The '88 M3 drove you all to frothing-at-the-mouth levels of indignation over just what a first-gen M3 was, much less what it was worth. Despite the healthy discourse over the merits of the E30-based super-de-duper coupe, the $39,000 asking price was still deemed a crack attack by 83% of you.

Now that that mystery has been solved, let's take on another, which may require a quartet of teens and horse-sized dog to unravel- that of the Rot-Rod Miata.

By now, most everyone is familiar with the main characters and typical plotlines of the Scobby Doo Mysteries: muscle-man Fred; smokin' hot Daphne; filthy pot-head Shaggy; and plain but smart Velma, roll around the country in their shag-carpeted sin-bin, the Mystery Machine. Along the way they get mixed up in odd goings on and eventually foil the plans of disgruntled employees, ne'er do well siblings and corrupt land developers. Keeping them company is Scooby doo, their talking great dane.

Today's mystery machine is a 1995 Mazda Miata that has gone full goth. The seller calls it a Rot Rod meaning Rat Rod, but the Scooby infused pronunciation is more fitting for this little Japanese sportscar. The body has been given a matte black paint job that's darker than the lyrics to a Bauhaus dirge. Skulls adorn the mirrors, windblocker and windows, and the air inlets in the nose look like fangs. Hugging the asphalt like Morticia Addams' skirt is a ground effects package, also in the key of strife.

Typically, when you wipe off their makeup and unstrap them from their combat boots and NIN tee shirts, Goths turn out to be just regular folks, only angrier and more sardonic. This Miata is much the same, as underneath the skulls and sorrow lurks a standard 1.8-litre Mazda DOHC four, the slick 5-speed manual, butt-thumper seats and easy to erect top. No mystery there.

Unsolved goes the impetus for its creation, however. A more typical canvas for this kind of treatment would have been a '59 Lincoln, or not owning a car at all. And while that riddle may have been too tough for even Velma, the question of how much it costs is one even Shaggy could deduce- $6,000.

Now it's up to you to solve the mystery of the $6,000 Gothiata. Is that a price that makes you say Jinkies? Or, will your response cause the seller to claim he would have gotten away with it if not for those meddling Jalopniks?

You decide!

eBay or go here if the ad disappears. A tip of the helmet to BZR for finding this!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

In a speech to the Motor Press Guild yesterday, Robert Davis, senior vice president of product development for Mazda NorAm says they plan to cut the weight in a way Tommy LaSorda can't, by using lighter-weight materials like aluminum and higher-strength steel, smaller vehicle footprints and new engineering processes. Davis claims that reducing curb weight by a man-sized amount will help to improve fuel economy by 3-5%. Also, to make sure the MX-5 will still be able to fit in the Miata's old dresses for the 25th Anniversary reunion in 2014. [via Automotive News]

Most of the concepts have pretty regular wacky shapes and smart grid communications features the futurists are always in love with, of course they're all "green" and electric, but one in particular made us shake our heads. Whoever came up with the "GM Car Hero" needs a very stern talking to.

Not only is this Miata equipped with a turbocharged rotary mill (Renesis we're told, but we couldn't get the hood up to confirm) but it also has a beautiful carbon fiber fastback kit along with a questionably necessary widebody setup and wing. Looks cool if you're into that kind of thing. We just want some turbocharged rotary wickedness in Miata action.

Joe Eaton of Rumblenote in Slate presents the following rationale for sports car ownership: it costs much less both in financial and environmental terms to commute with public transportation during the working week then drive on the weekends for fun in a car built just for that. Here’s how the author describes his escape from the travails of daily automotive commuting:

In spring 2007, my wife and I sold our Volvo and committed to public transportation. Since then, it’s been no traffic jams, no mechanics, no gasoline, and no insurance bills. With the money we saved, I started a “hot rod” bank account dedicated to making driving fun. Public transportation is paying for my Porsche.

Eaton echoes a James May column from last week published in The Telegraph, where the Top Gear presenter argues that cars as we know them will inevitably cease to exist as tools for going to places and the only form of the car to survive will be the sports car, purchased and driven purely for enjoyment. Of course he then proceeds to live his argument and go shopping for a used Ferrari.

While the Eaton-May solution is not an option for those of you living in the suburbs of the typical American city with no public transportation to speak of, it is increasingly a viable stragety for those of us who either live in cities or in European-style suburbs with rail links to city centers. And if any of this will contribute to killing off boring cars in favor of interesting cars then it is a very happy development indeed.

Read a good book on the train—then drive that 911 like you stole it. Or that Superlight Miata. You get the idea.

