A Horse With No Name

No...different strokes for different folks. That was part of the review....this car is not for most people. You've got to want a really small, really sports oriented car to want this thing.

My 57 Chevy was Turquoise...I miss cars with color...it's boring watching a bunch of silver and gery cars go by on the highway.... Keep those truck pics coming, GMCTG!

The BR-Z will be the nicer car....!

Agree with dfelt... Although I would take a lot of different "electras." Personally...if they could have done a second gen of the Kappa cars and built a little ragtop and called it the Wildcat... They would have had my money in a heartbeat.

Oh, and thanks, GMCTG 1955 - One two-tone color combination was available: Bombay Ivory/Cardinal Red 1956 - Eight two-tone color combinations were available: Cardinal Red/Bombay Ivory Cardinal Red/Sand Beige Golden Yellow/Jet Black Cardinal Red/Arabian Ivory Regal Blue/Arabian Ivory Granite Gray/Arabian Ivory Ocean Green/Arabian Ivory Crystal Blue/Arabian Ivory 1957 - Nine two-tone color combinations were available: Cardinal Red/Bombay Ivory Bombay Ivory/Cardinal Red Bombay Ivory/Sand Beige Bombay Ivory/Indian Turquoise Jet Black/Golden Yellow Bombay Ivory/Granite Gray Bombay Ivory/Ocean Green Bombay ivory/Alpine Blue Bombay Ivory/Sandstone Beige 1958 - Nine two-tone color combinations were available: Cardinal Red/Bombay Ivory Bombay Ivory/Cardinal Red Bombay Ivory/Oriental Green Bombay Ivory/Granite Gray Kodiak Brown/Bombay Ivory Golden Yellow/Jet Black Jet Black/Tartan Turquoise Glade Green/Polar Green Marine Blue/Dawn Blue Dawn Blue/Marine Blue *The first Cameo pictured is a 1955 model while the other three are '56 models (id'ed by the side fender emblem and the new hood ornament for '56, in addition to being offered in the Regal Blue/Arabian Ivory color combo). Another interesting fact is that the '55 Cameo used the '55 Bel-Air wheelcovers while the '56-'58 Cameos used the regular but chromed 1/2 ton truck hubcaps with or without trim rings (some owners, like the two middle '56s pictured, added the '56 Bel-Air wheelcovers). The Jet black/Tartan Turquoise truck scheme is sharp...I've seen it. God I wish I could own one of these trucks....

At 25K it is still a bargain. And I guess when Toyota wants a sports car, they do what we do...they buy one from someone else. Lots of parts on the car from the Subie parts bin...

What I do know is that even with the traction control and electronic nannies turned off, this car has a supernatural ability to act as your dance partner, executing every move beyond your wildest expectations. Want a little more over steer...coming right up. Want the car to straighten itself out in an awkward transitional section of the course...not a problem. For yesterdays autocross, we left our all season tires on the Miata because we had massive rain forecast. This made us one of the slowest Miatas at the event, but also gave me a good bench mark I think for comparing it to the FRS- which rode on Michelin all season tires. We managed to loose control once on track, coming down to the final slalom section. We spun at about 50 miles an hour, which is pretty darned fast for a parking lot. The FR-S driver managed to spin at the same spot, as did an S2000 driver who is a friend of mine. The FRS seemed to be more adept at recovering itself even with the electronic nanny's off. and the nanny's are not intrusive even when you use this thing for performance driving. I've got to go to work, but I'll post more later. Any comments or questions anyone has would be welcome.

Open the car up on an autocross course or a race track though, and the car is brilliant, the frumpy little kid who can play Mozart flawlessly once you finally get him in front of a well tuned Piano. People on message boards and in bench racing sessions have said that this thing, drivin hard, is a better driving car than the Miata, the Elise, the RX-8, the Solstice, the Sky, the EVO, the WRX STI, the RX-7, and about any other small performance oriented car. They would be correct. Other than a Porsche Cayman, this may be the best handling car on an autocross course. I thought that it flat out crushed my Miata in terms of handling, and ate the S2000 for a second course. I really do like it's on track dynamics better than an Elise. and it's certainly cheaper and more practical than an Elise. The thing is simply at the top of its class. ...and I know some of you all are saying...this thing is a Toyota....and you would be right. I really wish that Corvair had stuck around, and that this was the modern Chevrolet Corvair. Possibly Pontiac could have stayed around and built an edgy, second generation of the Solstice that corrected some of the wrongs of the first (and only) generation car. We'll never know.

