It has been a strange year of weather here in Vancouver. We really didn’t have a spring and went to summer in one day. Anyway, with better weather, the classics are coming out. Seeing old Ford truck across from a Bentley is kind of a Vancouver thing.
This Corsica showed up in the wintertime. It replaced the 1985 Civic I featured here last year. It is a Westcoast granny-mobile, judging by the BCAA 25 year membership sticker on the back. Typical for these parts, there is not a speck of rust on this 30 year old car.
This Cadillac Fleetwood is parked near my gym, Hillcrest Centre if anyone wants to look. The owner obviously loves it. Note the yellow stripe tires, which are super cool in my opinion.
Who doesn’t go all gaga over a gen 1 Civic? These are really rare and this is the first one I have seen in years. It has been restored and it is not quite stock. Even here, these things were rust-buckets.
In the “You never know what you will find,” category is this former Canadian Armed Forces VW Iltis. These were procured in the late 1970’s as a light scout car. They were a direct development of the DKW Munga. My soldier buddy of the era said the Iltis was unpopular due to its small size.
Who doesn’t love a Rambler American convertible? This car is 100% original and stock.
This is another famous Westcoast granny-wagon, a rather early Tempo. It is being driven by a young medical student, with whom I had a short chat about the car. It was bought new by her late grandmother, who passed in 2020.
Finally, there is a shorty Chevy van (love the sound of “shorty Chevy”) parked not far from my home. It is a “van life” dwelling for a young construction work, who is working on the Broadway subway extension.
All my pics are taken in close proximity of Vancouver General Hospital should anyone wish to see the area. There is a large number of young medical students at the hospital, which accounts for the classics. When one adds hospital visitors, there is always a CC to be seen on my morning Lola walk.
Although I realise this isn’t Dogside Classic, I thought I would add a bit about hounds. Bagel the Wonderdog is now pushing 13 years old. She doesn’t like climbing mountains or long walks anymore, so in 2020, I rescued Lola from a shelter in Qatar. She was semi-wild when I got her but she become a lovely dog.
These are some fun finds. It does not surprise me that the white Corsica is not rusty in your locale. I does surprise me that it still seems to have all of its white paint.
The tires on that Cadillac are Vogues – that gold stripe is their thing. I don’t know much about them but that they are pretty expensive.
And oh boy does that yellow Civic bring memories rushing back. The place where my mother bought her 74 Pontiac LeMans had also started selling Honda by then. We had a great salesman who lived nearby and when we needed service he would drop by, take our car and leave his demo – which was usually one just like this, right down to the color. It was an impressive car at the time – really tiny and basic, but well built and a hoot to drive. And in our climate they all disappeared many decades ago.
JP beat me to the Vogues. It’s a mark of luxury cars from years past and popular with the Black community. We have a “Cadillac owner’s club” in my area and every year the Caddy’s with Vogues show up. They were around even in the 1970s on “Duece and a quarters” (Buick Electra 225) and Cadillacs.
I had a brief look at the tires and it appears they are made by Cooper, which specialises in classic car rubber.
I’d gladly take the Tempo or Corsica, definitely the old Civic.
That is a second generation, pre-facelift Tempo, 88-91.
The Tempo is a 90-91 model by virtue of the lumps on the rear package shelf, which hold retractors for the rear shoulder belts that became required that year.
Those Civics are really rare now they just evaporated due to humidity here I saw one recently or actually two rolled into one brown and blue panels that looks like its getting some love, and there is an early accord outside a workshop on my commute those are even scarcer.
There has been a VW Iltis in my southern Ontario town for the 4 or 5 years. It looks identical to this one. The Canadian Forces must have sold a lot of them as surplus.
I do love the Civic. I can’t remember when I last saw one. They were great mechanically but did not fare well on our salty winter roads.
Ah, the Civic. I sure hope it was a manual. I really miss my 80 Civic a bit more than my 86 626. It was a great basic car and working on it was like tying your shoes. Easy and nothing heavy like an FE intake. Ugh!
My lord, I’d like a photo of your shoes. I had a ’73 Civic same shape as above, which I bought at 17 in ’86 and blew up at 18 in ’87 (over about 4 months). I found my shoes easier, I must say.
Now, it’s true I had to effect the engine replacement job in a garage the size of a large cupboard, and was only equipped with a spanner, and perhaps a hammer, but pulling that bastard out from beneath and putting the newbie back up into place probably required skills that seemed to me to be enough to tie up a veritable moonboot, by which I mean one of a pair of boots that would fly me to the actual moon (which, for clarity, such boots I imagine to be hugely complex things). Having the mechanical aptitude of a caterpillar with co-ordination issues helped me not, and I got rather lost. The triumph of ambition over reality, mostly.
But having finally mostly triumphed – albeit in a manner that left serious questions as to how the front suspension was now attached – I then realized I’d forgot the belt replacement on the unknown engine, and the Delphic games began anew. By the time I was again triumphant, it emerged that I had created a unicorn – the first, and, I am told, only, part-pushrod/sidevalve Civic.
Look, it ran, ok? Partially. Alright, sometimes, but it did have a new belt.
My long-winded point is that I am sure I would rather put the intake of a large US V8 back into place than ever again consider the despairs I suffered with an entire engine and gearbox that weighed less than the former. I mean, surely, with the big and simple Ford job, at least if you got somewhere near enough to the car, the old axe would run, right?
Great eclectic collection Len. Thanks for sharing. That’s actually a second gen Tempo. Designed to look more like the hot selling Taurus. I must say I have warmed up to the styling of the original. Ford was focused on the Taurus styling for the second gen version. While the first gen Tempo, had a mini aero T-Bird quality to its looks.
Bagel is beautiful!
Many times while scrolling through Kijiji I have been tempted to buy a nice car from the Vancouver area or the Island where my nephew lives with his family.
Over the decades whenever visiting the lower mainland I always spotted well cared for older cars and sometimes trucks.
Nice finds Len; that Civic is a beauty – as are Lola and Bagel of course!
Bagel the Wonderdog looks like a sweet old girl. Good on you for giving her the oportunity to flourish. I can relate to her. My days of long walks and climbing mountains have passed. Sometimes all that any of us need is a chance.
Sorry, I misunderstood what I read. Lola looks like a sweet old girl. Again, good on you for giving her the oportunity to flourish. It’s cool to be kind.
Lola is a sweet young-ish girl. She was appoximately two and a half years old when she adopted us, making her about four years old now.
She’s a squirller!
Some really nice cars there, I’d be torn between the Ford truck and the Civic…..
Thank you for rescuing a pup ! .
All my dogs are rescues and they’re like my children now that my son as his own kids…..
FWIW, the smaller the dog, the longer it’s life, ditto with mutts they have the least health / age issues of all .
-Nate