Source: Slate

Photo Credit: mugley/Flickr

Held at Connecticut's Lime Rock Park, I drove the Mazda MX-5 Cup Racecar over the Formula 2000 car in the hope that it'd be more relevant to the Jaguar XFR sedan I'll be driving in the race — both were sorta owned by Ford, so I figured it couldn't hurt. As an added bonus, completing the course qualifies me to race MX-5s in the Skip Barber Mazdaspeed challenge.

The advanced two day program is designed for students who've already completed the three-day fundamentals of racing course and is much more lap-intensive than that initial program. I've completed a few other racing and advanced driving courses at other schools, but going into this, hadn't had any experience with Skip Barber.

The largest racing school in the world, Skip Barber visits 22 tracks in this country and is widely reputed to be the last word in driver training. The school's namesake and founder is one of only a handful of Americans to drive in Formula One and essentially invented the idea that driving could be coached, just like more traditional sports. The school was founded in 1975.

I was largely skeptical of the Skip Barber hype going into this-after all, how different could driving schools be?-but quickly found myself in a little over my head with classmates who were already up to a pretty good speed; two straight from the three-day course and one who'd already done this advanced course seven times this year.

One big advantage the other students had over me was confidence in braking while turning, something that none of the other schools I've attended have taught. Traveling flat out in fifth down the main straight, you turn into Lime Rock's turn 1 very, very late while braking and downshifting into 4th gear, then turning harder and shifting down to 3rd. The theory behind this makes total sense-just like accelerating, you can brake while turning in an inverse relationship to how far the wheel is turned-but after having "brake in a straight line" drilled into me over and over elsewhere it took a certain leap of faith to trust the car wouldn't spin, even if the classroom sessions explained clearly why it wouldn't.

Luckily, there were only three other students driving MX-5s and more instructors than students, so they had ample time to browbeat encourage me to pick up my pace. My lead instructor was Bruce MacInnes, widely considered the leading driving instructor in the country, his former students include Tom Cruise and Paul Newman. Positioned around the track during lapping sessions, they provide instantaneous feedback via radio and detailed analysis immediately following each session. Other instructors take to the track with the students, demonstrating how to apply the improvements that are being suggested. It's a system of continuous, individual feedback that's broken down corner by corner and delivered in a few different ways. I'm typically a slow learner (in addition to just being slow), but I found myself able to implement their lessons on the next lap, probably because their analysis was so clear and immediate. As a result, I felt myself improving lap after lap, throughout both days.

The cars we were driving weren't just plain Mazda MX-5s, but Cup Racecars. Over the standard vehicle, they add a $5500 Mazda racing package that includes a new intake and exhaust, boosting power from 167 to 200 HP. There's also remote reservoir Eibach dampers, considerably stiffer Eibach springs, solid antiroll bars, racing brake pads and 225/45WR-17 tires. The cars are also stripped of their interiors and soft tops, have a full cage welded in and you sit in racing buckets with five-point harnesses facing a removable wheel. The whole thing weighs just 2,600 Lbs. In short, it's a real race car with much improved throttle response, steering and outright grip. It's an extremely neutral car that'll understeer if you push it too fast into corners and let you tighten your line if you lift the throttle, making it near perfect to learn on. I just wish the Jaguar was going to half as adjustable on the limit.

In addition to the high instructor-to-student ratio, large amounts of lapping and the excellent instruction, the other thing that makes Skip Barber unique is that they treat their students like responsible adults rather than reckless children. Where most schools ban passing or even close driving, these guys encourage it and teach you how to drive competitively, safely. As long as you demonstrate responsibility, you're free to overtake other students or even instructors. The method they teach you for overtaking is also novel in its safety and efficacy, involving intercepting the racing line from the inside, then holding it against your opponent. No need to out brake anyone. The first time you try it you'll be amazed at how well it works; I can't wait to try it on an unsuspecting victim, it's just a shame that the CTS-V Challenge is time trial format or that victim would be Bob Lutz.

Like other Skip Barber courses, the two day advanced is anything but cheap at $3,500, but unlike purchasing a faster car or tuning your engine, that's an investment that's virtually guaranteed to make you a much better, much faster driver. Now that I've completed it, I am too and I'm going to kick Bob Lutz's ass.

Next-generation, clean diesel Mazda SKY-D engine

Mazda's new SKY-D clean diesel engine boasts high fuel economy and output performance as well as low emissions. The newly designed engine block reduces mechanical friction to the level of a petrol engine. By optimising the pressure and temperature in the cylinders, the shape of combustion chambers, and the fuel injection rate, combustion begins at the best timing in terms of thermal efficiency. Specifically, by employing piezo injectors, a two-stage turbocharger and other technologies, fuel economy becomes approximately 20 percent better than the current 2.2-litre diesel engine. With this engine, Mazda has achieved fuel economy equivalent to the current Mazda2 (Demio in Japan) in a larger vehicle the size of a Mazda6 (Atenza in Japan).

