Any Mopar (especially the C bodys) from the seventies that has survived to today without any sparks emanating from beneath the dash or doesn't have any lean burn issues (or lean burn alltogether) is a damn good purchase. We all know Mopar engines are indestructible and as long as they dont have a Holley they made to be quite economical and reliable every day cars. Any C body from that time is as rare as they are great road cars, especially a Royal Monaco four door hardtop, those tend to be a little nicer trimmed than the standard fare Monaco's/Fury's/Gran Fury's. Look on the C bodys forums for further information because most of my knowledge lay in the A bodys (big surprise) but be prepared to shell out big clams if something is actually beyond a basic repair, Mopars tend to be very expensive (at least here in the land of oz) to fix when things like trans and engines dont do their thing anymore, though dont let that scare you, these are extremely hardy machines that can put with an awfull amount of abuse from even the most diehard chebbie fan. Also word to the wise, invest in good quality synthetic fluids, your wallet will burn but it'll thank you in the long run. I do hope you are to join the Mopar side --- Post updated --- Now i havent been here in ages, lots has changed, lots has been learnt, and lots has hurt or been lost Bad time to remove those helper springs I still have a seatbelt! Ahh southern weather and rust, go hand in hand they does New places, new weather and fuck all good radio Now on to mechanical (or not) things Now to pose for the camera God above how i do hate Albany...
Thanks! Good to know. And yes, I do plan to own a classic Mopar. I’ll probably have to buy one from somewhere else in the country, though, as I doubt many survived in Minnesota.
Well if its any consolidation to you most that have survived in the rust of rust belts are usually the ones that have been garage kept, summer months driven throughout their lives. So if you do find an old mopar in your area then a good chance says its in pretty good nick
Well, at least there’s that! Also, my local Advance Auto Parts has so many Royal Monaco parts. I don’t know why, as there are none currently in town.
Update on the pickup: We have ordered a replacement bumper because the old one has rust holes covered by duct tape (the guys doing the repairs said it was legal), and there is one of the plastic flower air fresheners in the lawn. We can soon go kayaking in the nearby lakes. Also, I'm sad they weren't able to do ice racing on the lake this year.
Is it just me or are we seeing the end of purpose built hypercars and top notch brands just starting to blend into the mainstream like it's nothing? I'm seriously not liking the fact the your average mainstream/upstart brand just makes a random saloon/sedan vehicle that will destroy the greatest hypercar (looking at you Tesla and other insert Chinese brand). Electric cars are the main source of this problem. To make a fast car in the 2000s, you needed a great reputation of making already fast cars or if you were just an upstart then you need to have plenty of experience from another brand. For now though, you need a battery, a motor and gearbox and boom you have a car. There is basically no gap between hypercars and your cousin's Tesla. As usual, it's up to Britain to solve this problem. There is this electric car from a brand called McMurtry and the car called the Speirling. This is a hill climb car (which is purpose built) that broke the Goodwood record. It also set the fastest 0-60 time ever in a (nearly) production ready vehicle. The McMurtry brand was founded in 2016 and with formula one experience. This is what I want to see. I have very high hopes for this brand (unlike the Chinese ones) to hopefully evolve into Lotus 2.0 or some true sports car brand. There is also a problem with Chinese brands (I'm not being racist or rude) but watch some of the Shanghai motor show or something and you'll see what I mean. Isn't it unusual that the brand new and amazing Lamborghini Revuelto just randomly gets top trumped by some random upstart claiming 0-60 times of under 2 seconds and under £200,000. I don't know about you, but this all seems a bit too good to be true. There has to be a catch, probably all those headline figures are just estimates or inaccurate. Or the reliability and build quality could be as bad as British Leyland cars. Please share your thoughts about this, but this is not meant to offend anyone at all.
So, I'm still wondering if there are any reasonably-priced used performance cars left out there. Since the bodystyle semantics from a few days ago (that I still haven't fully figured out, though I may have come up with a better heuristic for separating hatchbacks from hatchback coupes) weren't obnoxious enough, I'll have to explain what I mean by "reasonably priced". To categorize things and keep something of a handle on special pleading, it's helpful to think in terms of classes - the model I'm using for such will be familiar to people who played racing games back in the late 1990s or early 2000s. If you know which cars tended to be labeled which classes, it'll give you a better idea of the kind of performance-per-dollar I'm looking for. Class C: Starter car class, up to about 175HP at the crank. Ideal max price 2500 USD. Class B: Sports car class, from 180-200HP at the low end all the way up to 260-275 at the high end, depending on vehicle weight and chassis refinement. 6-8 sec 0-60MPH. Ideal max price 5K USD. Class A: High performance class, roughly 250-350HP and preferably not FWD. <6sec 0-60. Ideal max price 10K USD. Class S: Super high performance class, over 350HP and preferably not FWD. Model would put the ideal max price at 20K USD, but it gets harder to categorize cars in this range. Again, these are for used cars, not new. Ideal max prices are theoretically flexible and can be more for a car which is significantly classic or is fast enough to be worth it, with a hard max of 2x the listed values, but for a car to go that high it better be very VERY worth it. Super-lightweights (Lotus Elise and cars based on or conceptually similar to it) should probably be considered one class higher than their raw power output would suggest, with very heavy vehicles (half-ton pickups and large BoF sedans) running one class lower - these classes, due to where I got them from, assume a small or midsize car by default. For those who never played early Gran Turismo or Need for Speed games, here are some examples of cars that define each class: Class C: Many