Has Asperger's Syndrome. Aspires to repair cars. Starts college soon. Loves moss, Daewoo, and South Korean cars in general. Fascinated with badge engineering. Enjoys photographing rare cars. Rides a 1997ish Diamondback Sorrento Sport. Drives a 2012 Kia Sedona LX.
I rolled by a Porsche/BMW/Audi/Mercedes repair shop today and asked to take photos of this 914. One of the employees (not the one who gave permission) walked out and told me that they have an opening for a "shop kid" for the summer. No wrenching yet--just grabbing parts for those wrenching and cleaning up. I immediately said yes. They have asked for me to come by tomorrow to talk. I'm hoping all goes well!
I opened Oppo around 7:00 AM before school that morning, and it was decided: the Oppo meet would be at K-fresh! In the thread discussing the meeting location, Ghostfish in Seattle was favored, but when it was discovered how poor the parking situation was, it was switched to K-fresh.
I was overjoyed! K-fresh was just fine with my Dad, but not Ghostfish (Oppo meet attendance was an 18th birthday gift; I’m officially an adult on Tuesday!). I opened up my list of locations of cars I’ve found on Google Street View, compiled a list of which cars in Everett (that were most likely to still be there) that I wanted to see, planned a route, printed directions, and memorized them.
I would get to Everett around 4:00 PM, so I would have time to drive around before the meet at 6:00 PM. I took SR 9 to Hwy 2 to Everett to avoid any freeway traffic. Unfortunately, there was a slowdown because a road was closed as a shed crossed the street, so I got to Everett around 4:30 instead.
Half of the cars I was hoping to see were not there, but half were, plus a couple of bonuses. I will start posting them soon.
I’ve been on two carspotting adventures in Seattle before, and now ⅚ of an adventure in Everett. After stepping in and out of my vehicle at least 40 times across those journeys, not once did I lock my keys in my vehicle--until 5:12 PM in Everett, an hour from home. At least I had plenty of fuel and was legally parked in a crime watch neighborhood within easy walking distance of K-fresh.
It had "I identify as a truck" and "'Cool Minivan!' --Nobody" stickers on it.
I called my Dad, who didn’t pick up, so I called my Grandpa, who went to my house to pick up the spare Sedona key, and came to get me. I’m blessed that my Grandpa is the kind of person to do this with a genuine smile on his face. After figuring everything out and walking around a bit, it was decided I would walk to K-fresh and Grandpa would pick me up there and drive me to my vehicle.
I arrived at the Oppo meet twelve minutes late, and it felt so surreal. @derp, @Dr-Zoidberg, @MidEngine, @Roadkilled, and two non-Oppos had saved me a seat, so I redefined how I imagine their voices told them the day’s story, and I could not have asked for a better response.
I’ve had the misfortune of an immediate family that likes to criticize me for every little mistake, so I always expect people to make me feel worse about my blunders if I mention them. However, I was told, “I’ve locked myself out of my cars seventeen times! You just need a copy of your key and you’ll be fine.”
Within five minutes, every fear I had about the meet vanished. I felt welcomed as if I had arrived on time. I truly cannot be more thankful for those on Oppo who want to be excellent to others, don’t just follow the rule because they have to, and continue to be excellent in person.
Grandpa arrived 50 minutes later with his signature grin, the spare key provided access to the vehicle once more, and I made it home safe, sound, and and satisfied.
Praise UppU 
This is one of his hermits
I have had a license since January, but my upcoming first job may require me to move cars around in the parking lot, so today I operated a manual transmission for the first time! (My Dad owns a manual Ford Fiesta, but he was afraid that I would grind the gears, so never taught me.)
My instructor was my Grandpa, who drove semi trucks around Seattle for over a decade; he said that I did very well and wasn't even close to grinding. We remained in an empty parking lot, and the highest gear reached was 3 (out of 5). Using a manual in a parking lot is already fun, but I look forward to driving on the road, whenever that day comes.
It was a day like any other, except that I decided to ride my bike in a new part of Redmond on a whim. When suddenly--
Both the LaFerrari and Monza are one of 500, and worth over one million dollars. They were at Driver's Club, a private car storage clubhouse for collectors without enough garage space. The bottom floor has spaces for over 100 cars, and on the upper floor are a meeting area, kitchen, and restrooms. I immediately added Driver's Club to my route, and I occasionally see some interesting in the parking lot, though nothing as incredible as the first time.
