There aren’t a lot of cars that evoke enough happiness when I see them to actually make me smile. There are plenty that make me go, “Oh, I like those,” or “That’s a cool one,” but I’m not grinning about it like some psycho. Like, imagine me catching you exiting your Kia Stinger at CVS, and I tell you “great car” while showing all my teeth – you’d wonder if you were about to be carjacked.
There are scant few cars that make me smile (warmly, not crazily), but the ones that do are extremely wholesome and deserving. High on the list is any 20+ year old grandpa/grandma car in very nice condition still piloted by the octogenarian who purchased it. I invent entire storylines for these cars and people, real salt-of-the-earth types who know the value of a dollar and faithfully take careful care of their Crown Vics and Avalons and Chrysler 300s.
In a similar vein, I always smile anytime I see a formerly disposable car just out there surviving. There’s a Beetle I see on the regular, not unlike the one above from Bring A Trailer (where it sold for $5,700), that appears to run like a top but has endured far too many hot Texas summers and fender-bender repairs for its owner to have any concerns over maintaining its paint beyond rust prevention. Anytime I encounter an aged Civic or Corolla or Ford Escort or the like that some frugal person is just not giving up on (“250,000 miles and it still runs great!”), that just puts a smile on my face every time.
Your turn:
What Cars Are You Always Happy To See?
Top graphic image: Ford
Saab 900
Saab 900.
I’m always happy to see a B5, whether it’s the A4 or Passat. I had a little Quattro in college, and these things are super rare now. I’m partly to blame, though mine survived many student-budget repairs and Michelle-Mouton-wannabe driving, the salt was its undoing when the rear subframe bolts rotted off. Sometimes I miss that car, it was just nice.
It also brings me joy to see roadsters of every kind, especially top-down.
Nostalgia comes into play here, but a GAZ24 (Volga). It’s rare to see these imported to the US where I am now but growing up in the Soviet Union, these were a common-sight.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Wolga_%287909361684%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/2560px-Wolga_%287909361684%29_%28cropped%29.jpg
Cars from my youth (many are quite rare today, at least in Montana): Air-cooled VWs, Volvos (120, 140, 160 series), the first Ford Fiesta (Euro import), Second Gen Dodge Darts/Plymouth Valiants, Second Gen Subaru wagons, MGs (A, B, Midget). I haven’t seen a Ford Anglia in I don’t know (maybe 40 years?).
Cavaliers and Neons, neat looking yet disposable economy cars of old. Attrition rate in the rust belt was immense so seeing them in any sort of condition is surprising.
Any small 70s or 80s “wedge” car like the TR7 or 8, the Fiat X 1/9, etc. Knowing what it takes to keep these on the road means that someone loves these little door stops.
Chevy II, EG Civic, Impreza GC always get a look from me. So does any survivor car 30+ years old. You know the type. Original paint, a little wear but not a beater. Always cared for by it’s owners.
Kei cars/trucks. A guy down the road is always rotating through a new different Kei truck/suv/hatchback and I always sow down while passing his house to see what’s new in his driveway. They just look like fun and practical vehicles.
Any JDM kei truck. (Seeing one results in me running a Shrek soundtrack in my head where he says about Puss- “look at his wee little boots,” about the tiny tires).
BMW 2002- my dad and grandad each had one and it’s a core memory about riding in them.
A lot of Toyotas:
– E140 Corollas since I learned how to drive in one
– XV20 Camrys (Camries?) and Solaras
– first-gen Venzas
And pre-facelift Subaru B9 Tribecas.
Almost anything that isn’t a gray scale crossover. The exception is brodozers, they make me grimace, especially the ones with lighted fender wells.
I really like small trucks, and any VW Scirocco that hasn’t disintegrated.
-Most little foreign convertibles
-Austin Healey bugeye Sprite
-Any sixties American barge
-Porsche 928 with the Pasha interior
-Any SAAB. My son occasionally gets notes left on the windshield of his SAAB. “Nice SAAB, bro.” They wave at each other too.
-Older Mercedes, whether pristine or turbo diesel beaters. They just have presence.
-Anything in an interesting color
Any car with a dog inside, Bonus points for a convertible so their ears can flap in the breeze
There’s a HS kid that regularly drives an immaculate ’77-ish blue Monte Carlo near my work. Most of those never made it out of the 80s. Smile every time I see him.
Gen 1 Vibes are a vibe
Also Comanches, because you never see them now.
In the middle of a blizzard on Monday, I saw an early 90s Dodge Spirit or Plymouth Acclaim just drive past me, and I was amazed. First car I ever had, and I never see them anymore. Looked to be in good shape, too.
I saw an early ’90s Ford Fiesta the other day, just driven around in the frozen Midwest. It always makes me happy to see ancient regular cars just out and about. There’s just something about seeing a Ford Aerostar or Geo Metro in the mid-2020s.
A Subaru WRX in blue pearl. Always, always makes me feel better to see (and hear!) one.
Bug-eye hatches with gold wheels?
Any manual car.
The other day I parked beside a honda accord and noticed as I got out of my car that it was a manual. I said out loud to my daughter. “Oh nice it’s a manual”. The lady that owned the car was walking back to her car and heard me. She said “Hey are checking out my stick” 🙂
Every time I’m driving my my kids and I or they see a nice car. They always ask me.
“Does car come in a Manual?”
Any classic car being driven when you wouldn’t expect it to be. The roads around here are caked with salt, yet I saw an immaculate Charger out and about just the other day. Another time in the dead of winter, I saw a very old lady driving a shabby Plymouth Valiant she had probably owned for decades.
Beetles and air-cooled VWs in general of course, and I know my Beetle makes a lot of people happy based on the comments I get on it pretty much every time I take it out.
^^^ this.
The older the better. I love to see ‘60 & ‘70s cars going about their business. The week before Christmas, I saw a guy dressed as Santa running errands in a ‘60 Ford woodie wagon with a Christmas tree lashed to the roof. On WI salty roads, that’s commitment.
I really grin when I see a Model A truck at Home Depot, or a family joyriding a gravel road in an old phaeton. Or me, bombing around in my Crosley Speedster.
Complete and total junker cars, like worse than what you see in the junkyard, still driving around. Mismatched, dented, or missing fenders, broken windows. A bumper held on with bailing wire. Missing headlights. Probably a massive, car-totaling accident in its past.
I live in Florida, the land of no inspections, so I’ve seen some real crapcans.
I call these MMVs – minimal maintenance vehicles. They are beat, but drivable. The owner maybe has $500 invested and is doing just enough to keep it mobile and (hopefully) safe. I get joy seeing an old heap clinging to life and giving good service.
I’m happy to see any air-cooled VWs, FWD VW/Audi products from the 1980s and earlier, happy to see any car with a Harlequin paint job, happy to see any new car that has a bright colour (and not black, white or any shade in between those), Ford Festivas (as it was my first car), Miatas, any air-cooled Porsches, BMWs from the 1970s and earlier, Mercedes-Benz products from the 1970s and earlier, any Bricklin, any Delorian, any rotary Mazda, 1st gen Mercury Cougar, any Corvair, any Citicar/Commutacar, any car from a dead brand from the 1970s and earlier.
An El Camino, especially if it’s ’77 or older.
Non-Mustang Fox Body Fords. Although even the Mustangs are getting rare in the wild! There is a Fairmont wagon in my area that I see from time-to-time. I saw a late 80’s fox-Stang a while back, with antique plates! That did NOT make me happy! I can’t remember when I last saw an Aero-Bird/Cougar (other than in my barn).