Rad Wood Defined: a GEO Storm for sale

There's a 1990 GEO Storm for sale near Chicago in Melrose Park. $ 900 / obo. Looks clean and it's a stick. Rad ready.

Rad-Ready

I was hoping it'd be the wagon variant for peak radness. 

I thought all those cars rusted away to nothing years ago.

Ah, yes.  The second-gen Isuzu Impulse. 

Once common, it has been a while since I've seen one. 

When those came out, I took the world's shortest test drive in one. Car ran out of gas about a quarter mile from the dealership. I considered it an omen.

02Pilot said:

When those came out, I took the world's shortest test drive in one. Car ran out of gas about a quarter mile from the dealership. I considered it an omen.

I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.  I'm pretty sure every test drive I've ever taken, the needle has been right around "E" and the car has been sucking fumes.

stuart in mn said:

I thought all those cars rusted away to nothing years ago.

I thought they all came in that hideous teal-green color

Strizzo said:

stuart in mn said:

I thought all those cars rusted away to nothing years ago.

hideous teal-green color

You misspelled "rad", sir. The "rad" teal-green.

Dude, that is RAD. I'm way more tempted than I should be. Also check out the last sentence from the performance paragraph on wikipedia:

If that's not good concours fodder I dunno what is. 

this one also looks like it already has a 'widebody' kit and a big spoiler. It actually looks better than the stock vehicle, which is a body kit rarity. 

So just add some tribal vinyl, neons, and some purple chrome double wipers and this thing's ready to roll. 

BTW - can anyone tell from the pics if it has the DOHC 'big' motor or just the regular SOHC?

MrFancypants said:

Strizzo said:

stuart in mn said:

I thought all those cars rusted away to nothing years ago.

hideous teal-green color

You misspelled "rad", sir. The "rad" teal-green.

Useless Geo trivia: IIRC, that teal (known as "Polynesian Green" for at least a couple of model years) was some kind of flagship for Geo as the only color outside of the standard black/white/red/etc. available on all models sold by Geo from 1993 to (I think) 1995.

For me, the Storm is usually synonymous with Yellow since back in high school I knew two people who owned super rusty Yellow GSi's at the same time.

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

BTW - can anyone tell from the pics if it has the DOHC 'big' motor or just the regular SOHC?

All of the easy points for identifying a base vs. GSi have been eliminated in favor of that umm one piece fender/rocker/rear quarter/rear bumper cover and basket handle wing. Depending on the originality of the rear hatch/glass and the paint around the greenhouse, it appears to be a base model. IIRC, GSi's came standard with a rear wiper not available on the base, which required a hole through the bottom left of the rear glass. As for the paint, the A-pillar on a base model was body color, while on a GSi it was black regardless of the paint on the rest of the car.

I think there was a difference between base and GSi seats, but can't remember what each looked like.

The only pre-production car I've ever seen was a Geo Storm... I was visiting my brother in Detroit back in 1988 or 1989, and one day this little car I'd never seen before with manufacturer's license plates drove by.

My sister had one of these, same color. It was a decent car til some old guy in a bigger car ran a red light and destroyed it. She was pretty much unharmed so I guess it did its job. We called it the egg.

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

this one also looks like it already has a 'widebody' kit and a big spoiler. It actually looks better than the stock vehicle, which is a body kit rarity. 

So just add some tribal vinyl, neons, and some purple chrome double wipers and this thing's ready to roll. 

BTW - can anyone tell from the pics if it has the DOHC 'big' motor or just the regular SOHC?

I was thinking it would be more Radwood in the Geo teal grean color, but that body kit, spoiler, and rims look like they'd be  '90s period correct. An I agree - it's a rare case of a body kit that's been done right.

I have to say pretty cool looking witht those rims and wing.

I had an 89 Metro hatch with the 3 cylinder that burned the center exhaust valve 3 times. That car still owes me cause it should have been a more fun and gratifying experience. If I wasn't building a scirocco I'd give this a try.

Good lord, that shade of green brings back memories of mediocrity.  As in driving my the girlfriend’s (who is now my wife) rad green Geo Metro convertible.  Man she loved that car, all 25 or so horsepower of it, with surprisingly ineffective suspension and flacid body integrity thrown in to boot.  I was so happy when she got rid of that little deathtrap!  This safety comment coming from a guy with an admitted weakness for buying and driving various NA and NB Miatas.

A girlfriend in high school circa 1997 had a yellow Storm. I was riding in the passenger seat on the highway one day when a guy in a Jeep Cherokee in oncoming traffic crossed the centerline and hit the van in front of us, sending it spinning into a field and causing the Cherokee to begin flipping side-over-side directly toward us. The girlfriend quite deftly put the Storm in the opposite ditch as the Cherokee landed hard in our lane directly opposite us. If she hadn't swerved hard to the left, the SUV would have landed on us in the Storm, and I don't think we would have fared well.

Just hours before, we had been to the funeral of a classmate killed in a car crash.

You don't see these cars too much these days, but whenever I do, I think of that day.

 

Yes, the teal wagon for the win. 

Plus, didn't they race in World Challenge under MTV colors? 

My only Geo Storm memory was going somewhere with a girl in college. It was her car, and as I got in the passenger seat she handed me a bungee cord. I looked at her with a "...?" kind of look and she said "It's for keeping the door closed." Had to hook it from the door to the gearshift, and going around left turns the door would still crack open just a wee bit.