The people who created Driver's Club were alumni of Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering in Riverside, California. They were hosting a presentation by people from the college, but I don't know for who. A friend of mine, who graduated from the college (but not the engineering department) was invited, but knew how much I wanted to see the inside of Driver's Club, so she requested that I go instead of her. They said yes.
After the presentation, everyone was allowed to take a look around. They were mostly Porsches and Ferraris; I've photographed most of their models already, mostly at cars shows. I recognized several cars from Exotics at Redmond Town Center shows.
Here are the highlights:
1933 Horch 780 Sport Cabriolet
Ligier JS P320 (One of eight)
Porsche 962 (1 of 91)
Chevrolet SS and Porsche 968 CS. I've seen both at my school.
Iso Grifo (1 of 412) and Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada (1 of 133)
Ferrari 599 GTO (1 of 599)
Ferrari 458 and 488 Challenge. About 150 of each were built.
Porsche 991 GT2 RS Clubsport (1 of 200)
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione (1 of 500)
Toyota Crown hearse
Honda Motocompo
1988 Mazda 323 GT (1 of 800)
1988 Chevrolet Sprint
1990 Chevrolet Beretta Pace Car Edition. Of the 4,500 built, 1,500 were painted yellow.
Buick Electra Estate Wagon
1991 Dodge Spirit R/T. Of the 1,028 sold in 1991, 434 were painted white.
Dodge Charger (left) and Daytona (right)
1995 Volvo 850 T-5R sedan and wagon
Mitsubishi Starion ESI-R and Chrysler Conquest TSI
1987 Merkur XR4Ti. The owner says that he has seven, three of which are parts cars.
Isuzu Bighorn Irmscher
1997 Mitsuoka Galue
1989 Hyundai Sonata. @fintail this is the one on Craigslist that I showed you earlier! It is the least likely car in the entire show to still exist today.
1990 Geo Prizm GSi hatchback. 593 were sold in 1990 and 237 in 1991 for a total of 830.
1991 Isuzu Stylus (1 of 130 left)
1989 LaForza
1990 Consulier GTP (1 of 83)
See anything in the background you like? Tell me, and I'll share more photos!
I am thrilled that so many people are coming over! I can't wait to jump into this new era! Coincidentally, all of the content that I had planned for DriveTribe works perfectly for Oppo! My posts will be articles about my spots, whether old or new. Have a great day!
Yesterday, on my daily bike ride/carspotting adventure, I came across a 1981 AMC Eagle SX/4 and made sure to stick an OppoCard in the doorhandle.
Thank you to @Taylor-Martin for making them because later that day, @81eagle joined Oppo!
Today, I met him unexpectedly at O'Reilly Auto Parts! It's crazy how he lives in Wyoming, and I've seen him (his car, at least) in Washington three times now. I expected even less that the first person I would meet physically that I first met online would be Oppo's newest member!
Unfortunately, I know very little about AMC Eagles, so we weren't able to have much of a conversation, but it was still great to meet him!
I was invited to a friend's birthday party, and they had the Reptile Man come. I love turtles, but had never gotten to see one in person yet, so I am extremely thankful!
This particular turtle (technically tortoise), enjoys pushing things, and was moving chairs around while the Reptile Man presented other animals.
Lizard
Alligator
All my life, I have been fascinated by things with wheels, and I was particularly interested in cars. Things accelerated when I was seven. I was sitting, bored, in traffic, with nothing to entertain myself with, so I came up with a game--try to remember the names and logos of all the cars around you. Thanks to this game, I quickly picked up on which cars were rare.
One day when I was nine, when we were on a four-lane road, we caught up to a little red two-door hatchback that wasn't very old, so I was surprised that I didn't recognize it or the badging. I did some research when I got home, and found that it was a Daewoo Lanos. If it was just a regular car brand, why hadn't I seen one in over a year, and why would I scarcely see them from then on? My fascination with Daewoo has never faded.
