Best/worst,fastest,slowest cars you have owned.

[scoundrel]

When you are young, you tend to think in terms of improving the power output when you want to take a factory-standard car and make it go faster. But I am always a bit a out of step (you know this about me by now, Sav). I never tweaked an engine.

I didn't even own cars untl I was 34: I passed my driving test whn I was 26. All my younger days were spent on motorcycles. Also I was (still am) psychotically cheap. On my first conveyance, a 50cc Yamaha moped, I was the only man in the UK who owned one and persevered with the nylon Yokohama tyres fitted by the factory until they wore out. The alternative was to buy decent tyres, ad whenever you said the words "buy" or "spend money" I used to get dizzy spells and have to lie down. Those Yokohama tyres could give points to a teflon frying pan for sheer lack of grip and were a guaranteed cure for constipation. To add to the fun, I used to point the moped at every casual puddle in the road to save wear and tear on the tyres, so in my own way I was a thrill seeker too.

Later on, I discovered that if you really wanted to make better progress, you left the engine to itself and you addressed the other end. Sharper brakes make a lot of difference, but must be allied to better tyres and stiffer suspension, or else the brakes will overpower and lock up the tyres and you will be in trouble. A simplle thing like having the right tyre pressures can make you up to 5% quicker and improve your steering too. Stiffer suspension also improves cornering ability, meaning you can go in and out of corners faster, but always remembering that you must leave yourself with somewhere to go if there is an obstacle hiding round that bend in the road.

Looking after the power-train also pays dividends; up to 20% of engine power is lost in the transmission and never reaches the wheels or the road. On a typical, motorcycle, that means using a good quality chain and keeping it at the right tension-adjustment and cleaning it with paraffin and keeping it lubricated. With cars, you have options for changing the gearbox and transmission but this stuff needs ramps, workshops, tools and knowledge; but a lot of cars are fitted with the gearbox the factory has in the parts bin, and don't have a gearbox properly tailored to the characteristics of the engine.

However, when you are still young, everything is about engine size and power. No one stops and thinks; if I took all that useless heavy shit out of the trunk, this car would go quicker...

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

No one stops and thinks

Yours truly

If I had to sum it all up.......My 2005 Ford XR6 Turbo



That car is a beast, a 4 litre straight 6, 6 speed manual gearbox and power and torque that was fun fun fun Having worked for Ford, I knew a lot of people there, Out of the factory, that thing had 245kW and 450nm of torque....... But I knew a bloke that worked in one of the engine labs, he loaned me a development engine computer, that never made it back too the lab He thinks it might have boosted it too 315kw and 580nm

Being a big car it was great and comfortable, I'm not sure what the top speed of it was, 250 or 260 I'm guessing. Handled extremely well for a big car , but would drink like 2 drunk fish

Hillclimb

[savage560]

Hey Scoundrel, we in the US had very different agendas when we were young.I mean it was the thing amoungst a mutitude of young dudes in my youth era 60s-70s, to make your "baby" run from stop light to stop light,1/4 mile stuff,faster than the other dude could.It was really an American "thing" back then.Speed shops were a hangout then,as were the Drag Strips.Just shows you that points, I was making about other things make some semblance of sense here, how our respective countries & the continents we are on are worlds apart.On other issues too.

I was'nt a "kid" when I did these things either,maybe 20 or so & that was kind of old here to start at that age to get into building a drag car.But quite a bit younger than you.Funny ,is'nt it we in the States liked lighting fast 1/4 mile runners,while you Europeans like the road cars on curved tracks.

I know a guy here, who's from Europe, who works on exotics, like Ferraris,Lambos,Jags,Masseratis, & we haved conversed about my C5 with modified Z06 engine,he thinks the Chevy is a better car eventhough it costs well over 100 grand less than those!He believes that my C5 pulling near 520 bhp would "smoke" all but the most expensive of them, that cost nearly 500K in the 1/4.The aim still revered here in the States, 1/4 mile machines rule.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by savage560

Hey Scoundrel, we in the US had very different agendas when we were young.I mean it was the thing amoungst a mutitude of young dudes in my youth era 60s-70s, to make your "baby" run from stop light to stop light,1/4 mile stuff,faster than the other dude could.It was really an American "thing" back then.Speed shops were a hangout then,as were the Drag Strips.Just shows you that points, I was making about other things make some semblance of sense here, how our respective countries & the continents we are on are worlds apart.On other issues too.

I was'nt a "kid" when I did these things either,maybe 20 or so & that was kind of old here to start at that age to get into building a drag car.But quite a bit younger than you.Funny ,is'nt it we in the States liked lighting fast 1/4 mile runners,while you Europeans like the road cars on curved tracks.

I know a guy here, who's from Europe, who works on exotics, like Ferraris,Lambos,Jags,Masseratis, & we haved conversed about my C5 with modified Z06 engine,he thinks the Chevy is a better car eventhough it costs well over 100 grand less than those!He believes that my C5 pulling near 520 bhp would "smoke" all but the most expensive of them, that cost nearly 500K in the 1/4.The aim still revered here in the States, 1/4 mile machines rule.

How was your Chevrolet on corners, Savage? The trouble with most American muscle cars (we call them "Yank Tanks" in the UK, no insult intended) is that they carry a lot of weight and understeer like bastards when there's a hairpin bend coming up.

