The Daily Geo

A not-quite daily memorial for some of North America's most easily forgotten cars.

[thedailygeo]

YES THE CAR IS 100% FREE ! NO I DONT WANT YOUR MONEY , NO I CANT JUST TELL YOU WHERE IT WILL BE ! NO ONE GETS AN ADVANTAGE 👌 The car will be parked on a...

You can get this Geo Free in a game this Sunday June 3 taking place in Northwest Indiana. Whoever finds it first will win it. Go to the Facebook link for more details!

[thedailygeo]

An empty lot near my place had a lot of choice 90′s cars piled in it, including this snazzy looking burgundy Geo Prizm

[thedailygeo]

This dude is selling all 4 of these cars, 3 of which are Geos! $12,000, which is a little high in my opinion, but hey, 4 cars!

The Metro convertible has only 30k miles and is a 5 speed manual. The Storm is a high mileage GSi.  The Suzuki X90 (the car on the right) is essentially a Tracker with no back seat and a targa top instead of the soft top. It only has 70k miles and the seller claims it is in excellent condition.

They are located in Richmond, VA

https://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/6125712018.html

[thedailygeo]

This fly 3-cylinder manual transmission 3-axle Geo Metro panel Van is for sale! If you’re located in the Tacoma, Washington area, this can be yours for an asking price of only $1650.

I can only imagine the mindset of the person who built this. But when I do, I get scared.

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/5847612049.html

[thedailygeo]

The full transcript to the 1991 Sizzler promo video

OK, so this has nothing to do with Geos.

I have been obsessed with the 1991 Sizzler promotional video since I first became aware of it a little over a year ago. To my knowledge, nobody has made a shot for shot, word for transcript of it. So I had some extra time this afternoon and decided to do just that. Behold:

[guy throws frisbee to dog, who catches it]

[construction worker looking at plans]

Sung: All across America, the sound of freedom rings

[girl in tree with baseball bat]

The sound is getting strong every day

[Old fisherman and little girl]

It tells us when we listen to the message that it sings

[Man, woman, and red-haired girl on bike]

Let us lift our voices, we can make the choices

[girl hits baseball]

We will make the most of all the best that freedom brings!

[Sizzler sign]

Sizzler is the one that brings us choices

[Sizzler buffet court]

[Young man puts cowboy hat on young woman’s head]

Reachin’ out across the USA!

[older couple jogging]

Each and every day

[Sailor and young woman by harbor]

Get a little freedom in your life!

[Construction worker and woman in pantsuit and hard hat look at plans]

Narrator: All over America, a quiet revolution has been taking place

More and more, both parents are working and raising families.

[Man talking on mobile phone in parking lot]

Life seems to be moving faster than ever

[Black man and girl on carousel]

And Americans have rediscovered are redefining what’s really important in their lives.

They want quality in their personal life

[middle aged man in suit talking]

In their business life

[two young women try on hats]

In the goods they purchase

[Sizzler waitress]

And in the food they eat

They want good basic home cooking

[various shots of food]

Quality food; and they want choices, variety, all at a reasonable price.

Americans want value!

[Various shots of people in Sizzler restaurant]

Sung: Sizzler brings the choices that you’ve been looking for

Giving you the right to choose, we’re offering much more

By holding to traditions, yet changing with the times.

Choices and selections; Choices of directions

Choices that can add a little freedom in your life

Sizzler is the choice of America!

Sizzler gives you choices every day!

That’s the Sizzler way

Get a little freedom in your life!

[Shots of food narrator is describing]

Narrator: Wholesome American cooking

Fresh Fish

A variety of salads

Wonderful hot appetizers

Tantalizing combination platters

[Smiling Sizzler waittress]

All backed with a new kind of courteous friendly service

[Various shots of restaurant, servers, diners, and food]

Sizzler introduces a new kind of dining

with two completely different dining experiences in one restaurant

The Grill, with a variety of distinctive platters served at your table

And the Buffet Court, a whole experience on its own

Where you create delicious combinations just the way you want ‘em

It’s a restaurant within a restaurant

With all the value, quality, and freedom of choice Americans want

It’s unique, it’s bold, it’s ahead of the competition

Sizzler for the 90’s, exactly what America wants!

