Sports car owners (current or previous)

[Jambo]

12 hours ago, fygjam said:

MG Midgets, Austin Healy Sprites and Triumph Spitfires don't count as sports cars unless you also wore a cloth cap and fingerless leather gloves with string backs.

 

In addition to the MG Midget I followed that with a Triumph Spitfire which I loved.

At the same time I was provided with a Morris Marina (possibly the worst car ever made) as a Company Car. I used the Spitfire at the weekends to drive to football.

Like many Spitfire owners I had a bag of sand in the tiny boot to try to keep the rear end from trying to overtake the front end when braking.

[coxyhog]

I had a Mk 3 Spitfire hardtop in 1979-80,smashed the dash up on the passenger side trying to shag a bird in it,my size 10 Doc Martens didn't help.Great fun little car though for flying around Norfolk lanes pissed as a newt(I was stationed at RAF Marham at the time).

Apart from that I had a Mk 2 RS2000 in 1982-3 which I loved.

My E500 Merc which I've had for nearly 11 years is easily the fastest though,5461cc V8 is why I love it.

[bob lt]

Still have a pair of SU carbs believed to be for a Spitfire, bodies unused, dashpots and pistons secondhand though. Must be going on for 50 years old.

[fygjam]

Twin and triple SU setups were for people who liked to faf around all weekend twiddling with the balance instead of driving the car or who couldn't afford a DCOE or IDA Weber setup.

 

[biggles]

'1979-80,smashed the dash up on the passenger side trying to shag a bird in it,' 

Mine was a mk2, a much younger me found a deserted spot one night and shagged a cute milf doggy over the bonnet! 

[bob lt]

11 hours ago, fygjam said:

Twin and triple SU setups were for people who liked to faf around all weekend twiddling with the balance instead of driving the car or who couldn't afford a DCOE or IDA Weber setup.

 

I had original Minis, not easy to install Weber carbs.

Have seen intakes protruding through the bonnet, one installation cut the firewall.

[fygjam]

33 minutes ago, bob lt said:

I had original Minis, not easy to install Weber carbs.

Have seen intakes protruding through the bonnet, one installation cut the firewall.

Peter Manton's Mini, Shell Racing Team, had a bloody great Weber sticking through the dash where the speedo used to go.

 

 

[coxyhog]

5 hours ago, biggles said:

'1979-80,smashed the dash up on the passenger side trying to shag a bird in it,' 

Mine was a mk2, a much younger me found a deserted spot one night and shagged a cute milf doggy over the bonnet! 

My escapade was in the middle of winter....

[maipenrai]

My older brother's 1963 Austin Healey Sprite, the first car I ever drove; there were quite a few British sports cars around my neck of the woods in the '60s and early '70s but they didn't fare well with the usually rough gravel roads of the day - I believe this one was junked after the front suspension collapsed one day:

[Pumpuynarak]

45 minutes ago, maipenrai said:

My older brother's 1963 Austin Healey Sprite, the first car I ever drove; there were quite a few British sports cars around my neck of the woods in the '60s and early '70s but they didn't fare well with the usually rough gravel roads of the day - I believe this one was junked after the front suspension collapsed one day:

Was a bonnet ''extra'' in your neck of the woods G ? lol

[fygjam]

When I said Austin Healy Sprite I was thinking more of the original bug-eyed Sprite.

The one pictured, with or without bonnet, looks a bit er gay to me.

 

[Pumpuynarak]

20 minutes ago, fygjam said:

When I said Austin Healy Sprite I was thinking more of the original bug-eyed Sprite.

The best Sprite imo

[SteveBC]

25 minutes ago, Pumpuynarak said:

The best Sprite imo

As long as you were no taller that 5' 6".

[maipenrai]

9 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

Was a bonnet ''extra'' in your neck of the woods G ? lol

It did have a bonnet ("hood" to us colonials) and I don't know why it is missing in this photo.

[fygjam]

The hoods from the hood nicked the hood.

 

[Butch]

Defining a sports car these days isn't easy. Even my Hako KGPC10 doesn't qualify in the eyes of some, but it did give rise to the Datsun / Nissan Skyline family which, by todays standards are most definitely sports cars.

I've had a Corvette L82, TR6 2.5pi, Colt Starion Turbo, Renault 5 GT turbo, Mexico Escort, Cosworth Sierra and a Subaru Impreza and true to form, I have an embarrassingly small 9 inch penis (flaccid).

I don't really think owning a sports car is a euphemism for anything in particular, and I don't think there's any real correlation with penis size, despite John Holmes driving a Mini.*

 

*This might not be a true statement.

