Any Tractor Guys Into Sports Cars Too?

[ededic]

I have always been into cars. Less now that I have tractors to play with but still have my first brand new car I bought. 1986 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2 Aero Coupe. I belonged to a GP club here in Michigan for a while an it has seen the track doing NASCAR parade laps at Michigan International Speedway 3 times. Only 1100 built for the street, 900 went to build race cars for Petty and others. One of the last years NASCAR used the factory parts to build the race car.



It has a little over 35,000 miles on it and is stored in a temperature controlled storage. Someday it maybe worth something, I keep telling myself. I watch the Barrett-Jackson Auctions and see these 442s and Regals go pretty high and they are not limited production models. One can hope.

I was driving a 1989 Buick Park Avenue when I met my wife. She said it was an old man's car and we needed to do something about it. Man I loved that car. I always liked the Audi A4 and she said we should get one. Found one at the local used import dealer and fell in love with it. 1998 Audi A4 2.8L Quattro.

 

[Brake Weight]

Audis and VWs are under estimated. Cheap car, a few grand of bolt ons, reprogram it, and it'll fly. As with most cars, a few grand goes a long way. But the interior of a German auto seems way better than a comparable domestic or oriental import. I've been researching the early water cooled VWs and Audis recently. The market and potential for these is wide open and interesting.

I've seen every form of auto enthusiast in this thread and can respect each one for their particular car/style. They're made to be driven, so keep 'em running and keep beating on them. Unless you plan on rolling it across Barrett Jackson one day.

 

[toppop52]

I like sports cars, I disagree that they must be 1500 lb gnats with antique tractor motors to be called sports cars however. I certainly feel that a Corvette in the V8 era is a sports car.
I do have trouble with sports car snobs, though. You know, the guy that turns his nose up at anything over 1500 lbs and 85 h.p.

 

[xtn]

N80 -

I'm scheduled to drive my eighth 24HoursofLemons race in February. They are the funnest thing on wheels!

 

[KYDan]

Yes, sports car is a subjective term. I like all types of racing, can am, indy, nascar, drags, et. al. My favorite is winding, hilly, courses (I guess this comes from my old motorcrossing days.) and the 85 hp. tractor engine cars are great at this, Mini Coopers, old Healeys, MGs, and Triumphs. But, I still enjoy and appreciate American muscle. I had a 1993 Pontiac Formula Firebird with the LS1 and I loved it. If I could afford it I would have a Ferrari or something of that ilk, but I can't so I don't.

 

[ededic]

Oops, sorry, I guess I always thought of my Pontiac and Audi as sports cars.

I guess the only thing sporty about my Pontiac is the whale fin on the back because GM did not do anything under the hood to help. GMs lack of power vs excessive badging in the 80s is partly to do with their demise and fall to asian auto companies.

The Audi albeit a 4 dr it has a 2.8 liter V6 under the and the 5 spd manual tranny, it moves.

 

[RoyJackson]

The Audi albeit a 4 dr it has a 2.8 liter V6 under the and the 5 spd manual tranny, it moves.

Yeah, Audis have alway been nice sports sedans...just their reliability hasn't been too good.

 

[N80]

Yeah, Audis have alway been nice sports sedans...just their reliability hasn't been too good.

I've never really understood why some, usually high priced, German cars have such mythical reputations. The performance with many of them is absolutely tops....BMW comes to mind specifically....but the reliability is often no better than any other brand, sometimes worse. I've got so many friends with BMW's that are just plagued with nuisance type problems. And the killer thing is that the dealerships act like this is normal....ya, its a high performance car...and that you should be happy to pay twice what it costs to fix other brands.

Yes, I'm biased, I like and own Jap cars...one of which is burning oil at only 88k miles....And yes, the stories my friends tell me might not be statistically significant....but they sure put me off European cars.

 

[Brake Weight]

I've never really understood why some, usually high priced, German cars have such mythical reputations. The performance with many of them is absolutely tops....BMW comes to mind specifically....but the reliability is often no better than any other brand, sometimes worse. I've got so many friends with BMW's that are just plagued with nuisance type problems. And the killer thing is that the dealerships act like this is normal....ya, its a high performance car...and that you should be happy to pay twice what it costs to fix other brands.

Yes, I'm biased, I like and own Jap cars...one of which is burning oil at only 88k miles....And yes, the stories my friends tell me might not be statistically significant....but they sure put me off European cars.

I've got an '04 Jetta GLI that I beat on every time I get in it. 1.8 turbo and a 6-speed. I've had it programmed and pushing 20 psi. Water/meth spray, timing bumped 1.5 degrees, catless, new poly tranny/motor mounts, and never an issue aside from the recalled coil packs. The rear end is 'loose', but aside from that I'd be comfortable racing it around (a track) or driving it cross country. Conservative HP estimate of around 230, buts judging other people's dynos-mods.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've never really understood why some, usually high priced, German cars have such mythical reputations. The performance with many of them is absolutely tops....BMW comes to mind specifically....but the reliability is often no better than any other brand, sometimes worse. I've got so many friends with BMW's that are just plagued with nuisance type problems. And the killer thing is that the dealerships act like this is normal....ya, its a high performance car...and that you should be happy to pay twice what it costs to fix other brands.

Yes, I'm biased, I like and own Jap cars...one of which is burning oil at only 88k miles....And yes, the stories my friends tell me might not be statistically significant....but they sure put me off European cars.

I think part of it has to do with the longevity and low maintenance of European Diesels... especially the Mercedes... I know people with over 500k on the original motor. My brother has around 300k on his... original drive train, no issues.

Others grew up with the old air cooled VW Bugs and they proved to be one tough, economical little car that had a platform strong enough for numerous mods...

My only new car was the BMW picked up when I was over there on assignment... it saved me about $7,000 in all picking it up at the factory and I had a car to use for my time there... knock on wood, nine years later I have not had a single issue... it is a 325iT.

Never planned on keeping it, a colleague said he wanted one and asked if I could save him some money since I would be over there... In the time from placing the order to it's arrival in California... my co-worker changed his mind because of a Consumer Report knocking BMW... he bought a Camry and has been less than satisfied and I liked the 325 so much I decided to keep it.