[man with dog, smiling]

Sung: Sizzler is the choice of America

[Older woman shakes sweat out of her hair]

[Man and woman at Italian bar]

Sizzler gives you choices every day!

[girl on carousel]

That’s the Sizzler way!

[Boy takes bite of watermelon and looks surprised]

Get a little freedom

[Construction worker and hat women quickly shown]

In your….

[Cowboy hat guy shown, Sailor and woman kiss]

Sizzler gets freedom in your…

[Girl with baseball bat celebrates]

Sizzler gets freedom in your life.

[Sizzler waiter and waitress]

[Sizzler logo shown]

Whispered loudly: SIZZLER!

Fresh fish!

[thedailygeo]

A guy on my street sold this Chevy Prizm to a “we buy junk cars” tow truck driver. It had a cooling system problem which I suspect was the thermostat or fan relay. He said he bought it 8 years ago for $2000 and sold it to the wrecker for $300. He said it has 180k miles on it. I hope they fix it and sell it rather than scrap it. I bet the old girl has at least another 50k in her.

[thedailygeo]

I found this nice Metro 5 door parked on the street. It was an automatic which surprised me. The back seat on this guy looks hard as a rock.

[thedailygeo]

This neat sign is going up for sale at the Mecum automobilia auction in Kissimmee, Florida tomorrow. I'll report back with what it sells for.

https://www.mecum.com/lot-detail.cfm?lot_id=FL0115-206031

edit: Jan 19, 2015: It sold for a whopping $50.

[fuckyeahconceptcarz]

1991 Geo Tracker Hugger

[thedailygeo]

Sorry I haven't posted in a few months. This is a Pontiac Firefly wagon. Pontiac dealers in Canada wanted their own version of the Metro and thus the Pontiac Firefly was born. The wagon body style was also Canada-only I believe. This is a good looking example. Kudos to the owner, you can tell he really takes care of it, even taking off the license plate to wash behind it.

[thedailygeo]

I wonder if the original person who cuted this storm up ever wonders where her car is now.

[thedailygeo]

This is a Chevrolet Tracker in use by some government agency in Maryland. By the second generation they had softened the edges of the Tracker and made it more of a mainstream SUV. It was sold in North America from 1999 to 2004. The base engine was a larger updated 4 cylinder from the first generation, but in 2002 to 2004 it was offered with a 2.5L V6 which meant for the first time the Tracker could finally get out of its own way if it absolutely had to.

I don't have much to say about this picture right now. It just makes me think of how occasionally government agencies will use odd or rare mundane cars because they can get a deal on them. Often these cars aren't used that heavily and are in their fleets for a long time.

[thedailygeo]

This is a 1991 Geo Storm "roadster" pace car that was custom built for some boy scout event. The pictures are blurry and poorly lit so I can't quite read what it was for, but considering it's at the Boy Scout Museum at Murray State, I assume it had something to do with the Boy Scouts. I wonder why a boy scout event would need a pace car, let alone a custom built one. Anyway though, it's pretty well done from an overall looks perspective, although it would be pretty impractical as a daily driver with that cover extending over both the back seat and the trunk. The back seat in the Storm coupe was pretty useless, so a convertible would've probably made sense. At least more sense than the Metro convertible did. It's weird that they have a dummy dressed in a boy scout uniform sitting in it - like the visitors to the museum wouldn't know where the person would sit without the dummy there to show them.