 

[tommy dee]

of all the cars I had, the best and scariest was the 928.  originally designed to replace the 911, but didnt, it was like having two engines running on the same crankshaft.  quite simpe the acceleration was amazing and, luckily, so was the first class braking system and 1 to 1 steering.  my thrill was to have a vw gti wanker behind me as approaching the end of a speed zone, they would always be trying to nip by, but then as I left the zone, flooring the thing and leaving them behind.  braking wa samazing it was like a fair ride.  no wobble, just perfect and ultra even stopping.  I sold it ( twice as one chap sold it back to me) and was best rid of it as otherwise I would probably have killed meself, or ost my licence.

 

I previously belonged to THE Phil Collins,  reg was irish, NXI 928 in flame red

[Butch]

On 8/29/2023 at 1:06 AM, tommy dee said:

of all the cars I had, the best and scariest was the 928.  originally designed to replace the 911, but didnt, it was like having two engines running on the same crankshaft.  quite simpe the acceleration was amazing and, luckily, so was the first class braking system and 1 to 1 steering.  my thrill was to have a vw gti wanker behind me as approaching the end of a speed zone, they would always be trying to nip by, but then as I left the zone, flooring the thing and leaving them behind.  braking wa samazing it was like a fair ride.  no wobble, just perfect and ultra even stopping.  I sold it ( twice as one chap sold it back to me) and was best rid of it as otherwise I would probably have killed meself, or ost my licence.

 

I previously belonged to THE Phil Collins,  reg was irish, NXI 928 in flame red

The 928 was indeed a hell of a car. It broke the mould in GT / sports cars 0f the era.

This is a heartwarming and slightly emotional tribute from Jeremy Clarkson about the 928:

 

[Mrmango]

On 8/28/2023 at 5:06 PM, tommy dee said:

of all the cars I had, the best and scariest was the 928.  originally designed to replace the 911, but didnt, it was like having two engines running on the same crankshaft.  quite simpe the acceleration was amazing

My first Porsche was a 944 turbo 5 speed. I could not believe the power that 4 banger had. Once I was cruising about 65 and I floored it and it burned rubber! I let my teen age daughter drive it about 60 miles home one day and she said it was fact, but when she looked down, she was doing over 150 MPH.

And the reliability was unbelievable. I put over 250,000 miles on it and it ran like a new one.

 

[tommy dee]

3 hours ago, Mrmango said:

My first Porsche was a 944 turbo 5 speed. I could not believe the power that 4 banger had. Once I was cruising about 65 and I floored it and it burned rubber! I let my teen age daughter drive it about 60 miles home one day and she said it was fact, but when she looked down, she was doing over 150 MPH.

And the reliability was unbelievable. I put over 250,000 miles on it and it ran like a new one.

 

my first, back in germany was a 944,  the seller made me swear to stay under 100 clicks an hour for a week to get o understnad the vehicle.  so different from others, they are all masterpieces,  ( except the 924 vw thing).  reg was GI sT 944

[Butch]

I've not actually seen a 944 or even a 924 on the road in the UK for years now. Such a shame, I always liked the aggressive styling of the 944, it looked right from every angle.

They do come up on Ebay fairly regularly, most these days are needing some kind of restoration. 928's often need wiring as well which is a massive undertaking 944's are less temperamental in that respect but do suffer from rust issues.

I've never driven a Porsche , although I have had a few trips in one.

[maipenrai]

26 minutes ago, Butch said:

I've not actually seen a 944 or even a 924 on the road in the UK for years now. Such a shame, I always liked the aggressive styling of the 944, it looked right from every angle.

They do come up on Ebay fairly regularly, most these days are needing some kind of restoration. 928's often need wiring as well which is a massive undertaking 944's are less temperamental in that respect but do suffer from rust issues.

I've never driven a Porsche , although I have had a few trips in one.

I've always liked the 944's as well and even considered buying one at one time but they are apparently real buggers to work on  - I read an account from a Road & Track contributor who owned one for some time and had lots of trouble with it - his account of what he had to go through to install a new clutch is enough to frighten any home mechanic off...

[Mrmango]

2 hours ago, maipenrai said:

I've always liked the 944's as well and even considered buying one at one time but they are apparently real buggers to work on  - I read an account from a Road & Track contributor who owned one for some time and had lots of trouble with it - his account of what he had to go through to install a new clutch is enough to frighten any home mechanic off...

I found a great mechanic that worked on mine and the biggest problem was that the timing belt had to be replaced every 60K miles or so, and on the Turbo it was about $1,000. 

After about 100K miles the rear seal starting dripping a bit of oil and it cost about 2K to fix, as they had to drop the rear end and pull out all of the guts to get to it.

 But I just lived with it and add a quart every month or so.

 

Other than that very little work for over 250K miles

[tommy dee]

the great thing is that we had these cars when we were still young.  seeing some old fart pottering along in a powerful car makes me laugh..  hands at ten to two

 

[Mrmango]

46 minutes ago, tommy dee said:

the great thing is that we had these cars when we were still young.  seeing some old fart pottering along in a powerful car makes me laugh..  hands at ten to two

 

Actually I must be young becase I still have one