Murilee Martin

Denver

Writer at Autoweek

Neptunium.

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Articles

Suzuki Cultus Has a Rich History, Even in Colorado Car Graveyards

2 days ago | autoweek.com | Murilee Martin

Last year, I spotted a final-model-year Geo Metro with an astonishing 342,694 miles on its odometer in a Colorado car graveyard. This got me to thinking about the fascinating place of the Metro (including its relatives and ancestors) in global automotive history. How best to tell this story? The junkyards of the Denver area have provided the outline this month, with this trio of Suzuki Cultus family members spotted during the last few weeks.
Gallery: 1997 Geo Metro LSi Sedan in Colorado Junkyard

2 days ago | autoweek.com | Murilee Martin

The final year for the Geo brand, but not for the Metro. By Murilee MartinPublished: Jun 24, 20251The Metro was the second generation of the Suzuki Cultus. GM sold the first-generation Cultus as the Chevrolet Sprint. 2The Metro was sold in the United States with Geo badges for the 1990 through 1997 model years, then as the Chevrolet Metro for 1998 through 2001.
Gallery: 1992 Pontiac Firefly 5-Door Hatchback in Colorado Junkyard

2 days ago | autoweek.com | Murilee Martin

Skip to ContentThe Canadian Geo Metro, now far from home. By Murilee MartinPublished: Jun 24, 20251The second-generation Suzuki Cultus was built and sold in every corner of the far-flung GM Empire. The Canadian-market version was badged as the Pontiac Firefly. 2Yes, this is essentially the same car as the US-market Geo Metro. 3It was built at CAMI Automotive in Ontario, Canada, on the same assembly line as the Metro. 4GM did some interesting badging north of the border during the 1990s.
Final Parking Space: 1986 Acura Legend V-6 Luxury Touring Sedan

3 days ago | hagerty.com | Murilee Martin

Since I started writing this series 18 months ago, I’ve been keeping a junkyard lookout for an example of one of Honda’s two most groundbreaking U.S.-market cars: a first-generation (1973–79) Civic or first-generation (1977–81) Accord.
Junkyard Find: Zombie 2010 Saturn Outlook XR-L Premium

4 days ago | thetruthaboutcars.com | Murilee Martin

NEW! by Murilee Martin (IC: employee) Seven of the past 11 doomed vehicles covered in this series have been General Motors products, so it's probably time to switch to… oh, to hell with it, I just found one of the very last Saturns in a Denver-area car graveyard and I must write about it immediately.
GM’s Research Computer Said Old Frugal Guys Won’t Like the Corvair

1 week ago | autoweek.com | Murilee Martin

The radically rear-engined Chevrolet Corvair was introduced as a 1960 model and sold well through 1963. Sales declined steadily after that, then fell off a cliff when 1966 arrived (despite getting a thorough suspension update the year before).
GM’s Research Computer Said Old Frugal Guys Won’t Like the Corvair

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Murilee Martin

1 hour agoGigabyte's slim, RTX-powered OLED laptop is $600 off right nowThe Gigabyte Aero features an OLED screen, an i7 CPU, and RTX 4050 graphics--all for just $1,100.
Final Parking Space: 1976 Ford Courier

1 week ago | hagerty.com | Murilee Martin

During most of the 1970s and well into the 1980s, each of the three major Detroit vehicle manufacturers partnered with Japanese companies to import small pickups to be sold under their own brands in North America. GM and Ford started it all in 1972, when Isuzu Fasters were sold here with Chevrolet LUV badges and the Mazda B-Series appeared on our shores as the Ford Courier. Here’s a loaded example of the latter type, found in a Colorado self-service yard recently.
Junkyard Find: 1982 Cadillac Seville

1 week ago | thetruthaboutcars.com | Murilee Martin

NEW! by Murilee Martin (IC: employee) The General put some odd-looking rear bodywork on his cars during the mid-to-late Malaise Era. There was the Olds Cutlass Salon Fastback, of course, and the 1977-1979 full-sized Chevy coupes with wraparound rear glass. I've long thought that the "bustleback" 1980-1985 Cadillac Seville was even goofier-looking than those two, and I've found this '82 in a Denver-area car graveyard to share with you.
Toyota Was Selling This 4x4 Turbo Truck in 1986

2 weeks ago | autoweek.com | Murilee Martin

We just admired a discarded turbocharged Toyota vehicle of the 1980s the other day, so now we'll follow up with a magazine advertisement for another hair-dried Toyota from the glorious Turbo Decade. Yes, it was possible for American truck shoppers to buy a new 4x4 Toyota Hilux (known as the Toyota Truck here after the early 1970s) with a turbocharged 22R-TE engine under its hood. This ad screams TURBO at readers.