[Byegone Daze]

Originally Posted by Estreeter

If I had to sum it all up.......My 2005 Ford XR6 Turbo

I just don't get why Ford sells cool cars in Europe, and not here on the other side of the pond. I drove my friend's '70s Ford Pantera once, and it was scary fast. Damn it, Ford, why are you so complacent here in the US. Yes, they sell fast Mustangs here, but I am tired of the styling. I think that Europeans are more demanding than Americans.

So for thrills, I learned to ride a motorcycle 2 years ago, and I am on Social Security retirement. I own a 2009 Yamaha V-Star 250, which is a bit of a puddle jumper, but more than a scooter. The V-Star 250 is not fit for Interstate/Autobahn riding.

Now I am interested in buying a V-Star 950 or a Honda 750 Shadow, maybe an Aero. Getting a cycle dealer around here to demo one is a bitch!

[scoundrel]

If you like V twins and need to do serious mile-munching on trunk roads such as the US Interstate highway network, your best bet is probably a Moto-Guzzi. Don't be put off by them being Italian: they are mechanically very reliable. It is very common to see 30 year old examples still being regularly used in hard work ownership.
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/guzzit...moto_guzzi.htm

Don't buy a Harley if you want to do any actual riding; they are only for demontrating how to use metal polish.

[savage560]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

How was your Chevrolet on corners, Savage? The trouble with most American muscle cars (we call them "Yank Tanks" in the UK, no insult intended) is that they carry a lot of weight and understeer like bastards when there's a hairpin bend coming up.

The Chevy Corvette is great on cornering/handling,but its a 50th ann. 2003, & GMs aim with the C5 was to make it world class.You could get those & some Cadilacs like the CTS series that had an electric ,computer controlled suspension.Mine has "active controlled handling" & skid control.They would race them & they did pretty good in road type racing,& good at "draggin'" too.A couple of Camaros I had were pretty good too, in that catagory,but they too were late 90s vehicle also.The 88 Fiero Formula would "snake" corners too.That car ,as I noted ,had a Lotus designed suspension.

A mid 90s Ford Probe GT I had was pretty good at that too,& in the mid-90s up, the US manufacturers put an emphasis on handling & reducing the power/weight ratio.Like my brother, he had a very inexpensive Ford ZX2,that had excellent handling characteristics,decent power/weight ratio,at a price that was very cheep.In some areas it out handled sports cars that costed several times as much!This was unlike their philosophy in the 60-70s with their V8 rocket equipped muscle cars of the past.

But that again, especially with the 60s-70 muscle cars,this was not the aim.We here love open highway driving & where our "Yank Tanks" were suited well for the open streaches of interstate hyways,in rural areas,where you could put on your Radar detector & go 150 mph in them or cruise at 120!Or of course to the "Strip" or at a deserted streach of 1/4 mile local road where people got together to run each outher like I did when I was a youngin', with my little rocket.It weighed maybe 2500-2600lbs., & thats where I had an advantage.Even if I raced a car with a much larger displacement engine, some of those muscle cars weighed anywhere between, say 3200-4000 lbs.Like you noted ,there's a lot to be said for a good power/weight ratio.

I really miss that era of the "Yank Tanks" huge engines with raw HP,not that KW crap ,.Nothing like the fire breathin, tire burning, era,where gas was as cheep ,according to 987.. as 16 cents/gallon!

PS :I try to never miss the 2 English dudes TV program,where they overhall/fix a lot of American cars & Euro ones, in England.One buys them the other repairs them for sale.

Hairpin bends ,there are'nt any I've seen here!

[savage560]

Originally Posted by Chibi_Madara

I just don't get why Ford sells cool cars in Europe, and not here on the other side of the pond. I drove my friend's '70s Ford Pantera once, and it was scary fast. Damn it, Ford, why are you so complacent here in the US. Yes, they sell fast Mustangs here, but I am tired of the styling. I think that Europeans are more demanding than Americans.

Its seems no mater what Ford does to the "Stang", the Camaro & Corvette allways beat them in the 1/4 mi.It was true in 1967 & still seems to be the rule today.The problem is Fords philosphy for the past 80 years has been,we'll give the people what we want.GMs for a long time was,we'll give the people what they want!We were different in our demands than Europeans in the 60-70s car era.Not a demanding what they wanted ,but what we wanted here,muscle cars in the day,& CC & GM were much more in tune with that then & still somewhat!Now we're getting in line with the dudes in Europe,on our car tastes, more or less.

The DeTomaso Pantera was a hell of a car & there were a few sold here.I saw one in the Mercury dealers showroom when I bought my Comet GT.The problem was WTH should you buy one of those when you could buy a faster, just as well styled Corvette,that could be equipped a monster 454 CID engine & costed less?

[savage560]

BTW I have heard the next Mustang will deviate from the rediculous/tired "retro look"!Its worn out its welcome Ford, get into the 21st century allready!If I want to buy a car that looks like a 1967 Mustang,I'll buy a 1967 Mustang!

[henryf]

Best car I owned? A red series 3 Lotus Esprit. Not fast by today's standards, but the road-holding was out of this world. Sadly, it was constantly vandalised, so had to go.