Daewoo Group was founded in South Korea in 1967 by Kim Woo-Choong using a $5,000 loan. Within 20 years, Daewoo was the second-largest Korean conglomerate, and enjoyed $40 billion in global sales. Regular, rapid expansion into various product markets was enabled by the purchase and turnaround of declining businesses.
Kim entered the car industry in 1978 by purchasing 50% of Saehan Motors, who had sold completely knocked down Nissan and Toyota kits since the sixties; the other half was owned by General Motors. In January 1983, Saehan was renamed as Daewoo Motors, and sold rebadged Opels throughout the eighties.
In 1987, Daewoo's version of the Opel Kadett, called the Daewoo LeMans, started to be sold as the Pontiac LeMans in the US. Unfortunately, sales were lackluster, as the car became known for poor quality. After the failure, Kim was convinced that Daewoo Group could build a better car on their own, and purchased GM's half of Daewoo Motor in 1992 for $200 million.
Kim believed that debt was the ideal solution to quick growth. In his autobiography, Every Street is Paved with Gold, he wrote that “If we don’t have technology, we can buy it. If we don’t have money, we can borrow and repay it when we make it.” However, later in life, he admitted, “My big mistake was being too ambitious, especially in autos.”
In hopes to achieve global car development, Kim looked to emerging markets and post-communist states where plenty of automotive market share was available. Second, he set his sights on Western Europe and North America, which meant designing several new cars from scratch and building twelve new factories and two technical centers. However, all of the investing meant that Daewoo would eventually reach $80 billion in debt--during a financial crisis. Kim intended to repay his debt using the profits from product success, so a one-year delay on the US launch caused serious issues. Daewoo only had mediocre sales in Korea and Asia, so they were dependent on a strong US entry to remain afloat.
US sales began in September 1998 with a full lineup--the subcompact Lanos in sedan and three-door hatchback forms, the compact Nubira sedan, wagon, and five-door hatchback, and midsize Leganza sedan. Daewoo distinguished themselves with a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty, salespeople not paid on commission, and no-haggle pricing. They focused on cheaper factory-owned dealerships, but only certain states allowed it, so Daewoo eventually stuck with traditional franchised dealers with commissions. They even tried to lease space at Kmart and Walmart stores to sell as many cars as they could as quickly as possible.
Daewoo's most intriguing attempt at advertising was Daewoo Campus Advisors. Essentially, Daewoo hired several thousand college students nationwide, lent them loaner cars, and urged them to inform friends and family about the new brand. They were even asked to hand out flyers and host test-drive events. As an incentive, Campus Advisors were given an all-expenses-paid trip to Seoul, considerable discounts on new Daewoos, and commissions of up to $500 per car sold.
Although none of the cars were completely redesigned, there were updates along the way. The Nubira received a major refresh for 2000, which included new front and rear ends, and the wagon got new tail lights for 2002. The Lanos received new tail lights for 2001 and a special edition for 2001 only. Called the Lanos Sport, it was fully loaded, came exclusively in red, and equipped a unique body kit and wheels. The Leganza was never facelifted over time.
As Daewoo found customers over the next few years, there was difficulty internally. In early 1998, Kim requested that GM buy them back, but they declined. In late 1999, he fled the country to escape civil and criminal charges he would face due to Daewoo's imminent bankruptcy. The Korean government took over operations of Daewoo Motor as Daewoo Group floundered, and put the automotive division up for sale. GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and Hyundai all showed interest, for Daewoo had an expansive production and sales network, and plenty of growth potential.
GM was eventually chosen as Daewoo Motor's next owner, but while Korean Development Bank, the company handling the sale, wanted debts to be paid, GM wanted to avoid it. After over a year of careful negotiation, GM purchased Daewoo Motor in April 2001 for a good price and evaded hidden debts.
However, GM did not purchase Daewoo's North American dealer network, as it would be pointless to pour money into a brand that competed with Chevrolet. All of the sudden, Daewoo Motor America's 525 dealers were left stranded with thousands of cars to sell without warranties or parts support. Roughly 8,000 jobs would be lost as the dealers gradually closed and Daewoo owners were left on their own.
In total, a little under 170,000 Daewoos were sold, divided almost evenly between each model. Due to rapid depreciation and a lack of parts, Daewoos disappeared quicker than their peers, and are scarce today. Fortunately, several enthusiasts have carefully maintained low-mileage examples, one famous example being a 47-mile 2002 Leganza.
