What 50's era car would you want to have?

[JDgreen227]

Any car with a plastic body part isn't a car in my opinion, it is a kids toy.

You will find FEW vehicles today that do not have a plastic body part. My '92 Olds 98 had fiberglass front fenders, in addition to the plastic bumper fascia front and rear.

 

[jmurray01]

You will find FEW vehicles today that do not have a plastic body part. My '92 Olds 98 had fiberglass front fenders, in addition to the plastic bumper fascia front and rear.

Apart from the bumpers, the whole body of our '97 Ford Fiesta is steel, however the new Ford Fiesta has plastic front fenders which give it the impression of a little car kids sit in and pedal around.

I'd hate to see the damage if somebody hit the fender. It'd probably snap clean in half, where as the worst that would happen to a steel fender is a dent.

 

[KentT]

I read that article and find the following very interesting and telling. While I suspect Porsche and BMW race cars have little in common with production models, this quote pretty much says that except for a replica body, there was nothing Corvette about these "Corvettes."

"A Corvette in name and styling elements only, the Corvette GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) was one of the fastest and most exotic race cars ever to wear a red Bowtie. Based on an English Lola T600 chassis and powered by an all-American turbocharged Chevy V-6, the mid-engined racer was a rocketship. At full boost, the Corvette GTP痴 3.4-liter (209ci) V-6 pumped out more than 1,000 horsepower. This amazing machine claimed seven poles in the IMSA Camel GT series in 1986 and won two races. In 1987, the Corvette GTP captured four more poles."

That's quite common, as you acknowledged, for all manufacturers.

Check this, the MSRP, and even the powertrain warranty:

2012 Chevy Corvette ZR1 | Performance Sports Car | Chevrolet

Guess it all depends of what you define as a sports car, as you said. If it must be open-cockpit, under 2000cc, then these don't qualify... but show me where else you can get this kind of performance for this little $$...

 

[Bird]

In the early '60s, one of my closest friends and o-worker bought a 1960 Corvette (I think it was a year old when he bought it). I don't remember what size engines they had then, but it was a 4-speed manual transmission and the engine had solid lifters and two 4-bbl carburetors. It was powerful and fun to drive, but a monster to maintain. So when the Sting Rays came out in 1963, he bought a new one with a single carb. and hydraulic lifters.

But in those days, he was a member of the Dallas Corvette Club. There was also a Dallas Sports Car Club and an Oak Cliff Sports Car Club. In the days when shopping centers and malls were closed on Sundays, the sports car clubs would have Gymkhanas in the parking lots; set up timed courses with traffic cones; one car at a time. When the Corvette Club had one, they divided the cars into classes by cubic inch displacement and the minimum size for the largest class insured that only Corvettes would be in the top class. That way a Corvette would win at least once class. When the other sports car clubs had one, the top class included not only Corvettes, but even the biggest Austin Healey so a Corvette never won.

The simple fact is that the Corvettes had more power and speed, but could not match the handling of the other sports cars. I also went to the sports car races at Green Valley once. Junior Johnson's Corvette was obviously the fastest car there and would accelerate in the straightaways, but wasn't about to win. A Masserati was the winner, but some others were also ahead of hte Corvette.

 

[RoyJackson]

Any car with a plastic body part isn't a car in my opinion, it is a kids toy.

Since you're in the UK...you should know there were some fine British sportscars that were fiberglass (fibreglass to you Brits).
Ever heard of Lotus? The Lotus 7, Elan, Europa and Elite were all fibreglass cars and great sportscars in the late 1950's and 1960's (not the most reliable of cars though).
There's a number of other British sports and other types of cars that weren't steel or aluminum bodied vehicles.

Colin Chapman would smack you upside your head, bro...if he were alive today.

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

If I could have any 50's era car? It would be a Porsche 550 Spyder.

 

[RoyJackson]

If I could have any 50's era car? It would be a Porsche 550 Spyder.

That would be a nice choice!

 

[jonyyuma]

That would be a nice choice!

Okay Jinman, This gran touring vette of 1986..Would that be simular engine as the Gran national Buick series that was so quick for a street car?It was a v-6 with turbo and aftercooler?

 

[KentT]

That would be a nice choice!

James Dean, anyone...

IMO, they're like a lot of the early foreign sportscars, whether MG-A (much less the older TC, TD, TF), the 356s, etc. -- all a bit uncivilized and good for only "Sunday afternoon drives"...

If insisting on glass, crank-up windows instead of snap-in canvas with plastic windows is a luxury, then I guess I'll have to live with that characterization...

Same goes for a heater that works, windshield wipers that work, etc.

 

[jinman]

Okay Jinman, This gran touring vette of 1986..Would that be simular engine as the Gran national Buick series that was so quick for a street car?It was a v-6 with turbo and aftercooler?

Well, I know about as much about that engine as I know about changing head gaskets on an offenhauser racing engine. In case you didn't know, the offy was a single casting with no removable head and thus, didn't have a head gasket. They won 27 Indy 500 races with that super-reliable powerhouse. I've read that some variations of that engine could produce over 3 hp per cu in. at compressions approaching those of today's diesels.