Anyone want to talk about old cars or cars in general?

[Dave S]

If you have an interest in cars now is your chance. Impulse III seems to know quite a bit about obscure old German cars..........I mean how many folks actually remember the Ford Taunus or Borgward Isabella? I do but largely from what I have read although I have actually seen a Borgward. :smt043

I owned MGAs in my younger days but my real love was the Musclecars of the 60s and early 70s. I had several back then and have owned a few Corvettes along the way as well. I am still a car guy but I don't have any old cars anymore. Today my concession to performance cars is my 2000 Camaro SS. But I love going to car shows and I love old cars.

How about you guys..........anyone want to share their passion and love for cars?

 

[H2ONUT]

Here is what my buddy is working on... http://www.seifertbros.com/hemicuda.html

I have a 1980 F-150 in the works that I'm rebuilding. No pics yet. I'm removing the straight 6 300 and putting in a 92 Cummins diesel.

 

[ImpulseIII]

I actually had access to a 59 Borgward when I was in the Navy stationed in Hawaii from '66 to '68. What a POS....Had a four speed column mounted shifter.. Today, most kids don't even know what a three speed stick transmission is...Waisted youth!!!

Had a 69 GTO and a 72 NovaSS before kids and then I went the sedan route for a while. Today my driver is an 01 C5 Corvette (Red Convertible) but my Passion has gone from cars to boats....Still hit the occasional car show and plan on going to Corvettes in Carlisle PA later in August.

New Passion is handguns.....go figure! Trade my boat for a Glock.....NOT

 

[Dave S]

I love Hemi Cudas. I sold my last Mopar to a friend of mine who also had a Hemi Cuda. Your truck project sounds interesting as well. My brother is rebuilding an old F100 (I think) with a flathead Ford. I don't know when he will finish that one as he has been at it for over five years now.

Here is my Dodge Charger which I ordered new and then sold to my friend I mentioned above who just sold it at auction. It was one of only 69 made that year with a 400 & 4 speed and is all original even down to the dog dish hubcaps. http://www.kruse.com/results/detail...&SEARCH_NAME=Dodge&YEAR=2007&RESULTS=1&PAGE=1

 

[Dave S]

Frank.............I had a red 72 Nova SS also. I hated the car so much I got rid of it and bought that Charger you see above. I special ordered the car and kept it until 1997. It only had 45K miles on it when I sold it.


Back to Borgwards.............yeah they were a real oddity but so where a lot of the other european cars made back then. There were'nt too many foreign cars I liked back then except for Porsche, Ferrari and the occasional Benz and Beemer. :smt043

 

[Morpheus]

I guess anything built after 1974 is not old (Thats when I was born) I did however recognize that was a charger in the picture before I read the text. :smt043

I bet ya'll feel old now :smt038

 

[midway]

For me it was a 1965 Chevy, 425 Horse 396 Spec Hi Perf, Munci close ratio 4 speed, 410 positrac rear, canary yellow, black interior. Had a lot of fun in that car, got a few tickets also. Sometimes I still wish I had it.

 

[ImpulseIII]

I am going to guess that a lot of you guys spend some time in front of the TV watching the Barrett-Jackson Auctions....Cripes, I can't believe the money people are willing to pay for a car that goes into a garage and is kept under wraps and, most of all, not driven........They should stop pi$$ing their money away on cars and buy a big Sundancer !!!!

My son has a 71 Malibu Convertible with a supercharged 350 4
bolt sitting in his mothers garage. Car's in NJ and he's in Colorado. An 11 second street car that is not being used.....pitty!!!! The local police used to love him....Oh well, I have my boat!!!!!

 

[njmello]

I had a 1966 or 1967 Rambler 440 American Convertable - Navy Blue w/white top and interior. Kinda boxy but actually a pretty car. It just happens the one I had was a pre-AMX package with 305 cid engine, a Borg-Ward 4 speed on the floor and some special Hi-performance carb. What a 'SLEEPER'. I could light up the back wheels in 1st and 2nd and still get a 'chirp' out of 3rd and 4th.

I used to love the look on the 'muscle car' driver's face when I would take them off the line at a light. It would stomp Corvette's, too. No one ever expected to get beat by a "Rambler", but the AMX (introduced in 1968) smashed 106 American, national and international speed records just prior to public debut at the Chicago Automobile Show in 1968.

I loved that car and never should have let it go. American Motors produced many 'unusual' cars over the years and were way ahead of their times with many models. I remember the Hudson Hornet was the car every cop wanted to catch speeders with - hottest thing on the road in it's day.

 

[wx5svr]

I LOVE old German cars.....BMWs in particular. I would love to own one of the old CSL "batmobiles" or a 2002 tii :smt101 Just the thought of owning one makes me tingle.

