02 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
39 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
03 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
28 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
08 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
09 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
10 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
15 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
19 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
21 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
22 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
24 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
30 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
04 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
07 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
31 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
32 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
34 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
37 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
42 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
44 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
47 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
48 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
50 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
52 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
55 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
56 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
60 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
62 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
63 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
65 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
67 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
75 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
82 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
88 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
89 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
94 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
96 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
99 – 1996 Suzuki Swift Slokyo Drift in Colorado Junkyard – photo by Murilee Martin
General Motors sold plenty of rebadged Suzukis over the decades in the United States, starting with the Chevy Sprint in 1985 and continuing with various Geo- and Chevrolet-badged machines into our current century. The one we remember best remains the fuel-sipping Metro, successor to the Sprint and available here through the 2001 model year. The Sprint and Metro were based on the Japanese-market Cultus, and Suzuki put its own badges on this car in the United States for the 1989 through 2001 model years. That was the Suzuki Swift, a car we know best today for its factory-hot-rod version, the Swift GT. Normally, I wouldn’t bother to document an ordinary Canadian-built Swift found in a boneyard, but today’s Colorado-found Junkyard Gem boasts some interesting custom touches that make it worth our attention. Get ready for… SLOKYO DRIFT!
While countless American owners of Integras and Lancers and 240SXs went nuts with JDM-influenced car decor following the release of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006, drivers of the tiny and miserably underpowered Metro/Swift econo-commuters felt left out of the party. The owner of this car knew what to do, though: buy some stick-on mailbox letters and slap them on this Swift’s hatch.
Since any 24-year-old econobox with a manual transmission and a salvage title will be nearly impossible to sell, we can assume this car spent its last few years just one broken part away from The Crusher. Once it needed an expensive repair, it wasn’t worth fixing.
At some point, it got totaled, put back together, and stamped with this REBUILT FROM SALVAGE lettering on the door jamb.
We think of the Metro/Swift as a three-cylinder car, but many of the later versions got this 1.3-liter “big-block” four-banger under the hood. That’s 70 raging horsepower right here.
The 5-speed made it more efficient and fun to drive, but killed whatever resale value it may have had.
Someone did some nice paint-pen work on the airbag cover (the color of which doesn’t match the rest of the dash, indicating an airbag-firing crash followed by a hurried junkyard-parts repair at some point in this car’s past).
