Field Guide • Montana • Native Species
A Field Guide tothe Montana Shitbox
How to identify, appreciate and keep a respectful distance from the hardest-working cars in the state. Yes, including the Porsches.
Welcome to the Habitat
Every state has old cars. Montana has a whole ecosystem of them, and it was built on purpose, mostly by accident.
Start with the paperwork. According to the Montana Motor Vehicle Division, the owner of a light vehicle 11 years old or older can register it permanently, and that registration never has to be renewed as long as ownership doesn’t change. Montana also doesn’t require safety inspections or emissions testing on passenger cars. Jerry’s state guide counts it as one of seven states with no vehicle inspection of any kind.
Put those together and something beautiful happens. A car that would have been quietly crushed somewhere else gets to grow old here, collect a few scars and keep going to work. Add long winters, gravel roads, ranch gates and a state full of people who would rather fix it than replace it, and you get the Montana Shitbox.
This is a term of respect. Clean cars photograph well. Dirty cars have stories. What follows is a field guide, assembled from Montana parking lots, frozen runways and dirt roads where I’ve run into them this year. Approach slowly. Do not mention the check-engine light.
And before anyone writes in: yes, a Porsche can be a shitbox. In Montana, it might be the most important species of all.
Species One: The Porsche That Forgot It Was a Porsche
Porsche 944 (Stuttgartus frugalis)
Porsche built the 944 from 1982 to 1991, front engine, rear transaxle, pop-up headlights and a reputation as the Porsche normal people could actually buy. In most of the country, the survivors live under covers. In Montana, they go to work.
Exhibit A is the 944 at the Frost & Furious ice races in West Yellowstone, wearing a paint-splatter livery and a “Gute Fahrt” banner across the nose like it was dressed by a toddler with a German phrasebook. Exhibit B is the red-and-white #05 “Muskelpaket” car, which raced on the ice in West Yellowstone in February, then showed up at the Roly-Poly Daily Driver Show in Bozeman in September with a bar of rally lights like it had nothing better to do. A daily driver show and an ice race. Same car. That’s the spirit.
Species Two: The Dirt Porsche
Porsche, lifted (Stuttgartus gravelensis)
Closely related to the 944 but more aggressive in the wild. These are the Porsches whose owners looked at a very expensive sports car and asked, “What if this, but on gravel?”
The white Cayman wearing #22 at Frost & Furious had a light bar, raised suspension and the general attitude of a car that has been told no before and didn’t listen. The teal 911 came across the frozen runway in a cloud of its own making. The blue 914, the mid-engine car Porsche built with Volkswagen from 1969 to 1976, went sideways like it was paid by the degree.
The best field mark of the Dirt Porsche, though, isn’t the lights or the lift. It’s the roadside repair. On the Vigilante 77 Rally in Virginia City, a white Cayman ended up with a wheel off and a jack under it right on the street, which is exactly how you know a Porsche has been fully accepted into Montana society.
Species Three: The Subaru
Subaru (Subaru generalis)
The most common shitbox in the region and the easiest to spot. Look for all-wheel drive, a roof rack holding nothing in particular, and a bumper that has met at least one snowbank personally.
The white Impreza wearing #77 at Frost & Furious was the classic early-generation shape, flung sideways across the ice like it had somewhere better to be. Over at Roly-Poly, a faded red GL hatch with a 4WD badge on the back represented the ancestral line: the boxy Subaru that taught Montana what all-wheel drive was for.
Species Four: The Old Toyota Pickup
Toyota pickup (Truckus immortalis)
Fairly common. Extremely hard to kill. Usually found with a steel bumper, aftermarket lights and a bed that has hauled firewood, dogs, engine blocks and at least one couch nobody wanted.
The tan one at Roly-Poly came wearing a winch bumper, KC lights and mud that looked earned. Parked right next to it was its cousin, a white first-generation 4Runner on big tires with a winch, a bent-up bull bar and enough mud on the doors to count as a second coat of paint. Toyota built the early 4Runner as a pickup with a fiberglass lid bolted over the bed, so yes, it counts.
That’s the thing about the old Toyota pickup. It doesn’t retire. It just finds a new job.
Species Five: The Swedish Brick
Volvo 240 wagon (Boxus perpetua)
Rare, but deeply loyal to its territory. Volvo built the 240 from 1974 until the last one rolled out in May 1993, and a surprising number of them never got the memo that they were supposed to stop.
The blue wagon at Roly-Poly had the full brick silhouette: square nose, square back and a cargo area that can swallow a dresser. It was also parked next to my tiny yellow Honda Beat, which made the Volvo look like a moving van and the Beat look like a mistake on the parts order.
Species Six: The Ranch Truck (Sort Of)
Old Dodge pickup (Ruralis disguisus)
Native to the whole state. Often found near hay, gates and barbed wire, sometimes repaired with all three. Paint is optional. Turquoise is preferred.
The teal Dodge on the Vigilante 77 route outside Virginia City looks like the purest ranch truck in Montana. It isn’t. Under the old Dodge body sits the chassis of a former Ford Crown Victoria police car, which means the most honest-looking truck on this page is technically a cop car in a cowboy hat.
Sagebrush on one side, a fence line on the other, and a dust cloud behind it you could see from the next county. That is exactly where it belongs.
Species Seven: The Brand That Left
Orphaned import (Exitus americanus)
The rarest category. These are cars from companies that quit selling here, which means every surviving one is kept alive on stubbornness and online forums.
The Daihatsu Rocky at Roly-Poly is a perfect example. Daihatsu sold the Rocky in the U.S. only from 1990 to 1992 before pulling out of the market entirely, according to Curbside Classic. This one is still out there on Montana plates, still running, and still small enough to park in a space other trucks consider a suggestion.
The Wildcard
Ford Econoline pickup (Confusia maxima)
Every field guide needs one entry that doesn’t fit anywhere. The green Econoline pickup at Roly-Poly is a van that decided to become a truck, with the engine between the seats and the cab sitting right over the front wheels. It looks wrong from every angle, and it is perfect from every angle.
How to Identify One in the Wild
A quick checklist for beginners. Any three of these and you’re looking at a native:
One door a slightly different color than the others. A windshield crack the owner describes as “stable.” A roof rack with a story. Tires newer than the car is worth. Mud above the door handles. A dog in the passenger seat acting like it owns the truck. The owner telling you the mileage “doesn’t count” because the odometer quit. A Porsche badge.
The real test is simpler, though. Is it being used? Every car on this page showed up somewhere in Montana, did something and went home dirtier than it arrived. That’s the whole point. The garage queen gets the trophy. The shitbox gets the story.
If you want more, my patina E70 Corolla post covers another fine specimen, the Sunday Dirt Crew post has more from Vigilante 77, and Find My Car lets you search every event I’ve shot by make, model and color. If your car is on this page, I’d love to hear its story.
Keep them running.
Six More From the Field
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