Rob, I lust for a S2000. When people bring up this "Jap Crap" stuff, I like to point out to them that the British motorcycle industry died in the 70s for one reason -- Honda. My only problem with the S2000 is that the steering wheel hits the top of my legs. Everything else fits, but that. Have you heard of any aftermarket mods where someone moves the wheel up? Thx, Dale
From what I have been told, a good 2000 Boxster S with a Tip can be had for less than $35k. Boxster prices have really fallen, almost as much as Maranellos! Dale
Tell me about the Triumph. I've got a 77, which has welded up heads, cams, lightened gears, makes about 70HP at the rear wheel, weighs about 320# and is just great to catch these young punks on their 600s and teach them about old men and old bikes on windy roads. Looks absolutely stock, except for the 18" alumium wheels, kosman triple clamps, fox shocks, square swing arm, etc. Art
Very interesting... The biggest knock that I have heard about the 400 series is that they cost just as much to fix as the sports cars. Thus, you really have to buy right, otherwise you will be upside down in a big way. Are there many 400 drop tops? Can a good one be had for around $35k? Can't you just see a Longhorn on the front and a wing on the back? V-e-r-y interesting. BTW, has the snow melted yet? Dale
The steering wheel placement is one of my only gripes with my S2000. It dosen't hit my legs but the top of the rim blocks a large portion of the tach in my field of vision. The car comes loaded with just about every other option so I don't know why they skimped on tilt wheel. Believe me owning a japanese truck, car and snowmobile I hear the jap crap or rice burner comments quite often!
Ha, ha, ha, stock my ass. The only real change on my 70 is a 5-speed box. It really helps to keep the vibs down at highway speeds. But, for a hot rod, your OIF Bonnie is the way to go. A good friend of mine in Dallas vintage races his and sez that the later model frame and your later heads are the way to go. My 1970 Bonneville was the high water mark for looks and could blow away Harleys back in the day. But then came the Honda 750, the Kawa 500, hell, even a good Honda 350 could take my Bonnie. I don't ride it that much any more. Shame on me. You know that really have the sickness when you have multiple battery tenders going in the garage and you're still talking about adding more. "Hi, my name is ... Thanks for the membries, Dale
So, if you insist on a newer one, why not get one brand-spanking new off the showroom floor? I'd bet GM is providing no-cost financing, which might make it a better prospect than it sounds.Or a Z06 chopped? One car guy i talked to recently, who owns a fleet of fancy cars and bikes, said that his Corvette convertible is the perfect car. It performs well, its comfortable, its a convertible, and its cheap to run. He claims not to worry about it like he does the F-cars and Bentleys in his stable. (Of course, its easy to be into reverse-chic when you've already got some serious iron in the garage).
I'm not an owner of a 400, but I did research them for quite a while before deciding on the 328, and I have a friend that is still in the market. Maintenance costs are very high if the car is not well. The rear suspension has a self-leveling system made of unobtainum, the motor is worth more than the car, the wheels are metric, etc. On the other hand, it was the top of the line car and the ones that I've seen in person have great build quality (for 1980s Italian quality). I don't think anyone really knows how many drop tops are out there, because several companies were making the conversions back when this was the most expensive Fcar in the yearly lineup. I do know that I've seen several for sale on ebay and auto trader through the past year or so. I don't know actual selling prices. The 400s are hard sells anyway, cut cars have to be harder to sell, so an actual cash buyer would certainly have leverage. I bet Martin or some other broker could flush one out in a hurry. I'd love to see it with horns and wings, painted metalflake purple with chrome wheels. Guaranteed to cause heart attacks among the concourse crowd. Resale would be a pain And, yes, the snow is all gone.
I had a C4 Grand Sport for 6 years. It was a good but not great car. The Grand Sport and ZR1 models had the optional X-brace under the chassis to help stiffen up the car. This brace gets rid of a lot of the chassis flex. Suspension-wise, my car had teh F45 suspension which is computer controleld shocks. On the soft setting the car was noticibly sloppy, but had better grip. On the performance setting the car would slide easy but did not have the same grip levels. I tended to leave the suspension in the middle as a reasonable balance. The only thing I disliked about the car was that every time I went out and drove the crap out of the car, I had to get the suspension realigned--and the can never left the road! The tires simply had more grip than the suspension alignment system could cope with. The car was good to get into and put 800 miles under you belt in a singel day. I could get 30-31 MPG on interstate cruises. Never had any issues with the engine, transmission (exceps skip shift which I hated with a passion), wheels, tires. The LT4 engine makes good power, I changed the oil at 2,000 miles and the engine took around 12,000 miles just to get fully broken in. WHen you ran the crap out of the engine on texas back roads, yo could easily singe the engine oil (300 dF temps) and probably the transmission oil too. A/C was good enough for the Texas summers (105 week after week).
The ZR1 is nice, that Red Chrome Queen is WAY overpriced, I paid $25k+ for my 93 & it had 7,000 miles on it
Another cool device in the ZR-1 is the 'power key' which can be turned off, limiting the car to 200hp. I'm suprised this hasnt become more common on high HP sportscars.
Boxster S with Tip would be a fun way to go. I'm donning my flame suit here.......have you considered or driven a Z4? I'd suggest a new M3 cab but you said under $35,000. I really enjoyed driving the Z4. Frankly I was expecting to hate the thing and I wound up liking it. You can get a barely used 3.0 with sport package and auto for under 35.
I was in this business for several years (Corvettes). For your budget of $35k, stick with a C5 Auto. I can't think of a better "bang for the buck" if that's what you're looking for. The C4 has way too many shortcomings for someone with your budget. Ed
just had to add this. someone at work had a personal crisis and last night i purchased a silver and black 1986 c4 vette for $2500.00 cash. hee hee. i have had a few IROC camaros and such so i know the TPI injection system very well. i dont like FI cars much so i will most likely play with the car and sell it to help in my search for enough cash for a euro carb 308 gtb. darn shame the car is an auto and not a 6 speed!!!!! just so ya know there are cars to be had out there for cheap if you look. this was after i "found" one of MY old 1977 " bandit" trans ams. i bought it back for next to nothing and drove it to the closest friends house until i can get it running well enough to get it to my home. this is where my CARREAPER name comes from!!!!! sorry to hijack the thread but i am so happy i have 2 cars to play with again i cant stand myself!!!!!!
