Looks like it’s bad luck for our Chevy Venture from yesterday’s showdown. Should have gotten that Looney Tunes package. Then you would have at least had a couple of rabbit’s feet for luck. (Which I never understood; always seemed like bad luck for the rabbit. But I digress). So with that, we have our four for the week. Let’s take a second look at them…
1988 Subaru XT6 – $2,250
This AWD stickshift spaceship-on-wheels beat out a scruffy Celica convertible, and I think a big part of the reason why is this unassailably cool steering wheel:
I mean, come on! No car has ever had a cooler steering wheel than that. Though I do wonder if it would mess with your perceptions until you got used to it. Maybe that’s what the nub on the left is for, to give you a clearer sense of where “straight ahead” is. This is one of those cars I loved to gawk at in Road & Track when I was in high school. That wedge shape, the stunning interior, the high-tech specs… the future really was so bright, we had to wear shades. But looking at this car now, I don’t see the future; I don’t even see nostalgia. I see Weird Science – something that was cool when I was 15, but hasn’t aged well at all. (The movie, I mean, not the Oingo Boingo soundtrack. That has aged quite well.) I want to feel nostalgia for it, I just… don’t. I’ll rank this number 3 out of our foursome for me.
1978 Jeep CJ-5 – $1500
David may not have liked the V8 in our scruffy Jeep, but I don’t mind. Honestly, as far as engines go, for me, condition matters a lot more than spec. If it runs reliably, it’s good; I don’t care about the output. [Editor’s note: I don’t like the engine precisely because it often doesn’t run reliably. Do I look like a man who cares about engine output?! -DT]. It’s all here, more or less, and it doesn’t need much mechanical work to get it going again.
Lots of commenters feared it would be a money pit, and that might be true, if your intent were total restoration. But I look at this old Jeep and I see a reason to learn how to weld. It’s the one glaring gap in my auto-repair knowledge, the one thing I’ve never done, and that really ought to change someday. Patching up an old Jeep tub like this would be a great excuse, then give it a quick and dirty coat of paint (anything but flat black or olive green, I don’t like either) and bomb around in it as-is. This would rank number two for me.
1989 Buick Reatta – $1,900
This sporty little number won by what might be our largest margin yet. And frankly, I’m not sure why. It’s an interesting relic, and would probably be a reliable-ish runner, but that CRT touch-screen just turns me off. Especially since it’s damn near impossible to retrofit it with a normal stereo and HVAC controls. Maybe I’d like a newer Reatta better, but then you lose that nice three-spoke steering wheel.
Too much GM overreach here. They’re at their best when they stick to the basics. Other people seem willing to take these on as projects; they’re welcome to them. This is number 4 for me. Which leaves…
1988 Dodge Grand Caravan – $2,500
To be honest, I don’t have any nostalgia for this one either. The ’80s Chrysler product in our garage was a Dodge 600 ES sedan; we never jumped on the minivan bandwagon. But I have always liked practical vehicles, and they don’t get much more practical than this.
The red velour seems to have given this one the win, and even if you’re not willing to concede the usefulness of a small van, you have to admit that Chrysler’s interior game was on-point in the late ’80s. First that blue New Yorker that won last week, and now these cushy captain’s chairs. And I have to say, now that I’m pushing fifty and have done my time in a variety of rough-riding sports cars and pickup trucks, the idea of nice cushy seats gets more and more tempting every day. This would be my top pick this week, and if it were a little more logistically feasible, I might be headed up to look more closely at it.
So that’s our week. Vote for your favorite, and feel free to rank them in the comments. I haven’t had time to figure out a different poll format yet.
Next week will be a little different; I’ll be writing two or three days in advance this weekend, because I’ll be traveling. But I’ve got leads on some really interesting stuff, and you’re going to have some great discussions, and I’ll catch up when I get back. See you then!
QuizMaker
The Jeep is my top because I know how easy it will be to fix up. Doesn’t look flashy, but I can get it to be what I want with a jack and a manual. The subaru is second, looks beautiful but I’m suspicious on how much wrenching is going to be needed to get it running how I want. Buick is last because I just don’t like Buicks.