On the topic of the interior, the car for some reason has two speedometers, one analog and one digital. The analog speedo is kind of useless, and the sppedo needle is always pointing directly down in normal driivng...it kind of gives one the impression of a dog trying to find a tree to urinate on.... It's not bad, just kind of an odd detail.. Rest of the interior is nice. It's a cut above the cars like Mitsubishi's Lancer ralliart...but no where near as nice as a Mustang with the premium package, a MINI Cooper, A Beetle Turbo with the nicer trim bits, a GTI, an audi A3, et al. I would think that a lot of people who post here who really enjoy nice automotive interiors would be slightly disappointed with the car. If a comfortable, easy to use Interior is your thing, skip the local Toyota and Subaru dealer and go directly to VW and buy a GTI. It really is a much nicer car for about 95% of the buying public. For the other 5%, they will put up with minor issues with interior quality to town a world class sports car. But be sure you want an actual real sports car before you buy this thing. Motor Trend ran a comparo recently of the Mustnag V6 Sport package, FRS, BRZ, Miata, Mustang, and Hyundai Genesis. They concluded that the FRS/BRZ was the best on track sporty car of the bunch. Pro driver Randy pobst ranked the GTI dead last, while Motor Trand Ranked the Genesis dead last. They noted that below about 8/10ths driving, the GTI was possibly the best of the bunch. I say this because as a street car, the BRZ/FRS twins may be a little bit difficult for a lot of people to live with., You sit very low, which creates visibility issues for some people. You will have to reach up awkwardly if you go through a drive through at white castle for your ayem java. If your a female getting into and out of this thing in a miniskirt, things could get pornographic. And unloading groceries will require bending over a little awkwardly. The Suspension tuning is not done with rough mid western roads in mind. My test car (the automatic) rode actually worse that a Lotus Elise...or a Factory 5 Cobra replica...or a full road race prepped Fox body Mustang....or a Formula Ford...or a Sprint car...or...you get the general idea. This is a car that could send your date home early wanting Dramamine. I say this because while my wife loves driving our MINI, and likes our Miata just fine, I'm not sure she could tolerate the rougher ride of this car. It's not all that comfortable, and I could see more than a few of these getting traded back in just because it is a PITA to live with in this regard.

After the SCCA Autocross a week ago I went to the local Toyota dealer and drove a new FRS, a Lava orange automatic. At the buckeye Miata Club autocross today, I got some (passenger) seat time in a new black manual FRS at speed. My impressions. I like the silhouette of the car. It reminds me of the old air cooled 911's, the Cayman, the Ferrari GTO, my old first gen Mustang fatback, the 67-69 barracuda which is gorgeous, the Porsche Cayman, the original 250 Z, the jag E type...very classy. the front and rear, a little less so. Car is sweet, but suffers from a little bit too much of the "Angry Pokemon" style of a lot of modern Japanese iron. I like the design touches such as the triangular additional rear brake light under the rear bumper, though. Reminded me of the low mount brake light on some formula style race cars. I love the double bouble roof and the large sculpted opening for the radiator. Overall, not as good as the classic designs I measured, but for a 25K modern car, darned nice. On the driving side...first of all, don't buy this thing as a 4 seater... it's never going to be anything other than a two passenger car. The rear seats are big enough to carry my car and a sandwich, but probably not at the same time. Front seats, OTOH, are superb. Very comfortable, and nicely bolstered at the sides for performance driving. This is other than the performance aspect of the chassis tuning, the one thing about the car they got dead nuts right.

I imagine in a few years parts will be getting harder to find for these....

Thanks GMCTG and Olds for posting... And I thought the model car photographs were neat also.

Interesting stuff. I try not to buy cars from guys who are white or straight...seriously. they are too pushy and usually rude. Unless they are real car guys. If I can find someone who is a minority or female at the dealership I will make a beeline for that person. I am so glad I don't have to sell cars for a living. And I really dislike the new escape, BTW.

Pre 78 or 79, these trucks used to rust into the ground pretty badly also.

These are the cars I fell in love with as a kid...that have all disappeared, wound up locked away, or been cut up and turned into street rods. NEAT!

I'd say the Verano has the best ash tray inserts of any car on the planet... The rest of the car is pretty lust worthy also. Back to the debate.

BTW, Vette with Florida tags...one of yours?

I have several friends who drive them who have done better than that... Besides...what other car on the planet offers that much bang for the buck? Biggest thing to me is that if I spend 25K for a car, it's got to be a long term daily driver... A Vette is probably not practical in an Ohio winter...even with blizzacks. If I could pick up a really nice later C4 for 12-15K I could be interested....but my friend is finding almost nothing even in later C4's in that price range that isn't beat half to death....

Local guy has a four door version of the same car.. Impressive, Eh...I thought it looked fantastic!

Actually to me, a nice later C4 doesn't sound insane....I can't afford a Z06, but something like a 94 or 95 Coupe with decent miles and a manual...hmmm...

Agree with Hyper on the advert thing....

It would be a good investment perhaps....the value of sports cars has gone up over the last year. One of the guys in my Miata club actually had someone T-Bone his Miata and he got a nice insurance check. He was thinking about a C5 last year, and prices have gone up since then. Prices on Miatas have gone up as well...along with a lot of other sporty cars. Come on...you only live once...Camino is selling his C3...you could get a nice c4....and only have C2 and C1 to complete the collection. And I know where several good resto candidates are sitting, waiting for a good home. You wanted to loose your sanity, right Z?

...and also...notice how often foreign car makers use red, white and blue cars as a possible appeal to Americans?Datsun did it with the 510 and thew 240Z in the 70's, Mazda brought the Miata out originally in Red, white and Blue...and the cars in the Video...red white and blue....

As a MINI owner...ahhh...I love these little cars. ...although I think Clarkson racing the Vette in a shopping mall while driving a Fiesta was also awesome...

Cool...