Cars that you owned that didn't make the grade.

[Dave Wood]

Well they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. While the mechanicals on the Fairlady were a bit primitive, I never had any issues with the electrical system - very "un-MG"

They later improved the car with a 1600cc engine and it was quite the SCCA club racer.

Actually it wasn't uncommon to run an MGB head on them. They were literally made off of MG blueprints. A common Japanese manufacturing practice at the time. I have a complete rebuilt 1800 MG-B engine with a 1200 Datsun head so it can run ethanol( probably close to 12-1 compression)in the shop I built back in the early 80s when ethanol was the new fuel. Direct bolt on, like the MG head, but in reverse. My Marusho is a BMW clone and like the Datsun engine can use parts from the parent designer/mfg. Benelli motorcycles also adapted the practice with their 4 and 6 cylinder bikes of the early seventies. They were based on the Honda 500 4 cylinder. Every major part, with the exception of some castings were interchangable. Pretty smart way to have a readily available parts souce, which is the bane of many small entity mfg's. Too bad Fiat, MG or other brands didn't copy something that had a better reputation than what they generated.
Too bad the Yugo was based on the Fiat 128...never had a chance.

 

[Dave Wood]

I had a 1975 TR7.

Thread OVER!]

I liked the angled head bolts. I had one break off because of dissimilar metal corrosion and had to drill it down until I could get the head off. That was an engine that was shared with SAAB....they should have stayed with the 2 strokes.

 

[Dave Wood]

1972 Boss 302 Mustang race car
1974? Boss 429 Mustang race car

Not to put holes in your memory, but the Boss 302 went out of production, along with the Boss 429, in 1970.

 

[Kirby Schrader]

Wow... some of you have owned a lot of very cool cars! Even the ones that didn't make the grade. My list is limited... and I'm taking some liberty with the thread title...

Lemme' see, now.... Some didn't make the grade; some that did. And I am not including the 'family vehicles' here; only the 'Kirby vehicles'.

In chronological order. Nothing very 'sporty' until I could afford such things... After all... I grew up on a small farm in Kansas....

1957 Ford Custom 300, 6 cylinder automatic - Totaled it in high school when my brother and I hit a classmate's '60 Chevy broadside. It was the ONLY new car my Dad ever bought in his life... and he gave it to me. Marginal car, but hey... it was my first one.

1959 Ford (I forget which model.. Fairlane 500?, but is was 4 door sedan), 332ci 2 bbl, 2 speed automatic. Absolutely, THE biggest POS I've ever had. Handling? What handling? It'd sure smoke the right rear 7.75x14 though...:thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

1964 Ford Galaxie 500 2dr fastback, 390 .060 over, 12:1 pistons, 428 heads, 427 cast iron headers, 3 x Holley 2 bbls, 4 speed, 4:57 rear end. Heavy, handled like a tank, went like stink in a straight line though... The first car I ever had that had some indications of HP. Of course, I had to do the 'in thing' back then and jack up the rear end real high. Cragar SS on the front, chrome reverse on the rear. :thumbsup:

1969 Mustang 428 Mach 1 CobraJet with a shaker hood, but the 428 had been trashed when the previous owner dropped the air cleaner wing nut down the carb.. and I put a 302 4 bbl in it. Loved the looks of it, but it was rusting to death. Some mods to the suspension made it handle pretty well for a that heavy a Mustang.:thumbsup:

1979 Ford Bronco, 351M 4 speed that went to a 400 with a single 'pull through the carb' turbo and water injection. Used to get 22 lbs of boost out of it with predictable results to head gaskets. Loved that truck. Wish I still had it. Too many Camaros, Chevelles and Mustangs wondered what the heck happened at a stoplight.:thumbsup:

1977 Fiat X1/9. Handled pretty well. Nowhere near enough HP. Very lacking in room for a 6' 2" guy... Started rusting on delivery.:thumbsdown:

1972 Detomaso Pantera RHD. Bought in London. My first Pantera, rusty, spent a lot of money on it, had a good time with it. Absolutely loved driving down Union Street in Aberdeen and watching the plate glass windows in the stores vibrating and old ladies stop and glare. License 238HOT. Even had it up in the Shetlands for about a year scaring all the sheep and the residents. It still exists and as far as I know, it is now in pretty sad shape and being rebuilt by it's newest owner.:thumbsup:

1973 Detomaso Pantera RHD. Bought in London. It was driving when I bought it as a parts car and possibly to be rebuilt. Hah! It was rusted to death. A long, sordid story best told over a beer. :thumbsdown:

1971 Detomaso Pantera. The one I have now. Love the car. Have had it since 1984. Lots of fun driving it. Suspension mods, EFI, etc. etc. blah blah blah... i.e., far from stock. A definite keeper.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

1990 Thunderbird SuperCoupe 35th Anniversary Special. Loved the supercharged V6, thought the car looked OK, but it handled poorly. Too heavy and easy for the rear end to come around unexpectedly... Long gone. :thumbsdown:

1978 Detomaso Longchamp GTS. Heavy, but handles better than you think. Seating position for long arms, short legs. A design that has everyone looking at it going... what is THAT? A highway cruiser, for sure. Sold it, but look sometimes at buying another one. :thumbsup:

2001 Lightning. A very cool truck. Love it and will drive it until I can't fix it anymore. :thumbsup:

SPF GT40.... What more is there to say?

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

FWLIW,
Kirby

 

[Keith]

Not to put holes in your memory, but the Boss 302 went out of production, along with the Boss 429, in 1970.

You are of course quite correct, but these were "built in Britain" from parts supplied (unofficially) by Ford USA for the BTCC, so we were a bit behind (US wise) so they were not "factory" built per ce and were built to high standards and never subsequently road registered. I don't think too many survived to this day. Interestingly, one of the protagonists in a Camaro was none other than Martin Birrane, he who now owns Mondello Park in Dublin and Lola Cars of course.


Although some stuff (suspension for example) was different mainly for track reasons, you would be hard pushed to tell a US built from a UK built but I don't think our engineering of the motors was nearly as good. The Boss 429 motor failed very spectacularly quite often.

 

[Frank3]

Worst POS I had , maybe a '74 Fiat 4dr sdn w/a 128 , I think , dohc with 2 distributors . one to start on , and 1 to run on .?????
I was given this car with low milage , and very well taken care of . looked like new . probably because it never ran .
Lucas must have helped tony build the electrical system , it had relays , that worked relays , that worked nothing ! till the smoke leaked out . Drove like a bus the one time i actually got to drive it .
Called a friend to ask for help with it , he stopped by while I was at work , and took it to be crushed .
One of the best ideas he has ever had !
Only wish I could have been there to watch .

 

[David Morton]

During my time in the R.A.F. in the swinging '60s, I was driving a Land Rover with two other chaps and it was set on fire by the stupidity other two. It was a SWB petrol late fifties version with a canvas top on the back, and the tank and filler cap were under the drivers seat squab / base. The fire service had gone off duty for supper so it blazed for a good 15 minutes until they downed their knives and forks and went out and got in their big red thingies and came back out on to the airfield. Ironically , throughout the period of the blaze, the Pye radio kept working so it sounded like people were in the fire.
I was a bit pissed off really as it was in my care and I'd signed for it and it was me who got the bollocking. (and the fine).
There was virtually nothing left of the bodywork - just the the steel girders of the chassis, the wheel rims and the Engine and seemingly tons of thin wire from the tyres. I got a change of job shortly after that but apparently the replacement vehicle got rolled so it didn't make the grade either. Happy days though.....

 

[Chris Martino]

My father owned a 1987 Renault LeCar 5 speed. I think he paid a cheese sandwich for it.

My most memorable episode was through the cars wash, upon which every brush roller compacted the roof and sent water through the vents before it spat us out the far end.

Was also the first car I drove stick - after being promised the the Dodge in the driveway would be available - 3rd gear was as far as I could change so I screamed around town at max revs for the day.

Fond memories...


Chris