I just recently sold my "baby", which was a 1986 Canadian spec BMW 528e w/ lots of goodies. One family owned with very little wrong when sold......and I would likely be the only person who could tell you what was wrong. It took a lot to sell that car, being that it was in the family since new, and a LOT of blood sweat and tears went into it.....heck, I learned how to drive in it. She didn't sell for much when I sold her but the money didn't matter. She went to a good home with someone who will look after her.

Here she is:

More photos at: http://www.darkskyproductions.com/bmwsmall

Graham

 

[Dave S]

I had a 1966 or 1967 Rambler 440 American Convertable - Navy Blue w/white top and interior. Kinda boxy but actually a pretty car. It just happens the one I had was a pre-AMX package with 305 cid engine, a Borg-Ward 4 speed on the floor and some special Hi-performance carb. What a 'SLEEPER'. I could light up the back wheels in 1st and 2nd and still get a 'chirp' out of 3rd and 4th.

I used to love the look on the 'muscle car' driver's face when I would take them off the line at a light. It would stomp Corvette's, too. No one ever expected to get beat by a "Rambler", but the AMX (introduced in 1968) smashed 106 American, national and international speed records just prior to public debut at the Chicago Automobile Show in 1968.

I loved that car and never should have let it go. American Motors produced many 'unusual' cars over the years and were way ahead of their times with many models. I remember the Hudson Hornet was the car every cop wanted to catch speeders with - hottest thing on the road in it's day.

Believe it or not I also had a 66 Rambler. I bought it as a second car for my wife. It had the straight six i it and three on the tree. It certainly wasn't fast like yours was but it was dependable. To me the sleeper of the century in the AMC' line was the Scrambler like the one pictured below. That car was extremely quick.

 

[Dave S]

Graham

That was a nice 5 series you had.

One of my favorite BMWs, although I never owned one, was the 2002tii. I used to be amazed at how those cars performed at the road races. Here is a picture of one I found on the net.

 

[fwebster]

I'm a retired Ford muscle car collector and nut. I've owned too many to list, but my last group was:

1964 Galaxie, 427 engine, R code w/2 4 bbls, 4speed w/ 28K miles
1963 Galaxie G code w/406 engine, 3 2 bbls and 4 speed...an ex whiskey runner
1969 Torino Cobra Jet 428 CID 4 speed
1970 Mustang Grande Cobra Jet 428 CID, 4 speed...1 of 52 made
1967 Fairlane R code 427, 2 4's, 4 speed
1968 Lincoln suicide door town car- my father's last new car

All have been sold to make time for my other "jones"...boating.

 

[njmello]

The AMC 'Scrambler' was just the 440 American with a 390 cid engine, the AMX drive train and a fancy paint job. Only 1500 or so made but they were screamers - great road package but no 'styling', an AMC shortcoming that eventually sank the company.

AMC was No. 4 automaker - they used to make the Jeep, too. Sold the Jeep line to Chrysler to stay alive, but it didn't help. Too bad, they went under - made a lot of great cars.

 

[SkipBarnes]

I LOVE old German cars.....BMWs in particular. I would love to own one of the old CSL "batmobiles" or a 2002 tii :smt101 Just the thought of owning one makes me tingle.

Nice 5!

I just sold my 1982 320i - I got it with only 70k on the clock and drove the snot out of it for about 2 years. What a fun car to drive, by far one of my favorites of all the cars I've owned (and that list is LONG and heavily populated by German cars)

I recently got a 1992 735i - it's a completely different animal. I love this one too, but for different reasons. The 7 I had 58k on it when I go it about 6 months ago.

I think I'd like to get a 5 so I could split the difference - the sheer fun factor of the 3 and the luxury of the 7.

The other BMW's on the list are a 69 or 70 1600, 71ish 2002.

I currently own a Mini Cooper (a real one, not a BMW) but don't have the time to properly play with it. It currently needs rings and a clutch master cylinder. Maybe after boating season.

 

[Dave S]

Frank

That's an impressive list of hi-po Fords you have owned! The only Fords I have owned were a 60 Falcon a 90 Ford F150 which we used on our farm and my current 2000 Ford Explorer. But my neighbor in Ohio built a replica Ford Thunderbolt that I helped him with and that was a beautiful mean and nasty car when he got done with it. He was even able to source a few OEM parts for the car when he built it.

Dave

 

[wx5svr]

Nice 5!

I just sold my 1982 320i - I got it with only 70k on the clock and drove the snot out of it for about 2 years. What a fun car to drive, by far one of my favorites of all the cars I've owned (and that list is LONG and heavily populated by German cars)

I recently got a 1992 735i - it's a completely different animal. I love this one too, but for different reasons. The 7 I had 58k on it when I go it about 6 months ago.

I think I'd like to get a 5 so I could split the difference - the sheer fun factor of the 3 and the luxury of the 7.

The other BMW's on the list are a 69 or 70 1600, 71ish 2002.

