My recent trudge through my picture stash (here) turned up a lot more than what was shown then. Seeing this Lincoln Mark LT in front of the Whole Foods sign reminded me I had a whole series of pictures from my hiking around their parking lot about thirteen months ago.
For those not familiar, the Whole Foods Market chain is the Disneyland of cuisine. Looking for fifty eight varieties of olives, all the size of a goose egg? Check. Looking for aged koala milk cheese? Check. A white Dodge Stratus out front? Check.
A five-cylinder VW Jetta and a six-cylinder Toyota. If you take the numbers from one to twelve, automobile engines have had every number of cylinders except seven, nine, and eleven. Or am I overlooking something?
There are a tremendous number of these Chevrolet HHR’s being used as taxis in the Kansas City, Kansas area. I suppose they work well enough, but they sure look fragile compared to this Honda Civic. Yes, the angle of this picture is working against the HHR but it isn’t working that much against it.
Two members of the Fantastic Auditory Resonance Team (F.A.R.T.) Can brigade. Let us all hope the heat generated from these exhaust tips doesn’t melt the bumper cover.
This Civic does seem to be a little smaller boned than the last one.
For years Chevrolet had their Blue Flame Six. Could this be called their Purple Spark Four?
Some things are universal. Could any two vehicles be more definitive than a green Subaru Outback and a red Ford F-150? Some colors just naturally work.
A white Subaru? It’s quite nice and I would love to take it for a spin. Come to think of it, I did drive a Subaru once years ago. My college roommate was drunk so I drove us back in his yellow Subaru. I think it was an ’81 model.
It looks like we are back into charted territory again.
While going out on a limb to say this, I cannot help but think going to a Whole Foods in the Midwest creates one of the more eclectic mixtures you might expect to find on a single parking lot.
This Audi Q7 TDI is a very nice vehicle and this example is one of extremely few I have seen.
On the flip side, both this Buick Regal and Cadillac Deville are still as common as pork coming from pigs despite the Cadillac being around 20 years old.
This Cadillac DTS (I still call it a Deville) might expect many trips here in the future if its ancestor above is any indication.
Yes, seeing this vast array of cars, such as this Volvo XC 90, has brought me such joy.
One reward was stumbling upon this Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight LSS. It seems most of the ones still percolating are base models. This particular example was in fantastic condition inside and out.
I hope you have enjoyed this brief meandering around a parking lot. It was hard to capture some of the residents with all the comings and goings, but it does create a fascinating snapshot in time.
An diverse bunch indeed. The Prius and the Dodge are staples of most parking lots around my way and look to be that way for years in the future.
Perhaps the older Caddy has the more reliable 4.9l that arrived before the rubbish Northcrap engine. So that would explain why the car is still around.
The area around my way is thick with Oldsmobile 88, 98, LSS models of that era along with Buick’s Park Ave and Lesabre.
I am starting to consider a Fiat 500 as a weekend beat around car. They are surprisingly roomy for the driver and passenger for such a small car.
Subaru is the new Volvo in terms of reliability and longevity(it is a shame Volvo cannot remember when they made cars that were both reliable and what folks wanted.)
I like the HHR and its retro look. There are a few of the panel versions around here. I have seen more then a few beat on and still pulling hard.
I visited a W-F near me last year…great selection of esoteric foods. Unfortunately, the aisles are narrow and being a saturday afternoon there were parents with kids jamming the store.
Living in Florida, Wal-mart always “seems” to be THE place to spot ….oddball vehicles (as pointed out many times here). As I found out this past month, small town Winn-Dixies are very good for car spotting.
BTW, my current daily is a Civic the same vintage as the red one pictured. 270 THOUSAND miles (and counting) on the original engine/transmission/clutch and stands up to my indifferent care.
You definitely have a good car in your Civic.
I agree on Wal-Mart and what it contains; I viewed this as a compliment from the other end of the realm. Over the summer I found a (now rare bird) in the back of the Wally World parking lot that I still need to write up.
I’ve worked part-time at Whole Foods for almost three years now. You are correct in that there are narrow aisles. WF tries to fill the store with as much product as possible, which includes center displays that impede traffic even more. Overall, it’s a good company to work for though.
I often see a wide range of vehicles in the parking lot, ranging from ’80s economy cars to modern-day Range Rovers. I’ve had great luck in the past with finding curbside classics to photograph.