Next-generation, direct-injection Mazda SKY-G petrol engine

Mazda SKY-G is a next-generation, direct-injection petrol engine with significantly improved fuel economy and output performance due to enhanced thermal efficiency. The engine block is newly designed to reduce mechanical friction and achieve an optimal air-fuel mix, and a direct fuel-injection system is employed for the wide variety of spray profiles that are possible, enabling the maximum expansion ratio to be achieved. Specifically, fuel economy and torque are improved by approximately 15 percent compared to Mazda's current 2.0-litre engine. This was achieved by adopting next-generation fuel injectors and a highly functional variable-valve timing mechanism. The engine enables fuel economy equivalent to the current Mazda2 (Demio in Japan) to be achieved in a larger vehicle the size of a Mazda3 (Axela in Japan).

Next-generation Mazda SKY-Drive automatic transmission

Mazda's next-generation SKY-Drive automatic transmission is highly efficient, contributes to substantially improved fuel economy and delivers a more direct feel compared with the current unit. It improves fuel economy by approximately five percent, due to a complete redesign that significantly reduces mechanical friction, a revised torque converter and clutch with minimised slip, and an optimised lock-up mechanism. A rapid clutch action was achieved by identifying the minimum amount of fluid necessary. This also helped to realise a direct feel similar to a dual clutch transmission.

We've got babes eating flowers, elephants climbing onto flatbed trucks, Patsy Cline singing, and James Garner!
When you're done here, you might enjoy our favorite Datsun ads, then continue with our top Toyota, Renault, General Motors, British Leyland, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, Honda, Citroën, AMC/Jeep, Mercedes-Benz/Porsche/BMW, and Chevrolet ads.

1978 GLC	1983 Cosmo Big Run	1988 929
Bongo Multivan	Titan	1989 RX-7
1980 RX-7	1980 Cosmo	1967 Cosmo Sport

Yes, everything was going just fine for this veteran LeMons team… until those pesky wheel studs decided they'd had enough. Fortunately, the driver walked away from the wreck, and the team was kind enough to donate their car as a substitute for the last-second-pardoned People's Curse winner. This is why LeMons racing requires those "overkill" roll cages and Snell SA2000 helmets.


And here's what it looked like from outside the car:

Yeah, there's nothing like hearing a dude with his blood type embroidered on his racing suit telling the LeMons Supreme Court why he deserves a medal for spinning out and totally averting a deadly 50-car pile-up! Granted, the Spec Miata guys aren't as difficult as the Spec E30 guys, but it's still satisfying to see that they're hooning it up just as badly at SCCA events as they are with us. Thanks to TheEastBayKid for the tip!

The latest Miata concept strips down to the bare essentials: light weight materials, modest horsepower and mind-blowing style. The Superlight strips out pretty much everything that doesn't make the car go, turn or stop; no windshield, no top, no carpet, no nothing, only the fun stuff. Because of the lighter weight it can make do with the non-US 1.8-liter four-cylinder with 126 HP and five speed manual which is lighter than the power pack we get in the US anyway. The car tips the scales at 2,193 lbs, which ain't no spring chicken compared to a stripped out NA, but it's certainly a fair bit safer and just as capable.

Yes, the White Lightning Mazda RX-7 took the overall win by two laps over the Lightning McQueen Volkswagen Jetta, just hours after being spared the People's Curse. We're busy packing up the LeMons circus right now, but I'll try to get some more posts done once things calm down. Congratulations, White Lightning!

Not only that, the second-place Lightning McQueen Jetta got the second-most Curse votes. Now, the People's Curse really is a democracy, so the Mazda was going to get destroyed... unless the people could be persuaded to issue a pardon to the super-clean-driving, not-very-cheaty (and perhaps even totally legit) RX-7.

So, LeMons Chief Perp Jay Lamm appealed to the crowd for mercy on the wrongly accused White Lightning car, and the thumbs-up votes overwhelmed the highly vocal thumbs-down faction. Of course, some car needs to get crushed, and we had three volunteers: the Torqueless Rotards RX-7 (which flipped over yesterday), a head-gasket-challenged BMW E30, and a bedless Ford Ranger.

So White Lightning is back out on the track, and the Lightning McQueen Jetta is a couple laps back. When will the VW make its move? Will the Molde Carlo Chevy get past both? We'll find out!

