This week was supposed to be all Japanese cars, but you know how it goes: If you’re not looking for something, you’ll find it everywhere, but as soon as you start searching, they vanish like the cockroaches in the kitchen of your first apartment. I found plenty of Camrys and Accords, but there’s only so much to be said about those. So today we’ll look at a couple of sporty Japanese numbers, and the rest of the week we’ll look at all the other cool stuff I found that I wasn’t actually looking for. But before we get into those, there is the small matter of last week’s champion to settle.
Well, would you look at that? Despite the howls and protestations of so many commenters, the old K-car derivative has emerged victorious. A narrow win, but a win nonetheless. A few people have requested ranked voting for Fridays; I’ll see what I can do. [Editor’s note: How the hell did a K-Car beat out a diesel Merc, a V-4 (!) Saab, and a sweet little stickshift Ford/Mazda truck? This makes no sense. Please help me understand. -DT]. Now, let’s take a look at today’s competitors:
1993 Toyota Celica convertible – $2500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2 liter inline 4, 4 speed automatic, FWD Location: Clearlake, CA Odometer reading: 186,000 miles Runs/drives? Yes indeed Everybody knows someone who once had a Toyota Celica, but no one has ever had one themselves. I’m not sure how that works, exactly, but when the subject of the Celica comes up, which admittedly isn’t often, it’s always “my friend/roommate/girlfriend’s sister had one.” They’ve rarely raised the interest or pulse of most enthusiasts, with the exception of a few special versions like the turbocharged all-wheel-drive GT-Four (or All-Trac as it was known in the US). Most Celicas were more like this one: sporty-looking but not particularly sporty, stylish but forgettable — exactly the sort of car your friend’s roommate’s girlfriend’s sister would drive, I guess.
The convertible versions like this were made from coupes, modified by ASC in California — even the ones that were sold in Japan. This one hasn’t strayed too far from home, and unlike any other California car we’ve featured (as far as I can remember anyway), this one just passed a smog test and has fresh registration. It has lived a bit of a hard life, it looks like, and yes, that bungee cord is actually holding the trunk shut. A replacement latch might be hard to come by, but you can probably come up with something better than a bungee cord.
Inside, things look… dusty. A good vacuuming and some Armor-All would go a long way here. But the clean mechanical bill of health from the state of California is encouraging, and this looks like it would make a good reliable runabout if you wanted a convertible. It won’t set the world on fire – the 2.2 liter four and overdrive automatic used here could also be found in the contemporary Camry – but it’ll keep chugging along for a good long while yet. And hey – the top works.
1988 Subaru XT6 – $2250
Engine/drivetrain: 2.7 liter horizontally-opposed 6, 5 speed manual, AWD Location: Denver, CO Odometer reading: 159,500 miles Runs/drives? Yes, but needs some work to be roadworthy Before Subaru became the official station wagon manufacturer of farmer’s markets everywhere, the company built this doorstop-shaped sports coupe, starting in 1985. Dubbed the XT in the U.S. and the Alcyone in Japan, it was completely different from anything else Subaru sold at the time. Hell, it was completely different from anything anyone else sold at the time. Sleek, wedgey, and futuristic, it looked out of place next to Subaru’s sedans, hatchbacks, and wagons, which in the ’80s didn’t even have a model name in the US.
That high-tech futurism also showed in the mechanical specification, which included available four wheel drive activated by a push-button on the top of the pistol-grip manual sgearshift (Subaru wouldn’t make AWD standard across the board until the mid-1990s), a turbocharged engine, and an adjustable-height air suspension. By 1988, when this XT was made, it had gained two cylinders and permanent all-wheel-drive to become the XT6.
The seller claims to have spent a lot of money whipping this one back into shape, presumably after some years of neglect, but abandoned it after finding a newer Subaru. This fickle behavior has left the XT6 half-finished and looking for a new home. The power steering is out, which may be a problem because the XT6 uses an unusual electro-hydraulic power steering setup that is probably a nightmare to fix and requires special very expensive fluid from Subaru [Editor’s note: Toyota MR2s of the era also used an electrohydraulic power steering design. In fact, MR2 pumps are favorites amont folks converting cars to EVs. I wonder if you could retrofit it to work in this XT6 and safe a few bucks? -DT] . Luckily it’s not a very big or heavy car, so just work on your upper body strength and you’ll be fine. The outside looks a little scruffy, but it’s such an unusual car that you could probably leave it as-is and still get admiring looks and comments from car folks. And that cool asymmetrical steering wheel and pistol-grip gearshift are sure to be conversation starters at Cars & Coffee. Every photo in the ad shows the pop-up headlights in the up position, leading me to wonder if they can in fact go down, but that can’t be too hard to fix.
So you’ve got your rare high-tech flying doorstop in need of some repair, or your sorority-girl-special safe bet convertible. The choice is yours. Quiz maker I own a ’91 Celica GT convertible and an ’89 XT6… BUT. My Celica is a manual, and the XT6 an Automatic. Although I have also owned a ’93 Celica with a 1.6 and automatic, and an ’88 XT6 with a manual. I love the idea of the XT6. Flat 6. Manual transmission. AWD. But parts don’t fucking exist. That big busted up (it’s hidden under the dash mat, I assume it’s busted, though) trim panel that wraps all the way across the top of the gauge cluster and down around the radio? Yea…unobtanium. Those crappy trunk hinges on the Celica coupes and convertibles (surely the root cause for the missing spoiler and bungee cord)? Your local dealer can have them in a day or 2. For this reason, I voted Celica. If you compare an SVX to an RX8, I’m getting security cameras The 3/4 shots from either front or rear really demonstrate why this car would look absolutely look at home in Blade Runner. hhttps://www.pinterest.com/pin/844636105106858404/ I voted for “I’d set the money on fire instead.” As to why the Merc and K-Car were so high on the votes. They were the best runners. The Ford was beat to crap, the Saab was great yet needed a lot of work. The K-Car probably won due to the most complete and read to jump in and drive. The Merc was close second only because is needed a few repairs. I would take either one for that price. As for last week, I would have entirely picked the Saab, but I’m not skilled enough to get it in the shape it deserves. The New Yorker was entirely for the interior. That’s a place to be. Voting for the Celica because prejudice and passing smog in CA is a big deal. Only other experience i have is pulling a 22re out of one (after I pulled it from its home of many years at the bottom of a nasty hill with a $150 ’89 Aerostar with a slowly failing transmission) of the last RWDs to put in a nightmare 1st generation 4Runner. Coupe or hatch? And it’s killing me no picture posting yet. https://youtu.be/ViiJIYn6slo As Scotty says, REV UP YOUR ENGINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
