Yesterday's Weapons Forums

What was your most fun drive?

Mine was a '73 Toyota Corolla S/R-5.
Unfortunately, this honor couldn't go to a N.American vehicle.
The quick revving 1600 c.c. motor and full synchro 5 speed manual, rear wheel drive coupe ran circles around most high-performance cars I encountered on the road.
Very, very responsive front end in it too.
Draw back was common parts availability- everything needed for the car was a 6 month back order that had to ship from Japan.

I still don't get why the North American car makers couldn't quite latch onto this idea.
The late 70's early 80's Pontiac Acadian came close with similar displacement and size, but sadly lacking the get up and went factor. They were just plain boringly slow in comparison- even the 5 speed manual variant lacked oomph.

There was a bit of a wait for the Monza Spider 2+2 that could keep up with it in terms of acceleration times.

Close, but no cigar award goes to the Ford Escort, which wasn't really a Ford at all at first- It was a re-badged Mazda. Different class car though, with the front wheel drive. The harsh ride and mushy feeling front end in it didn't really help matters much, though.
It did have similar quick revving tendencies though, even if it was a bit harder to control.
The Datsun 200 S/X I drove for a while was similar fun, but the upper gears were a lot slower to get through.

Other-wise, my favorites have been pick-up trucks, and (Yikes) mini-vans from a practibility/hunting/fishing stand-point...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

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"Ain't no Half-Way" -S.R.V.

"Oh Yeah!.....All Right!" -Paul Simon

My 68 Road Runner was a fun ride - so was my 66 Corvette roadster. A couple more things from my younger and dumber days I should have kept. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

2013 MINI Cooper S,

flat out the best car I ever drove,

handled like it was on rails, stopped on a dime with room to spare

there were a few cars out there faster, but none as much fun,

had 75K trouble free miles on it when someone rearended me and totaled it,



2nd was the 2010 MINI Cooper S it replaced,


friend in high school had a Monza 2+2 V8,

as neat as that little car looked, it sucked, horribly front end heavy, and a maintenance pig, as in it broke a lot,

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What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?

Never owned a “fun” auto.

Do miss my old Ford Escort station wagon. And my 98 Lumina. Says something about my character, doesn’t it?

79 Toyota was plenty fun, for what it was,

anemic smog controlled 4 cyl ( 20R, they made a bazillion of them) at about 90 hp,

handled well, moderately quick for the time, 5 speed,

good car,

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What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?

That old SR-5 coupe would later morph into the slightly wider, and longer and hotter Supra.
The Corolla name-plate moved on, and became synonymous with 4 door family sedans.

The cars that embarrassed it were not a really surprising list~
The SS-396 was a shade quicker, and any manual trans V-8 vette with a capable driver could out-take it.
Just a hair or 2 faster than the old Boss 302 'Stang, but that may be driver ability again.

The first Monza I seen in action was a bit of a tire shredder- the 4.3 L/ 262 V-6 was plenty hot.
I really think the 8 cylinder version was a bit over-kill for a frame that light, but what do I know.
The later emission control strangled 262's were pretty anemic.
It ended up in some strange cars- there was a Chev version with a 3 on the floor manual that was rattle-trap brand new off the dealer's lot. I can't remember the nameplate- I was thoroughly un-impressed on the test drive. Funny little coupe with the odd-ball opera windows for rear glass.

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

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"Ain't no Half-Way" -S.R.V.

"Oh Yeah!.....All Right!" -Paul Simon

Toyota always followed Ford in styling,
the first Celica's looked like early mustangs, if you squinted right,

my GT was kinda sorta like the Fox bodied Mustangs, and as you mentioned, the Celica Liftbacks were lengthened a hair , straight six added and became the supra, which in the next gen was done as 2 types, L (Luxury, as in a nice car for cruising) and the hot rod version, that was basically a Celica GT liftback with the I6 (same motor as the Cressida) and a tune and handling package,

gen after that and the Supra became it's own model (the Celica All Trac was the hot rod Celica) and now,, after years of no Supra, it is a BMW,,, rebadged,

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What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?

My sister had the 280 Z Datsun.
Impressive looking under the hood with it's six little in-line carbs.
The 5 speed in it was short throw tight, but the car felt very heavy behind the wheel.
It was no where near as fast as it looked, and not a very easy car to drive.
She kept it far less than a year, and they ended up in a gen 3 Thunderbird, which was at least a bit more in line with the way they drove.

The Celica's sold well here. I had no experience at all with them, other than a passenger.
The little coupes were actually a bit smaller, and a lot more cramped than the earlier corolla's.

I often wonder how these cars would have benefitted from modern aspiration ie: direct fuel injection. Would have been a real hoot in a car like the SR-5...
I did have a much later Toyota mini van with fuel injection, and it was a bit fun to drive. The same parts scenario turned me off of Japanese vehicles for good- 700.00 for a fuse box was considered stratospheric at the time. The very long throw 5 speed in it was not very sports car like.

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

_________________
"Ain't no Half-Way" -S.R.V.

"Oh Yeah!.....All Right!" -Paul Simon

long throw, sounds like my HiLux,

had an 81, 4x4, SR5, longbed,

22RE and a 5 speed, I swear the knob moved a foot between gears,

quick off the line due to the gearing, but once you popped that clutch, any one you were ahead of was past you by the time you hit 2nd gear,

truck went anywhere and every where, until the rust caught it,

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What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?

Had to be my 65 Olds dynamic 88 , 425 cube 4 speed hardtop. Plenty fast
Then the 69 Road Runner, 383 auto, went good till the telephone pole and I met.
But my all time favorite was my 74 Vega that I put a 302 375 hp into.
All great fun, miss them all now.

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"Like a tank with it's tracks blown off, my turret still swivels and my cannon fires, so whenever the fight kicks off, I'll likely live or die right there, where the fight begins and ends"
John Connor

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What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?

I would be lying if I didn’t say my 70 chevelle SS wasn’t the one car I’ve had the most fun with. Those 460 ( +.0030 over 454) cubes are good for turning tires into smoke lol. Also on the list were my 75 vette. Not the fastest but with the 4 spd and handeling like it was on rails it was a blast to drive. My M1009 blazer is fun but not fast lol. Surprising car on the list was a 93 Pontiac sunbird that my folks bought new. Two door sport package. 3.1 v-6. Black with a red pinstripe and a sport package suspension upgrade. That little bugger would fry the front tires and handled extremely well. Also a fun ride was a 1972 gmc sprint ( gmc el comino). Had a 350 with a 3 spd stick on the floor, and a 331 geared 12 bolt posi. Manual steering manual brakes. Had bucket seats console and floor shift. Kinda a rare bird that was fun to drive.

I had the first year variant Pontiac Grand-AM.
Tiny little coupe with a 3.5 L v-6 crammed into it.
It was fairly quick, but was saddled with the 4 speed electronic o/d a/t.
There was a lot of torque-steer with it hammering off the line.
Still not a fan of front wheel drive, but it does come in handy in the winter...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

_________________
"Ain't no Half-Way" -S.R.V.

"Oh Yeah!.....All Right!" -Paul Simon

57 triumph TR3 , that i learned to drive in and then had a lot of fun drives in