IH pickups are pretty common in Seattle. I hardly ever saw them in the midwest even as a kid. I guess if you can keep them out of the Rust Belt they are pretty durable. 1975 was the last year for the IH truck, and 1980 for the last Scout SUV. Too bad, as trucks and 4x4 vehicles were just starting to get a lot more popular.
No surprise that these two cars are parked in South Lake Union where the yachts are docked. The kind of person who digs quirky two-seater cars is also the kind of person who enjoys a leisurely life on the water.
Remember Buick? In the US Buick sold 180K cars last year, mostly to grandmothers who grew up with the brand. But in China, Buick is huge - selling upwards of one million cars per year. The Reatta was Buick's plan to actually have something interesting in its showrooms. But it never really caught on, selling only a few thousands copies per year. As for the MG, it's the same story as any British sports car: it's a lot of fun as long as you can afford to give it tender loving care and as long as the gods of inexplicable electrical systems continue to favor you.
I haven't seen a Yugo on the street since the mid 1990s. The owner must be an automotive genius. For those too young to remember, the Yugo made a big impact on the US market when it arrived in 1985. It initially sold for $4,000 or about $10,600 today. That's 26% cheaper than the Chevy Spark, the cheapest car you can buy in the US today.
Malcolm Bricklin had a long and extremely sketchy career developing and selling cars of very dubious quality. Case in point: the Yugo, which Car and Driver has called "The Worst Car in History". Long story short, the Yugo was poor quality and fell apart quickly. On the other hand, it's a stretch to say that it was a lot worse than some of the competition at the time. Have you ever driven a Chevy Chevette?
1977 was the last year for the Beetle coupe in the US. Why? From a New York Times article from August of that year: "In the United States, It has become a victim of international economics, American safety and emissions requirements and just plain changing times.
When the dollar decreased in value relative to the mark, the beetle became more expensive to United States consumers and therefore less competitive. At the same time, according to spokesman for Volkswagen of America, the cost of meeting American emissions and safety standards helped to make the bug uneconomical.
Finally,
Japanese auto makers put severe competitive pressure on VW by bringing
out more stylish, up‐to‐date small cars for the American market. For
this and other reasons, VW changed its product."
The convertible received a reprieve of two years before it disappeared as well. With no convertibles built in the US after 1976, and the demise of the Beetle as well as the MG and the Triumph, by 1981 American convertible buyers were limited to a handful of German and Italian cars.
Two exceptionally rare Studebakers I spotted on my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. The Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana closed in December of 1963. This car could have been one of 417 Daytona convertibles made there for the 1964 model year, or one of 286 made at the company's Canadian plant. This was the last Studebaker convertible made, and the Canadian plant closed as well in 1966.
The Golden Hawk was possibly the fastest car made in America, built with a Packard V-8 in 1956 and a supercharged Studebaker V-8 in 1957 and 1958.
