1986-1995: Suzuki Samurai

摘要

The Suzuki Samurai, a vehicle revered for its off-road ability but ridiculed for its twee proportions and rather third-world driving dynamics, occupies an odd place in automotive culture. To this day, the Samurai retains legions of loyal fans, and yet it is featured in Richard Porter's Crap Cars, summarized with the line, "It would have been more fun to be attacked by an actual samurai." What we have here, then, is a controversial machine. And controversial machines can make for compelling collector cars. Although Suzuki sold more than 200,000 Samurais in the United States, finding a clean one can present a challenge. The Samurai's glory days are at least two decades behind us, and the years since have generally been unkind to a vehicle that was always regarded as a disposable object of off-road abuse. John Harper, of Charlotte, North Carolina, knew he wanted a Samurai but had a hard time finding one that wasn't fitted with 33-inch Super Swamper tires and a 1.6-liter Suzuki Sidekick engine. "Then I moved to a new neighborhood, and right around the corner there was a clean Samurai sitting in the driveway," Harper says. "I went up and knocked on the door and offered to buy it." After working out a deal, Harper had his hands on what he calls his "apocalypse four-by-four," a nimble, fuel-efficient off-roader in which to flee whatever disaster may come. (Early in AMC's hit zombie franchise, The Walking Dead, a Samurai is prominently parked at the human refugee camp.)