What are your favorite "aboreable" cars?

[awesomeaustinv]

As I browse the absolute dirt-cheap end of FB marketplace, I sometimes find vehicles that strike me as oddly cute despite otherwise being pretty dull and/or in a state of disrepair. Things like this '04 Hyundai Accent for example: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/165265723218408/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A08e7b876-234d-4e59-be0d-ce1346e94546Is it just me, or is that not a very cute little car? I don't think I know of anyone who actively wants an old cheap Korean economy coupe like this (outside of maybe @Sam-Blockhan), it's probably neither particularly good nor particularly exciting (although it does have a manual transmission!) but for some reason I find it endearing.

I think this category of cars needs a proper name, so I'm calling them "aboreable" cars, cars that are boring but adorable.

Another car I think fits the aboreable description is this 2000 Ford Focus SE wagon: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/330005176082932/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A08e7b876-234d-4e59-be0d-ce1346e94546 I mean, this is the kind of car your eye naturally avoids perceiving ordinarily. But if you force yourself to look at it for a second, it's actually very cute. Look at those tiny proportions, ridiculously small wheels, and big catlike headlights paired with jaunty swooping creases in the body lines and a grille that looks like a big dumb smile. It's almost toylike in appearance and just looks happy to be here, yet somehow it flies under the radar and fails to be particularly interesting.

There have to be loads of aboreable cars out there, waiting to be appreciated for their dull wholesomeness... If you can think of any boring but cute cars that nobody talks about, this is the aboreable car thread to share them in. It's time for these to get the recognition they deserve.

[facw]

@awesomeaustinv The Focus wagon is too good to be boring... And it has the Focus;s weirdly aggressive headlights. The US facelift might qualify, but I don't think the mk1 can (though that color isn't helping)

[ranwhenparked]

@awesomeaustinv the first generation Focus was a brilliant design, shame they cocked it up afterwards, at least in North America.

I'd put the Mk1 Ka and the Twingo in the same category, likely future classics

[Sam Blockhan]

@awesomeaustinv

"Aboreable" is a fantastic word.

[awesomeaustinv]

@Sam-Blockhan Thanks! And that Daewoo absolutely qualifies.

[facw]

@Sam-Blockhan When I was thinking about buying a car as a teen, the Lanos hatch was appealing to me, and the price was certainly good.

[ibRAD]

@awesomeaustinv I think my old Echo falls into this group

Edit. Pic taken at 444,444 kms.

[awesomeaustinv]

@ibRAD Absolutely it does! What are those hubcaps from?

[Mark Tucker]

@awesomeaustinv One of my favorites from that category, the Plymouth Sundance:

Ex-girlfriend of mine had one, just like this but a 4 door. Five-speed manual, 2.2 liter K engine, tough as nails, and got 35 mpg on the highway. She named it "Puppy."

[ibRAD]

@awesomeaustinv My Dad's garage.

Seriously though apparently they are from a 68 chevelle. A bit odd because my dad never owned a 68 chevelle.

I loved that car, and actually last week one came up for sale not a mile up the road from where that photo was taken. Even in the speedway blue colour, which is the best. It was auto though, and they wanted 5000 for it, so I moved along.

[flatisflat]

@awesomeaustinv

I love these friggin' little trashcans...

[awesomeaustinv]

@Mark-Tucker Even the name on that one is cute!

[awesomeaustinv]

@flatisflat It does look like it's smiling for sure.

[f86sabre]

The original adorable car. It wasn’t intended to be cute and fun, but it is.

[awesomeaustinv]

@f86sabre I would argue that there isn't and has never been anything boring about those. Ordinary yes, they became common, but exciting/interesting things can be common too. But yes they are adorable.

[dogisbadob]

Does the Suzuki Aerio qualify? How about the Ford Aspire?

@ibRAD said in What are your favorite "aboreable" cars?:

@awesomeaustinv I think my old Echo falls into this group

Edit. Pic taken at 444,444 kms.

+1 came here for this

[MisterButtercup]

@awesomeaustinv Paging @tysmagic for a boring car appreciation post.

[Fish McSticks]

@awesomeaustinv

[Mr.Ontop]

@Sam-Blockhan I had a green one of those. It was thoroughly adequate.

[SilentbutnotreallyDeadly]

@awesomeaustinv
N13 Nissan Pulsar

JA Kia Picanto

G200 Daihatsu Charade

BYD Seagull

[ranwhenparked]

@Mark-Tucker my dad had the Dodge Shadow version as a take-home car for awhile, he was made fun of at work for it a bit, since everything else in the fleet was either a Caprice or a Crown Vic, but it probably worked pretty well for undercover stuff. Many years later, I ended up working with an older gentlemen who had retired from the public works department, and he told me a story I had never heard- apparently, one time they were doing some paving and had a lane closed and a drunk guy in a Bronco decided he was having none of that, swung out onto the shoulder, and drove right up to the road crew, got out, and started yelling obscenities at them and swinging around like he wanted to fight them, then the door of the ice blue Dodge Shadow that was third in the line of waiting traffic swung open and the guy was face down on the asphalt getting cuffed.

[awesomeaustinv]

@Fish-McSticks Once again, adorable yes, but not remotely boring. This is an aboreable car appreciation thread.

[KAC]

@awesomeaustinv Mazda 121 fits here I think.

[Old Busted Hotness]

My caffeine-deprived brain read this as "arboreable", thus:

Although this one qualifies on both counts.

[Palem]

Dodge Neon says, Hi.