Old Cars....Sailors Survey

[Sailor_Hutch]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Rally car. 38 Ford. Hmmm....To mean rally means TSD rally and pounding the (ahem) out of something way more advanced than that. Or does a 38 Ford do better than most when it is airborne or slewing sideways? <G>

Heavy metal for a rally, isn't it? In '38, they were still putting real fenders on cars. Seems like most rally cars are well stripped of all non-essential weight ...

Years ago, seeing a hot-rodded antique was something I didn't appreciate. I was the purist, preferring to see cars in original, restored condition. On the other hand, someone once said that many old cars wouldn't be around anymore if they hadn't been taken in by a rodder, chopped and supercharged. Better rodded than rusted.

It's too bad today's look-alike cars have no user-serviceable parts. Being a car aficionado tells your age ...

[senormechanico]

1969 Porsche 911E dead stock, with cookie cutter wheels.
Sold my red 1970 911T when I bought the E.
I purchased it used, in perfect condition, and the only thing I didn't like about it was the color.
PUMPKIN ORANGE !
I figured I'd get lots of speeding tickets, but in all the years I owned it, not a single one.

When it got dirty, it hardly showed.
I wish I still had it, but it had to go when we left for Mexico cruising.

[Cheechako]

Had a Triumph TR3A cool car.. like go cart!
'67 Dodge R/T, 55 chevy convert, 55 Nomad....
Rebuilt a '65 Mustang a while back... that was my last project really. One of my favorites was a Toyota Supra Turbo T-Top. What a machine... smooth as glass at 100mph.
Interesting story: I bought an ancient tube radio at a yard sale. I thought I would try to get it working, it was nothing simple to do. When I opened up the back there were two old faded envelopes in it..... in those envelopes were two car titles.; a 1925 Buick, and a 1937 Pontiac. (both signed!) Some old geezer must have hidden them in there and then died! Somewhere out there are a couple classics I evidently own!

[Jim Newman]

1959 Triumph TR3A full historic road rally spec. re-built from new chassis up with every allowable upgrade under the rules! Beautiful.

[James S]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I was wondering about a '75 diesel rabbit? how do the logistics of this thing work out. IE cost to ship car from West Coast US port? It's not something I'd ever really consider, but my kids would be a bit older then and might be a keen family adventure.

Shipping is up to each participant.....most people talked about about 5, 6 grand (US) we paid a little over 5 from Melbourne to Beijing...included all clearance an official fees!

[fishin4bogey]

First car was a 1971 Mustang. I loved, loved, loved that car. My mothers nimrod ex husband gave it to a neighbor for $100 bucks. Spun the plastic oil pump shaft.

Would love to get another Mustang, but want a sailboat more.

[James S]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Had a Triumph TR3A cool car.. like go cart!

A buddy and I drug an old TR3 out of the dump like in the mid 70s (back when cars were still put in the dump)...we wired a Pinto radiator to it...scrounged a battery and some plywood to close the rusted out floor...the damn thing ran for a summer and we zoomed around the near-by abandoned gravel pit...was a blast...we were like 15.....yes...was like a go cart....!

[fishin4bogey]

One of my buddies in high school auto shop squeezed a Ford 302 in a Triumph TR 4. Sweet mother of pearl that car flew. Couldn't corner worth a hoot, but straight away, it was a dang rocket!!!

[avb3]

Best sleeper car back in the day was a friend who had a beater looking VW... with a Porsche motor in it.

[Sailor_Hutch]

My first car was a 1963 Chevy. I could stand in the engine compartment to work on it (with feet on ground). I'm a pretty skinny guy, but there was not much unnecessary stuff in there! So long as I never turned the ignition switch all the way over to the "lock" position, I didn't need a key at all. Lived in small town ... no crime ... never bothered to use a key until shortly before I sold it. Moved up to a 1969 gran torino "son of shelby" ... 351 engine, four speed, ridiculously high shackles, barely legal mufflers. Would get arrested on first start in driveway nowadays ...

[nimblemotors]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Former TR4A owner here too. I always wanted a TR3B and missed one by a few months.

TR6 was one of mine.

[OutOfControl]

Originally Posted by avb3

Best sleeper car back in the day was a friend who had a beater looking VW... with a Porsche motor in it.

avb3, was this by any chance on the Space Coast near Eau Gallie.
My father used to commute to Patrick AFB with a co-worker in the early 80's that had a similar set-up.

OutOfControl

[Tripod]

Originally Posted by avb3

Best sleeper car back in the day was a friend who had a beater looking VW... with a Porsche motor in it.

I had a '70 VW bug with a 911 engine and upgraded suspesion and brakes. Looked like a POS, but boy could it fly.

[mischief]

My first car I bought by myself and picked out was when I was 17 and was a 1972 Datsun 240z I eventually completely redid the car and in the end was dynode at 322 RWH I utilized a 280z block custom grind cam and crank and a list a page long of head work. Triple webber Dcoe 45 mm carbs were a symphony. She pulled hard from 2500rpm-10200rpm redline. With a 5 speed and 4.55 lsd she topped out at 183mph ran the quarter in 10.8 seconds and I could break the tyres loose for the first 3 gears if I wanted.

I miss that car I sold it to immigrate to Australia. In fact I also sold my 73 Datsun 510 SCCA sanctioned rally car I used to race In group 2 class and held its own against the G4 factory sponsored cars. Which always seemed to piss a few people off. It had 230RWH stripped down she was light noisy and fast. Euro 5 speed low gears posi diff she was a hoot.

Faster than my tricked out MR2 supercharged rally car I did up. Although that was better balanced.

I've also owned a number of old classics and then there were the BJ40 and 42 land cruisers I restored.

Bu I come from a family where my moms car is a chopped 53 willies with a 351 mated to a turbo 400 then to a ford 9" the front of the truck is taken from a mustang 2 and is generally picked together from all sorts of things that should not go together but looking at it you would never know.

On the other hand is my dad thaw into muscle cars and has owned ford Cobras and Taledega (Sp?)

Once dad had a 69 Ford cobra with a 428 SCJ and used to let me take it to school at 30mph I. The school zone you could get the front wheel off the ground bunny hopping and laying 2 nice stripes every time on the road.

The. You drop a gear and you could light em up for a block leaving a lot of smoke behind and stunned faces. Probably impressed the guys more than the girls. Dad never cared if we raced his cars as long as we didn't loose because a good reputation can sell a car fast.
But the. Dad was the type that took us to empty parking lots to learn to drift etc. also on I e snow and gravel. He always said I'd rather you boys know how to handle it so when if it ever happened unexpectedly you would be totally comfortable and instinctively know what to do.

Anyway now it nothing but boats for me lately and Ive somewhat left the car world behind. But this thread brings back a lot of good memories.

Btw we are no where near rich folk and dad only had rare end expensive cars because he bought and sold them. As for me I spent way too much on cars, climbing, women, diving, camping.......oh wait I guess I spread it about better than I thought.

[Celestialsailor]

Do either of these qualify?