Three of a Perfect Pair
Justy - Tracker - Beetle. Pick a card, any card.
Truck Thursday? None of these three cars is even close to one, but every one of them has its own aspirations of urban exploration.
Two of them four-wheel-drive and one of them a couple cards short of a full pack, they’re all gutsy little cars with tricks up their respective sleeves. Just try to keep your poker face while I detail them out.
“Derp.”
We start with a pre-facelift Subary Justy. One of the boxiest little runts on four wheels I know, this rust-marred white ‘Baru is a 4WD specimen from around ’88. Later on, the Justy got smoothed over slightly by a more rounded facelift, but these earlier versions look like they’ve been folded from tin by hand. Due to being fairly disposable little runabouts, they have been let to rust quite severely, too.
It doesn’t really wear its 4WD heart on its sleeve, either; the only sticker on the car is on the rear window that was by now covered with snow – and I daren’t touch it. “Trust me, it’s 4WD! Kneel down and marvel at the diff!”
The second sighting is a 1991 Geo Tracker. Yeah, it really is a Geo, not a Suzuki Vitara: it wears the globe badge proudly. I have no idea why there are two Geos in this town, but if there is a Storm somewhere I’m really eager to go check it out.
I remember seeing the Tracker advertised some time ago; it’s a 108k mile car with praise lavished on it in the ad. “We’ll even bring it to your doorstep!” The punchline is they wanted 4k for it.
The Santa billboard suits the car amazingly well. I can imagine Kris Kringle loading up his Xmas-red Tracker with presents and letting Donner and Blitzen sleep in the stable this time round.
I have no qualms with Vitaras or Trackers. They look a bit topply, but that’s always the case with small Suzukis. I also think it’s a wonder they could stretch what was basically a diddly little beach patrol car into a fairly full-size XL-7.
However, no amount of cladding could disguise what lies beneath with the last sighting of the evening:
No, it’s not Brundlefly.
I’m not sure if all this add-on memorabilia is done tongue-in-cheek, or completely seriously. Anyway, by themselves most of the details on this accessorized Beetle work reasonably well. It’s just that with their powers combined they turn it into Captain Cataloque. Fake bull-bars, chrome horn grilles (or whatever they were on the original Beetle?), roof rack, tack-on covers for the plastic rockers…
..But what takes the cake is the combination of the fake split window and lookalike louvres for an engine that isn’t there. It just blows my mind. Surely it’s just an elaborate joke. German humour, anybody?
Which one of these three Urban Achievers is the one you could bear on a daily basis?
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I'd go with the Suzuki, since I have fond memories of driving around Costa Rica in a Samarai that was equipped with an engine that made the one in the US market cars seem fire-breathing. I've never spent more time at full throttle, shifted more times for every mile traveled on open roads, or driven slower in my life. Many have waxed eloquent about the joys of driving a slow car fast, but there was no fast to be had. On the longest straight stretch of road in Costa Rica, I ran it up through the gears flat out and managed to hit a screaming 110 kph in 5th before the pavement ended and we hobby horsed through the dirt in what felt like serious peril. That's 68 mph, but I've been twice that fast in traffic with less sensation of speed. Ironically, we beat another group of tourists in a much faster vehicle to each destination. They were stopped by flat tires every single day, while our Bridgestones were magically impervious to destruction.
I do like the customer touches on the New Beetle, but it is still ultimately a New Beetle. My memories of the Subaru involve it being a pretty unpleasant little car, and my daily driver was a Festiva when they were new and I worked at a Subaru dealer. I've yet to drive a 3 cylinder car that I enjoyed, and the interior was as cheap as the exterior. They broke too.
Nice haul. The Beetle tickles me, in a good way. And the Tracker looks in fine condition. But it's the Justy that I want. Must be time to see the doctor, again.
$4,000 USD is high, but not really crack pipe high for a good Tracker with a hardtop. Decent running and driving examples seem to go for $2,500 or so all the time. There is a nice one with a soft top at a local dealer for $3250.
"One of the boxiest little runts on four wheels I know… these earlier versions look like they’ve been folded from tin by hand."
You say that like it's a bad thing….
Justy all the way – a friend of mine had a post facelift one recently (just sold it now that his E30 is together) and the thing was surprising decent off road. Plus 4WD in the snow was rather fun
If the Justy was a second-generation one, you'd have a pair of Geos…
<img src="http://www.autoplenum.de/Bilder/P/p0000955/SUBARU/SUBARU-Justy-4WD–1995-1996-.jpg"/>
IMG from Autoplenum
Aside from the fake louvers & the trim ahead of the rear wheels, I kinda dig the Beetle. It's nothing compared to the one in my neighborhood that I've been meaning to take pics of. Full on Herbie treatment. Number 53 of course and the stripes, but also baby moons and trim rings, air brushed chrome bumpers with the over riders, chrome headlight rings and even an airbrushed fabric sunroof. It's very well done, if you like that sort of thing. I kinda do, or at least appreciate the effort, but wouldn't want it for myself. Kinda like I feel bout that black bug up top.
That backpiece on the bug makes me want to laugh and laugh and laugh and fall into a small ball on the ground and cry.
I always knew there was a reason I loved the tiny inboard turn signals on the Turbo S…
<img src="http://www.kennyscarstyling.fi/B3/BeetleTurboS10.jpg" width=600>
….but never traced it back to the Type 1's horn grilles. Way cool.
…tack-on covers for the plastic rockers…
The rocker panels are definitely metal – steel, I believe. The fenderbumpers, on the other hand, are plastic.
Justy 4×4 for me. I heard you can do fun things with a Justy and a WRX power train….
None of them in their current shape would be my choice for a daily driver. The Beetle induces a gag reflex, the Vitara is too thirsty (especially with European gas prices, and the Justy is too small and too slow
Personally a miniature Subie with 4Wd sounds like a good time especially with a 5 or 4 speed transmission.
I had a 2wd Suzuki Swift that was not the fastest but it was a hoot to drive
With 195,000 miles on my '96 Tracker, I just wanna drive something else. Anything else. I think the Beetle is my pick.
Subaru Justy… there's a car you don't see in New England every day.
I rode in one in a heavy blizzard in 1988 (coincidentally also painted white). I thought I was going to die, but the little 4wd pulled through.