Yes, the White Lightning Sawzall-convertible 1986 Mazda RX-7 (that's a photograph from the LeMons South Spring '09 race, since I haven't had time to shoot many photos today) is the current race leader. The team captain owns a rotary Mazda shop, and we've always been real suspicious of this car... but it's either totally legit or we're dealing with a South Carolinian Smokey Yunick here. Probably the latter, but ya never know, ya know?

The Torqueless Rotards RX-7 was doing pretty well... until it became a three-wheeler. The driver was fine, thanks to the magic of roll cage bars and seat harnesses, but the car is pretty much through. The driver thought that another car must have hit him, since the impact was so hard and unexpected, but the in-car video camera on the Our Lady Of Perpetual Downforce Civic let Chief Perp Lamm know that he'd need to invoke the "Why Am I On My Roof" penalty this time.

So Mazda decided to blow our minds by transforming the fun Mazda Miata into an awesome, purpose-built, speedster in the form of the MX-5 Superlight Concept. It'll debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and when it does, it'll show off one of the purest interpretations of the car in the nameplate's history. What takes the Superlight from "pretty neat" to "spectacularly unbelievable" is the detailing. Instead of just taking bits off, it's what Mazda added in terms of attention to detail which makes it so cool. The roll hoops have integrated high mount brake lights. The carbon fiber dash elements hold real toggle switches — even the shift knob's been sliced down to reduce weight but boasts better styling. Forget the other supercars debuting at Frankfurt, we want the Miata. Be sure to check out the massive 54 image gallery and until we get complete details, satisfy yourself with the bare specs:

Technical Specifications

* Body Type : Roadster Monocoque
* Seating capacity: 2
*
External Dimensions
o Overall length: 4,020 mm
o Overall width: 1,720 mm
o Overall height (unloaded): 1,110 mm
o Wheelbase: 2,330 mm
o Track (front/rear): 1,540/1,545 mm
o Ground clearance: 106 mm
* Engine: MZR 1.8-litre petrol
* Max. power: 126 PS (93 kW) at 6,500 rpm
* Max. torque: 167 Nm at 4,500 rpm
* Transmission: 5-speed manual
* Front/rear suspension: Double wishbone/Multi-link
* Damper (front/rear): Bilstein® monotube
* Tyre size: 205/45 R17
* Brake type (front/rear): Ventilated discs/Solid discs
* Brake diameter (front/rear): 300/280 mm
* Acceleration 0-100 km/h: 8,9 s
* Fuel consumption (combined): 6,3 l/100km
* CO2 emissions (combined): 150 g/km
* Min. kerb weight (without driver): 995 kg

Interior space, ambiance, amenities, and a certain je ne sais quoi are all necessary when choosing an automotive boudoir. If we're honest, it's often a matter of any port in a storm, but if it's possible to avoid any of these, you should certainly do so.

Car: Toyota Prius

Why it's bad for sex: Let's just get this right out of the way and acknowledge that no one wants to have sex in a Prius. First of all, it's tough to get your swerve on in such an uninspiring object, something that's more consumer good than car. Second, you risk bringing a new life into the world, which will certainly be a waste of precious resources. Third, if you're a Prius owner, the idea of a car being fun is completely alien to you so you have your 20 minutes of lights-off missionary-position relations in the futon like a proper citizen anyway.

Photo: Flickr

Car: Chevrolet Aveo

Why it's bad for sex: Sex is just one of many things you should never attempt with the poor, misbegotten Aveo, including driving it, walking up to it or getting in it. But especially not sex. There's enough room, barely, if you're young, short, and athletic, but men have paid good money for drugs that give them the same hardness as the interior surfaces of this car. The resulting conjugal bruises will get you the wrong kind of reputation .

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Mazda Miata

Why it's bad for sex: While we love this car unreservedly, we are-like 98% of people-not exhibitionists, and to have any sort of workable sex in this car the top would have to be down. Also, much like 100% of people, we don't like our coitus to get interruptus by a power hardtop suddenly coming down on us because a flailing knee or elbow hit the switch.

Photo: Picasa

Car: Scion TC

Why it's bad for sex: While this cheap coupe is, or will be, the first car of a lot of eager young folks in an exploratory phase of their lives, we urge them to bring a blanket and find a wooded area. The TC is not so much a car as a platform for interior accessorizing, and getting into youthful carnal hijinks in this thing means you run a risk of getting something stuck in your illuminated cupholder. Buying a faux-billet LED-lit shift knob is one sort of loss of dignity; having a gloved proctologist hand it back to you in front of the entire ER is another.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Chevrolet Camaro

Why it's bad for sex: Traditionally, the two of you jump into the back seat of your two-door muscle coupe and proceed to put some sneaker prints on the headliner. However, just sitting in the back of the current Camaro will imprint the top of your head into the current headliner. And the front seats just don't recline enough or give enough leg room for advanced physical-intimacy contingencies. This is probably the only category of the contemporary muscle-car wars the Challenger wins going do- er, away.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Maybach 62

