Thirty years is a long time for most things, especially in the car world. Most vehicles will go through four or five generations in a timespan that long. Not the Chevy Express, though. That stalwart of a van has been rocking on, nearly unchanged since 1996, and we now know that trend will continue into the 2027 model year. Sure, there was that one “mid-cycle” refresh in 2003 that gave it a new face and different taillights, but other than some new engine options, there’s not much that separates the Express you can buy today from the Express you could have bought during Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign. It’s the type of longevity we never really see in the automotive world, and it’s what led me to today’s question.
I want to know what car that was on sale in 1996 should still be on sale today. What car would actually be able to stand the test of time in the same way the Express has? I’m not going to be too much of a stickler here, so if you choose a car that went on sale around 1996, that’s acceptable. Just don’t give me some crap that went on sale in the 1980s or the early 2000s. That’s not what I’m looking for, you goof.
My choice
My pick for this question is a car that has stood the test of time so well that clean examples of the car are worth nearly what they were new in the 1990s. It’s the third-generation Toyota 4Runner — a wonderful piece of design that is truly holding up very well, despite the fact that it’s quite literally older than me. Of course, Toyota has built three generations of 4Runners since this SUV went out of production in 2002, but none of them really captured this thing’s magic, if you ask me.
It has a lot of the same attributes as the Express, honestly. It’s a clean design, simple to work on, cheap to repair and there are tons of them despite a relatively short production run. There’s a lot going for it as a good candidate for a car that could exist for 30 years without issue.
That’s enough out of me, though. How about you all head on down below and let your fellow Jalops know what 30-year-old cars should still be in production today? As always, you’ll be my extra special boys and girls if you explain your answers.