random low-power cars, most from Europe or Japan. The last Mercury Cougar (the Contour/Mondeo based one) was here even in V6 form. Thus an I4 or standard V6 Contour/Mondeo should likely go here as well, with V6 sports versions (i.e. SVT Contour) sitting most likely in low B. Pretty much every Miata except the NB Mazdaspeed and ND either were explicitly here or belong here, but the NAs at least are becoming wildly overpriced now. Mk4 Golf/Jetta (except the R32, the 200HP VR6, and maybe the later 180HP version of the GTI/GLI, though that's stretching it) belong here as well. E30 325i/is should be very high in this one, possibly low-end versions of the E36 as well. The last Toyota MR2s are pretty firmly here, and I'd say the first ones as well. Class B: Mercedes SLK230 was here in NFS High Stakes, C in GT3 which raised the dividing line to be around the 200-220HP mark. Toyota Altezza RS200 was here in GT2, C in GT3, so I'd feel comfortable putting the Lexus IS300 in this class. BMW Z3 non-M also here, and I'd include the first generation of Z4 as well. Honda S2000 would sit very, very high in this class but is now appreciating. First generation Audi TT (1.8T/225HP version specifically) is another example. Non-M versions of the E46 were placed here. I would put any turbo or V6 Mitsubishi Eclipse at this level, along with the Dodge Neon SRT4. Fox Mustang should be here at best and should absolutely be much closer to (or below!) the $5K ideal than the $10K hard max, but trying to assert that in a market poisoned by BaT is tilting at windmills. Class A: The gen-4 LS1 Camaro or Firebird is a definitive example of this class, and used to be a $10K car, which in fact is exactly what inspired me to come up with this framework - those have since appreciated to frankly undeserved levels. For those into imports, any R32/3/4 GTR should probably go here, except for rare Nur and N1 versions - in practice, they also cost way too much to be considered "budget-friendly" for their performance. Looking at the spec sheet I would have called a Chevy Cobalt SS Turbo a high B class, but it's faster than an R34 apparently so whatever. Mazdaspeed6 goes here, not sure about 3. Twin-turbo Mk4 Supras are here as well but now people are asking six figures for examples with six-digit mileage and preexisting modifications - not even the NSX (which is another example of this class) is that inflated. Twin turbo 3000GT/Stealth go here, along with E46 M3, modern Pontiac GTO, etc. Class S: Well, I saw a Viper RT/10 for four figures at a sketchy used car lot once, but I'm not sure how long it ran properly for whoever ended up buying it. I guess I'll never know whether I missed out. The tacky interior modifications it had tell me pretty clearly that I didn't. Last time I asked about this, I was pointed toward the mid-2000s Honda Accord, which seems to be one of the few tuner-type cars where the rule of "four cylinders good, six cylinders bad" does not apply. Anything from "game face Honda" is probably cheating, but maybe not. But are there more?
Here in Germany the best cars that would fit in there would be Audi VW BMW and similar Euro cars japanese cars are to rare to make an aperance in the lower price ranges. Under 2 grand the best bet imo would be a Audi A6 with V6 for everything above id take Golf GTIs BMW 3 and 5 series or diffrent Audi models
C5, MX6 4WS, Tiburon, MR2, various WRX and Celica Turbo models, and Toyobaru should be good. --- Post updated --- Chinese car companies are government owned, and thus have a lot more resources.
Do any of you happen to own a Volvo 740? I'm still finishing high school but I'm brainstorming a few ideas for my first car, this being one of them. Any thoughts on this brick for a first car? I don't care that much about the car's age; as long as it's mechanically simple (easy to work on), reliable, and a decent winter beater (I'll probably go to Canada for uni so it gets quite snowy there). Oh, and preferably something that comes with a stick shift
1997 Volvo 940 wagon owner here (there basically is no difference between 745 and 945 besides front facia), I'm also still in school and I'm not very experienced in terms of "DIY". Mechanically they're relatively simpe, under the hood is a lot of space for a 2.3L, so you can reach everything relatively easily, same with the suspension (Macpherson / solid axle). In almost half a year of ownership it left me stranded once, because the fuel pump went out, which is one of the few places that are difficult to reach (had it done by a shop). If you are going to use it in the snow I would look for one with the auto locking diff instead of an open diff, but I have no experience with snow as we don't see a lot of snow in germany. At least in germany, most of the 740s and 940s are manual. At least here, a 740 or a 940 isn't a car you primarily buy because you need a cheap car, but because you want one (generally they are relatively cheap and there are a lot of parts). Mine cost around 5.000€ because it's a "classic" so it has a/c heated seats etc. as standard. Also has the 2.3 Turbo (B230FT). It has some minor rust and paint problems like scratches and some missing clear coat. In general I'd say they make a great daily fuel consumption is ok with 10L/100km, so 23MPG. Also, they are surprisingly maneuverable due to the high steering angle (has a turn circle of 9.9m). If you have any questions, would like to know my experience specific things, see pictures etc. just tell me...
I got to drive my friend’s father’s 2022 Porsche Carrera, and it was stressful and exhilarating, all at once. Got it up to 80mph on the highway, and I think the braking is better than the acceleration . I also did a burnout and donuts in said friend’s Cobra. It was pretty fun, but… I’d still rather own a big, slow, old, polluting, 20-feet-long American Malaise Era land barge prone to tremendous amounts of body-roll and 7mpg . Here are the exact specifications I want on a 1977 Dodge Royal Monaco Brougham: -440 -brown -cream vinyl top and cream interior -mudflaps -sedan (not a hardtop) -bench seat with console and armrests -more Ah, wishlists. --- Post updated --- lololololol rotflmfao
Mate heres a tip when shopping for a mid 70s C body mopar: Dont be picky ! the only thing you should be concerned about is whether its rusty/drivable or not. Otherwise good bloody luck
I know, I’ll take what I can find (as long as it’s a sedan/wagon and it’s not red). But there is a car, that, after a bit of looking, matches those specifications almost exactly. even has a 440! but it’s in Norway
