It’s a little strange how ephemeral cars are. Certain models have staying power, and can be seen in the wild for decades after they’ve gone out of production, eventually becoming classics, but others seem to vanish almost entirely after a few years. Today we’re going to look at two cars that I haven’t seen in quite a while, let alone for sale.
I’ll be honest: Never in a million years did I guess that anyone would be clamoring for a “both” option for yesterday’s choices. But I saw at least two commenters who wanted just that – to tow the sandrail with the school bus, presumably to Burning Man or something. Hey, if you can get that bus moving under its own power, and overcome its registration entanglements, then more power to you.
Nearly everyone else voted for the sandrail, including me. The comments about it being a cheap alternative to a side-by-side are spot on, and it can be an even better choice if your state doesn’t allow side-by-sides on the roads; a sandrail or dune buggy could retain the title from its original VW donor, if there’s enough of it left, making obtaining license plates a breeze.
You hardly notice when a car stops becoming a common sight on the road, until you see one after a long period of not seeing any, and then you remember: Oh right, those used to be everywhere. Today’s choices jumped out at me purely because they used to be common sights, but I can’t even remember the last time I saw either of them. I bet you haven’t seen them in a while, either. Let’s check them out.
1991 Dodge Shadow ES Convertible – $1,900
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5-liter overhead cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: North Hollywood, CA
Odometer reading: 75,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
You have to hand it to Chrysler engineers: They certainly know how to get their money’s worth out of a platform. By the time the P-body Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance were introduced, its basic K-car underpinnings were already six years old (nine, if you go all the way back to the L-body Omni and Horizon), and had been used under everything from station wagons to sports cars to limousines. The K platform also reintroduced the convertible to the US market, after six long sunless years. Dodge was in on the convertible revival from the start, with the 400 and later the 600, but after the 600 convertible was phased out after 1986, the Chrysler LeBaron carried on alone – until 1991, when Dodge chopped the top off the Shadow.
Chrysler stuck with its well-known 2.2 and 2.5-liter four-cylinder engines for the Shadow, in some cases with a turbocharger. As far as I know, the turbocharged versions had a bump in the hood, and the 2.2 was only offered in the bargain-basement “America” trim level, so I’m going to take an educated guess and say that this one is a naturally-aspirated 2.5-liter. It drives the front wheels through a Torqueflite three-speed automatic. It’s not as fun as a manual, but it’s reliable, and this isn’t exactly a sports car anyway. It runs and drives fine, and has new brakes and front wheel bearings.
This is the fancy ES version, and it looks like it has power everything. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s surprisingly rough, especially considering its low mileage. The carpet is trashed, the seats are ripped and worn, and I don’t know what’s going on with the airbag cover – did someone paint in the lines and the logo? Very strange.
Outside, it’s not much better. Someone definitely painted the wheels, apparently after it lost one hubcap, and I don’t think the black lower cladding is original either. The red paint is pretty patchy as well. And speaking of patchy, the top is covered in repairs, some of which might be gaffer’s tape. At least it’s a California car, so it isn’t rusty. Besides, what can you expect for under two grand?
2003 Chevrolet Blazer Xtreme – $2,600
Engine/drivetrain: 4.3-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Reseda, CA
Odometer reading: 170,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Chevy’s Blazer, like the Ford Bronco and International Harvester Scout that inspired it, started out with two doors and a removable roof. Gradually, over the years, it morphed into the basic four-door wagon we all became so familiar with: in 1976 it lost the full removable roof; after that the roof over the front seats was fixed. In 1983, when the compact S-10 Blazer was introduced, it was still a two-door, but with a fixed roof. In 1990, to compete with the Toyota 4Runner and Nissan Pathfinder, a four-door was introduced, and quickly became the more popular version. But Chevy kept the two-door version around, and used it as the basis for the sporty versions, like the off-road ZR2, and this lowered, 2WD Xtreme.
Power for all versions of the Blazer in 2003 was the same: a 4.3-liter Vortec V6, making 190 horsepower. Either a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic was available; this one has the automatic. It’s the same smooth, durable 4L60-E transmission found in everything from Corvettes to Yukons, and while it’s not perfect, its foibles are well-known and fixable. It has 170,000 miles on it, which is nothing for these drivetrains, and the seller says it has been reliable for them.
The interior is exactly like every other early-2000s GM vehicle: fuzzy upholstery and hard plastic, both in the same shade of gray. It’s not inspiring, but it’s surprisingly comfortable, and it looks like it has been well taken care of. The air conditioning works fine, and if you feel like fresh air instead, it has a power sunroof too.