The combined real value of the other three wouldn’t buy you a case of Budweiser. Which is relevant, because trying to get them running or keep them on the road will drive you to drinking.
Honestly, most of the these are good choices. The Jeep is more the project person while the others are drive and fix as needed.
But the Buick is the worst choice of the lot. It’s a CRT Reatta with indications of a bad CRT, and the 440T4 transmission. Parts availability? No. There is none. Reattas were hand-built (no, seriously.) If the CRT’s out, EVERYTHING is out, including the security and the engine computer. GM wishes the 440T4 had never existed (it’s not a 4T60.) There’s CPS to support the CRT, plus BCM, ECM, HVAC, CRT, Compass, RKE, headlamp, turn signal, and TEVES computers – most of which are purest unobtanium. Only the engine control unit is a common GM part. And if you have an ABS problem with the Teves I ball-style, you are super fucked – you can only get them used (not rebuilt) and just the pump sells $500+, another $100+ for the controller, and then you gotta find someone with a Tech1 or the right Tech2. (BTW, you can’t bleed brakes without a genuine Tech1 or Tech2 either. Non-OBD and the Teves controller’s separate.) Used Tech1 will set you back $400+ without the Teves cable and ABS cartridge. Also don’t forget that you’ll need an entire new front bumper cover, hood, turn signal, headlight assembly, and paint on this one. That hood is not repairable, nor is the bumper cover, and the headlight arm’s bent.
And at the end of the day, your beautifully restored and fully functioning Reatta coupe is worth maybe $8-9k on a good day. (Don’t expect those to continue.) That’s it.
The Buick is a cool little car that would be fun to drive, and easy to keep running. That dumb CRT is it’s only thing that’d be tough to deal with.
I already have a Jeep that’s barely a step up from being a shitbox. I don’t need a second, but I can’t in good faith rank it any lower. Is this how DTism starts?
The Subaru is an oddity, a time capsule from the 80s on wheels. Back in the 80s, we thought cars in the future would be full of cars like this XT6, but it turns out that he future of cars would be more like the Caravan.
In any case, I’d likely swap engines in whatever I ended up with. Jeeps should have straight sixes, Dodge/Chryslers that old should have turbo 4-cyls with a manual trans, and Buicks deserve something with a Roots supercharger. I guess Subarus should have something that doesn’t have the head gasket pop when you look at it funny?
“We must use ALL of those things, no matter how outdated they look”. -GM motto – 1973-Current
I test drove one of these when they were new and it was underwhelming but it’s the best of the beaters this week.
That van makes me think of slumlords and hard times. Not the romantic kind of hard times that make for good stories afterward, either. Just grinding, humiliating struggle with no end in sight.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/videos/the-xt-was-subarus-attempt-to-be-normal-revelations-with-jason-cammisa-ep-23/
Enjoy!
2. The Subaru would make a nice project car because it’s an oddball. XT6s are better than OK to drive, and it shouldn’t trouble you too much once it’s done. I bet you’d get lots of curious looks these days, and that’s worth extra.
3. I wouldn’t keep the Reatta stock. Making space for a supercharger could make a fun performer out of an ordinary street cruiser. But this isn’t a project that currently interests me, so it falls down the list.
4. The Caravan still has a lot of pure transportation value. It wouldn’t become a toy like the rest, so it has to meet some objective standards. The seats would become couches in my garage, and I would use this more or less as a box truck because I couldn’t in good conscience take others along in something with safety features that are this outdated. It is still a very good value if it suits your needs.
I still don’t see the polls on these articles, but this is how I rank them and why.
It wouldn’t take a whole lot of money to make it go fast or far. The AWD would allow a very nice hookup at launch to take advantage of an electric motor’s torque curve. It could be turned into a 150 mile range conversion that runs 12s in the 1/4 mile for under $20k in off the shelf parts, plus cost of restoration. It would look really cool with a cyberpunk aesthetic and a custom digital dashboard.
The Reatta would likely need 1.5x the energy of the XT6 to maintain 70 mph on the highway, and it would be a heavier, less fun car by far.
