Rusted Automotive

Nearly every day, I can be seen on my computer or phone perusing automotive websites for cars for sale and the latest news in the automotive industry. A few weeks back, Road and Track published an article in regards to the ten greatest cars from the 1990s . Number three on Road and Track's list was Nissan's Z32 300ZX. According to Road and Track, Z32 300ZX values are starting to skyrocket (especially for clean examples), and Road and Track recommended that any prospective buyer should snap one up immediately. I've always been a fan of the Z32 300ZX, and this 1991 Twin-Turbo model is exactly spec'd how I would want one. Find it here at Classic Dream Cars in Mount Dora, Florida, with an asking price of $16,500. In 1990, Nissan replaced the Z31 generation of its Z-cars with the Z32. Compared to the previous Z31, the Z32 featured a more modern design, with fewer hard edges and an overall more rounded profi...

I've never fully understood the appeal of the decade of the 1980s. In my view, 95% of the 1980s was garbage, and the remaining five-percent was nothing really spectacular either. A major exception was and still is Japanese sport coupes, especially rear-wheel drive performance ones. This 1986 Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R was not only built as a performance car, it is also a 9,224 original-mile survivor! Find it here on eBay in Ventura, California, with 28 bids and a little over 16 and a half hours left to bid. Featuring a name that was an amalgam of "Star of Orion" (Starion, get it?), the Starion was marketed in the United States from 1983 to 1989 as the Mitsubishi Starion and rebadged as a Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth Conquest. Produced to compete against the Nissan Z cars, Mazda RX7, and Toyota Supra, the Starion featured boxy styling similar to Audi's Quattro. This Starion is a wide-body ESI-R model, and is ...

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...

Though about 95% of the decade of the 1980s was pretty much garbage, there were a few bright rays of sunlight to that decade. In the automotive department, hot hatches were a star-studded automotive highlight. Though typically Europe is associated with performance hatchbacks, Japan marketed a few of its own. This hot hatch from the Land of the Rising Sun is a 1989 Isuzu I-Mark RS, a rare sight in any condition today. Find it here on eBay in Knoxville, Tennessee, with no bids. Known as the Gemini in its home market of Japan, the I-Mark gained a performance edge in 1989 with the introduction of the RS model. Featuring a suspension tuned by Lotus, the RS model featured more rigid dampers, alternate spring rates, and bigger sway bars. Available for 1989 only, the RS is the rarest edition of the I-Mark, and I've only seen one other RS model for sale four years ago. Said to straight and rust-free according to the seller, the clea...

For a while, I was admittedly not a fan of mini-pickup trucks; I thought, "If you're going to buy a min-truck, why not just buy a full-size pickup?" Then, about nine months ago, I saw an episode of Roadkill where co-host Mike Finnegan scooped up a 1968 Datsun 520 mini-truck . After watching that truck and another episode of Roadkill with the Mazdarati (a 1974 Mazda Rotary pickup with an Oldsmobile 455 in its pickup bed), I became a converted fan of mini-trucks. A newer example of a mini-truck is this 1991 Mazda B2600i extended cab, a rare truck in any condition today; this particular truck is in fairly decent condition. Find it here on eBay in Blackwood, New Jersey, with no bids. Initially introduced in 1961, the B-Series pickup truck was redesigned in 1985; sold as the Proceed in its home market, Mazda marketed it as the B-series. This B-Series is a 1991 B-2600i extended cab model, which is hardly seen on the...

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 ...

As lazy as this next statement may sound, I like it when online postings for collector cars for sale have the perfect title in their description; It makes coming up with the right title for an article so much easier. On that note, vintage Japanese cars have been on the up and up in terms of value recently, and nice, clean examples are hard to find today and command a decent premium. An exception to this rule is this 1972 Toyota Celica ST coupe, which is bid currently to $15,000. Find it here on eBay in King City, California, with a little less than 23 1/2 hours left to bid. After being displayed at the October 1970 Tokyo Motor Show, production of the first-generation Celica began in December 1970. Based off of the Carina sedan, the Celica was initially offered as a coupe and drew inspiration from the Ford Mustang, with its size similar to the 1964-1966 Mustang and styling reminiscent of the 1969-1970 Mustang. This Celica is ...

When it comes to sports cars, I usually go fro Corvettes, Vipers, or even the new Ford GT; in other words, my sports cars are from 'Murica. However, one sports car I have a soft spot for is the Honda S2000, either stock or tastefully modified. The S2000 is a car that many Honda enthusiasts want Honda to bring back into production, but until that happens, the best way to enjoy Honda's junior supercar is to buy a nice, clean one, like this garage-kept 2002 model in an attractive silver with an optional black hardtop. Find it here on Craigslist in Levittown, PA, with an asking price of $18,995. Special thanks to Brett Lindenmuth for requesting this write-up! Owing its roots to Honda's SSM (Sports Study Model) concept from 1995, the S2000 became a reality in 1999 when it went into production. Conceived as a successor to Honda's S500, S600 and S800 sports cars (which got Honda onto the automotive scene in the 1960s...