Fun Car...

[oldschoolskier]

Mercedes AMG GT63S with the performance package.

 

[Philpug]

Mercedes AMG GT63S with the performance package.

Sure at around $200K.

 

[tball]

You made me look, wow. AMG GT63S:

The 630-HP 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S Is Ferocious and Fine

Mercedes-AMG's newest four-door takes after its two-door GT sibling, delivering scorching performance and speed with its twin-turbo V-8 and racy chassis.

www.caranddriver.com

I think a Civic Type R is more my speed, and I feel better about the wing now, thanks.

 

[François Pugh]

Fun video of the horsepower-challenged new Integra getting picked on:



Instead of 1.5 liters and 200 horsepower, it should be 1.8 liters and 240 horsepower.

Yeah, no. I'm sticking with the C6. Just waiting for a last bit of funding to trickle in. Got the winter beater already. Now, just need to trade my car in on the the corvette (tax savings) or buy private and sell.

FWIW, for comparison, a nice little 750 Suzuki "can do the quarter mile at 10.58 with a strong 139 mph terminal speed." according to google.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Sure at around $200K.

My daughter who just turned 21 has been driving her bosses AMG GT63S to run his errands for the last 6 months, otherwise it doesn't get driven. Both of them are trying to set up a track day so she can open it up.

 

[Philpug]

Oh my....

Civic R wagon (rendering)

Honda Civic Type R Wagon Rendering Imagines The Impossible

The Honda Civic Type R has been historically based on the Civic Hatchback. But if ever Honda considers making a long-roof version, will you consider buying one?

www.motor1.com

 

[djetok]

My wife and I went into our local BMW store with the intentions of ordering a BMW I4 M50 Saturday. That thing is pretty quick, almost as quick as a M3 comp. Well we are ordering and it will be 9 months or so to get, but we also bought a x3 to replace her Jeep that started showing electrical issues, timing chain cover leaking (fixed under warranty) and water pump (warranty).

The BMW i4 M50 Is a Brutally Quick EV Daily Driver

BMW tried the radical EV thing with the i3. Now it has set its sights on different goals.

www.roadandtrack.com

X3 with all the M-sport appearance packages- It looks faster than it is .

 

[Lebowski]

Congrats on the new stable That X3 looks sharp - I dig the subtle changes BMW made to the '21+ models. FWIW, re: "looks faster than it is," I had the chance to drive a 2019 X3 4-cylinder a couple of years ago, and I was impressed with its quickness and agility. Really couldn't see myself needing the power of the M40i (I know, sacrilege...), at least not in an SUV. I'm sure you'll enjoy yours

 

[djetok]

Congrats on the new stable That X3 looks sharp - I dig the subtle changes BMW made to the '21+ models. FWIW, re: "looks faster than it is," I had the chance to drive a 2019 X3 4-cylinder a couple of years ago, and I was impressed with its quickness and agility. Really couldn't see myself needing the power of the M40i (I know, sacrilege...), at least not in an SUV. I'm sure you'll enjoy yours

It is my wife's x3. It is not horrible in speed. Its quicker than the Jeep GC we traded and gets better gas mileage. I'm just a speed freak. It's me not the car. I already ordered aftermarket 19's for it and building a spare tire package. I hate run flats

 

[Lebowski]

I remember the x3 I drove had the 19's but they were of course run-flats, so the ride was fine but still harsher than expected. Good call on building your own tire package

 

[djetok]

I remember the x3 I drove had the 19's but they were of course run-flats, so the ride was fine but still harsher than expected. Good call on building your own tire package

Yeah 21s, it is hard to find a wheel tire combo that is not run flat. Plus a little more sidewall than the 245/35/21 275/35/21 . I went square with 245's on 19's

 

[bbbradley]

Office parking garage today:

 

[Snowfan]

Fun cars are fun. 30 years ago I was fortunate to deal the fun ones

 

[Lebowski]

Fun cars are fun. 30 years ago I was fortunate to deal the fun ones
View attachment 174599

Awesome photo. You must have some stories!

Can't decide which I want more: that beautiful 911 Cab, or the "Every-80's-Movie-Villain-Ever" S-class Merc.

 

[Snowfan]

Awesome photo. You must have some stories!

Can't decide which I want more: that beautiful 911 Cab, or the "Every-80's-Movie-Villain" S-class Merc.

