Old Cars in Fremont

The Fremont neighborhood in Seattle has long since ceased to be affordable for ordinary human beings, but it retains some of its quirky character in the form of a lot of old cars and trucks.

This 1949 Ford F-1 has been nicely restored. That's a pretty nice chrome grill for a working pickup from this era.

 

 

The mid-80s Chevy El Camino, still a fairly common sight on the west coast.

 

This 1976 Datsun 280Z was the first car in the series with fuel-injection. It was way ahead of the dinosaurs Detroit was offering at the time.

 

1987 Dodge Ram. Far less common that the old Ford and Chevy trucks you see on every block here.

 

1980 Toyota Celica. One of the few cars from that era that is hard to kill.

 

And finally, right in front of the Ford F-1, quite a contrast: A 1990 Mercedes 560 SEC. This car cost around $85,000 new. That would be over $200,000 in 2024 dollars.

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1990 Toyota HiAce Super GL

There are so many made-for-Japan, right-hand drive vehicles in Seattle that I see one or two every day.

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1990 Geo Prizm

By the end of the 80s, General Motors was finally producing a compact car that was reliable, handled well and that had a light yet relatively powerful engine. Not that GM had come up with any of that on its own of course; the Prizm was a copy of the Toyota Corolla, made in the California plant then co-owned by GM and Toyota and now owned by Tesla. So good job GM, but did you really need to create yet another nameplate (Geo) to sell this car? One of GM's biggest problems was that it already had too many divisions and thus too many management hierarchies.

Observations:
* I've see red cars with oxidized paint before, but this is extreme.
* "Prizm"? Come on, it sounds like "prison".

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1990 Suzuki Every Van Landventure

There are minivans, and then there are microvans. Continuing with our theme of vehicles designed for the Japanese market that have somehow made it to the US, this "kei car" van boasts a 657cc inline 3-cylinder engine.
Observation: It's interesting that vehicles designed for use in Japan get these catchy names in English.

    

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1990 Suzuki Alto Works

Continuing with our theme of Japanese cars not designed for the US market, the Alto Works is (from bringatrailer.com), "a high range sport model featuring a turbo twin cam 660cc triple capable of 9k RPM, its 64 HP the first to reach Kei car regulation limits."

A Kei car is a mini-vehicle that gives the owner in Japan a break on taxation and and insurance as well as exemption from proving they have access to parking. From jalopnik.com: "These vehicles have some strict limitations to be considered a Kei: the engine must be 660cc or smaller, they cannot produce more than 64 horsepower, they can only seat four people maximum, and dimensions are also limited to about 11.2 feet long, 4.85 feet wide and 6.5 feet tall."

 

 

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1991 Honda Acty - minitruck roundup

All of the big carmakers in Japan make this same truck: very small engine mounted forward of the rear axle under the bed, full-time 4-wheel drive, manual transmission. The Acty engine is 547 cc; an engine that size would not be considered large in a motorcycle. These trucks do not of course meet American standards for safety and emissions, but it's legal to drive vehicles on the street that don't meet those standards once they are 25 years old. The other two trucks below are a 1990 Mitsubishi Mini Cab with dump truck bed, and a circa-1990 Suzuki Carry 660.

 

   

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