My next car will be an 08 Corvette coupe in black with an automatic. I love the LS3 and there are a lot of them out there. A sweet one is under 20K these days.

Congrats Hal, I’ll be very interested in your feedback.

I managed to stumble on an original owner SE back in my final year of college. Great car; seat of the pants quick, pretty fun to drive, and solid in feel when compared to the 240z that replaced it as a DD.

Speaking of Starions... https://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/d/1987-mitsubishi-starion-turbo/6397109358.html

Aint that the truth , Matt? When I start to drive, all the kids out here in LA were started to get into Japanese cars and the tuner market was tiny. There's TRD and Jackson Racing for Honda. Since the motor is usually small, all we can do was spent a lot of time trying to mod them only to squeeze another 9 Hp outta them unless you has a racing budget. Cars made in the late 70s to early 80s were cars I can only afford and anything fun from the big three was too much money and didn't handle very well. I am just glad I didn't buy the 79 Sirocco with 140,000 miles on it from this hairy chested salesman from my local used car sale lot. Instead, I bought a 1980 Celica GT coupe with over 100k on the odo and mustered out 98 hp on 70 series P3 tires. Man, I wanted that Sirocco so bad I can taste it. I drove it. It was really fooking slow.

Thought I would bump this thread and share that the RX7 experiment lasted 4 months. The car was in pretty good shape when I got it. I fixed the drivablity issues (pitmam and idler arms), several oil leaks, and a new brake master cylinder. All parts were really inexpensive to buy.

But the lure of the rotary engine soon wore off. As others said, even the 13b with FI had little grunt and overall, the car simply felt old. It wasn’t near as much fun as I remembered my 12a in the 1980’s.

Answered a WTB ad on the RX7 forum. A week later the car was on a transport heading to its new home. Adding up everything I did to it plus what I paid, I broke even, maybe $200 “profit”.

Overall, it made me appreciate my SC even more.

Porsche air cooled = Lots of torque ;)

A rotary really needs a turbo to feel “fast”. I love the FD with a twin turbo because it’s designed to fill in the low RPM torque deficit, then you get the smooth rotary power up high. I had an RX8 that was a great car but it felt like you always had to beat on it. I’d still like to experience a good first generation RX7 to see what I think.

Bump because this is a great thread, PLUS...

I found THE car you guys are really longing for:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143093152229

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to buy cars (cheap) that I simply can't touch now. For example I could have bought a pretty nice, driveable 1961 flat floor Jag XKE coupe for $2500! An MGB GT for $400! An Austin Healy 100-4 for about $3K! I did get a 1964 Triumph Spitfire for $800 once and a pretty nice 1971 Ford GT convertible for about a grand. It's the Jag that I kick myself over every time I think about it!

Go buy a XK8, then years down the road you won't kick yourself for having been able to get one for $2,500 today and passed. SmileWavy

It's amazing to me that siht like that is even recognized as anything but sorry ass waste of time. 15 minutes of infamy. The only salvation this side of the moon is that he called it a "Trolls Royce."

Where's my cutting torch.

Here are a few photos of my old 82 RX7 from about 93/94...

I drove it for a summer and then traded it on a 4runner.

It was nothing special and had no torque despite having performance exhaust and an aftermarket carb. It was as bad on gas as the Corvette I had at the time. It was also hard to start sometimes if it got flooded... then you pretty much had to tow start it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1548101297.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1548101327.jpg

It's not that our hobby is no longer affordable, it's just the intro price is higher. As soon as you sell, you make the money back and that's after you get to drive the car. Sort of like buying a house. The first one might be a leap but once you are in the market, you generally get your money back while having used it to live in or rent the whole time you owned it.

Not quite true. All markets fluctuate, including real estate.

Been there, done that..............
 

I almost did just that! About 5 years ago I bought a 1994 Jaguar XJS convertible 2+2! After doing some general maintenance work (brakes, etc) it has turned out to be a pretty good car. It is British Racing Green with a tan leather interior. Gets lots of positive comments! Still wish I had that XKE, though!

What a nice, clean elegant shape. Simple, neat, so unlike cars designs today. And it didn’t cost an arm and a leg when new either.

Yes. True. But generally, when you sell your Porsche, you will have money that can be put back into a purchase. So the idea it isn't affordable is just based on your starting point. The guy who bought his 4 cam speedster when it was new and held on to it is probably feeling pretty good about what might be affordable.

Back from the dead! Especially amusing since I ended up buying another RX-8. And I'd still like a first or second gen RX-7.


True, but it's all about when you buy and sell. The guy who bought a mint $100k 1957 Chevy 10 years ago feels like a moron today. Muscle cars are starting to get cheaper as well. Cars are tied to sentimental value, which means you always have to keep your finger on that pulse. Some, like the Speedster, are classic enough that they will probably transcend trends. But most cars aren't 4-cam Speedsters either.

I can't think of any air cool porsche that has dropped in price in the last 10 years. Actually, any Porsche built before '97. And since the later ones have dropped in price, the people who would like to get into the Porsche hobby can certainly pick up a $10K Boxster. But if you sold your air cooled Porsche a couple years ago, spent the money on something else and now want back in, the carrot has moved down the road.