Why it's bad for sex: Because one's sex life is none of one's chauffer's business. Why, the very idea.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Mini (any)

Why it's bad for sex: Owners report that repeated heavy jolts can damage the rear shock mounts, resulting in reduced handling performance and a dramatic drop in ride quality, especially in early models. Also, even in a Clubman, there's no damn room in the thing.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Ariel Atom

Why it's bad for sex: Although a certain type of person might look at the Atom and notice the abundance of tie-down points, the multiple partner-handcuffing options, and the overall masochistic glory of this incredibly capable track car, it is in fact $65,000. For that price, you could afford any number of studded-leather bedsteads with enough left over for chains and whips.

Photo: candidcarcritic.com

Car: Smart ForTwo

Why it's bad for sex: Seriously, AskMen actually recommended this car, albeit in cabrio form. If you're more into achievement than enjoyment this could work, but in that case you'll probably have sex anywhere and everywhere anyway and don't need any sort of list to tell you. I mean, we're into bragging rights as much as the next person, but not bragging for bragging's sake, and sexually speaking the Smart hardly has enough room ForOne.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Dodge Caliber

Why it's bad for sex: Because it's just plain bad. The Caliber may, in fact, be the worst all-around car made today, and the idea of having sex in one has the same emotional resonance as having sex in a FEMA trailer or a Goodwill dumpster. Getting past the fact it's uncomfortable and it's not as roomy as it should be for a wagon/crossover/compromise-mobile, the Caliber is just kind of depressing. And if word gets out, you'll always be "the person who had sex with [other loser] in a Dodge Caliber," meaning you probably won't ever have sex again.

Photo: Wikipedia

Even 20 years is a long, long time in automotive-design years, and so we've established that as the cutoff for this list. We're not talking about model names that have been around forever (e.g., Crown Victoria, Century, Bluebird), but a particular chassis/generation of a car that remained fundamentally unchanged over its lifespan. We're not including light trucks, mostly because it's damn near impossible to sort out Soviet military stuff. Obviously, a lot of quasi-arbitrary judgment calls had to be made with some of the candidates- does a different engine or totally restyled body make for a distinct vehicle?- and so we're confident that we've provided something to enrage every one of you, be it a car that totally qualified that we blew off or a totally undeserving car that we sneaked into the list. For example, were there differences between the first few generations of the Ford Fiesta sufficient to make that car ineligible for this list? We said yes, which Fiesta zealots will no doubt consider to be fatwa-grade heresy. In any case, we've probably made some mistakes, and we've definitely missed some cars that belonged on the list. Fire away with the hate mail, by all means!

Things get somewhat sticky when it comes to Fiats built outside of Italy. We think the Polski Fiat 125p shouldn't get lumped in with either the Fiat 125 or the Fiat 1300/1500, it being a cost-cutting mashup of the two, so we're giving this 24-year veteran its own place of honor in the Jalopnik Cars Of Immortality Hall Of Fame. Likewise, by the time VAZ got around to the VAZ-2107 (aka Lada Riva), its design had diverged sufficiently from its Fiat 124 ancestry that we consider it and the 124 to be separate cars. You 124 fanatics don't need to fret about that outrage, though- thanks to production in India and Egypt, the 124 doesn't need the later Ladas to nail down 31 years.

You may have noted the conspicuous shortage of American machinery in this list; other than the first-gen Ford Falcon (built in Argentina until the 1990s) and the Checker Marathon, there were no easy calls to be made for American manufacturers. We've included the rear-wheel-drive GM T Body, because of the bewildering swarm of Kadetts, Chevettes, I-Marks, and low-production South American clones that flew forth from that design; we're saying 21 years for the T, and you're free to argue your guts out about it. How about the GM B platform, which stayed in service from the '61 Buick Invicta to the '96 Chevy Caprice? The General performed nearly half a dozen major redesigns of the B platform over the decades, and not enough components interchange between one B generation and the next for it to be considered the same car for 20 solid years. Same goes for the Ford Panther platform (1979-present) and the hordes of Chrysler K derivatives (eternity). The Model T was only made for 19 years, so it doesn't make the list (unless someone can dig up some proof that it was being bootlegged in the Maldives), nor does the Willys Aero, even with all those years of production in Brazil. What really broke our hearts was the Rambler American/Renault Torino, which almost made the list at 18 years of production in Wisconsin and Argentina (we were looking for loopholes to prove that the '64 Rambler American was actually a cosmetic facelift of an earlier version, but no dice).