There are two WFs in St Louis. I’ve spent enough here they named the produce aisle for me. Anyway the newer store had regular width aisles – the only ones I’ve seen.
The one in Brentwood? That parking lot is a real PITA though.
The Brentwood store is the PITA for me; the one in Town and Country is in a fairly new building. Both have advantages for the stuff we look for, which is also a PITA! 🙂
No legit CCs though? Hmm. Go to most of the Whole Foods around here and you’re likely to spot at least one old Volvo 240 or 740, W123 Benz, etc… I suppose the Subaru, the Deville, and the red Civic are the elder statesmen of this bunch! Nice selection in any case and some interesting contrasts though.
I do like to see a 2-door Impreza though. Never huge sellers here and we never did get the 2-door WRX, though many (like the featured white one) that are still on the streets today have been given the WRX treatment. The modern equivalent of “restoring” a base Chevelle into an SS? Perhaps. But the result is a desirable car, in any case.
Would it be a Purple Spark 4 or a Purple Spark 3, by the way?
Skewz-mee, where’d ya keep the Spam? A question that the juvenile smart-assed part of me always wants to ask whenever I go into a store like this.
You are right about variety in the parking lots of WF and its ilk. Old folks’ Buicks, hipsters’ oddities, any the BAudi-Benzus of aging yuppies. Something for everyone.
My favorite question customers ask is “Do you sell cigarettes here?” They’re being serious too.
Do they sell bacon 😀 ?
They do! Ours has a BBQ bar on the weekend. Plus PIZZA and tons of cookies, cakes and pies. SO HEALTHY.
Health-food stores like these aren’t fools; they know their supposedly more intellectual, discriminating clientele are just as susceptible to marketing psychology as the less “enlightened” Wal-Mart crowd. Hence, the chocolate novelties & no less dubious magazines next to check-out stands.
Lovely Spam, wonderful Spam…
“Such Joy”? Weren’t those built by one of those Chinese car companies 😀 ?
I assume the Audi Q7 has a 3.0 V6 TDI ? Not the 4.2 V8, let alone the 6.0 V12 (the latter was a monster).
Yep, same as our Touareg and now the Cayenne as well.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen here (in Wyoming) a Chevrolet like that little purple thing.
But . . . the color reminds me of the very attractive color seen on ’56 & ’57 Chevrolets: “dusk pearl”. The Oldsmobiles from those years had the same shade too but I don’t remember what Olds called it.
Lincoln Mark LT: what a way to haul your organically grown ham!
The HHR makes me feel claustrophobic. Last time I felt that way was in a early Ford Tempo. The window frames are way to fat.
Recently I was daydreaming about adding a Buick Regal GS to the family fleet: it promises comfort and power for long distances in a blah ovoid shape. They are inexpensive too. It would be the exact anti-dote to my Pontiac Vibe.
The parking job done by the F150 is really obnoxious, I’d be livid if I owned the Subaru next to it. Really I find that way more infuriating than people who take up two spaces, in fact it’s parking jobs like this that cause people to do that! ugh!
Agree. If you can’t park it, you shouldn’t be driving it.
I don’t know if there is more than the 1 W-F in my area….I think only 1 but there are several “copy cats”.
Went to Wal-Mart today before lunch and as I was leaving I was passed in the parking lot by a Mercury Topaz 2 door.
I found a decent 740 GLE on Craigslist yesterday…and with a manual transmission. Wish it was a wagon though, as I’m looking for a wagon or smallish truck with a manual transmission.
I would say that Disney Land references go over the heads of many East Coasters such as myself since Disney World is closer, bigger, and I did not meet anyone who had been to Disney Land until I first crossed the Mississippi in 2008. Interesting how local jargon develops.
Kansas has had lovely and/or quirky license plates for decades which is one reason why I want to meander through the Sunflower state more. I’ve done the I-70, I-135, and I-35 drive a few times and visited the Mid-America Air Museum in Liberal, but that is it. Mainly saw Domestics and/or Body on Frame vehicles in my travels through Kansas; nothing like I see here. Wonder how long that Spark is going to last considering Aveos are beginning to trickle into junkyards.
