|
Browse by Tags
All Tags » Dodge » 1980S ( RSS)
-
|
Yesterday, 68% of voters felt that $129,900 was too much to pay for a 4-year-old lemon-law-buyback Maybach 57, which is doing pretty well according to the harsh standards set by Nice Price Or Crack Pipe. Today we'll be considering a super-low-mileage, near-showroom-condition Dodge Daytona… but we're not talking about the kind of Daytona with the big wing and U-joint-bustin' V8. No, we mean the K-car-based Daytona Turbo Z, which is pretty much the concentrated essence of 1980s style. It's got lots of plastic body parts. It's got the word "Turbo" printed in multiple locations. It's got 142 factory horsepower, and this one's got just 2,021 miles on the clock! That's averages out at fewer than 85 miles per year! The seller has blatantly disregarded eBay car-seller tradition by using correct spelling, grammar, and capitalization, but he or she makes up for it by pointing out the "Star Power" of the car. Worth 25 grand? What do you think? galleryPost...
|
-
|
Ready to cast some Nice Price Or Crack Pipe judgment this morning? 60% of you thought that the $12,500 1973 Ford Ranchero camper was way overpriced, in spite of that 351C/4-speed setup. Today we're going for something a little more affordable, in honor of the onrushing Financiapocalypse . Sometimes you see a car project and you have to wonder what the builder could have been thinking? It's obvious that a lot of thought and quality workmanship went into this '84 Colt Turbo- which even has the extra-hip Twin Stick dual-range transmission- but, well, why? Anyway, the important issue here is price ; what do you say? galleryPost('NPOCPColtBumperCar', 6, 'Dodge Colt Bumper Car Could Be Yours'); Thanks to a whole bunch of you for the tip! [eBay Motors] What about the $4,500 price tag on the Dodge Colt Bumper Car? ( surveys )
|
-
|
Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Last time we had another PCH Superpower upset, with Germany beating Britain in the Glas Versus Lotus challenge . Britain will come back strong, of course, but for now Germany can enjoy the pool of oil gathering beneath the Project Car Hell trophy. Fast forward to today; since it's Maximum Minivan Day , we're going to have Maximum Project Minivan Hell. For a Toyota to qualify for Project Car Hell, it must be rusty, rare, and packed with impossible-to-find options. We've found all three with this 1989 Toyota 4x4 van (go here if the ad disappears), which has some body rot (in a refreshing display of honesty, the seller sums it up in a single word: "Rusty") and the super-rare-in-North-America 4x4 drivetrain option. There's an assortment of minor (you hope) repairs to do, and it's nearly certain possible that the overheating problem...
|
-
|
Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! In our last foray into the Burning Garage O'Pain™, the Buick Reatta beat the Olds Troféo by a 53% to 47% poll split. We've had unifying vehicular themes for most of our Hell Challenges recently, but sometimes you need to choose between two totally different eternities- say, one in which St. Helena earwig s colonize your bile ducts, and another in which you are stuck in an Amway PowerPoint presentation 24/7. And, just for fun, we're going Warsaw Pact versus NATO, with one machine from the hottest period of the Cold War and the other from the wild and crazy endgame. Back when we were gearing up for some toe-to-toe nuclear combat with the Rooskies, a man could walk into his friendly Dodge dealership and order him up a Town Wagon, to haul six or eight passengers reliably (if not comfortably), or he could opt for the military-truck-based four-wheel...
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("/89_Dodge_Spirit_494.flv", 506, 423,""); You're out in the desert, waiting for the intense Reagan-era patriotic rush of a Space Shuttle landing- a rush even more intense than watching Sylvester Stallone pound the crap out of a giant Russian- but then you get distracted by this amazing car approaching out of the shimmering distance. Surely a car this advanced must be European or Japanese, right? Hell no! It's the 745th iteration of the K platform, the sorta-all-new Dodge Spirit!
|
-
|
Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Once we gave Germany a second chance against PCH Superpower Italy, they pulled off the upset- that's right, the Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman (just barely) beat the Lamborghini Urraco in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll ! But what about the Japanese? They totally get shortchanged in Project Car Hell, what with their cars' excessive reliability and ease of parts obtainment. Well, how about a couple of bargain-priced subcompacts from Japan, equipped with Detroit badges and jittery, hoon-friendly turbocharged engines? You know every last one of these cars has spent most of its career at shrieking, valve-floating revs with some kid's sneaker mashing the gas pedal to the floor (while operating a four-foot bong and working the gearshift at the same time), all the while getting zero maintenance and running on the very cheapest Stop-N-Rob gasoline...