This project got really challenging when we got to Chinese-built versions of Japanese and Korean cars. The line between "facelifted license-built copy" and "based on heavily modified chassis design" gets increasingly blurry in China, and most likely we've overlooked a couple of 20+ year Chinese versions of Mazdas or Suzukis. Chinese Volkswagens were a lot easier to figure out, but how about Malaysian Mitsubishi clones- or are they clones?- sold in China? Ai-ya!

Here we go, fifty cars that were built for 20 years or longer, as close as we could get to the right order:

Volkswagen Type 1
65 years (1938-2003)
The Beetle was built in Germany from 1938 through 1980, which would have put it in second place on our list, behind the Mini but just in front of the 2CV. However, production in Brazil (1950-1996) and Mexico (1955-2003) gives the little Ferdinand Porsche-designed ass-engine air-cooler a whopping 22-year-edge over the Mini.

Morris Oxford / Hindustan Ambassador
55 years (1954-present)
The case could be made that the previous generation of the Oxford, which debuted in 1948, was similar enough to the '54 that the Oxford/Ambassador deserves 61 years instead of 55. However, the Amby is still being made! That means the much-beloved little Indian car has a shot at catching the Beetle. Engines have come and gone (the '09 Amby has Isuzu power), but the essential Oxford-ness of the car remains.

Austin Mini
43 years (1957-2000)
An Old Mini with airbags? Yes, the car that started the front-wheel-drive/hatchback revolution managed to stay relevant into the current century. Park one of these next to one of those BMW-built imitators and you'll see what a small car really looks like!

Citroën 2CV
41 years (1949-1990)
How much power does a car really need? Ask a Citroën engineer in the late 40s and he'd tell you: nine horsepower! Later models had nearly four times that, with 33 horses being the max from the factory. Of course, some had a little more than that when they went racing. Nearly four million were made.

Fiat 128 / Zastava Skala / Nasr 128 / SEAT 128
40 years (1969-present)
How many versions of the groundbreaking front-driver 128 are out there? Why, even Enzo Ferrari drove one! In addition to being a huge hit in Europe, where it was built until 1985, Zastava continues to build 128s (branded as the Zastava 55) to this day; as of last year, you could still get an Egyptian-made Nasr 128.

Austin FX4
39 years (1958-1997)
We can't include the Checker Marathon in this list without also including the most iconic of the old London Black Cabs. The FX4 was built by different manufacturers over the years and went through quite a few engines, but it remained essentially the same vehicle. Two Austins in the Top Ten!
Image source

Fiat 1100 / Premier Padmini
38 years (1962-2000)
Clearly, the key to getting your car built for a few extra decades is to make Indian buyers love it. As the Fiat 1100, this car was done in Italy by 1969, but India's Premier Automobiles Limited kept on making the 1100 (badged as the Padmini) until 2000.
Image source

Hillman Hunter / Iran Khodro Paykan
37 years (1967-2004)
Hey, Rootes Group machinery survived into the 21st century! The Paykan got Peugeot power eventually, but it remained a Hillman at heart. Paykan production equipment was sold to a Sudanese company a few years back, though we've had no news so far of any gleaming new Paykans being built there. Wait a couple of decades and we may see the Paykan hang in there to beat the Beetle's longevity record!
Image source

Peugeot 504
37 years (1968-2005)
The 504 was built for 15 years in France, then continued production in Argentina until 1999. Africans still loved the 504 after that, with production continuing in Kenya (2004) and Nigeria (2005). Don't be shocked if someone starts building the 504 once again.

Renault 12 / Dacia 1300
37 years (1969-2006)
The 12 was yet another Renault success story, with production on five continents and millions sold. The last Renault-branded 12 was built in Turkey in 1999, but Romanian automaker Dacia made the 12-clone Dacia 1300/1310 until just a few years ago.
Image source

Fiat 131 / SEAT 131 / Tofaş Murat 131
35 years (1974-present)
Also known as the Brava and Mirafiori, the 131 had ten years of Italian production, then lived on in Spain, Turkey, and now Ethiopia.
Image source

Volkswagen Golf Mk1
35 years (1974-present)
Yes, you can still buy the first version of the biggest-selling VW car since the air-cooled Beetle! South Africans love the Mk1 Golf so much that they've been making them since 1974.

Renault 4
33 years (1961-1994)
Usually, a Renault made for more than 30 years indicates that some Warsaw Pact nation built it under license for a couple of decades past the point of relevance in the home market. Not so with the 4! Intended as competition for the hugely successful Citroën 2CV, the Renault 4 outlived its rival by four years.
Image source

Moskvitch 408/412
33 years (1964-1997)
You'll have to pick up the definitive guide to Soviet cars to get the whole Moskvitch 408 story, but here's one fun fact: when the hard-currency-strapped Soviet Union started importing Moskvitches to the UK, the price tag for this fairly substantial car was £22 less than the tiny Mini. Including cars made by the Izhevsk Mechanical Works, the 408/412 stayed in production until the late 1990s.

