The classics that charmed us at the Oblivion '80s and '90s car show

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If you noticed a few more well-kept vehicles from the ’80s and ’90s patrolling GTA streets this past weekend, it wasn’t your imagination. Sunday saw the third incarnation of what’s become an annual celebration of car culture from those two radical and gnarly decades. Put together by a team who grew up in the era, the show welcomed nearly 200 vehicles that were hand-picked as examples of memorable and sometimes-ordinary cars and trucks that were saved from, well, oblivion.

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Last year’s COVID-19-related gathering restrictions put a damper on most events including this show, so Sunday’s soirée got things back on track after successful gatherings in 2018 and 2019. In a fit of too-perfect planning, organizers secured the grounds of a summer camp as the venue for 2021, permitting most attendees colourful flashbacks of sleeping bags and campfires.

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The classics that charmed us at the Oblivion '80s and '90s car show Back to video

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There was a section reserved for period-correct exotica, such as a tremendous Jaguar XJ220 and Acura NSX — not to mention the most DeLoreans this author has ever seen assembled in one place — plus a spot for movie tribute cars like Jurassic Park Jeeps and a Herbie -themed Beetle. But the largest area was covered with vehicles which were simply everyday common transportation when they were new — and it’s arguable those cars and trucks were just as interesting as the high-rollers. When was the last time you saw an early ’90s Chrysler New Yorker in great shape? Or a Tracker?

Oblivion III was a well-organized event with great participation and a raft of fantastic cars. In addition to the local team, members of the Driving crew came out from B.C., Quebec, and the Maritimes to attend, and we have listed our faves below. We look forward to next year.

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Stephanie Wallcraft

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I’m guessing a recounting of how I teased and sprayed my hair for the occasion isn’t what anyone is looking for here, right?

Finding my slouchiest socks and padding my jacket’s shoulders put me in a nostalgic mood before I even arrived. But once at Oblivion III, it didn’t take long to find no fewer than nine DeLoreans, including one in full Back to the Future  movie setup, which is fitting because walking through these displays felt like traveling through time. I was able to check out the replica Herbie the Love Bug — technically a 1960s creation, but I remember knowing and loving him through the sequels in the late ’70s and early ’80s — as well as the pair of Jeeps in Jurassic Park  getup.

By the time I started walking toward the main lot, I was being stopped so often by friends I hadn’t seen in many months that I didn’t get to look at many other cars that afternoon. To me, that’s Oblivion III’s greatest success: this show’s throwback atmosphere is wonderful, but seeing such enthusiasm for being around cool cars and people in a safe environment shows just how pent-up the appetite for events like these has become — especially with how we’ve grown to appreciate life’s little things over the last 18 months.

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Matthew Guy

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Blending rad ’80s graphics with a dose of off-road cool, the Desert Runner was built by Nissan to celebrate its motorsport prowess in winning a yaffle of desert events in 1987 while giving gearheads of the day a taste of their racing pedigree. The truck rolled out of the factory with a limited-slip diff, 10.3 inches of ground clearance, plus all that bumper and roll bar addenda. Those graphics were standard, too.

Something else that was standard? Nissan added a hoop of metal in the bed that just happened to be the right size in which to plunk your Igloo cooler. Under the hood is a 3.0L V6 engine making 145 horsepower and 166 lb-ft of torque, lashed to a five-speed manual transmission. Nissan built about 1,000 examples. This truck’s owner told us they literally hauled it out of swamp-like conditions, fetid interior and all. With the care and skill gone into its restoration, you’d never be able to tell.

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Brian Harper

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So many cars, so many memories, as it should be. As someone who started testing vehicles in late 1979 and still does today, the Oblivion’s showcase of cars from the 1980s and 1990s was a literal trip back to a time where the auto industry was undergoing a massive transformation (gee, much like it is now). The biggest difference, taking off the rose-tinted glasses, is that there were a lot more turds than gems back then, today’s vehicles being infinitely better to drive — though not necessarily more memorable.

Having tested many of the cars on display back in the day, it was a kick trying to remember their finer points. Two Toyotas, though, were distinctly memorable, albeit for entirely different reasons. The Corolla GT-S of 1984 was a small hatchback powered by a big/little engine, a 1.6-litre DOHC 16-valve four-cylinder that put out 112 horsepower. Just for comparison’s sake, my own ’77 Scirocco’s eight-valve 1.6L was good for 76. The GT-S was the first car I drove with a DOHC engine, and to hear it sing as it approached its 6,600-rpm redline was an auditory delight.

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The second was an all-wheel-drive Camry All-Trac sedan. The one I saw was, I think, a 1991 model, the last year it was offered. Why so memorable? Generally, it was at a point in time when a lot of car companies were experimenting with AWD in their family cars (Ford Tempo, Pontiac 6000, Nissan Sentra to name a few others). Specifically, the 1988 model, visually and mechanically identical, was the car with which I brought my wife and our newborn daughter home from the hospital. And, despite it being April, it snowed that day, so the added traction benefits provided by the then-compact-sized four-door were much appreciated.

Nadine Filion

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To reach the Oblivion Base Camp, we had to through a corn maze, and just those first minutes made me feel like gliding into the Field of Dreams movie. Then, there were a dizaine DeLoreans parked across said field, back (or maybe going?) to the future; seriously, I didn’t know Canada, let alone Ontario, had so many.

Add the fact that one of the Ghostbusters showed up with all his gear, and voilà : we were deeply immersed into some Stardust Memories .

