Thursday, September 27, 2007
Maybe I'm getting old...
I've been thinking about a ditching the Z3 2.8 for a Lexus SC400 (or 6-speed SC300) or a first-gen Infiniti Q45 if I can find one with 80k-99k miles on the clock. In a perfect world, that person would want a zippy Nazi slot car with all (and I mean all, as in power top, heated seats, the works) the options, and we could trade...
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22 comments:
How much you asking?
I always liked the Z3's!
I dearly loved the first-generation Q (the second was clearly a step backward), and for the life of me I don't understand why Infiniti doesn't have a new Q in the pipeline. Not that there's anything wrong with the M35/M45, which gets the flagship position by default, but the Q was supposed to be a freaking work of art, which the M just isn't.
Then again, I drive an I30, so pay no attention to me.
Would you consider a trade for a '91 dodge shadow set up for bounding 'cross open fields at 60mph? :-D
Don't ditch the convertible... I still miss mine...
Hmmm. Maybe all that GM strike research is coming home to roost. Did someone find out that "Nazi roller skates" are from Spartanburg, and have UAW parts in them?
"BMW", in this case at least, stands for "Bubba Makes Wheels". ;)
...and I've known where the rodsters were built since they started building 'em, thankyouverymuch. :)
Set your sights a bit higher. I got out of a Boxster S and into a Maserati Spyder and couldn't be happier. I live in Monroe county, up in the mountains an have lots of windy, twisty roads to run. The Maserati corners at least as well as the Boxster and with over a 100 more horse power - well it's a blast to drive.
Drive that Beemer into the ground, I say. I'm betting that you've got another 200K left in it.
The SC400 or Q45 will sure carry a lot more guns and ammo....
I've always wanted an MGA - if Detroit can make a godawful PT-cruiser and that chevy-HHRmeroid thing, why not an decent looking car?
dirt, it's a long, sad story, goes back a long way, and just about nobody here even likes American cars, so it's not much sense boring and inflaming everybody. There have been American sports cars (Mercer, Stutz, Kurtis, Cunningham, Arnolt) but for the most part they have not been made from "Detroit." Suffice it to say that there never has been a mass market for a sports car, and Detroit is in the business of selling to Very Large markets.
You might just look up the French Grand Prix of 1921.
Having actually owned a V6 Fiero, I resent that.
Although if you go into V6 Fiero ownership expecting a poor man's Ferrari, you'll be disappointed; if you're thinking 5/8ths-scale Trans Am, on the other hand, you'll be right on the money.
Did you give up on finding a Toyota MR2 then?
One requirement I decided on (in addition to the requisite "fun to drive") is "Must be able to haul an assload of rifle's to Oleg's place in Nashville and back."
That's a sensable requirement.
And then there was the thing that's made me feel really old this week. Carrying the weight of my Colt GM all day has been making my back hurt like hell lately. So much so that for the first time in my life I've actually taken a look at polymer.
Is there a support group for that or something?
"Must be able to haul an assload of rifle's to Oleg's place in Nashville and back."
Sounds like you need an Explorer.
Well I resented it too. By the time they gave up after four model years, the problems were solved, and the rear end didn't steer anymore. With a turbo, or a further developed V6, it was a real contender. But they sold 340,000; that is not Detroit break-even volume. And our motoring press still called it a "commuter." NHTSA! The panels cracked! They caught fire! They overheated! "We" hated that car. Now Pontiac makes another handsome 2-seater (Solstice) that ain't half-bad, and by the time they give up on IT, it will be competitive and have a "cult following." Worst thing a car maker can have.
If you don't use hard cases, about a dozen long guns will fit in that bottomless passenger legwell, and balance the car better than the ass load (also true of the Spridget; didn't seem to save it). Perhaps it's losing the "passenger" that kills the cachet? What part of "2-seater" are we not getting here?
In my day, we used to argue over whether a sports car could have windows. Some allowed for the Sprite's slider, others didn't even like snap-ins on a drophead. Roll-ups? Out of the question. And there was a reason for the "fitted" luggage and those chic quasi-ski racks on the boot.
I currently license a coupe, a sedan, a LWB Jeep, a one-ton truck, and a 6X6, and some days I still don't have the right car...with me...
So the complaint is America only has large-volume carmakers and nothing else can survive besides the 'Vette? I liked the GT40, but I live in an area dense with elites who prefer foreign cars for their zippy-do-dah, or classics like the Cobra, and lotsa those Lotus shoe-cars - the ones that look like they were designed by a graduate of Footlocker.
Exclusivity has a cost paid in uniqueness - after you've sold a few the market is saturated and the Maserati's appeal wears off like two girls at Opening Night wearing the same dress.
I drive a pickup truck with no extra-cab and a bench seat, cars don't particularly interest me anymore - they can't haul my KTM around and the squishy seats inflame my L2/L3 scoliosis.
Oh, I'm sorry; I thought you were the one shopping for an American MGA. It's a Pontiac Solstice. But you don't want one. Can't have one, in fact.
There, in a nutshell, is why no one with a billion to venture is interested in building you a car.
I drove 150 miles in my R3 Avanti today, so I'm in too good a mood to get really mad at you. But really, wouldn't you hate to have yourself as a customer?
No, I want a real MGA, a '58 - not a Solstice, it's ugly. No one has ever been interested in building me a car and I've never bought a new one. I've always gotten by with scraps from the wayside - like my '60 Karmann Ghia who's motor I rebuilt, blew-up in Wyoming, rebuilt, blew-up in DC, rebuilt and drove back to CA and blew-up. I gave it to my brother and he traded it for a boat that leaked.
I'm not anybody's "customer" I'm not even there.
Hey, they're available--especially if you're good at rust repair. Saw a nice one parked outside the brewpub in Ludington MI just last month. Lousy (but serviceable) repaint, really nice border collie guard dog in the passenger seat. Careful--he'll lick!
I had to show my son the knock-off hubs, because he'd heard the one about the gas-station attendant (OK, old joke) who checks out the English sports car stem to stern, can't find a logo, reads the hubs and says, "My brother-in-law had an UNDO, too." The spinners, see, are clockwise to port, anti to starboard, so's they won't fall off. The rotation arrows are marked "Undo." Almost the best English sports car joke ever, unless you count the base plate of the Lucas Triconsul switch assembly.
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