The Xtreme package included 16-inch wheels, lower body cladding, and a lower, firmer suspension; supposedly, they handle pretty well. This one looks good, except for a wrinkle on the rear bumper, and I think it might be missing a spoiler on the front bumper. Good luck finding one; you’ll probably just have to live without it. Fortunately, aerodynamics isn’t this car’s strong suit anyway, so a missing spoiler shouldn’t make much difference.
We all know that rare doesn’t equal valuable, or even interesting. But these two are all but guaranteed to elicit a “wow, haven’t seen one of those in a while” from car folks. They’re not only cars you don’t see very often, they’re uncommon versions that were only made for a couple of years. Either one would be a cheap way into the wave of 80s/90s/00s nostalgia that’s going around. They’re not perfect, but they both run fine, and that’s more important than some cosmetic flaws. So what’ll it be – a convertible economy car, or a lowered, sporty SUV?
The top may drop, but that Shadow is BEAT.
Plus, the Blazer has working AC!! This one is easy!! Shadow for the win!!
I keed! I keed!! I voted Blazer.
The Blazer Extreme is a moderately interesting part of the aughts, as one of many attempts by car companies to snag the market of late Gen X and early Millennial buyers. The joke was on them though because none of us had any money back then! We also have no money today, but these ancient platforms with almost insulting levels of pandering glued on have finally depreciated enough to make decent nostalgia purchases.
GMT330 for the win! The 4.3 will go on forever, you’ll eventually need a reman 4L60 but they’re cheap and fairly easy to swap.
The trans will fail at 200k miles. I had the one in my Suburban rebuilt for $600 plus a few nights to remove and replace it.
That’s cheap! Good job.
I’m wondering if the Blazer is cheap because the transmission is showing signs of future doom. I still think it’s a solid buy though.
My mom inexplicably owned 2 consecutive Shadows over the course of the 90s, the craptastic nature of the Shadow was permanently etched into my brain over my formative years. It would be hard for anything to lose to a Shadow but the Blazer doesn’t make this a fair fight.
As other have said this isn’t even a competition. I don’t even care for the blazer extremes (I would have if they were more along the lines of a typhoon) as the performance isn’t there and would much prefer a Zr2 to off-road in and lovee the looks of the Zr2’s in this gen of s10 blazer. But still that shadow is garbo while the extreme looks really clean.
Upon seeing the headline I was set to vote for the convertible but then I saw how that Dodge is… a shadow of its former self.
So the two-door two-wheel-drive automatic SUV gets a very reluctant vote. At least it’s in an actual color and has some interesting wheels.
And if the SUV’s engine blows up in a spectacular manner one can say it went out in a blaze of glory.
How does a classic 2 door Blazer go that cheap in that condition?
This has to be a scam.
I almost voted for the Blazer, then I remembered the shitbox ’95 S10 Blazer I had. I’ll wait until tomorrow.
I thought the game was we weren’t allowed to abstain 🙂
This is like telling the mafia which thumb you want hammered. It’s an easy choice to say your non-dominant hand, but still not ideal.
This one’s more of a thumb/penis choice.
Are we not doing phrasing any more?
That was the easiest vote ever. Blazer
Without a shadow of a doubt.
Without a shadow.
Blazer for the win. No question.
Blazer, without a microsecond of hesitation. Like others have said, the Shadow was garbage when new, which makes it doubly true when it is beaten hard like the one above. Also as others have said, the price on the Blazer is suspiciously low, but I’d still vote for it over the Shadow at double the asking price.
I saw one of those Blazers just the other day and couldn’t remember how long it had been since they were around. I remember test driving one with my parents in the mid-90s when the SUV boom was just happening…options were basically Blazer, 4Runner, Pathfinder, and Explorer. Explorer was the best, Blazer was by far the worst as a daily driver. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t vote for it. I dislike the Shadow and its platform mates at probably an irrational level.
Wow – this is about as stacked as a deck gets. There was little good about those Shadows when brand new, and there’s absolutely nothing good about this beat-to-hell one, other than the fact that it could take you somewhere to throw it away and get a better car. I’ve never particularly wanted a Blazer of that era, but there’s no way I’d take a Shadow over it.
OK I’m not voting for it because it’s trashed, but a ’91 Shadow convertible with the stripey seats is basically my dream car. I know, I’m nuts or whatever. But it’s the convertible version of my first car, those Chrysler striped seats from the early 90s are the absolute best, and I just want one okay??
