No Delta S4? Thanks for mentioning the Sbarro, I don't remember seeing that before.
We had such poor breathing cars in the late 70's/80's. For most of my young life, the only current cars I drooled over were Eurocars. Alfa GTV Callaway, Audi Quattro, etc made more power than Mustang/Camaro/Corvette, and made them seem dopey and cumbersome by comparison.
Chris Harris rides in some Lancia Legends:
YouTube
Last edited:
Yeah, my Tourismo was a bucket of loose junk.
The rear hatch solenoid burned out, window cranks fell off, radio became internittent, transmission had issues, the list goes on...
I dumped that lousy mess for an 84 Honda.
Mind you, I never "pushed" my cars, living in the city, and they got regular maintenence.
The sweetest cars I had were my first, a '72 Nova, and later a '69 Chevelle.
That was always my dream car as well, had two of the US market Scorpions (Montecarlos), each 11 serial numbers apart. I really wanted to do a clone 037 by cutting off the fore/aft sections at the bulkheads and fabricate tube frames, use fiberglass panels. I sold the car instead and pursued my career in automotive clay modeling instead. The first car I wadded up in the woods near where the last Grup B race was run in Washington state.
Those cars were light years ahead of their time, is really sad that that company hasn’t made anything close in the 40 years since then.
Many years ago I had an old Dodge Omni. The neighbor and I were building a fence, there bad fence boards that I had to return (5' lengths). I loaded up 105 fence boards in the old Omni.
A guy at work had a Dodge Omni GLH, 4 of us climbed in, he pinned it, boy was it fast.
A guy at work had a Dodge Omni GLH, 4 of us climbed in, he pinned it, boy was it fast.
Attachments
I have a wonderful car book with many customs by Sbarro, Rinspeed, and other Euro customising houses.
The Mardikan M1 is another wicked looking car!
Meh I was young and the Delta S4 is only something I later learned of 🙂
I have been lucky enough to be a passenger in a Quattro, with the pink backlit dials...ahhh. so smooth, I was shocked when I glanced at the speedo and saw we were doing 110mph.
My mother always had a love for British sports cars, her faves being Morgan 2+2, and Triumph Spitfire and Stag V8.
I have to say I prefer the GT4 hardtop, if I was to find a oil sieve to spend my life fixing!
Last edited:
Not lately, but I assume they're astronomical.
Nova's too.
Those were when they made good cars with style.
The early 80's Regals too.
Are you sure that Mitsubishi is the inventor, the Porsche 944 (1981) motor has not be developed in one year IMO.
Yeah I was pleased I could provide a bit of recreation for the honored guests at Burning Amp. Around SF is really beautiful, the bay especially. If you know how to sail, I think you’re missing out on one of best parts of the city if you don’t figure out a way to get on the water. It is an unusually great sailing area, in that during the summer, the Central Valley is very hot, so the air rises. To replace that air, cool air is sucked over the bay. So there are strong winds pretty much every day.
I remember that Jan was the most comfortable, clearly having sailing experience, and having a second guy in the crew who knows what to do is always a huge help. I can’t remember the name of the younger guy, who was from Denmark, on his second visit to Burning Amp, and was the one who insisted in glueing those blue heatsinks all over my amp towers, back at the first Burning Amp, which turned out to be unecessary, and kept us from finishing in time for the show. (I’ll admit I was cutting it close).
On the other hand it WAS fun to have a “pit crew” led by Nelson Pass working on the amp in the back room. They got it patched together by the end of the day and we auditioned it along with Stuart Yaniger’s Impasse pre-amp he designed specifically for those F4 towers. Sounded incredible. Since the F-4’s don’t have a voltage gain stage, they need a blazing preamp putting out lots of voltage. That meant tooobs to me so I contacted Stuart, a “tube guy” and he whipped out the fire breathing, balanced Impasse which people still build. Sounded incredible.
Nelson and his wife Jill got to go out in the boat a different time and he did a good job steering. Jill will never go out on a sailboat again I’ll bet. The wind was crazy strong, and we heeled way over. Was a blast for the rest of us though.
Last edited:
I liked car upgrades as well. I switched to non-American cars in 1960, and never went back. I would modify and sometimes rebuild my cars till 2000, when it just got too difficult to get around smog inspections, and now I am completely stock.
Not sure who actually invented it, but both Chrysler and Honda used to state "Licensed from Mitsubishi" on their literature describing the "twin balance shafts" in their 4 cylinder engines.
The car was a POS, but the twin cam 4 valve version of the Chrysler 2.2 built by Maserati was the only good thing about it. I searched for a junkyard version, but they cost more than a whole car. I did see one of those engines stuffed into a Dodge Shadow at the 2010 Mopar Nationals car show.
Later on Chrysler would adapt Lotus built 4 valve heads to the old 2.2. They were actually better engines, but I had abandoned my Dodge racing habit by that time.
Attachments
Given they couldn't keep the crowds at bay and there were only about 6 people in the world who could actually control them at any one time it's not suprising. Did produce amazing cars for amazing drivers. And some fugly little spuds like the metro 6R4.
Assume you have seen this documentary? Madness On Wheels - Rallyings Craziest Years (Documentary) - Video Dailymotion It covers the Group B era quite well. Walter Rohl calls Ari Vatanen a madman!
At least once a year I watch 'climb dance' and have never quite worked out how they made it up pikes peak intact!
The original quattro was bonkers in some respects as you were driving a pendulum. Iron block I5 all in front of the front axle. It really shouldn't have worked!
@Tubelab: Saw your comments about FWD. Funny thing is, rwd cars these days are setup for early understeer as it's felt most (UK at least) motorists can't bang on a dab of oppo any more. I miss my lotus 7 clone.
Some of us have brains that are always trying to optimize whatever thing looms largest in our attention at the time. Doesn't matter if it's a car, a loudspeaker system, or a balky furnace.
I did a lot of tinkering with cars in my twenties and early 30s too, but I was in grad school, living on a tiny scholarship, with no family to lend additional financial support, and forbidden by US law to work (I was on a student F1 visa), so I couldn't earn any money.
So most of my automotive upgrades involved junkyard parts and minimal money spent - like the 4-piston calipers from a mid-80's Toyota pickup that I grafted onto my 73 Datsun 240Z, or the station-wagon 12" front brake rotors and cop-car torsion bars I grafted onto my 73 Plymouth Road Runner, or the four-barrel intake manifold and carburetor I transplanted from a junkyard Chrysler 360 V8 onto the smaller 318 engine in my '74 Satellite Custom (the 318 had a tiny 2-barrel carb and intake manifold.)
After I landed my first job, the 240Z got some upgrades that cost more - bigger wheels with sticky Falken tires, rebuilt steering gear, polyurethane bushings throughout the suspension, a professionaly rebuilt set of carburetors, et cetera. (I had rebuilt the carbs myself, but couldn't fix the worn shaft bushings that plague old SU carbs.)
That 240 Z had been through plenty of abuse at the hands of previous owners, and was missing all creature comforts (like a working ventilation system), but it was a lot of fun to drive. Fast or slow.
-Gnobuddy
I remember reading how a 240Z is a drivers car and seeing debates on how only a 240Z is a true Z - uncertain what exactly the guy was trying to say...