles I've been writing today, you'll remember in my article on the 1989 Beretta GT my statement on how cars from the Eighties are hard to find today in good condition. That statement is especially true for trucks, particularly so for trucks in Japan. A truck that is hard to find in any condition today is this 1987 Nissan Pathfinder, which has aged very well and is a very solid and complete truck. Find it here on Craigslist in Youngstown, Ohio, with an asking price of $4,500. Introduced in 1985 as a replacement to the Nissan Bushmaster (an aftermarket conversion of the Datsun pickup), the first-generation Pathfinder was based off of the Hardbody pickup and was Nissan's answer to the Ford Bronco II, Chevrolet's S10 Blazer, Jeep's Cherokee, Toyota's 4Runner, Mitsubishi's Pajero, and Isuzu's MU . This Pathfinder is a 1987 model, and is virtually ...

This past weekend, my dad, brother and I went up to our cabin in Pike County (about an hour southeast of Scranton) and brought home our RV, a 1976 Chevrolet G30 Holiday Rambler. After discussing what to do with it, we decided to give it to our friend from our local veterinarian clinic. It was a sombering and bittersweet decision, considering the memories my family had taking it camping throughout Pennsylvania and discussing the possibility of one day taking it to places like Yellowstone National Park and the Redwood Forest in California. On the other hand, the family car collection is being thinned out for good reason, and there's still my 1978 Dodge Tradesman 200 van, which is a bit smaller but nearly as capable. Also a bit smaller and just as capable as my family's Holiday Rambler is this 1976 Chevrolet Blazer Chalet, which is the seventh one built out of a production of 1,712 for the 1976 model year. Find it here on eBay in Olive Hill, Kentucky...

As the infamous line from Game of Thrones goes, "winter is coming". For automotive enthusiasts and collectors, this means that projects begin to move from the outdoors to inside the garage with the heat turned on and eventually turned up to full blast (especially if you live in the northeast part of the United States like I do). If you don't have a project for the winter, a perfect project for you would be this 1965 Jeep FC 170 M679 Military Ambulance, which is one of nine or ten known to exist. Find it here on Craigslist in Lake City, Florida, with an asking price of $20,000. Based off of the Forward-Control Jeeps introduced back in 1956, the M679, which was produced for only one year: 1965, was based off of the M678, which was a Forward-Control Jeep with a van body. To become the M879, the M678 was refitted as an ambulance. All told, only 50 M-Series Forward Control Jeeps are believed to have survive from the...

There are certain vehicles that one rarely sees in nice, unmolested condition out on the road. Finding one for sale, however, is like trying to find the proverbial needle-in-the-haystack. One of those vehicles is the Chevrolet S10, especially 1982 to 1993 versions. An even harder version of the S10 to find is the Baja appearance package, which is a rare sight in any condition, let alone one as clean as this truck is. Find it here on Craigslist in Dallas, PA, for $13,750. Introduced in 1988, the Baja was an appearance option that was available on any S10 that had four-wheel drive. Available in Midnight Black, Apple Red and Frost White, the Baja option included  a roll bar with off-road lights, a front tubular grille guard with fog lights, a tubular rear bumper, an under-body shield package (transfer case shield, front differential shield, fuel tank shield, oil pan/steering linkage shields), a suspension package, a Chevrolet windshield ...