While my veteran (read: older) colleagues were drawn to the emeritus Porsches, BMWs, and the exotic Jaguar XJ-220 on display, I found myself attracted to those affordable, ordinary, not- Dressed-to-Kill bread-and-butter-cars from my (oh, not-so-far-away) youth. Yes, I’m from Gen X, that Sacrificed Generation raised through the oil crisis, a big if not negative influence on our automotive perspectives then.

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But, hey, let’s stop complaining, because Oblivion III showed us even our “sacrificed” automobiles are still around today — and in real great shape! What a glorious Empire-Strikes-Back revenge for those cars, which, in my era, were not what Ordinary People dreamt of.

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I tip my hat to this 1995 Toyota Camry – beige! – showing off its annual Rust-Check tags like Oscar trophies. The time never ran out for this sedan, pristine despite surviving a quarter-century of Canadian winters. My heart also went out to the funny vanity plates: this Honda Prelude was a BU2FUL 1, and one of the first Lexus LS 400s to reach our shores asked RU CDN. Let’s not forget the TRAGIATA of ex-Driving editor and dear friend Nick Tragianis, a Miata lover and owner of a flamboyante 1990 edition.

Speaking of friends: our Online Editor Elliot Alder, who co-organized this third Oblivion reunion , proudly showed off his own 1983 AMC Eagle. I couldn’t decide what I loved most: the still-wonderful plaid interior; or the “Reagan ‘84… War ’85” bumper sticker. While debating, I photographed a young gentleman kneeling by the door handle (what was he looking for?!). This mesmerized lad wasn’t even born when this Eagle was built — nor even when AMC floated Out of the Blue .

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My personal Herbie Goes Bananas pick was a 1992 Daihatsu Rocky showing a respectable 145,000 kilometers. Its owner, Henrique Guidi, is a Brazilian immigrant so full of nostalgia for what he drove in his country that he found and bought this example in the U.S. Having never been sold new in Canada, this Mad Max Rocky, capable of serious off-roading, may be the only such survivor that still sees real snow.

Res-pect, Rocky.

Costa Mouzouris

The Oblivion III ’80s and ’90s car show featured cars that were new when I first got into cars. While a pair of AE86 Corollas initially caught my eye, it was two other Toyotas that took me right back to 1985: a pair of second-generation Toyota Supras.

It was this angular version, introduced in 1982, that dropped the “Celica” from its name and became a true Supra, with a 2.8-litre twin-cam inline-six, independent suspension and disc brakes all around. A friend at the time had bought a brand-new bright red 1985 model with a five-speed manual. While other friends did burnouts in their Z-28s and Trans Ams, I was envious of that sleek-looking, great-handling A60 Supra. Even four decades later, the car hasn’t lost its appeal.

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Coleman Molnar

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Lisa and I found ourselves returning to one corner of the event in particular. Tucked in behind the multi-award-winning Subaru Brat was maybe the most perfect Geo Tracker I’ve seen this side of the 1990s. Its owner picked it up a little over a decade ago, but before that it had sat in a garage for 17 years. What a find! Style points for bringing his own rock, too. The little goat reminded us of our cherished 2004 Chevy Tracker that we lost to the Coquihalla Highway a couple years ago. RIP, that car.

The other standout moment occurred when I crouched between the two 1995 Volvo “yellow brick” 850 T-5Rs that were parked side-by-side, allowing the strange mellow yellow light waves to reverberate off of the panels and through my skull. In that moment, I was at peace — then I went and ordered a twist ice cream cone and played a bunch of vintage video games.

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Oh, and honourable mention to Elliot Alder’s AMC Eagle Wagon, which earned the first “ooh, I like that!” of the day from Lisa.

David Booth

The last car I expected to see at the Oblivion show was a Jaguar XJ220 S. The organizers will hopefully forgive me, but such suburban events are typified by American iron, some interesting early Japanese sports cars, the occasional Corvette, the requisite small spate of Porsches and then, at the very top end of the automotive totem, a tired Lamborghini or Ferrari — their owners slumming it because their nondescript Jalpa or aging 308 isn’t exactly a highlight at a Hagerty show, but plenty enough to wow the local citizenry.

Occasionally, as with this year’s Oblivion, you might get a Testarossa or even maybe a Countach, but that’s typically the limit in terms of the truly exotic. You certainly don’t expect to see one of the most mysterious and controversial supercars produced in the last 50 years.

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And the XJ220 is certainly shrouded in mystery. Produced at the height of Jaguar’s racing success in 1992, it was supposed to commemorate the success of Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR). And it certainly looked the part, the final product very much a product of the endurance racing school of design of the day. Unfortunately, the people who could afford such supercars were expecting it to be powered by Jaguar’s famed big-inch V12 — which TWR was campaigning with success. What they got instead was a politically correct — 1992 was the very beginning of the movement to smaller displacement turbocharged engines — turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 that, well, nobody wanted.

What was to be a grand success for Jaguar turned into one of its biggest failures. Originally priced at a heady £470,000 in 1992, they soon plummeted in value to less than a quarter of that. Indeed, so ashamed was the company of the 220 that when it finally produced a supercar worthy of its powertrain — the stillborn C-X75 — Jag nixed the project because it thought, using the XJ’s abject failure as its yardstick, that the rich would once again see no panache in the Jaguar badge. That the C-X75 is possibly the best supercar never produced just means that the XJ’s oddness killed two supercars.

As for its rarity, only about 274 XJ220s were produced, though Jaguar initially had higher hopes. They’ve only recently started to escalate in value and still remain a rare sight. The XJ220 is also just about the only mainstream supercar of the era I never had the chance to flog. Today, I’m not sure I’d want to. I’m one of those that thought the C-X75 was the greatest supercar of its era, and driving the car that sealed its doom just doesn’t sit right with me. This is one part of the ‘90s I’d just as soon forget.