Don’t worry, I feel ya. If a clapped out 87 Cavalier z-24 Ever graces these pages against anything, I’m taking my beloved Cav.
You don’t have to defend yourself – “My dream car is this weird forgotten shitbox that everybody hated” is basically The Autopian’s official motto.
AKA ‘Holy Grail’
Respect: most people can’t own up to their vices
In my neck of the woods that Blazer would be $6K or higher. Suspiciously good deal. It Blazes bright and leaves the opponent in its Shadow.
Voting is 61-1 at this point; even Saddam Hussein might blush a little at that margin.
Single Shadow voter, explain yourself!
Might have been a misclick. I’ve done that once or twice.
We are up to 8 Green Party voters at this time.
Looks for username HanginChad
Blazer
This is an unfair fight.
In similar condition, I’d take the Shadow all day long. There doesn’t seem to be any area of this example that doesn’t need repairs.
I’m uninterested in this model Blazer. If it were a previous slighty boxier S-Blazer then it would have some nostalgia value. This one is just from the days of the ‘all car is SUV’ era we’re still stuck in. More miles than I’d want, but it’s a CA car and appears to be in amazing condition for the age/miles.
How is this Blazer so cheap?? I know it’s a 2-door but c’mon.
You don’t see S-series Blazers anymore? Pour one out on this sad day… They are still pretty common here in southern Wisconsin and for good reason as they’re pretty damn durable. I had one, as did a friend. We towed way too much, jumped way too many times, cruised way too fast through farm fields (after harvest/before planting), and they just kept going.
While these were both truly horribly built, the 4.3 is a good engine, and the Blazer drivetrain is solid. It is earnest underneath the terrible 90s plastic.
The Dodge, on the other hand, has not a single redeeming characteristic. It resembles what would happen if you challenged a car company to stuff as many bad qualities as possible into one product. It is Yugo-level bad but based on the terrible K-car rather than a somewhat charming Fiat. Shadows were everywhere in the 90s, and the world would be a better place if every single one were crushed. They are sadness manifest.
I wanna hear from the 1 vote for the shadow? Their is no world where the 1K premium for the Blazer is not worth it here. Those “Extreme Wheels” are nearly worth what they seem to be asking for the entire thing.
I wanted to vote Shadow, but man is it trashed.
$2600? Somebody with the soace buy that Blazer for me. We’ll figure out the rest later? How is this thing so cheap? It looks to be in great condition relatively. Speaking as man sitting in his kimono staring out the front room window contemplating the Rodius hell that awaits me out there.
I would honestly think that was a scam, or the down payment at an LLC Stealership. I agree, it will be gone fast if legit.
I had the same thought, though it also crossed my mind that it may also have undisclosed emissions equipment issues, like a rattling cat, that may cause it to fail testing in the near future so the owner is trying to offload it now. When I lived on the west coast it wasn’t uncommon for people in northern Cali to pick up a cheap car in southern Cali, drive it until it completely failed emissions, then list it for sale in Oregon.
lol, I wonder how many stolen Cat Vehicles get a straight pipe and sent to Nevada too?
I’d not be surprised if a significant portion of the used car market in Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona come from Cali.
I’m honestly a bit surprised that David hasn’t posted an article about the sharp price increase in California for cars made before 1975, because emissions testing and CARB compliance is enough of a headache that people will gladly pay a premium (or take a monetary loss) to avoid it.
Certainly it would make Restomodding a pre 1975 Gas vehicle for daily use far more enticing.
No doubt. A friend in the Bay area who is solidly in the “a car is an appliance” camp recently had to replace his car of fifteen years and even considered going that route until his wife (and lack of wrenching skills) put a stop to it.
Nice try, the only hatchback SUV you’re allowed is the SsangYong Rodius.
If they ever bother flying me out there to meet the readers (shudder) don’t worry about coming to meet me in person unless you like the silent treatment.
Love you too, boo <3
If I were near it, I’d do just that. We could work out payment details later. It’s not like it would kill me to own it if you backed out.
Anyone in that area of CA wanna make a third party purchase for us?
It’s gotta be the blazer. If it’s as good as it presents in the pics, there are so many things you can do. Turbo AWD swap and make it more Typhoon, V8 swap it (sbc or LS), or just simply go crazy OR leave it be just put another junkyard 4.3l if that one dies. They are stupid cheap usually.
I wanted to vote for the convertible. But it is just too rough. The Blazer is a lot nicer and worth the premium over the Shadow.