Ah, I looked further and it looks like it was used as the pace car of some Celebrity Geo Storm races held at the Trans Am race in Des Moines and the CART IndyCar race in Denver that year. If you're not familiar with celebrity races - they're races sponsored by car companies in which actual celebrities and a few "celebrities" race against each other in econoboxes as a support race for a larger event. The most famous is the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race at the Long Beach Grand Prix. They currently use the Scion tC but before that they used the Toyota Celica for a long time. They usually get some decent actual celebrities for that event. When I went to it in 2009 Alex Trebek was an entrant - everyone yelled "suck it, Trebek" when he drove by. Raven Simone was also one of the drivers. She crashed and a good time was had by all (except her).

At the Detroit Grand Prix when I was a youth there was a Dodge Neon celebrity race which included such celebrities as mayor Dennis Archer and the weather guy on the local ABC affiliate.

I wonder what "celebrities" the race in Des Moines had to offer.

[thedailygeo]

This is a first generation Geo Prizm 5 door hatch. It was only offered in the first generation and there was no Toyota Corolla equivalent. So yeah, it was pretty awesome. I drive a 5 door "notchback" hatch like this but it's a lot newer. There's pretty much always been notchbacks like this, but none seems to really become a breakthrough success - rarely is one continued onto the next generation of a car once it is replaced. It's a shame because I love mine.

Also, on the note of 5 doors - when they stopped making the Chevy Prizm it was replaced at the NUMMI by the Pontiac Vibe, which was based on the Toyota Matrix which was related to the Corolla. I like to think that the Vibe and the Prizm were cousins and that if Geo would have still existed when the Vibe was introduced in 2002, that it would have been a Geo instead. Now, alas, Pontiac is no more either.

[thedailygeo]

Just a quick update. Saw this guy hanging on the wall at the tire place today.

[thedailygeo]

This is a Geo Tracker 2 door soft-top (first generation). The Tracker was a rebadged Suzuki Sidekick (name later changed to Suzuki Vitara for the second generation). The Tracker was often derided as a "cute ute" and while it was arguably cute, and small, and underpowered, it had a real off-road truck architecture and was quite good offroad. The Sidekick's even more utilitarian predecessor, the Suzuki Samurai, is the quintessential off-road vehicle.

The Tracker was also offered in four door hardtop configuration.

While Chevy dealerships had trouble selling other Geos because they occupied the same market space as existing Chevy cars (particularly the Cavalier overlapping with the Storm and Prizm) or because they occupied a market space that was unpopular at the time (the Metro), the Tracker occupied a market space that was booming (SUVs in general) and was not occupied by a competing Chevy as the smallest Chevy SUV, the Blazer, was significantly larger, heavier, and more expensive.

However, the Tracker had 2 big problems - first of all, it was really slow. Secondly, it had a tendency to end up upside-down in accidents due to its high narrow stance and light weight. This was not particularly good, especially considering that 2-door models lacked a roof for 2 of the occupants. The car was consistently rated the least safe car in America by the NHTSA and Insurance Institute and constantly smeared in articles put out by various "consumer watchdog" aka "consumer fearmonger profiteer" groups.

Regardless, the Tracker sold decently and lived on beyond the death of the Geo brand.

[thedailygeo]

This is a Geo Spectrum. It was a rebadged Isuzu I-Mark (sold in Japan as the Isuzu Gemini). It was previously sold as the Chevy Spectrum so this was sort of the first Geo. It was somewhat hurriedly converted into a Geo and as you can see, still has a Chevy bowtie on the grille. It was only sold for one year and was replaced by the Prizm as soon as it was ready, although the Spectrum was a bit smaller than the Prizm, it was bigger than the Metro.

When I was very young my neighbor had a Chevy Spectrum. He was semi-retired and made some sort of part for the GM truck & bus group out of a workroom attached to the back of his house. He wore frequently wore moonboots and wore fingerless gloves when operating the press that he used to assemble the parts. His Chevy Spectrum had deer whistles installed on it.

This Spectrum was listed for sale in North Carolina for $1495 2 years ago. The ad is still up but I'm sure it has either been sold or disposed of by now.