|
-
|
Welcome to Project Car Hell , where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! The last time we slammed the rusty doors of the Hell Garage, the Million Euro Gardner-Serpollet beat the double-homicide Stanley Steamer by a significant- yet not overwhelming 57:43 ratio. Today we've got the life sentence answer for those who want to drive some lunatic Carroll Shelby creation, yet don't have a six-figure budget: Shelby Mopars! What would you say about a funky-handling 80s front-wheel-drive coupe that used an early variable-nozzle turbocharger to get top speeds well over 150MPH and burn holes in all the pistons? With Iacocca-class build quality and- it should go without saying here- a K-car-based chassis? Designed by Caroll Shelby? You figure you're going to have to get up off of at least five figures to get a car like that, but no- for only $6,500 you could buy this 1989 Shelby CXS-VNT (go here if the ad disappears). The CSX...
|
-
|
There was some grumbling about the first Chrysler K Car we saw in this series, but there's no way I can run across a Government K sedan and not share it with the world. The Taurus and Lumina elbowed aside just about all the "official vehicle" K cars way back in the early 90s (and, to be fair, the K wasn't the most reliable car ever made, especially when operated by lead-footed public servants), but this plain-gray-wrapper Aries managed to beat the odds and stay on the road. It appears to be owned by the same guy who owns the second-ever DOTS vehicle , and it looks like he's fixing it up. Those of you who feel strongly about the idea of DOTS K-cars (for or against) be sure to vote in the poll after the jump. The K platform was quite versatile, but Chrysler only seemed to show off "K" emblems on a select few vehicles. There's a Turbo Caravelle in my neighborhood that I might shoot as well, since those hood louvers are extremely Turbo Mullet Era-esque. The...
|
-
|
After Uncle Sam bailed out "too big to fail" Chrysler in 1979, the race was on to bring to market small front-wheel-drive cars that could compete with Japanese imports better than sluggish Cordobas and Volares. The K-cars were powered by Chrysler's very first all-metric four-cylinder engine, the 2.2, and it proved to be a reasonably reliable and versatile powerplant. Just about every car Chrysler built from 1981 through the mid-90s could be had with some flavor of the 2.2 or 2.5 engine, and the turbocharged versions made plenty of power; the peak was the Turbo III, with Lotus-designed DOHC head and an output of 225 horsepower. Be sure to check out Allpar's interview with engine designer Pete Hagenbuch , for the scoop on how the Slant Six and 2.2 were developed. [Allpar]
|
-
|
How about an engine family that included V6, V8, and V10 variants and is still being manufactured today after more than 40 years? Starting with the 273-cube V8 in 1964 (itself a descendant of the mid-50s-vintage A series engine) and proceeding through vast numbers of 318s and 360s (and let us not forget the screamin' 340 Six-Pack pictured above), the LA design ended up as the basis of the 488 and 505 V10s used in Vipers and SRT-10s. While the Slant Six has pretty well established itself as the top contender for the All-Time Most Bulletproof Detroit Engine Award, its 318 stablemate makes a strong bid for second place. [Allpar]
|
-
|
Remember the Dodge Rampage ? Yes, for a while in the mid-80s you could get a factory-built Dodge Omniamino, but these days they're as rare as pastel leg warmers and cellphones that weigh 20 pounds. Fortunately, loyal Denver -based reader Kitt had camera at the ready when she spotted this fine example of the Little Front-Drive Pickup That Could (Not Sell). The owner of this truckcar has given it his or her own special style, with a curious mix of Grateful Dead, safety-stripe, and general skullish themes. It's nice to see Dead-related stuff on a vehicle other than a faded Subaru or beater Tercel . This Rampage gets bonus points for not having a single one of those irritating "dancing bear" images anywhere on it. Just the Steal Your Face skulls for this Mopar! It's got the marker lights. It's got the roof-mounted spotlight. It's got the air horns. A little more of this stuff and we might be seeing the world's first Dekotoramino! The owner wants everyone to know this is an '84 model, not one...
|
|
|
|