Ford Falcon (first generation)
31 years (1960-1991)
Imagine going to a Ford dealership and having a choice between a new Sierra XR4i and a new '62 Falcon. That's how it went down in Argentina, where facelifted but still recognizable first-generation Falcons were made until 1991. You could even get a diesel Falcon! We're just disappointed that Ford Of Argentina didn't keep building the '69 Fairlane fastback into the 1990s.

Peugeot 404
31 years (1960-1991)
Kenyan production kept the 404 (car of choice for Ho Chi Minh) going for extra decades.
Image Source

Fiat 124 / VAZ-2101 Lada / SEAT 124 / Tofaş Murat 124 / Premier 118NE
31 years (1966-1984, 1986-2001)
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Renault 5 / SAIPA Sepand
30 years (1972-2000)
We North Americans knew the 5 as the Le Car; we missed out on the goofy European 5 ads but we did get some cheezy ones of our own. European production halted in 1996, when the last Slovenian 5 left the assembly line, but Iranian carmaker SAIPA made the 5 (badged as the Sepand) until 2000.
Image source

Vauxhall Victor FE / Hindustan Contessa
30 years (1972-2002)
We could probably stretch the ancestry of the Contessa back another couple of generations of Vauxhall Victors, but 30 years is pretty good. Do the owners of Contessas, with their early-70s British styling, look down on the Ambassador drivers stuck with 40s British design?
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Fiat 126 / Polski Fiat 126p
28 years (1972-2000)
The original Italian-built 126 made it to 1980, but fortunate Polish buyers could get the Polski Fiat version for another 20 years.
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Zastava Koral / Yugo
28 years (1980-2008)
Is this car really a Fiat 128? We think the Koral (aka Yugo) differs enough from its progenitor, and has sufficient history of its own, to merit its own entry in our all-time survivors' list.

Volkswagen Passat Mk2 / Santana
28 years (1981-present)
Is the Mk2 Passat close enough to the Mk1 to move the start date back to 1973? We say it's not. As long as the Chinese keep building Santanas, however, the second-gen Passat will keep moving up in the ranks.

Alfa Romeo Spider
27 years (1966-1993)
Will Alfa freaks be proud that this design stayed in front-line service for so long, or splutter about the changes that "modernized" their car over the years?

GAZ-3102 Volga
27 years (1982-present)
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VAZ-2107 / Lada Riva
27 years (1982-present)
We'll be seeing one of these at the 24 Hours Of LeMons next month!
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Checker Marathon
26 years (1956-1982)
Many different engines, but the Marathon stayed the same.

Mitsubishi Lancer (3rd gen) / Proton Saga
25 years (1983-2008)
How much of the Lancer Fiore remains in today's Saga? Nearly all of it, apparently. Note: the image depicts the non-Lancer-based '09 Saga.
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Daihatsu Charade / FAW Xiali TJ7101
26 years (1983-present)
See how much useful information you can extract from the FAW website about this fine automobile, then let us know if we were totally wrong in assuming that it's still a Charade.
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Fiat Uno
26 years (1983-present)
The Uno was made all over the world, but Brazil is the last Uno holdout, building sedan and wagon versions.
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Porsche 911
25 years (1964-1989)
Was the 911 essentially the same car until the 964 version? Quite a tough call; if we exclude the 911 from the list, we'll be fending off a rain of Molotov cocktails from enraged Porsche fanatics who feel left out. Including it will make many of those same fanatics mail us some Unabomber-style packages, since we're implying that the 911 hasn't always been at the very leading edge of performance-car technology. We decided that sufficient parts interchange between '64 and '89 models to get the 911 on this list.

Fiat 127
25 years (1971-1996)
The Argentinean version of the 127-based Fiat 147 wagon continued until 1996, 16 years after Fiat stopped building the car in Italy.
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Lada Samara
25 years (1984-present)
There's no Fiat content in the all-Russian Samara, and you can still buy yourself one! After the end of the Soviet Union, the Samara got some pretty entertaining commercials.

Volkswagen Jetta Mk 2
25 years (1984-present)
You can still buy the second-gen Jetta in China, where the car is badged as the Jetta King.

