Photograph taken in Fairfax, Virginia in about 1992.
Vintage Wordless Outtake: Used Car Lot, Circa 1992
– Posted on April 5, 2019
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Curbside Classics Archives
Photograph taken in Fairfax, Virginia in about 1992.
I want the I Mark
I’d grab that Mustang way in the back in hopes it was a 5.0. Either that or the Jetta, since I’m a glutton for punishment.
I had a Datsun/Nissan diesel truck exactly like the blue one. In those days we traveled a lot from Ohio to Washington DC, over the MD mountains. Getting up those mountains was a slow go with a trail of smoke, but getting down the mountains was great. Sold the truck to a buddy of mine who saved the diesel motor, but junked the rusty body.
Wow, you were brave! Those trucks had that classic Datsun aluminum foil body over cast iron mechanicals feel, and they were slow, even in the Florida Panhandle. But they had a comfortable, roomy cabin and they ran forever!
I had a 720 Datsun of that vintage (last year before they switched over to Nissan branding here, I think) and the body and frame were bulletproof compared to the head gasket … and transmission countershaft. When a manual trans goes out before the clutch, something is wrong.
I’ll take the Ramcharger.
Wow, a choice between a three door or a five door Chevette!
I’ll take the front and center Celica.
That’s a Corolla.
It is clearly a Celica. Nice Nissan Stanza hatchback in the middle group.
They’re similar, but I think Bias Ply is correct that it’s a Celica. That little red badge in the grille is the key. Both pretty nice cars, though.
Nope, you’re wrong, it’s definitely a Celica
That’s the final version of the third gen Celica (The early version had pop-ups that did not hide the headlight glass).
On the Corolla you’re thinking of, the cut line for the pop-up headlights extended up into the hood line.
Other than that Ramcharger in the back there is not a lot there that interests a midwestern guy like me. I remember at the time that used small cars were not worth much money in the early 90s, so there look to be many transportation bargains to be had there.
Northern Virginia had a pretty high rate of import penetration — so even 20-30 years ago, there were many more imports here than in other parts of the country. Plus, back then Fairfax was solidly a middle class / working class part of the region. Put those two things together, and you get car lots filled with cheap imports.
I’m not sure what the name of this dealership was at the time, but I think it was simply called “Wheels.”
Agreed about the Ramcharger; most everything else seen here generates nothing for me. The Cougar intrigues me somewhat although it’s likely powered by that terrible 255 V8.
Since nobody has called it yet, I’ll go with the two-tone Chevelle on the back row.
Beat me to it! 🙂
(Great post / pic, Eric703!)
I always like being the group oddball so I’ll go for the 80-82 Cougar behind the green Jetta.
Somebody’s gotta give it a home!
You might get lucky and it has the powerhouse 255 cubic inch V-8 in it.
I don’t recognize these without the rust.
Green Jetta all the way. Blue Celica in front if the Jetta won’t start.
If the Jetta won’t start for you, I’ll take it off the lot cheap, and change the fuel pump relay. Always carried spares…
I got a great deal on a ’87 Jetta that wouldn’t start. After I paid and got the title, I took the new relay out of my pocket, switched it out in about a minute, started it up and drove home. Always carry a relay or jumper wire if you own a Mk1 or Mk2 VW!
I miss seeing this many silver-painted steel wheels on a regular basis 🙂
Absolutely. Clean crisp lines, big greenhouses, adequate ground clearance, painted steel wheels with nice meaty tires. No more!
Laugh all you want. I would take the 3 door Chevette. At that time you would have gotten a cheap reliable car for next to nothing.
A veritable smorgasbord! Would like to see more shots like these. 🙂
+ 1 on the Chevette, as long as it’s a stick shift and power nothing. I got great service out of my ‘84.
The Blue Datsun truck looks tempting, though.
Come to think of it, isn’t the Isuzu I-Mark a GM T platform cousin to the Chevette? I might give that one a whirl.
Just keep a master cylinder on hand… EVERY Chevette I have been acquainted with, has had the MC fail on it… including the one I was test driving to become my first car :0 (it was a $500 brown and orange two door, and I knocked over the used car dealership’s mailbox trying not to rear-end another car before the parking brake stopped us.) Other than that, I agree with the poster above, everything on the lot seems to be a decent size, have excellent outward visibility and is way less rusty than they would have been where I grew up.
Love the first generation VW Jetta, shame these cars are so rare nowadays, also is it just me or were used car lots a lot more interesting in the early 90’s than they are today?
Dibs on the Ramcharger! It’s not the early version with removable roof but still, probably a damn good truck.
That datsun King Cab is a set of wheels and a camper-ectomy away from being pretty sweet. Id grab that Chevelle and Mustang as speculation investments.
And that Ramcharger likely still exists. The rest of them? I wouldn’t bet as much on them as I would the Dodge.
The Cougar and the Horizon for me please
I’ll take the E-150 Ford van on the right please, and the 72(ish) Chevelle.
Something you don’t see anymore. A used car sales lot with oil leak stains everywhere. 🙂
“Um, the car’s supposed to do that! Keeps the oil fresh and moving through the system if a little leaks out. You don’t want stagnant oil, do you? Of course not! Now let’s go fill out the paperwork and get your check.”
A 20 year old Chevelle with mismatched panels hidden in the back of the lot. What could go wrong? 🙂
I’ll take the green Jetta, hopefully its a gas 5 speed, too bad its not a 2 door. Really liked the one I had, even with its automatic trans, the later JH code 90 HP engine I discovered it had scooted it along pretty well.
It reminds me of the mid-late ‘90’s when my grandfather and uncle ran a used car lot. I was in my early adolescence then and loved to spend Saturday’s hanging around the lot, checking out the cars, hanging around the mechanic or my uncle in the back while he wrenched on one of them.
They were mostly cars from the 80’s-early ‘90’s with an eye catching classic sometimes as an attention getter. Sometimes, I’d even get to drive one of them back to his house even though I wasn’t old enough. It was less than three miles on some country roads and I never got above 30mph but man did I ever feel cool!
I wish I had some pictures although I do have one of the business cards tucked away in a box.
I would take ether the 3 door Chevette or the 5 door Chevette. I had a white 3 door “vette” just like the one hiding behind the Mazda 323 hatch and the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon
Or the white Subaru Leone hatchback that is hiding behind the 5 door Chevette.
I had 2 younger sisters (one is deceased), who I as their only (and older) brother had the task of taking them around to look at used cars when they got to a certain age.
The youngest was actually born not too far from this lot in Manassas (not far from Fairfax), but in 1992 was in central Texas and looking for her first car. Not too hard,
but it had to be a sporty 2 door with air conditioning and automatic, and she greatly preferred a notchback to then prevalent hatchbacks, and it shouldn’t have too many miles (under 100k) and not cost too much.
Well, back then automatics were not as common in smaller cars as they are now, and
living in central Texas most seemed to have megamiles on them as distances are pretty vast. She ended up with the first of 2 200sx models (actually the second was a 240sx) that she owned…but we looked at lots of cars before settling on the 200sx.
Interestingly, the older of my two youngest sisters also had the same inclination, and
she bought a 240sx and then a 2nd one…which she still owns 22 years later.
I’m fond of some of the stories about looking for cars for them, but at the time it didn’t seem that fun, as most of the leads turned up empty and we seemed to take forever to find the one she ended up buying….then I have to think about fixing it for them when it
eventually needed repair.