The year is 1989, and you have $300 cash. What absolute pile of shit car are you buying?
>>28676574Pinto
>>28676574From the photo it looks early 80s rather than '89, possibly '82 as there's a J2000 there. Bet the Wal-Mart had a long line in front of the Donkey Kong cab in the back.
>>28676574Datsun truck
>>28676574Probably some clapped out '60s-'70s muscle car since they were still at their peak of being seen as worthless "old cars" for broke teenagers to wrench on.
>>28676585why couldn't it be 89?all the cars in the pic existed by then
>>28676605Here is a Wal-Mart photo from 88 and you notice the prevalence of mid to late 80s cars.
>>28676574I reverse image searched this photo, it's from Wal-Mart's annual 1984 corporate report.
>>28676610yep spot on bro,truth is american cars of that time were JUNK it's not like today where 20+ year old jap cars are still everywhere.
>>28676574First station wagon I see with wood sliding and an 8-track player.
>>28676599Seeing a 40 year old driving an old muscle car was seen as really weird. As a kid I saw it as a kind of waste as I assumed they would drive slow and hold up traffic.>>28676574Pontiac GTO or Plymouth Superbird replica. Maybe 2nd gen Camaro since it would still beat most cars at the time.
>>28676574Having been there and done that, I'll pick the Ford Intermediate on the lower right. The actual choice was a sky blue 78 Cougar for $900 (new tires! ice cold a/c! [it was]) and it served well for the next few years. Very like pic related.
Give me that Gremlin so I can shuffle off my mortal coil pronto
>>28676642>Pontiac GTObased answer>>28676668last time I saw a Gremlin in the wild was 2018 in Morro Bay CA.
>>28676574Having btdt and got the scars, for a legit $300 you couldn’t get anything in that photo. Period.I know because in 89 I bought a 78 scirocco that a buddy had slid into a curb during icy roads and broke the right front CV and control arm.So I picked it up from him for $400 and repaired it inconsistencies the carport using an abandoned 77 rabbit my parents bought used during the gas crisis days. Scirocco was a fun car but realistically back then nothing was that cheap and/or cool at that price point.Around that time I gave a non running 4cyl mustang (79) to a buddy in exchange for painting a C4 corvette for me.You really needed to be in the 1500-2500 range to start thinking about cool shitboxes but everything (literally everything) was so much better than now, you can’t even imagine it unless you were there.Sorry you missed out br/o/s
>>28677344You could have easily grabbed a fucked up Vega or something for $300.
keeping it real
>>286765741971 road runner. My mom got one at a military auction in 1986 for $50.
>>28676574Toyota Camry. I had a shit box 86. Got the job done
>>28677472Not a lot of Camrys that cheap in 1989.
>>28676574NES Action Set and some games.
>>28676574Stock in literally any tech company that's still around today.
>>28676610>>28676574>>28676599SOVL
>>28677520In 1991 my mum paid $16,000 for an '89 Camry. It was my first car.
>>28676574A Datsun 180B.
>>28676574a clapped out highway patrol car from the 60s/70s
>>28677713$300?
1973 Ford Gran Torino
>>28676610>people had new cars in an era notorious for excess where people consumed like crazyShocking
>>28677977The late 80s were good economic times when middle class prosperity returned. In the early 80s nothing except subcompacts sold.
>>2867657470s Oldsmobile
>>28677407My folks had a $300 Vega when they got married in 83. It used almost as much oil as it did gas and it eventually died when the middle two cylinders windowed the block at 65mph.By 89 they had a Plymouth horizon and a new gmc k1500 Cheyenne rclb
>>28677983Everything was grim in the early '80s.https://youtu.be/oMsXLYFU0pU?t=162
1982 was a record low with just 5 million new cars and trucks sold in the US. The best selling car that MY was the Ford Escort and in general only compacts and subcompacts sold.
>>28678065>>28678034every car my parents had back then was a Chevette, Omni, Escort, and a four pot Mercury Capri. that's what everyone was driving in Reagan's first term.
None. I work harder and buy a 911
>>28678077How are you getting to work?
70s land yacht people panic sold during the 1973 oil crisis and 1979 recession.
>>2867657460s volkswagen bus, leave it under a cover and sell for 5 figures 30 years later
>>28677714This was my first car. 1975 model bought in 1985 with 130,000kms. Not a bad car. Put around 50,000kms on it and then it blew a head gasket.
>>28678188>jap garbage dies after just 100k milesHow did this shit sell?
>>28678197That was an average car life expectancy for the time.
>>28678197bait
>>28678034lmao, holy hell no wonder GM went bankrupt
>>28676642So in essence the same people who got to scoop up all the 60s/70s muscle cars for pennies on the dollar are the same ones who are now refusing to let go until their kids list it at the estate sale?
>>28678912Correct, the boomer brain is completely overcome by retaining perceived value. It’s why we don’t get fun car colors anymore, because even a rapidly depreciating asset is a goddamn investment.
>>28678197Wait until you find out that everybody expected them to croak by 30K. When they didn't it was the beginning of the "Japanese miracle".
>>28676574>The year is 1989, and you have $300 cash. What absolute pile of shit car are you buying?A rusted out Z car for parts. Used to buy them for between $100 and $300 to strip for use-able componentsIf you wanted something you could "drive" the floor was around $500.00.
>>28676574>$300 in muttlandbuy plane ticket to fly back to civilized world
Can you get some shitty Porsche at that time and price? I don't know historical prices
>>28678992Realistically by 1990 $300 was too low for anything remotely desirable. You'd be looking at 60s and 70s boat anchors or something laughably bad like a Pacer or Gremlin.
>>28676574I can get like 20 shitboxes with thatBut probably volvo 144 or saab 96
>>28676574that might get you a 78 Pinto, that was about it though.
>>28676574Aspen RT, worthless even back then
