Sixty8panther

and the harm exactly is....? I just thought his was funny and perhaps peolpe missedd it since it only had like 28 views at the time.

The car that started it all! 1949 Buick Roadaster Riviera 1954: check out that hood ornament!

Yup... the 1977 ThunderTurd is good for one thing and one thing only: F**king up Crown Vics and Grand Marq. at the demolition derby races. Other than that they were a waste of inferior 1970s steel. But Neon is right, the 1980 model looks far worse still. I honestly would have no problem crushing the very last one of those in existance if it had but 1,500 miles on the clock just to make a heavy Duty Coffee table. Moltar: Funny you should say that.... my friend Sean owes me $2800 and he happens to own a 1986 Mercedes 560SEC in pweter just like the one you posted, except his has a chocolate interior. He bought it for less than $4K and I think I might be receiving it as payment if and when I track him down the little bastard. This, the eventual 2009 Camaro and a new-ish GTO are the only coupes Marcia has said she sould live with. Getting Sofia in and out of the back seat would be a bitch with her bad back but a nice GErman hardtop is a good excuse to do so. I was told they only sold 600 of them in 1986? Can someone confirm or deny this?

Nick... the biggest reason why I want to buy a BMW or Mercedes with a blown motor and throw in a GM pushrod V8 is to piss off arogant idiots like this guy. Only a complete f@#king Idiot compares HP/Liter between two cars like the Corvette Z06 and McLaren F1. One costs $1.3 million dollars and the otehr one costs a whopping $69,999. Jezus why don;t we have a discusion in which we can compare the fine points of a 1997 BMW 318tii and the 2006 Cadillac STS-V.

YES! I think a better question is would you buy a car without a V8 powerplant? The answer to that question is in "NO" 85% of the time. Although inline sixes, Buick 3800s, air cooled pancake motors, turbocharged/SC motors & rotary engies all have their fascination & attraction. For a few short weeks in 2003 I owned four V8 powered cars. 1968 Chevrolet Camaro (ZZZ350) 1983 Pontiac Firebird (truck crate motor 350) 1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d'elegance (Olds 307) 1997 Cadillac STS (northstar) I sold the Fleetwood Brougham shortly after I bought the Firebird but my fleet has had two or three V8s ever since.

Gorgeous Dodge! 3 Pontiacs... and a '67 Caddy

Who but Mazda made (pillarless) hardtops in 1982? Seriousy I'm asking? And now for the really good stuff!

Some four door ardtops from Datsun Nissan... just for shits and giggles. :o And I can not beleive I have not posted this particular photo in this thread yet. It's one of my favorite pictures of the '61 Caddy. :wub:

It's really too bad the Datsun Honey Bee did not come in a hardtop bodystyle...

Ignore the bottom pic... Still not super-cool but a lot better than any dumb Avalon or Camry! http://home.arcor.de/jens.roesner/nz/pics/toyotacrown.jpg BTW, in case you were wondering the answer is yes... Toyota did also try it's hand at the Landau roof that was such the rage in the 1970s. This looks like a midget version of a 1977 Thunderbird. No that was NOT a compliment. Another little Datsun wiht roll down B-pillars

Mazda Hardtops http://mrec.rotary.net.nz/brochures/rx4/rx4b.jpg Toyota Hardtops Daihatsu Fellow MAX Hardtop

Well since I've just about squeezed blood out of a rock wiht the 4 door hardtop thread I figured it was time to finally get around to a 2 door hardtop Thread. If you don't like the thread, great... move on. But if you do post some of your favorites. It's always nice to share personal favorites. I'm going to kick this thread off wihtthe crazy oddballs. Japanese Hardtops, mostly from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s. Some of these you might not have ever seen others you may not ever even known existed. Once we get these kooky Jalopies out of the way we can move on to the 70s domestic land yachts, 60s mucle cars & 50s finned wonders. All with pillarless hardtop greenhouses of course. Datsun / Nissan Hardtops Man I love how all these Japanese cars from the 1970s blatanlty tried to look like shurnken-head versions of American Muscle cars. They all have multiple styling cues that are obviously "borrowed" from American cars... it's like they open up the Nov. 1969 Issue of Motor Trend... stare at the photos for a few minutes and then get going on the 1975 _____ Happy-Buggy G-S/X coupe. Seriously even the names/trim levels are often times American inspired. Sad to say a Mustang II or 1977 Thunderbird does, by contrast, make a Datsun HoneyBee or Mazda RX4 look like an exotic Europen car. http://www.nissanfanseite.de/Wallpapers/Ni...Hard-Top-03.jpg http://www13.plala.or.jp/red_na6ce/event/2...t-ns-gloria.jpg cool site... if you're still reading this

