I almost bought a 1969 Mach 1 with a 428 cobra jet in it. My dad worked for Kirby Ford at the time and they took it in on trade and I could get it cheap, but that was about the time the first big gas crisis came along and gas went from like $.25/gal to around $.75/gal over night and decided it wouldn't be a wise move. That would have been my second fastest car with the 1968 Cougar 427 being the fastest.
I think it does on and off. We haven't run it in years. When the snow gets bad, we have studded tires and its a manual as well.
My dad still has his 1967 MGB Roadster in the garage, but it hasn't been driven since 1995. He and his buddy each bought one after they came back from the Vietnam War and started life in Portland in 197(1 or 2?). He actually still has the MG catalog from back then, too.
My dad had a '76 MG midget which I always thought was a pretty cool car to cruise around in as a kid. I never got to drive it as he didn't have it when I was old enough. The funnest car I ever got to drive of his was an '88 BMW 325. That five speed was great until it was totaled in an accident. It was replaced with an '87 325 but it just wasn't the same with an automatic transmission. I drove that thing for years after he handed it down to me though. He bought a Miata after that, which was also great fun. I would buy another E30 325 if I had a garage and a place to work on it.
I had a 1991 BMW 318i - which is an E30 like that 325 - in 1991 they put a twin-cam engine in it (a lot different from the 1984 318i which was an old SOHC engine based on the BMW 2002 engine). It had almost the same amount of power as the 325i (138BHP vs 165) but was 300lbs lighter - which made the car much better balanced. This car would have joined my Miata as a car I would have never sold - it was truly a great car. Unfortunately, someone ran into it (on Lombard street, in North Portland) while I was standing at a red-light and totaled it.
Bummer when an idiot ruins something you enjoy so much. I always loved going to the BMW races and watching that division where I drooled and dreamed. I will have to do a little craigslist searching for a '91 now that I know that information next time I'm bored. Which is right now. If I buy one I'll let you know for a virtual high five.
Really hard to find. 1 year only of the M42 engine in the E30 chassis (that is not a convertible, they continued to sell them as the 318ic in 1992, 1993 - at the time they already had the newer generation of the BMW 3 series "E36" in sedan/coupe). You are more likely to find a 2 door version, most people like them most - and they carry a premium. I had the 4 door, the only differences were the number of doors and the original seats. The coupes have the Recaros that many people love. I do not, I think the regular seats in the sedan are actually better. If you find one - give it a try - I thought it was as close to an early Miata as you could get in a 4 seat form. Really a magical car. I do not have too many good photos of that car, but here is one I do have: For a while there, I used to race this car in dirt-races - my wife got tired of me returning her Subaru very dirty - so I had to run this car instead in the 2-wheel-drive classes. It was a lot of fun, but I wanted to be more competitive with the faster cars so at some point I bought myself my own Subaru to race.
...yeah, OK...if you really want to split hairs...whatever you say. ...I seem to remember a very similar scenario when discussing the Midget and the Sprite...but again, whatever.
Brings up a funny story my mom told me years ago. My dad was into car racing and owned a track roadster that he raced in the NW. Well, he invited my not yet mom on a date to a midget race and my mom at the time knew nothing about car racing and she was thinking why would he want go watch midgets race each other. Well she soon found out what a midget race car is.
I'd say the "coolest" car my Dad had was a brand-new '91 Acura NSX. That thing felt like a fucking rocket ship when I was a little kid.
I owned the 318i in white. The first "grown up" car Iever owned. Loved it. Owned a few Beemers since, but that was my fave. My dad's coolest car was a 1970 Cadillac convertible, back when Cadillacs were cool. Very Mad Men.
