And still, there’s one bright spot to brighten up an otherwise somber and gloomy Sunday – a little red econobox. This Nissan Micra is one of the last to wear the old-style front, as they were spruced up for 1989; this is still the kind of look they wore when they were unveiled in 1983. The bumpers were more tucked in ’83, but the majority of K10 Micras with the MA10 engine looked just like this.

By the looks of things, this GL-spec one could be a special edition of sorts, with the bodycoloured bumpers and wheeltrims and the little spoiler. It looks excellent, even if it doesn’t need any more red.

Rust is the killer with these, as we offloaded our ’86 Micra at 15 years old quite quickly due to the rust advancing on it – and it did have a knack of puking some oil into the coolant. Then again, I’ve seen that happen on my Peugeot and I didn’t get rid of it… But this one seems clean enough, decently kept and will probably roam the streets for a good while.

[Images: Copyright 2014 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]