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FAV CAR THAT YOU OWNED


Bubo

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10 hours ago, sunburnwilly said:

First year new design cars ; regardless of make .

Or bad gas 

 

My two cents

 

Any design usually works in ideal conditions when it's working properly

 

Good designs work in bad conditions and fail gracefully.

 

A car that won't sift with the engine off is difficult to imagine

or cuts out with a lose gas cap, etc.

 

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Reading all the posts got me excited about something more stimulating than my Camry

which completed this stage in the River of Life

More like the 20 Ferrari Harpy Death March

 

Anyway, I started looking at MB SLs on the used market

The research was horrifying, Edmond's and some other links

 

I am going to start a thread on Pneumatic & Hydraulic Suspension

 

 

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22 hours ago, RandyH000 said:

Yes 2 models ----20.368 units  to be exact ---coupe and convertible C8  -C8  production in 2021 is through the roof

https://www.corvsport.com/c8-corvette-production-figures/

 

 

I saw one of these the other day, and thought "mid-engine finally"

 

Donatov first presented a 4WD mid-engine track-ready Vette, I believe in the 60s. And was blown off by GM mgmt

 

I just opened a new thread on suspension, but wouldn't mind getting a thread rolling on mid-engine current production cars in a few days.

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I've never had a high end car... mostly just to get me from point A to B. My Subaru Forester, awd was superb. The dealer was not.

 

My favorite was probaby my first, a  '56 English Ford Prefect. Paid $50 for it. It had a hole in one cylinder, but that didn't cost much to fix. I had it in high school and a little beyond. Three speed, would only do about 55mph.

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Lots of VW Beetles Jettas, and Rabbits.  A Triumph TR-3.  Couple of Wagoneers. Two Porsche 914s (first one a great car, second one a dog).  Woman ran into the back of the first one totaling it,  the second I traded in as quickly as I could after replacing everything twice😑

A Honda S2000 and two Z4s.......a sprinkling of nondescript American cars.  My father's Rambler did have fold down seats though.

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The car I miss the most is the Rotus 8 in my avatar.  I built it in 1990, starting with a powder coated tube frame purchased from Rotus in Hagerstown, Maryland.  I sourced the 63 Buick Special 3.5 liter aluminum V8, Borg Warner T-5 transmission, Toyota Supra 3:90 LSD rear end, and all the other bits required to be a car.

 

At 6’1” Fitting into a Lotus/Caterham 7 was problematic, hence the slightly larger Rotus.  The wheelbase was 10” longer and the track was 4” wider than a Lotus/Caterham.  It was still snug.  At 1800 pounds wet, the 200+ hp V8 provided plenty of oomph.  With rocker-arm front suspension, coil over shocks and wide tires it handled like a go-kart on clean and dry surfaces.  On wet or sandy surfaces it had serious oversteer.

 

I reluctantly sold it when my older son (~10 yo in photo) was on the eve of getting a license.  The cost to insure it with him as a driver was exorbitant, and the prospect of keeping, it but excluding him as a driver, seemed unfair.

 

It was fun to drive, but every time I went for pizza I had to be prepared to answer three questions:

  1. Is that a kit car,
  2. How much does it cost; and
  3. How fast is it?

The answers:

  1. No, in the sense that it is not a fiberglass body bolted to a donor VW frame.  Yes, if a bare frame, no engine, no transmission, and no instructions fits your definition of “kit;”
  2. Ask my wife;
  3. I don’t know, perhaps 120 mph if pushed off a 10 story building, but it goes 0 - 60 in under 4 seconds.

The fastest I ever went was 85 mph merging onto an expressway.

 

These days cars are just tools to me.  If I were to do this again I would start with a Caterham 7 (now they have a stretch version) and use electric power.

 

6C1C2050-0BE7-4A3C-AAA6-2164493CED0F.jpeg

 

90270D97-0A0A-44D3-9861-F7A3346C688D.jpeg

 

Full disclosure, the above photo is not my car.  My engine was prettier.  It too had Offy valve covers, but the headers were neater looking.  My battery was in the boot (trunk) and I ran a larger Carter AFB; the above carb is a Holley.

 

0749763E-A8AD-43C9-AC28-3CB6272A1096.jpeg

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On 5/12/2021 at 9:21 AM, Islander said:

It's odd that your 442 would have a 3-speed trans, since the numbers were supposed to mean "4 Barrel, 4 speed, Dual Exhaust

 

Originally, in 1964, the first 442s were 330 cid with 4bbl, 4-speeds and dual exhaust, hence 442.  Starting with 1965, the 330 was replaced by 400 cid with 4bbl and dual exhaust.  Since a 2-speed automatic was available, Olds now said that 442 stood for 400 cid, 4bbl and dual exhaust.  Late in 1965 and in 1966 Olds offered a tri-power (3 x 2bbl) option and a 3-speed automatic; they abandoned all pretense that 442 stood for anything other than Oldsmobile’s answer to the GTO.

 

In 1967 a friend ordered a 442 with 3-speed transmission with Hurst shifter to save a few bucks.  Since GM did not build a full synchro 3-speed, a Ford trans was sourced.

 

My friend eventually replaced the 3-speed with a 4-speed.  It seemed odd to me that a 3-speed manual was offered, and even more surprising that anyone ordered it.

 

@Coytee

 

Very rare 1965 tri-power 442

 

E52DF4AB-9968-456B-BEDA-3392567EC5DB.jpeg

 

 

Ad for 442 option on F-85.

 

010594E6-746D-4ABA-BC12-55236436F11C.gif

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40 minutes ago, Coytee said:

Bought used from a dealer, don't really know any history on it other than I think I read there were only 1,300 made with a convertible top which this had

 

I bet you could count on one hand the number of 3-speed convertibles built.

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Always had a very strong left leg.....  it had a pretty heavy clutch!!  Oh, and other than the top down, it had no air conditioning.  Made for a brutal drive when it was 90 degrees out and high humidity and you might be in stop/go traffic.  

 

I always loved getting the obligatory sunburn on the top of my legs, top of my head and maybe shoulders.  I have had various bouts of basil cell on top of the head and reflect back to those days wondering if that's when I damaged the skin.

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