I currently own a Mini Cooper (a real one, not a BMW) but don't have the time to properly play with it. It currently needs rings and a clutch master cylinder. Maybe after boating season.

First off if you EVER want to sell that mini can I PLEASE be the first on the list?!?!?! My father used to race and rally back in the 70s in Canada and had a Mini Cooper S RHD for most of it. He also had a BMW 2002, Datsun 510 SSS (Super Sport Sedan), Porsche 911 (1974 iirc), among others.

We are a huge German car loving family. My father has a 2003 M3, mother has a 2004 E60 530i, sister has a 1998 528i, and my fathers toy is a production year 1972 (nearly mint) orange Porshce 914 second owner, sold off the lot to friend in 1973, and he purchased in 1974. He went on his first date with my mother in it as well as their honeymoon!! Needless to say I am the odd one out with a Chevy Tahoe, but what can I say, I have to tow a boat. :huh:

Now down to that 735 you have there will drive forever!!. That engine is bulletproof. It has good performance but I know some people who can help you give that thing the power it deserves :grin: A friend of mine started a company which makes different sized turbos for different cars. His primary goal was to make the 3.5 liter engine (same engine as in your 7 there) faster than snot. Well, it was a success!! I would drop a 5 speed tranny in that car, install a turbo, and watch the rice in the rearview mirror!!

Love the topic guys.

Graham Butler
graham.butler at ttu.edu

 

[osd9]

Back in the day....early 70's for me.....I went through many cars. Some, even by choice... :grin:

I had the obligatory custom chevy van....acutally had two custom Chevy's ('70 and '72) and one semi-custom Ford ('66 supervan) over the years. The summer going into my senior year of high school ('73) I bought a 1969 RED Pontiac Firebird Convertible with White Top and Red interior. It had no PS and no AC...BUT...it had the 400 with a 4 speed. Man I miss that car. I ended up selling that car in '74 when I was going to college (remember the gas shortages back then) to buy a........'72 Chevy Vega. That Vega was "THE" worst car I have ever owned. I bought it for fuel economy. I would pull into the gas station and say " check the gas and fill the oil".... :smt013

When I got out of school I got into Vettes and Datsun Z's. I had 9 Datsun "Z" cars...every model upto my first ever brand new car a 1986 RED turbo 300ZX (my 30th birthday gift to myself) I had 5 240Z's ('70-'72), 1 260Z ('74), 1 280Z ('75) and 1 280ZX Turbo ('82).

I had 3 Vettes. A black '66 convertible small block, a '70 blue T-top and a '74 white T-top.

A few other fun cars that I owned along the way were a '74 Alfa Romeo Spider, '72 Volvo P1800-E and an '82 Mazda RX7 GSL.

There were others, but I can't remember them all....I have pictures of most of the cars and some of the times I would have 2, 3 even 4 cars at a time. I have one picture of my Custom Chevy Van, Custom '70 Datsun Z and STOCK '70 Vette in front of my Mom's house.....

OH...and there was always some type of motorcycle in the mix also.

Ahhhh...the memories....Car's were cheap, and so was the insurance and fuel....

Don't ask what I drive today. It's almost embarassing. I am looking to get a '70-'72 vette in a few years....when my daugher gets out of college.

 

[Dave S]

So Dom...............what do you drive today? :wow:

 

[SkipBarnes]

I currently own a Mini Cooper (a real one, not a BMW) but don't have the time to properly play with it. It currently needs rings and a clutch master cylinder. Maybe after boating season.

First off if you EVER want to sell that mini can I PLEASE be the first on the list?!?!?! My father used to race and rally back in the 70s in Canada and had a Mini Cooper S RHD for most of it. He also had a BMW 2002, Datsun 510 SSS (Super Sport Sedan), Porsche 911 (1974 iirc), among others.

Well.... The Mini will be for sale very soon. It has a Bill Richards motor (he's well known in the UK for his A+ motors) putting out some significant umph. The tranny is built to handle it. The suspension has been modified such that it handles like it's on rails. It was converted to a Cooper S at Cooper Garages by the second owner who I still sty in touch with. He put a silly amount of money in this thing (about $25k) while he owned it. It has Cooper seats, steering wheel, mats... everything. That car is the Mini I always wanted - but I got divorced and lost my garage (with the house) and live in a condo and I have no time to work on it. Let me know if you're really interested, there will be a 'save me the hassle of fixing the motor' price. The engine runs great, just butns oil at an alarming rate, about 1 quart every 125 miles. I had Bill Richards build and flow another head for it with hardened seats. The cylinder walls looked fine, I have a feeling there's one or more broken or stuck oil control rings. Oil pressure is good, compression is ~185-190 in all cylinders.

The 735 - I don't think I'll be modifying this one ( for the reasons above (time, $, and a garage) but it already runs GREAT. You put your foot in it, it responds. My next car may be an M5 though...