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1985 Archive
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Curbside Find: 1985 Honda Acty 4WD Pickup – ¡Kei Suerte!
Posted on September 17, 2025 | 16 Comments(Updated 9/18/2019) It’s fascinating to discover the bigger JDM cars, but there are many, many kei cars, vans and trucks around that also want a little […] -
My 1985 Mazda RX-7 – Reality Steps In
Posted on March 13, 2025 | 24 Comments(first posted 11/22/2014) This was the shortest term of ownership I ever had a car for, about a year and a half but this brief flame burns […] -
Curbside Classic: 1984 Honda Accord – The Canary in the Coal Mine for the Traditional American Sedan
Posted on March 1, 2025 | 80 Comments(first posted 3/8/2014) It was with the second generation that Honda’s Accord began to take a toehold in the Midwest. At the time, there was a lot more “Buy ‘Murican” […] -
Lost & Found: Automotive Treasures Saved From a Nebulous Fate
Posted on December 2, 2024 | 35 CommentsRecently, I accompanied my wife and daughter on a roadtrip that covered nine states. Enjoying the temperate climate well south of the Mason-Dixon Line, I figured a bumper crop of […] -
The Cars Of My Maternal Grandparents
Posted on July 28, 2024 | 39 Comments(first posted 7/2/2018) I’ve been debating this essay for a while, but now seems as good a time as any. With my grandmother Violet (referred to previously […] -
Curbside Recycling: 1985 Oldsmobile Firenza S Coupe – A 1970 4-4-2 It Is Not
Posted on January 4, 2024 | 54 CommentsLord, won’t you buy me an Oldsmobile sang no one ever, certainly not Janis, and not any of the legions of artists since. Yet here we were in the times […] -
Salvage Yard Classics: A Trip To Kansas City
Posted on May 5, 2023 | 36 CommentsWhat’s a guy to do when he has a short but indeterminate amount of time to kill when in Kansas City? Why, you drop off the wife at her destination […] -
COAL: 1985 Buick LeSabre Limited – Chapter 20, It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
Posted on November 27, 2022 | 50 CommentsThis begins a really odd chapter in my car ownership experience. Or maybe we should say “another” really odd chapter. It began with a harebrained idea. You know the kind […] -
COAL: 1985 Ford LTD Crown Victoria – Chapter 17, Heavy The Head That Wears The Crown
Posted on November 6, 2022 | 46 CommentsIn the summer of 1993, my car life was in fine shape: We had the stalwart ’88 Accord sedan and the ’86 Marquis Wagon (the smaller one, like a Fairmont) […] -
COAL: 1986 Mercury Marquis Wagon – Chapter 16, No Not That Marquis, The Smaller One. Like A Fairmont
Posted on October 30, 2022 | 69 CommentsIn a short 18 months or so, I had gone from piloting a land yacht (’66 Fury III) to having a blast in a go kart (’83 Colt) to needing […] -
Curbside Classics: The General Motors N-Body – How Quickly We Forget
Posted on October 19, 2022 | 142 Comments(first posted 6/6/2012) There are some things you just tend to forget about. Appointments to the dentist. Needing to tuck-point the brick on your house. What your wife wore on […] -
COAL: 1985 Volkswagen GTI – Chapter 8, Fahrvergnugen!
Posted on September 4, 2022 | 57 CommentsThe summer of 1985 was a time of transition for me. For the first time of my life, I was on the verge of real life – which included two […] -
Curbside Memories: 1985 Toyota Celica GT-S – The Good, The Bad, The Facts Of Life
Posted on August 22, 2022 | 44 CommentsLos Angeles, California, USA, 1985 – That’s the place and year I earned my driver’s license. As a 10th-11th grader, life was more than a little angst-filled. Little things were […] -
Curbside Classic: 1985 Buick Electra Park Avenue – Best-Dressed C-Body Of The Year
Posted on February 15, 2022 | 122 Comments(first posted 1/21/2013) In 1985, Buick still had an enviable position in the GM hierarchy. Though plenty of older folks gravitated to the make, Buick was not yet known as […] -
Curbside Classic: 1986 Ford LTD Crown Victoria – The Final Ford
Posted on July 28, 2021 | 135 Comments(first posted 7/28/2015) “Waddya mean “The Last Ford” – Ford still makes cars. Indeed it does. You can buy a Focus, a Fusion, or any number of crossovers. But if […]