That little white cottage is down the street a couple of blocks, and is a rental. Recently, some new tenants moved in, and their two cars are fully-vetted Eugene-mobiles.
CC Outtake: The New Neighbors Drive Eugene-mobiles
– Posted on January 3, 2014
They mighta only moved across town
Has to be some kind of deep undercover setup. Watch it, Paul – you may be under surveillance! 🙂
They’ve come for the LTD.
You won! +1
I was thinking the same thing!
Live in a condo-complex in Miami. Neighbors in an adjacent building owned similar cars. The Volvo has been sitting since 2008. It has a permanent flat, while happily rusting away and once had a tree growing underneath. The Volkswagen micro-bus was hauled away in 2011 shortly after I took this picture. At the time the condo association made them remove one of the vehicles. The association has a by-law against derelict cars. We currently have three derelicts maybe four.
I’m assuming people are owning these old Volvos/VW buses, to make a social statement.
Or to fit in? What is that statement here? haha
Such a strange, eclectic mix of vehicles in that community. Many cars are very old I appreciate… but owners seem to be okay with them looking tired. Is it seen as vain to wax a car, even if it’s completely unnecessary for rust protection, beyond keeping paint shiny? Being semi-serious here… That Volvo could look great. Domestics seem as equally represented as imports.
I can remember when the Volvo 240 was the required drive of the anti-car environmentalist. Who, to show his disdain for the automobile, never washed it, swept it out, fix the rust (if applicable for the area), or did any kind of maintenance on it until it absolutely broke down. At which point, the car would have the minimum done to get it running again.
So, said environmentalist would be driving a piece of crap that polluted worse than the local motorhead’s high-powered vehicle. All to show that they only drove because they absolutely HAD to.
Fortunately, the Prius came out. In the intervening years, the deliberately-beaten 240’s were replaced with hybrids. And it was now trendy to actually take care of one’s car, if only to ensure minimum pollution.
A lot of those Eugene cars remind me a lot of the above. Cars owned by people who actually didn’t care about cars, and only wanted four wheeled cheap appliances – other than being trendy enough to not be seen driving anything American. (Ghod, that’s so . . . . . . . Republican!)
Interesting. An old brick-type-Volvo, especially a wagon, is one of the Old Money’s favorites here.
Same here, or at least it was when they were new(er). Apparently there’s a different America west of the Hudson River, but I’ve never seen it.
It’s a combination of Calvinism (“Thou shalt not show-off”) and not enough cash to buy a new car (Old Money owns real estate, not a heap of euros).
How close is that Bungalow to the Shotgunesque house behind it, the photo is throwing off my depth perception. Did a wind storm cause that Douglas Fir (I assume it one since the photo is in Oregon) to lean or was it a errant bulldozer? Personally, I would not park my vehicle in the general direction of that tree’s lean. The “Golf Balls on a String aiming for PVC Pipe Game” in their yard sure is a fun way to pass the time and drink PBR.
I wonder if that Volvo is from a more UV intense climate because compared to other Tan 200-Series its paint is somewhat faded and looks like my cousin’s mid 1980s 200-Series that lives in Clemson, SC. Even the mismatched driver’s door is not the factory shade. Is that Volvo sporting mismatched rims or is the rear one missing its hubcap? I will never get tired of seeing these Volvos and who would have thought the sedan was the more popular body style based on how many wagons I see in the Portland Metro Area.
Some of those Kombies have pep and I have actually been passed by a few on I-405, but it looks like someone tried pushing this one based on the crumpled booty. However, I bet something more logical happened.
Overall a great scene, but I suspect the Curbside Classic scene in Eugene is similar to Portland. The city is full of cool cars, but the commutes to and from the suburbs, the suburbs in general, and the Interstates are mainly full of generic mobiles.
You are most likely right that that Volvo probably moved to Ore. from another place as the paint is faded. I wonder if it was a SoCal car? The drivers door looks to be original to the car. If you look at the part of the door near the mirror you can see the same tan as the rest of the car, It looks like something got stuck to it and yellowed(perhaps a good scrubbing and it will come out?)
Mum had a fire-engine red sedan. She loved that car so much. I found this immaculate example recently. NFS of course.
In my condo/rental coastal area of SoCal, Santa Monica-mobiles predominantly include the C-Class, 1- or 3-series, or the A4. 99% leased, of course. What about other areas of the country? Interested to know.
I can’t even remember the last time I saw a VW Type 2 that wasn’t completely restored and shinier than it ever was when new. Probably sometime in the 90s. It’s nice to see them in any condition, but I wish there were a few more like this running around still.
I’m beginning to think Eugene needs a couple hundred central Virginia tea-party types moved in. Just for the diversity, of course.
If you leave Northwest Oregon that is what you will find. Clark County, WA just outside of Portland voted for Romney in 2012.
I gather that Clark County is absorbing a lot of Portland’s growth, largely due to its lack of anti-growth policies.
That little white house in the photo is indeed rather close to the house behind it. Eugene being a college town, there are a good many quite small habitations of various types, some of them being obvious ex-garages. One also sees the same sort of thing in Navy towns like Bremerton, where there’s a fairly consistent demand for low-cost rentals for low-paid sailors.
Drive two hours south to the Rogue and you’ll find plenty of them.