Good job spotting SEC's and SEL's. I was a paramedic firefighter and broke my leg while off duty and a guy bought my Corvette and led me to help finding and shipping exotics to Japan. I quit Fire Department and got dealer license and shipped $10M fun cars to Japan around 4 years '87 to '91. Exchange rate fell and business died so I became a 2x Subway Sandwich franchisee. Sandwiches are not as fun as cars.

Short list on what I bought and sent to Japan as So Cal Dealer...

Over 100 new and used Trans Am's
Over 75 new and used Z28's
150 new and used Corvettes
1 new ZR-1 Vette....first one in USA....paid 30K over sticker and drove from Houston to Long Beach Port. Yippee
75+ Porsche 911's in every style but no slantnoses and one Renntech 500hp that I got to give ride with my Mom at my wedding. She tripped on amazing acceleration.
Almost 100 used Mercedes S class SEC and SEL.
4 Ferrari 328 GTSi
No Lambos...they were junk then and Japan knew it....but later they rose in value and got much better with Audi support.
3+ Maserati Biturbo oddballs
A large bunch of 944 automatics....the Japanese prefer at's.

It was fun but love life more now. Hated the dishonesty among dealers and got ripped off multiple times.

 

[Lebowski]

Good job spotting SEC's and SEL's. I was a paramedic firefighter and broke my leg while off duty and a guy bought my Corvette and led me to help finding and shipping exotics to Japan. I quit Fire Department and got dealer license and shipped $10M fun cars to Japan around 4 years '87 to '91. Exchange rate fell and business died so I became a 2x Subway Sandwich franchisee. Sandwiches are not as fun as cars.

Short list on what I bought and sent to Japan as So Cal Dealer...

Over 100 new and used Trans Am's
Over 75 new and used Z28's
150 new and used Corvettes
1 new ZR-1 Vette....first one in USA....paid 30K over sticker and drove from Houston to Long Beach Port. Yippee
75+ Porsche 911's in every style but no slantnoses and one Renntech 500hp that I got to give ride with my Mom at my wedding. She tripped on amazing acceleration.
Almost 100 used Mercedes S class SEC and SEL.
4 Ferrari 328 GTSi
No Lambos...they were junk then and Japan knew it....but later they rose in value and got much better with Audi support.
3+ Maserati Biturbo oddballs
A large bunch of 944 automatics....the Japanese prefer at's.

It was fun but love life more now. Hated the dishonesty among dealers and got ripped off multiple times.

Wow, thank you for sharing! Utterly fascinating – sincerely! I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s in Montreal, just a geeked-out kid poring over car magazines. Your sales list brings back some of those memories, reading like one of my back issues of DuPont Registry!

For sure, I can imagine there would have been a lot of shadiness in high-end indie car sales. Sounds like you got out when you needed to.

Too funny about the Lambo's -- Japanese connoisseurs and their import tastes really is a fascinating lane unto itself.

Roadtripping in a new ZR1!!!

My formative 1980’s car experiences were limited to brief rides in 2 cars:

1) Dad’s buddy had a black 1987 328 GTS. Fast, loud and beautiful. It also seemed fragile. It’s amazing to think, in retrospect, the performance was barely better than a modern VW GTI…but with the noise and the open top, it felt like we very well might break the sound barrier LOL. The owner was a super-nice guy, very patient with his overly-excited passenger, but he was mostly keen to show me the custom stereo he had installed. I remember thinking then, even as a 10-year-old, “eh, he isn’t really a car guy, is he?”

2) Another friend of my dad's – this one a proper car guy – gave me a ride in one of the first RUF Porsches in North America. I didn’t know what a ‘RUF’ was, only that this friend jokingly berated me for calling it a Porsche when he first pulled up in it. (“It's not a Porsche; it’s a RUF!”)

This was a white-on-blue cab, with a big boost control dial between the seats, which, once we got onto the highway, I was instructed to turn clockwise. Wow. I still think about the sensation of raw speed I had in that car; seeing ‘130mph’ go by on the dial, and with the top down -- I don’t think I’d gone faster than 80mph til that point. That was a fun day.

 

[Snowfan]

Wow, thank you for sharing! Utterly fascinating – sincerely! I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s in Montreal, just a geeked-out kid poring over car magazines. Your sales list brings back some of those memories, reading like one of my back issues of DuPont Registry!