One Daewoo I'm unable to prove having seen is the 1999 Nubira hatchback. The body style, of which I estimate around 200 were sold, was only available for one season in 1998, and the reason why is unknown. Perhaps it was selling significantly worse than the other body styles? I saw one at an airport in Spokane, Washington, in summer of 2018, but was unable to take pictures. I found another in Spokane on the October 2013 Google Maps Street View. Considering the rarity and matching color, I suspect that it's the same car, and it's encouraging that the condition it's in has not changed in five years. I am currently watching AutoTrader and Craigslist for Daewoos for sale, and I'm hoping that it comes up eventually.
Now that GM owned Daewoo, they decided to begin selling American models in Korea and Korean models in America. The Lanos was replaced by the Kalos, which would reach North America as the Chevrolet Aveo. The Nubira was replaced by the Lacetti hatchback and Nubira sedan and wagon; the Lacetti was sold as the Suzuki Reno and the Nubira as the Suzuki Forenza. Finally, the Leganza was replaced by the Magnus, which was sold in the US as the Suzuki Verona.
The Aveo, Reno, and Forenza sold much better than their predecessors, likely thanks to the disguise of established manufacturers, but the Verona flopped. All four were launched in 2004, but while the Reno and Forenza lasted until 2008 and the Aveo until 2011, the Verona only made it to 2006. While they mostly sold well, they were not known for being especially good or reliable. Chevrolet sold 426,845 Aveos, Suzuki sold 182,093 Renos and Forenzas, and just 25,874 Veronas were sold.
Aveo hatchbacks and post-facelift hatchbacks and sedans remain a common sight, but pre-facelift sedans are rather hard to find, and well-kept Aveos are gaining rarity.
Since Suzuki left the US market in 2013, their cars seem to be generally falling into disrepair, and Renos, Forenzas, and Veronas have mostly disappeared.
Possibly the most intriguing Daewoo in disguise was the Pontiac G3, a Kalos-based hatchback available from 2004 to 2009 in Canada, where it sold decently. It was only available in the US in 2009, and just 6,237 were sold there.
GM stopped using the Daewoo name everywhere but Korea in 2004, and in 2011, discontinued the name entirely, rebranding GM Daewoo as GM Korea. When the Daewoo name was still in use, several GM models were engineered in Korea. The second-generation Aveo appeared in 2012, sold in the US as the Sonic. It was joined in 2013 by the smaller Spark, originally launched in 2009 as the Daewoo Matiz Creative. Furthermore, the 2006 Daewoo Winstorm was sold as the Chevrolet Captiva, and the 2009 Daewoo Lacetti Premiere was sold as the Chevrolet Cruze. Finally, the 2011 Chevrolet Orlando replaced the Daewoo Tacuma MPV; neither were sold in the US, though the Orlando was available to Canadians.
Do you own or have owned a Daewoo, whether in disguise or not?
2012 Kia Sedona LX - 2021-present
I started learning to drive in June 2021, and got my license in January 2022. Once I graduate from high school and get a job, Dad will give me the title!
1990-1997
Unfortunately, this is the only image of it with the hardtop installed.
This is a factory color called Bahama Green.
Here's the soft top:
I haven't bothered to screenshot the succeeding 1998-2000 Amigo and 2001-2004 Rodeo Sport in Street View because I've photographed both in person. The original version I have yet to shoot in person.
This example has been owned by the same family since new in 1999.
These potato shots are the best I have, since I last saw one in 2021.
@WhoIsTheLeader I got it because a Buick Century has that same font on the speedometer. And doesn't it stop at 85?
@415s30 I know where three are in West Redmond alone; the one shown and two others I don't know the residences of.
1998 Ford Windstar Northwoods Edition
2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser with immaculate "wood" trim
1987 Audi 5000 CS Quattro. I've posted this one before, but I took the chance for more/better photos.
1988 Toyota Van. I have no picture to prove it, but it had its original radio and a manual transmission.
@Qaaaaa I asked because you said "later Leganza"; there were no updates to the Leganza over time, but the Nubira received a major facelift for MY2000.
@Qaaaaa Camry-sized sedan, or Corolla-sized?
