Disappearing 1990s cars

[Arran]

It seems like many cars from the 1990s were once quite common, but are now a rare sight. Examples include:

Vauxhall Carlton
Vauxhall Calibra
Ford Mondeo Mk1
Renault 21
Daewoo Espero - has anybody saved one?
Hyundai S-Coupe
Chrysler Neon - this car could quietly become extinct
Nissan Bluebird - made in Sunderland version
Honda Accord
Any Rover - hardly anybody is saving 1990s Rovers despite them being the last truly British mainstream cars

Any other notable examples?

[George 1978]

It's interesting how 1990s cars still look good now - the 1992 Ford Escort still looks stunning to the eyes, and so does the adverts fir it on YouTube, compared to a 20 year old car from back then.

Cars with registration numbers with the letter prefix at the beginning have seemed to left the road now, and I suppose that the scrapyard is the best place to see them these days. In the early 1990s, I still saw Cortinas and other cars with the letter prefix at the end of the registration number, usually ones towards the end of the alphabet such as W, X and Y.

Amazing how fascinating new cars looked to a 14-15 year old in the 1990s - the Mondeo was the car everyone wanted in 1993 and the Sierra was old hat. The Escort was still up there though.

[Semi42]

Vauxhall nova was the choice of boy racers then .
will probably be worth a fortune in years to come.
seems like the boy racer cars, affordable cars back in the day, go for silly money in the future. Especially the sporty versions xr2, xr3, Mexico , rs , gti, etc

[George 1978]

The Ford Focus was a very fresh design in 1998 & still looks good.

That reminded me of the Ford Probe which looked uncannily like KITT from Knight Rider.

[Arran]

Novas were everywhere in the 1990s and early 2000s. A very popular car for young drivers which explains why very few survive today. Same with Metros.

The Probe was the only Ford that was uncommon.

Large executive cars are getting rare. There's a Y plate BMW E38 7 series at the side of a local scrapyard and it's been there over a year now.

[George 1978]

Were Ford Probes American or Canadian hence the fact that they weren't seen very much in the UK? - they do look American.

Saying that, they were promoted in Britain in the late 1990s, I am sure of it.

[Arran]

The Ford Probe was based on the Mazda GE platform which was also used for the 626 and the MX-6. They were manufactured at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan between 1993 and 1997.

[George 1978]

Speaking of Fords, the Scorpio was based on the Granada wasn't it? - I thought that they were the same car and only the name was different, a bit like what the Orion was to the Escort. I believe that the Granada has gone from our roads and motorways as well since.

[Semi42]

I do look on eBay to see if any of these old cars are up for sale and it’s interesting to see how rare these models are becoming

I always thought of the Granada as the bigger sister of the cortina and the Scorpio being a Granada variant and looking like a bigger Sierra.
I do remember some fairly common but unique looking cars in that era, Citroen BX, Renault Fuego, Saab 900

[Arran]

The (Mk2) Scorpio was manufactured between 1994 and 1998. It replaced the Mk3 Granada which was badged as the (Mk1) Scorpio in mainland Europe. It was discontinued without a replacement in 1998 due to falling sales and the fact that Ford owned both Volvo and Jaguar which provided with large executive cars.

Both cars are now a rare sight.

A friend told me that Professor David Vandelinde, who was the vice chancellor at the University of Bath in the late 1990s, owned a top of the range Ford Scorpio with a leather interior and electric everything back then. He was the only American vice chancellor of a British university!

[80sChav]

It's interesting how 1990s cars still look good now - the 1992 Ford Escort still looks stunning to the eyes, and so does the adverts fir it on YouTube, compared to a 20 year old car from back then.

Cars with registration numbers with the letter prefix at the beginning have seemed to left the road now, and I suppose that the scrapyard is the best place to see them these days. In the early 1990s, I still saw Cortinas and other cars with the letter prefix at the end of the registration number, usually ones towards the end of the alphabet such as W, X and Y.

Amazing how fascinating new cars looked to a 14-15 year old in the 1990s - the Mondeo was the car everyone wanted in 1993 and the Sierra was old hat. The Escort was still up there though.

All great Cars indeed George - sadly Ford seem to be moving away from being the "Working Man's Car" now. They finished Escorts a few years back and Orion's years back, that you see neither on the Road much now and I have heard Fiesta's are on the wain too. Tlking of Mondeo's though - I saw a beautiful 10 year old Mondeo today (a '13 plate) that looked amazing for it's age and certainly would qaulify as an Execs Car!

[Big Tim]

I was stuck in traffic in York last week and spotted one of the first Vauxhall Corsas - which were a real stalwart of the 90's - I actually said to my dad (who was in the passenger seat) how dated they looked now.

Early 90's the "Rover Metro" (which was pretty much the same as the old Austin Metro) were commonplace. Now all disappeared. They were the vehicle of choice for instructors for the "B.S.M. / British School Of Motoring" with the illuminated pyramid on the roof.

A few years back I had a really good Honda Accord (P Reg, 1996) but ended up scrapping it, the motor was absolutely sound with less than 65k on the clock, but everything else was starting to detertiorate. They were pretty much identical builds to the Rover 600/620 just with different badges on the bonnet.

Those miniature vans such as Suxuki Carry / Bedford Rascals (some were converted to tiny motorhomes) were also very much a 90's thing.

[Richard1978]

While it still looks fresh design these days, the numbers of Mk1 Ford Focus has started thin out, with some scruffy examples around, though I did see a smart looking T reg saloon today. It was probably a one careful owner example.

Mk4 Vauxhall Astras are going the same way, being the same age, but not such a fresh design.

The Vauxhall Zafiras & some other mini-MPVs seem to survive well, I guess because they are popular with large families.

[culnara]

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/