For sure, I can imagine there would have been a lot of shadiness in high-end indie car sales. Sounds like you got out when you needed to.

Too funny about the Lambo's -- Japanese connoisseurs and their import tastes really is a fascinating lane unto itself.

Roadtripping in a new ZR1!!!

My formative 1980’s car experiences were limited to brief rides in 2 cars:

1) Dad’s buddy had a black 1987 328 GTS. Fast, loud and beautiful. It also seemed fragile. It’s amazing to think, in retrospect, the performance was barely better than a modern VW GTI…but with the noise and the open top, it felt like we very well might break the sound barrier LOL. The owner was a super-nice guy, very patient with his overly-excited passenger, but he was mostly keen to show me the custom stereo he had installed. I remember thinking then, even as a 10-year-old, “eh, he isn’t really a car guy, is he?”

2) Another friend of my dad's – this one a proper car guy – gave me a ride in one of the first RUF Porsches in North America. I didn’t know what a ‘RUF’ was, only that this friend jokingly berated me for calling it a Porsche when he first pulled up in it. (“It's not a Porsche; it’s a RUF!”)

This was a white-on-blue cab, with a big boost control dial between the seats, which, once we got onto the highway, I was instructed to turn clockwise. Wow. I still think about the sensation of raw speed I had in that car; seeing ‘130mph’ go by on the dial, and with the top down -- I don’t think I’d gone faster than 80mph til that point. That was a fun day.

Great post, thanks. Fun to read and felt like old times.

Edit....the red 911turbo was a Ruf not Renntech....brain fart. I'm getting old. Found a picture of it.

And a couple others...

I just found my box of old pics and realized I forgot to list 928's, Volvo wagons and diesel Blazers tuned by Gale Banks. Fun to slog up to his shop then blast home under pressure.

...and Alfa Spiders, Saab turbos, Vans and others.....and how I forgot 1 Slantnose befuddles me

Forgot the Mercury Sable wagons.....hate to ever forget a wagon. Bought my own old car hauler and ran it awhile. 4 mpg gas engine

 

[Lebowski]

Wow - so many fantastic things in these pics - thank you again for sharing, man!

Is it sad that the pic of the Sable wagon hits hardest for me? Buddy's mom had one, same color, was what we drove around in when he (the first of us) got his license. I see that photo and I immediately hear Cypress Hill blasting & the associated smells...

Those Maserati BiTurbo's have always intrigued me. So boxy and subtle (for something Italian). If you didn't know your cars, you would've thought you were looking at a Datsun.

Yup, forgetting a Slantnose, of all things, is almost unforgivable

I've gotta say, of all these, the ZR1 still takes the cake for me. Never seen one in the flesh.

Thanks again for sharing!

Great post, thanks. Fun to read and felt like old times.

Edit....the red 911turbo was a Ruf not Renntech....brain fart. I'm getting old. Found a picture of it.


And a couple others...




I just found my box of old pics and realized I forgot to list 928's, Volvo wagons and diesel Blazers tuned by Gale Banks. Fun to slog up to his shop then blast home under pressure.

...and Alfa Spiders, Saab turbos, Vans and others.....and how I forgot 1 Slantnose befuddles me



Forgot the Mercury Sable wagons.....hate to ever forget a wagon. Bought my own old car hauler and ran it awhile. 4 mpg gas engine

 

[Philpug]

and shipped $10M fun cars to Japan

I was shipping the other way, hundreds of cars (mostly on MSO's) to Hungary.

 

[cantunamunch]

Wow - so many fantastic things in these pics - thank you again for sharing, man!

Is it sad that the pic of the Sable wagon hits hardest for me? Buddy's mom had one, same color, was what we drove around in when he (the first of us) got his license. I see that photo and I immediately hear Cypress Hill blasting & the associated smells...

LOL. Mercury Sable wagons were actually kinda good in snow, well at least NE snow. I used to chuckle at the pseudo light bar in the front but what really gave me the absolute giggles was the spring-deployed beetle wings/spaceship doors center console coffee holder. That thing *never* got old

Hated the air system. Replaced the heater core in my sister's one twice.

Those Maserati BiTurbo's have always intrigued me. So boxy and subtle (for something Italian). If you didn't know your cars, you would've thought you were looking at a Datsun.

The funny thing is that the Lagondas of the same era had a lot of the strong semi-wedge swage lines.