Rob, I love seeing your vehicles, and reading your articles! You have real, drivable vehicles with "character", not trailer queens, or Concours winners. Stuff I can relate too! I always do a basic maintenance check on my toys in the Spring before taking them out for a real drive. I check all fluids, and do a basic hose and fitting check, along with wiring check, not that I have ever had rodent issues... That first drive is always gentle, with the radio off so I can listen for odd noises. I breathe a sigh of relief when the drive is over without issue! But I completely agree with you, I love the feel and smell of my older rides. Reminds me of why I keep them, and enjoy them. Then the reality of 30+ year old sealing technology sets in with the normal wind noise, and classis NVH of an older vehicle. But, in all reality, 95% of the time I prefer that to modern cookie-cutter cars without a soul... If I'm going for a long drive, I would still rather take my '89 Dodge Daytona T-top, than my Dodge Journey.... Now, my wife would argue that, but that's a whole different conversation... 🙂 ... View more

I consider myself pretty luck to be a fortunate Plymouth owner. A vehicle also built at Belvedere. I've owned my 1983 Plymouth Scamp for 32 years now. I very much enjoy taking it to car shows, and hearing all the comments. Nice to see that somebody appreciates a car like this. A Neon isn't considered collectable, but neither was my Scamp back in the day... ... View more

He is correct on this. Between not being able to pass side impact tests, and miserable sales, GM had little choice but to cancel the cars. At the time, I worked at the plant that made the doors for the 4th Gen Camaro and Firebird. They scared me.. I would never own one. Flimsy fiberglass(SMC) construction, with cheap stamped metal reinforcements on both ends to support the hinges and door latch, with a single steel bar joining them. GM knew the design sucked, and wouldn't fix it, even though we practically begged them too... When I left that company, they literally had THOUSANDS of doors in storage out back that failed every quality check GM had. GM insisted on using a crappy acrylic glue glue on the doors to join the inner and outer panels that peeled off at the slightest pressure. We begged them to switch to the better epoxy glue Ford and Chrysler used, but because it shrank slightly while curing, it left a line on the exterior of the panels because they were too thin... Instead of fixing the panel thickness, they just continued making crappy parts... ... View more

I have to say I completely agree. Several years ago I attended a meet at the Tail of the Dragon in my 2008 smart fortwo. I had an absolute blast running that road for 3 days. I quickly discovered that road was best taken in 3rd gear in the smart. Lock it in 3rd, by the time you got to a corner to brake, it was just about at redline, and through the corner on the torque curve, then floor it to the next corner. I was having way more fun than the Miata that was trying to keep up with me behind me. I tell people all the time, it's the most fun you can have with 70 hp... 214K miles on it, and still going strong. I drive it every day, and love it... When I need more speed, out comes my 1983 Plymouth Scamp pickup that I transplanted a 300 hp turbo/intercooled engine from a Daytona... That is a completely different animal!!! ... View more