I feel like the HHR should have been a Silverado/Suburban generation, but perhaps it would have looked too much like a mid-1990s Ram rip off. Perhaps the Civic you photographed is receiving a body kit given the lack of front bumper.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/IMG_1307.jpg
Considering that 1997-2004 F-150 does not have any rust it looks like Overland Park is another viable place to look for rust free Subarus.
Johnson County isn’t Kansas. It’s Beverly Hills with a Jayhawk sticker on every Mercedes.
Wish the Regals were more common around here. Now, our WF could double for a Subaru lot. Toss in a couple Fiat 500s and some box Volvos in faded yellow or blue and you got yourself a day on the town in the Republic of Charlottesville.
I park toward the back so I don’t ruin the vibe.
Back when I had my police package Crown Victoria, I loved to park there and sing to myself “Which one of these is not like the others?”
Seriously, as one who does have food issues and is totally unenthusiastic about walking into a regular grocery store, I always enjoy a trip to WF.
Oh, I’m a grocery snob on a Walmart budget. I went to a Wegman’s today and my head nearly exploded.
I have no solid clue what I spend on our rare trips WF; I just know I won’t like it and walk outside when we are done, leaving Mrs. Jason to pay for it.
I had that experience at Woodman’s in Madison, WI. Think Wegman’s on a Walmart Supercenter scale. Over 200,000 square feet and it’s almost all food.
Wegmans has cheaper Pita Bread and usually cheaper Orange Juice than Tops so those are the two main reasons I go there. Wegmans has a nice selection of Kosher food which is where I pick up Coca Cola with Sugar instead of Corn Syrup.
“If you take the numbers from one to twelve, automobile engines have had every number of cylinders except seven, nine, and eleven.”
I have heard quite a few XJ12s with a bad misfire. Does that count as 11?
I really like Wegman’s, BUT… If I can say anything bad about them it’s that they often carry a limited selection of brands on some items, sometimes carrying only the Wegman’s brand. For the time being that is canceled out by their in-store “cafes” and great selection of pre-made meals.
Wegman’s is allegedly moving into the RVA metro area, and I’m looking forward to it. Around here the only non-specialty grocers with any market presence are Kroger, Martin’s, and Food Lion. None of which are really all that. I really miss Harris Teeter, being from North Carolina–they’re by far the best in their region. Should be interesting to see how the fare against Wegman’s and Publix, which are moving in from North and South respectively; upscale grocer battle royale?
As far as specialty stores we’re pretty spoiled for choice though. Whole Foods, a regional outfit called Fresh Market, and a local shop that competes in the same arena.
1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12….
don’t forget 16!
Also, I think there might have been an experimental 7 in the ’30s, using a radial aircraft engine?
That’s about the only way I could think that an odd number would work. Unless you wanted to do something like Honda’s V-3…
Ahhhh Whole Paycheck Foods!
+1000
Only been in Whole Paycheck once (with a friend who dragged me there), don’t ever plan on going back. “Regular” groceries are expensive enough, thanks.
Around here the clientele seems to be almost exclusively upper-middle-class women. The granola hippie Subaru types go to places with better value.
I was waiting for someone to say that.
It’s not necessarily that it is more expensive, it’s just that it is much easier to spend more money at Whole Foods than other supermarkets. Whole Foods carries a lot of luxury items not found in other stores. Each Whole Foods also has their own marketing department, in charge of special signage and planning end cap displays for each week. Go into a Stop and Shop and you’ll find Pepsi and Ruffles at the end caps. Go into Whole Foods and find artisan hot chocolate from Vermont on the end caps (but normal priced hot chocolate mixes are in the aisles, requiring more work to find). It’s all marketing.
It’s very easy to get carried away, but if you stick to regular groceries (bread, cereal, milk, etc.) I’ve found that there is no real correlation that proves everything at Whole Foods is more expensive. Many organic brands are actually cheaper in Whole Foods because they purchase in larger quantities. I’ve also found many skincare/hygiene products such as Burt’s Bees products cheaper at Whole Foods than even Target.
I will say that any prepared foods are IMHO expensive. You must remember though that someone working did all that. WF employs people specifically to cut fruit. Sometimes on my break I’ll go over to the produce department and buy a 3-serving package of organic lettuce mix for $2.50, because the same amount of conventional (non-organic) from the salad bar would cost much more.
Maybe I’m a bit biased, but I think I have substantial experience in this area to have a good idea. Just my rant though.
