it's rare to see anything on the road that wasn't built in this millenium... they return to the earth quite fast... the cars on that list seem to be the exception- i still see a lot of those Escorts and Contours and the occasional 80's Mopar minivan.. i know of a solid first gen Neon 2 door that my brother is trying to buy from his neighbor for scrap price.. it has 70,000 miles on it and was parked because it wears out brake pads fast..
Once the price of a timing belt replacement exceeded the price of the car, neons started rapidly disappearing. It's rediculous how many of them in the junkyard never made it to 150k miles when they will easily more than double that with basic maintaince.
X2 death rate for salt state cars
Even though this the area I live in is rust central, those are actually not even CLOSE to the cars I would suggest could be extinct. Most in fact have survived surprisingly well (in regards to rust, but not other issues).
Now then, ANY japanese car from that era (ANY) that has been driven in the winter is practically gone, or rusting apart at the seams.
after one winter in Virginia I'm over the salt. They make it look like Bonneville if there is even a chance of one snow flurry hitting the ground.
Good riddance to those Cavaliers/Sunfires. I hate those things with a passion, I'm just curious as to what the meth-head vehicle of choice will be once they are all indeed gone.
I haven't seen any of those cars in eons here. You can still find minivans, however.
The ZX2 at least avoided the valve seat drop in the 2.0 SPI of the 3rd Gen Escort. Kinda nice too, because people associate the ZX2 with being an Escort, and the Escort as being unreliable, so we end up with more parts selections but a relatively reliable motor.
That's not to say the interior ergonomics and design were not a bit flawed.
In reply to DirtyBird222:
Here in New Jersey, they put down a layer of Magnesium Chloride (brine) like top soil in a garden. It is such a fine dust it goes everywhere imaginable, including your lungs
.
On the rare occasions they do salt there will be "moguls" of salt about 6" high in most cases, my dad cracked his front bumper this way.
Most of the ones that are extinct deserved it - no fans to keep them around.
Sometimes they just go into hiding in collectors garages. When was the last time you saw a VW Beetle driving around?
I was in Seattle/Bremerton WA over the weekend. Each of those cars is commonplace over there. Things just don't rust out in the PNW like they do everywhere else. I saw DD Datsun cars and trucks there. Escort ZX2s all over. A lot of '70s and '80s domestic and Japanese cars.
Yet the 4Runner will be living with 500,000+ on it. 
They won't be missed
wspohn wrote: Most of the ones that are extinct deserved it - no fans to keep them around. Sometimes they just go into hiding in collectors garages. When was the last time you saw a VW Beetle driving around?
there is one around here that comes out of hibernation ever spring and disappears in the fall
In reply to wspohn:
I see bugs at least weekly, they only made 21,529,464 of them, when the supply of $2000 drivers dries up, people will just start bringing them out of south America. Its also the easiest to restore car ever, I cant see post split/oval bugs being big money in this century.
A lot of this is regional too. I see classic beetles way more often than I see first gen neons here in Houston. I go back to Michigan for the summer and I can't pull into a parking lot without there being a half dozen rusty neons and cavaliers there.
If you live in the midwest you might think that 60's era pickups have pretty much left the planet with the exception of restored show trucks. There are at least four guys in my neighborhood that use them as work trucks and at least two of those probably have original paint.
Definitely a regional thing. I see all kinds of crazy 20+ year old E36 M3 every day. On average, I'd guess I see at least one Festiva a day (I know it wasn't on the list, but just an oddball regional example.) Same goes for Neons.
Up here in New England, old stuff is rare. You don't see much on the rush hour highways that was built before, say, 1996.
In spite of that, I saw a late 1980's Ford Tempo GLS V6 2-door on the highway today. It somehow was in good shape too. Those were rare even in their day. Still a total turd. 
I see Beetles daily, and not just the one in my garage. There is a pretty strong group of survivors here I see a couple a day on the road some in great shape some not so much. I guess living in a rural area also helps me see most of the cars on the list on a regular basis as well.
the problem here is: South Jersey lives in the shadow of the casinos. Between some of the dealers and above making great money, we get a lot of rich people with vacation homes. It is rare to see anything built before 2000 around here. Even the E46 Bmws are gone now. My 96 Volvo is ancient looking
I'm in a salt state and see lots of those cars everyday. Dumb article. !0 years from now, yes they will be few and far between, but many will live on in the south and hi altitude 'dry zones' like western Montana.
A2 chassis VWs. 1985-1992. It took me a long time to find a solid one here in New England.
That said, 1998-02 Chevy Malibus & Olds Aleros seem to rust voraciously. Good riddance to those.
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