Hope Camino is back soon. Keep updating us BBL. Did he sell the BiTurbo Maseratti yet?

bump. ~

Decka: Great video! Remember how I said that my Camaor has a very distinct exhaust note unlike most pushrods? I hate to sound like a wannabe pouser but THIS CTS-V is it. That's VERY close to what my '68 sounds like.

Still loving that Plymouth Signature WMJ, a real Valiant effort.

Z28: I love the MINI but it's a one-and-only type niche vehicle.... screw trying to compete in that crowded segment... (Civic Si, PT, Scion) The Cobalt SS, Solstice and Sky are all the small pocket rocket cars GM needs.

Minivan: got GM there... Family Sedan: As much as I hate the dozen or so FWD $h!boxes GM is turning out by the thousands they do excell in the "family sedan" segment. The Impala, 2000-05 and the new '06 is a great car for the money EXCEPT for the fact that it's FWD. BUt to the typicel American consumer that's not the end of the world. The Cobalt is a great car for a 2005 Compact and the Malibu is still a nice ride for the money. Lucerne I still think is just a warmed over Aurora no matter the proof to the contrary but that's not the worst thing for the typical Avalon/Acura TL driver... but the Lacrosse seems ot be selling well and making friends. Despite it's horrible name and iffy styling.

I think the first one has potential... the reseced (inboard) headlights from the 1969 Camaro are one thing I miss about the concept. I think they will reappear along with the "fender-swoosh" speed lines on a mid-life cycle reskin. I hope they do.

LOL All joking aside this even surprises me. Wow.... Mustang84: you have just put the proverbial last straw on the Camel's back. That's it. I've always thouht it was a scumbag company but I will NEVER buy a Toyota now... not even that used POS RWD Celica I always wanted to stuff a mega-V8 into. The higher the horse.... the harder the fall.

I'm wiht you on a 200sx/240sx/Silvia style RWD coupe for chup change.... but why does NIssan not even offer this car? WTF. It this car gets canned the Drifters will riot in Japan. I think Cadillac needs two cars right now... BADDLY! 1. BIG, Cushy RWD Deville (DTS replacement) 2. A Coupe version of the CTS. Call it ETC or even better: Eldorado But above all else Chevy and Buick (and Pontiac IMO) need a upper-mid-size or full size RWD sedan. And yes, Fly is correct. If and when this does happen weather it's BOF or not it will spank the Crown Vic like a bad little closet monkey.

Me and Zoomtm exchanged abotu 247 PMs each last night about how his 3800 would smoke my poor little Datsun but get bested by my Camaro.

Z28: Good example of a gorgeous car... just remember that 95% of repairs involving FWD Northstar powered Cadillacs start like this: Step one: Drop down engine cradle & remove motor/trans. Which is why I want Marcia to find a nice GTO, Charger, B-body we can afford and we're never looking back at the Seville. SHe still loves it but I'm fed up with the FWD and non-existant access to anything under the hood wiht the exception of the dipstick.

Tell XP that. Good advice from Razor. I can tell you from personal experience that high milage cars are hit-or-miss. I bought my Fleetwood Brougham with 172K and sold it with almost 186K. Durring the first 11K miles I had great luck wiht the car. Fantastic ownership experience overall.... but after I bought my Datsun I barelly put miles on the Caddy and durring a three month period I lent it to tweo different friends with the understanding taht it leaks/burns a quart of oil every 300 miles of so. They had it borrowed for a few weeks each and brought it back with a bone dry dipstick. The car was never the same and shortly after I sold it wiht a heavy heart. Two lessons learned there. One last IMPORTANT tip: CARFAX. Spend the $20 it's well worth it. The car itself is very nice... three things going for it: 1. Black 2. Coupe 3. S/C Very attractive traits in a GP.