Oregon and Washington are Meccas for Old Obscure Cars

YAHOO AUTOS

                    

By Zach Doell            

 

 

 

Last week, we saw a post about gobs and gobs of mint condition ‘90s sports cars that are currently up for sale in Brazil. This got the cogs turning in our heads and soon enough an hour had gone by, spent looking at Internet classifieds in Sao Paulo.

Then we thought, “Wait, there are plenty of unmolested 90s sports cars here in the U.S.” Which, after a roundabout mental process, turned into “Which region has the best and weirdest assortment of autos?” Still with us? The answer may surprise you.

The Pacific Northwest. While it’s entirely up for debate – and please do debate in the comments below – Oregon and Washington seem to be magnets for attracting and preserving all spectrum of automotive obscurity.

 A quick search of the Pacific Northwest interwebs yields everything from somewhat-hot hatchbacks like the Toyota Corolla FX16, to quirky Peugeots, minty-fresh Subaru Brats, and all sorts of long-gone American classics.

Want an obscure British-built Spartan/Triumph kit car from the ‘70s? No problem. Need a 4×4-converted ’61 Nash Metropolitan? You’re covered. Interested in transplanted Japanese kei cars or mini trucks? Here’s an ’88 JDM Toyota Townace 4×4 diesel.

Then of course, there are the guys over at oldparkedcars.com, which if you haven’t ventured on, is one of the ultimate time machines of the Internet.

 Based in Portland, Oregon, brothers Ben and Tony Piff serve up snapshots of fittingly old and suitably parked car nostalgia on a daily basis. While it isn’t all for sale, it’s there, it exists, and most of the cars seem to be driven daily.

Let the endless Craiglisting begin.