Polski Fiat 125p
24 years (1967-1991)
Not really a Fiat 125 (the suspension is from the 1300), we say the 125p is a separate model.
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FSO Polonez
24 years (1978-2002)
It's a Polski Fiat 125p under the skin, but we think the Giorgetto Giugiaro body and variety of engine choices make it a different car.
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Jaguar XJ6 Mk1
24 years (1968-1992)
The original XJ6 was just so good that no major redesigns were needed for those 24 years.

Citroën Traction-Avant
23 years (1934-1957)
The oldest car on this list, the Traction-Avant was so far ahead of its time in the 1930s that it stayed relevant into the Jet Age.

Morris Minor
23 years (1948-1971)

ZAZ-968 Zaporozhets
22 years (1972-1994)
Depending on how you interpret model changes and upgrades, the air-cooled "Soviet Corvair" might qualify for moving up in the ranks of this list... or being dropped from it. Try not to roll it over, comrades!
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Tatra 613
22 years (1974-1996)
Hooray, a Tatra made the list!
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Mazda 121 / Kia Pride / Saipa Pride / Ford Festiva
22 years (1987-present)
Talk about your confusing cascade of captive imports and badge engineering! We're pretty sure that some variety of this car has been in production since 1987.

Peugeot 405
22 years (1987-present)
Peugeot stopped making the 405 in France in 1997, but Iran Khodro continues to build them to this day.

Citroën DS
21 years (1955-1976)
Another example of a car so ahead of its time that Citroën could keep selling it for decades. Too bad the Goddess was so complex; otherwise someone would still be building the DS.

Austin-Healey Sprite / MG Midget
21 years (1958-1979)
Not much about the Spridget changed over its lifetime, other than the addition of big black plastic bumpers and the subtraction of horsepower. Oh, sure, the bug eyes disappeared early on and a few nods to modern technology (e.g., disc brakes) were slapped on, but overall we're dealing with a car that was obsolete from day one and stayed that way throughout its production run (as a Sprite owner, I'm allowed to say such things).

General Motors T Body (RWD)
21 years (1973-1994)
The Chevette, the Acadian, the Kadett C, the Gemini, the I-Mark, the Bird, the Chevanne... the list of cars that The General and his allies built on the rear-wheel-drive T platform goes on and on. Hell, maybe someone is still building the T; our eyes started glazing over after a couple hours of research.

VAZ-1111 Oka
21 years (1988-present)
The Oka appears to have the honor of Most Horrible Economy Car In The World nailed down, but it still sells pretty well in the former Soviet Union.
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Zastava Florida / Nasr Florida
21 years (1988-present)
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Fiat 500 (original)
20 years (1957-1977)
Would you believe that Fiat built the iconic Cinquecento until 1977?
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Saab 99/900
26 years (1968-1994)
As MrB00st and 900pilot have pointed out, the 900 was essentially a lengthened 99, and the 900 went to a new platform in '94. So, 26 years instead of 20.

Suzuki Cultus Gen 2 / Geo Metro / Holden Barina/ etc
20 years (1989-present)
Also known as the Suzuki Swift, this car probably holds the record for most bewildering sequence of model names and licensing deals.

Yesterday, you all thought that fat wasn't phat, and gave the rolly-polly Pacer a stinging 83% Crack Pipe rebuke for its $7,000 price tag. Today, we've got another orange car to contemplate. It's transplant Friday, and we're going to crack open a Corona.

Introduced in 1964, the RT40 - or shovel nose - Corona was the first car to make Toyota a serious competitor in the global car market. Available in coupe, sedan and wagon models, the squared-off mid-sizer provided a lot of content in a reliable and fugal package. Its R4 four cylinder put out an adequate 90 horsepower, and the available toyoglide meant either you didn't have to row your own, or that intimate moments could be made more enjoyable.

This '69 has neither of those, but your intimate moments with it may be pretty enjoyable, none the less. For your $3,000 you're getting a drivetrain from Hiroshima rather than Aichi, and the engine doesn't reciprocate, instead it goes hummmmmmm.

The Mazda 13b is the most common rotary engine in the world. Its tiny 1308 displacement belies the power it is capable of producing, and was employed in Mazda's largish cars- the RX5, Cosmo, and the Porsche-chasing RX7. Dropped into this Corona, it has a lot less metal to move as the car has a curb weight of about 2,100 lbs. The Mazda 5-speed and RX5 wheels enhance the gender change from lady toyota to macho mazda, with the only weak link appearing to be the delicate rearend. But isn't that always the case?

The car has a number of other modifications that may or may not increase your valuation of the beast. The gutted interior, acura seats, and lack of side glass will either appeal to your sense of speed over comfort, or may make you think it's just a half-assed weekend hooner.

So what do you think about a hummer and a corona? Is that a combo worth $3,000? Or is the seller a couple bottles shy of a six-pack for asking that?

You decide!

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