+1
What a difference among regions in the US. In SoCal just about everyone shops at WF some of the time and the Audi Q7 is as common as the GM models shown are rare. In my neighborhood, the parking lot would include significant numbers of Range Rovers and Panameras.
Brendan, nothing like a well-informed rant. I like WF’s daily 365 products (great organic peanut butter) and they are not pricier than those in other stores. Just like any other store, shopping selectively is key. Glad to hear WF is a good employer.
Yeah, Whole Paycheck. I like to think that some of Trader Joe’s is a bit of a poor man’s WF – they offer some cool specialty foods for a fraction of the cost. Wines are cheap and very drinkable.
I must thank Brendan for introducing me to W-F in a previous post some time ago. After our last vacations in NY and PA were an over processed culinary disappointment we intentionally sought out a W-F on our SouthWest trip and I almost wept in the aisle:
“It’s, it’s actually food! We can eat this stuff!”
Yeah, I never paid so much for an apple in my life, but what an apple it was!
BTW we had a similar joyous reaction upon going to a Safeway in Arizona after being in Utah for a few days, but for a different reason:
“Honey, there’s three aisles of alcohol in this grocery store!”
Thank you. This was the best laugh I’ve had today.
Yep, it reminds me of the time 20 years ago in Virginia City, Nevada, when I saw T-shirts that said “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you could be in Utah.”
The parking lot of WF in Marlboro, NJ has just what you expect to see.Priusses, Volvos, Subarus, a few Panthers, expensive SUVs, Audis, BMWs and ,of course minivans. The Priusses and Volvos generally have “Save The”-put in what you want-bumper stickers, and the minivans are generally driven by “soccer mothers” with their brood in tow. Just calling it like I see it. Me? I`m a Shop Rite and an Aldis type of guy.
I can’t do Whole Foods either… too intense. Any time I’ve gone in there it was a zoo. I only mess with King Kullen or this local place called Iavarone if I’m feeling fancy.
“Overland Park” – always liked that name, but not for any particular reason… just the way it rolls off the tongue.
My dad used to have that exact white Sedan deVille – very briefly, though… maybe three months. It had been sitting outside unmoved for a couple years before he got it, leaked oil badly, and he blew it up running it dry. It was the 4.9l V8, too. Went to the junkyard with 70k miles or something like that, a real shame. I always feel bad for that poor car when I see them now, which isn’t very often.
Most of the others are pretty common sightings for me – I’d be shocked if there’s a single block in Manhattan without a Fiat 500 or a Prius (or both) parked on it. The HHR is still surprisingly popular as a mini-work van in the city, too. I saw one so overloaded a few weeks ago that it looked like something out of DUB magazine. 1st gen xBs and Honda Elements saw a lot of use in that same role until recently, but now it seems like the Transit Connect is well on its way to taking over the niche entirely. Lots of big GM FWDers from the ’90s left here, too. The Chevy Spark, on the other hand, is shockingly unpopular. I’m not really sure why, either. Cars like it have always had their fans. The streets are still littered with Aveos, Suzukis, Yaris/Echos, etc. It may be that the Sonic is just a much better deal for not much more $$, and much better looking, too. I do see quite a few of those. I can’t figure out why Chevy never brought the electric Spark over here. Lots of reviewers seemed to think it was the best version, and something of a hot rod too (the motor produces 400lb-ft @ 0rpm… in a Spark!) but it’s never been sold anywhere except California and Oregon.
Despite being the quintessential suburban, upper-middle class mommy-mobile(s), I really like both the Volvo XC90 and Audi Q7. I’m not sure that it fully comes through in pictures, but the Q7 makes for a particularly attractive shape in person (seems bulkier than it really is via Google Image Search). Both of them are styled more like huge wagons rather than large CUVs and manage to look formidable without all the corny truckish styling cues often found on similar vehicles.
What..!… Not a single Impala..? For the closest “Whole Food” us I would have to journey deeper into Toronto. Probably wont see many Impalas there either.
I’ve never been to a whole foods in my life, the closest one to me is in providence, ri
There is one inline seven-cylinder engine in production today – the 10-litre AGCO Sisu diesel.
Granted, it’s mainly used in tractors, combine harvesters, etc., as opposed to automobiles by the strict definition – but they’re still motorised land-based vehicles.