Cars - for those who love them

Kia Sphincter! I love it :-)

I hate the looks of most new cars, especially the Civic type R which performs great but is so gross that I rejected it for looks alone.

I might be wrong but I think this might be the last golden age of cars. Either the fleet economy standards, kids lack of interest in cars, autonomous cars or our shitty roads will kill off performance cars. But I thought they were dead back in the bad old days of the late 70s and 80s too.

You need to get west of the Mississippi. Lots of very well maintained mountain roads that you can have almost to yourself. Closer to home there are some pretty good ones on Blue Ridge Parkway and vicinity. Autobahn blasts at 150+ are really not that interesting to me; curves and turns are where it's at, or better yet, find a track in your neighborhood that has open track days. You would be popular in that Sprite.

I have a buddy that loves his Ranger, has over 300K on the odometer.

They were a flop in the market place but I really liked a 92 Suzuki Sidekick I had for over a decade. Doesn't have the power to pull a hat off your head but something about it made it fun to drive. It had 340K on it when I gave it to my younger brother. He handed it down to his son who is still driving it.

though whether it might be used as the devil's doorbell...probably.

That's a gorgeous auto, LF. Congrats. If I went for another bimmer sedan, that's the one. And the design people are making the new iteration much prettier than the initial model.

I thought I felt the car quiver a bit while waxing the fin yesterday : )

It was a long wait for the M240 after selling the 328 but I enjoyed getting to know the Z3 again. I had not driven it for almost 6 months and almost forgot what a great roadster it is. You still got yours or still looking for a replacement?

Still have it. Had to take it back in because another idiot hit it and ran away (small damage) and the alignment was off but I'm driving it again. Had been driving mainly SUVs in the interim. They are a handy vehicle type but not something one enjoys driving, like a roadster. I applaud your choice over the Civic. As one writer put it (who loved driving the car), "It hits every branch on the ugly tree."

Lol! Yep, something strange is going on at Honda.
Their styling department has been a fail for years now. (NSX a possible exception)
Even the powertrain dept. has fallen down. They totally flopped with their engine with the McLaren/Honda F1 team last year. It was so bad they dumped Honda and went with Renault this year.

Bummer about the hit & run on your Z. I'm still in paranoia & dread of the inevitable first ding on the new whip.

searching for the correct shade of BLUE for mylil Sprite. You know the blue Im talking about, I just cant think of what to call it so we can puter match We have everything off the body an it needed much body restructuring to fit the engine and shaft segment. Its gonna b a strait bored out 1500 cc with a turbo and a fule cooler . suspension is piled a bit high (Im not sure of the junk that went in)

We did the modeling by me getting an EZ Go golf cart (which has a mid engine) and I had a ski doo ngine installed an a moderate lift kit.
Now I want to squeeze in the electronics and a longr seat set-up. Its amazing how much lighter and smaller the electronics and turbos are today comparable to those of the 50's. I Have a bigger input shaft cause were out to the edge of reality on torque with the boxter engine configuration.
This is NOT gonna be a concourse lil bug . Its kinda tricked out and will, when re-assembled , be my very first ride next spring. Ive not rushed this. Thanks to this thread I was looking for a Mazda wankel but that wouldnt have done because its too bulky on the outside , whereas this on, a sideass mounted 4 cyl, turboed and balanced with a wter cooler, is gonna just fit with a minor raising of the bonnet, sort of Porche's big ass style (except its a slightly higher nose that has to fit with xternal lether clamps from the bonnet to the fire wll. I had em bronzed like on an old Triumph.
If it doesnt look good, the body guys hd an idea about jacking the whole firewall and cutting off the windscreen a bit. That may look too much like an old Deutch Bonet racer,

Tires are gonna extend out a wee bit so its gonn look meaner than the lil frog it is. First Porche at a stop light will be my target after its properly broken in.

This is gonna be the last car Im gonna have built. Im on a fixed income. However, I did see a really honey of a rat rod at a show in St Michaels Md that some guy built out of an old Ford F 100 flairside. He actully had a " multi layered peel and rust " paint job with a clear coat.

Although all I have now is a crappy '07 Civic si, I did have a couple of old(ish) bimmers. I got a black/black e46 323i about eight years ago. Obviously pedestrian performance, especially for being a decade old at the time. But it handled great and felt perfect to sit in and drive. It was sold after a spun rod bearing did it in.

A couple years after getting the e36, I picked up an e34 540i, for no other reason than I wanted one. After a lot of searching, I bought it from someone online, and it was shipped to me in Columbus Ohio from Spring Texas – with I think about 80-some thousand miles on it. This one was cashmere on tan (yeah, I know), but the v8 and 6sp manual softened that blow nicely. This one was the project, and I did a lot of work on it, but sold it after a relocation just over a year ago now. Although I don't regret getting rid of it, I do miss having any semblance of torque now.

The day I got it. Those rear springs were saaag-eee lol


Fresh from a clay bar and wax


After the front end was lowered

I still miss my E46 330. Didn’t have the rush of my F22 but the light weight of the 46 made it feel so nimble when pitching it around turns.

Turboing the stock Sprite motor? Pretty brave! How much boost you gonna run?

Finished up my Slingshot/rat rod. Too much work to clean it up to proper Hotrod status. Problem is it looks unbalanced. The rear looks like a high end custom with proper F1 pushrod type suspension, inboard disk brakes, etc. The front end is pure shade tree rat rod.

Lost all modern day stuff in the process, no ABS, traction or stability control. Reminds me of my Kart racing days.

Not certain of the boost but itll b similar to the old 13B racer (last of the bigass bugeyes. Im going for open wheel wells . Also, the boxter config keps it fairly roomy under the hood. The only thing Ive been warnd of is flames outta the pipes. Mot of he 13B's were exhausted using "Hollywood sidestacks " The boxter makes it unecessary Ive been told.

I thoought you totalled the slingshot. I saw two guys in a rallye with aslingshot (it was an open rallye, moto cross, and motocycle cross country. The slingshot had a nasty slide. I dont know, is it a front wheels drive??

For insurance purposes it was. Just replacing the front end fiberglass body parts and right front suspension was more than resale value. Plus bent frame which is automatic total on MCs. There is no front end body now and I switched out the single belt drive wheel in rear with differential from Infinity G35 and 2 wheels with trick F1 style suspension and brakes.

I’m gonna miss hearing how the Sprite goes with a Mazda rotary though.