LosAngeles

Brazil's Chevy Opala: As one looks at Chevy, Opel, Vauxhall, Holden, and such around the world, esp. in the 60s and 70s, the GM DNA is obvious in the design language. With the Opala, and the Rekord the first Opala was based on, there's tastes of Nova, Chevelle, dare i say IM-pala (!), and the first Monaro.

I was going to point that out, but forgot to.

Now if only the fake Quattroporte-holes would go away.

Oh yes, I'm throwing up in my mouth right now. Those things have taken this town by storm. We really didn't need further implication you have a family, douchebag, that's made clear by fact you drive that thing. Why is this never seen on cars?

Try those obnoxious stickers in the back windows of minivans and SUVs that indicate the dad, mom, and umpteen kids (wish I could find a picture) Sometimes it's stick people, sometimes it's feet, but they're all cheeky and corny.

I mean we're all familiar with Skylines at this point (enough boy racers saw to that) And we know of cars like Holden's Monaro and Commodore due to Pontiac getting the GTO and new G8. But....who in North America knew.... ...that there was a Mazda 929 before the one we saw? And a coupe at that!: which happened to have a Cosmo twin: Speaking of Cosmos, look at the preceding version (looks like a Mustang II or Monza notch) Note: We got the fastback, and hose are extremely hard to find these days. I've seen two ever, probably. Who here knew that Mitsubishi was one of Australia's big 3 (along with Holden and Ford) and built cars like the Magna: or local cult favorites like the Sigma Turbo: More to come....bring on the pictures.

LeSabre:

Since you like them so much.... Buick Park Avenue: Seems to be a popular car in Texas. I personally would like to find an Ultra that isn't too beat to play with the blown 3.8.

Whoa, edit that pic out and save it for another thread (I was planning to start it all week long). Besides, that's not gonna honestly be a beater for quite some time. Japan takes care of their cars better than the U.S. Let's stick to stuff we actually get in this market (Euros are welcome to add on the stuff people treat like POSes across the pond). How was he trying to make that work? Neither Mopar nor Mitsubishi (and definitely not Mercedes) have a front-drive V-8 in the parts bin. It's gonna be sacrilege, unless he's fabricating a tube chassis Pro Street Shadow.

Excuse my posting of cars '03 or newer, I'm slipping here... Try the Mercedes 190 (another good drifter candidate perhaps?): <-- Excuse obnoxious music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPS8197ojd8 <-- Why not? Mercedes don't have to be coddled...besides they do it in the ads too!

Nissan Sentra: This particular model doesn't have the raciest rep: I know, I know, but still....: But best of all: More Isuzu Impulse: Side note: a non-turbo would make a great place for a non-sacrilgeous GM engine swap (e.g. HF, Atlas, Ecotec, Buick 3.

While I'm sure to be all alone on this, as I took some looks at LeBarons of that period, I couldn't help but feel they had lines reminiscent of the FC3S Mazda RX-7.

Acura Vigor:

More A-bodies: Celebrity: Pontiac 6000: Seems that's a popular swap, since it's also in a Century

Speaking of Cadillac power....try this Celebrity with a 4.5:

I like the '79-85 Eldorado and Riviera also.... I don't see the appeal of E-bodies. Sloppy chassis, awful engines.

Datsun 210:

Just like doing everything done with these ubiquitous and redundant big V-8s, might as well try your hand at a V-12, make it a real challenge.

Isuzu was kinda dead to me when they stopped making passenger cars. Definitely dead when they were down to a throwaway badge-engineered Envoy. Loved the Impulse, Axiom, Rodeo/Amigo, and the turbo I-Mark and Stylus. Once they stopped developing cars, it would have been nice to see them merge with Honda (would have kept the Honda brand from their attempts at non-cars). Japan Inc. is supposed to take care of their own.

I take it the west coast is the only place where you can find plenty of cars older than 1989 still on the road. Japan's rust issues likely came from them using milder, thinner steel and not the greatest paint, plus exporting to markets they weren't aware ate cars for breakfast (the JDM isn't that cold or salty). Learned in later years when they got serious about tailoring cars for these other markets beyond federalizing. As far as the Fremont plant (in the Bay, northern CA), it was an old A-body factory that entered into a joint venture with Toyota making their Corolla Sprinter sedans our Nova and first two Prizms, the third Prizm from a rebadged Corolla, then the mighty Vibe/Voltz...so basically something Corolla-based for GM and some Tacomas (plus now the Corolla itself). GM ceded NUMMI to Toyota in 1996.

I'll give you the transmission part (paddle and toggle shifting options have opened things up for the automatic side). But as far as drive wheels, I don't think it rates to the point-A/point-B types whether it's front or rear. It would be nice if there was a bone thrown to those for whom it does rate (not to beat that dead horse, however). I think engineering has caught up enough regarding fuel economy, weight savings, safety features, and such.

I'm sayin', is his point to troll using his anti-FWD worldview? Keep in mind he loves the 67-70 Eldorado, one of the more tragic fronties ever built IMO. In any event, as I dove deeper, I got further and further taken aback by how much the North American market has pretty much succumbed the bread and butter segments to front-drive, as if it was absolutely what a car should be. I don't mind with the compacts, but I think the intermediate and big cars had their appeal neutered. But apart from drive wheels, I think the bias towards automatic transmissions on most cars is a bigger scourge. Renders every car little more than a work-kids-groceries throwaway runabout.

Yeah, he's got a lot of entertaining clips on there, all those Canadian cancer patients he owns. I'll be a big city guy forever, but I now wonder where I can find a nice monster plot of land to do whatever I like with cars on. Am I the only one who gets a Drew Peterson vibe from him?

QUOTE(mjdecker @ Aug 18 2005, 04:16 PM) [snapback]84[/snapback] I really like it... I love the quick reply feature but overall I gave it a 9.. why? Need more smilies.. like puking or drooling The smiles cheese it up if you ask me.

We needed more GM and more fronties, so here we go W-body Cutlass Supremes (I always found them to be beautiful cars):