dadecode
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Even when I was a Kid and hated Gassers for their "nose high" stance (although I love em now); I couldn't deny they had a swagger that was hard to beat. If I ever get ahold of a 1961-62 Fullsize chevy 2dr hard top - I will fulfill a personal dream of having a all black, big block, gasser
B-body to tear around in. To me they embody a "Punk" anti establishment era of drag racing.
These wild cars that came shortly after Superstock fullsizers started dying off and just before factory midsize Muscle started dominating the strip.
I'm on the Fence with this one. I like a real "street fighter/daily driver" as much as the next guy, but except for the flares, there's nothing really remarkable about this car. The paint is full of orange peel and the interior and engine bay reveal what is in fact; just a well used Majesta slammed on some nice rims with stretched tires.
I like it, but not as a feature car...
@guReMcO Its' a common error in perception, like that fact that at the time they were considered "super cars" because honestly; short of a all out race car, NOTHING approached the HP and acceleration they achieved. In fact, the term didn't become associated with Exotics til the late 70s to early 80s). "muscle car" is a much later term as well. Do some research, you'd be surprised how many "Muscle cars" of the era were not 1/4mile focused.
The fact that their handling is regarded as "suspect" by modern, uninitiated enthusiast, is more of a nod to the fact that it took nearly 20 years for anything other than exotics to approach their performance abilities. As well as the fact that people easily forget that EVERYTHING in the 60s-early 70s handles like sh#t compared to whats on the road now. Yes even Ferrari and Porches. Also, a nearly 50yr old "Muscle car" is easily able to keep up with and be driven daily in modern traffic, the Exotic stuff is fragile, unreliable, and far less comfortable. So a Muscle car is more likely to be compared to modern steel, because it's still relevant in the modern street scene. especially in the States.
I so want to hate this, BUT IT MAKES ME SMILE SO HARD!
@FunctionFirst AGREED! One of my best memories is a cross country drive I took in my 1967 Pontiac Catalina 2dr Hardtop (same exact fast back roof as the Impala featured here but with a front and rear end that mimicked Jet intakes) It was in mint condition, gold with a white roof. EVERYWHERE I went people came from no where to look, ask or talk about the car. It got so I started dreading stopping to fill her up. That car drove 2800 miles in two days with nary a complaint except requiring a chassi lube after a severe down pour in Alabama. And I till remember vividly the soothing lope of it's big 400 Cubic Inch motor as I cruised into night at 70mph.
To this day I still keep an eye out for another car of it's caliber. There is nothing like pulling onto the open road at the helm of such a grand feeling car. You can't help but feel like a king behind the wheel of one. With cars like the 1967 Impala, it's no wonder GM and Chevy had the Top selling cars in the world at the time. Just think, this 1967 Impala Hardtop was a common man's car! Yet look at all the style and presence.
@JDMized @Mike Half the JDM scene displayed here regularly here is born from illegal street racing.
Drifting: ILLEGAL and continues to be so. No matter what anyone says the best drifting I saw in Japan was on the streets, not at the track.
Wangan Racing: ILLEGAL, yet half the top speed and super tuned cars from Japan are built and tuned by guys who cut their teeth and still sharpen their skills illegally speeding on the toll roads.
and lets not forget 1/4mile drag racing...the ORIGINAL illegal gear head activity! And when i was in Japan, a few years ago it was still attracting guys and gals all Friday and Saturday night.
But that's not the point. It's the cars! I'm talking about the CARS people. Bad Ass cars that were built solely to make money on the streets (and just as often on the track). When money is on the line, you put up or shut up. And a car that is is a legend in the streets is a testament to the owner and builder knowing their stuff.
@RemingtonBox @MikeYee @JDMized @Mike you're missing the point. Its' not about the street racing (which contrary to what you say is not even having the surface scratched by any media.) a few posers messing around in Civics or a old mustang, or a coupla cars crashing into each other is NOT street racing or street racing culture. That's idiots playing grab ass with their friends in their mom's car.
I'm talking about the CARS people. Bad Ass cars that were built solely to make money on the streets (and just as often on the track). When money is on the line, you put up or shut up. And a car that is is a legend in the streets is a testament to the owner and builder knowing their stuff.
hardly. I love the flat head V8, and yes it put the idea of American V8 motoring on the map. but other than being offered in the low priced market, there is nothing "revolutionary" about the Flat head V8. it was merely the same side valve operated design that everyone else had, except it was a V8.
Sure it's Iconic, but the OHV GM V8s ( especially the SBC) were the ground breaking upsets of performance motoring. And continue to be.
yet again, another "no nothing" getting side tracked by pushrods and failing to understand it's actually a far newer and elegant packaging solution to operating the valves.
My grand father used to street race back in the day, and he and his pals swear a Hemi couldn't hold a candle next to a nonchalantly tuned "Wedge" head Mopar on the street. The Hemi was just to temperamental and finicky for "non pro" use. Besides it didn't make power till it was over 5 grand. By then a Wedge Big block powered car was already long gone. At the track with short gears and slicks whole different story.
like stated earlier the Boss 302 is certifiably BOSS, but the rest, while cool, tended to have more "potential" than performance when it mattered.
Surprised no Buick motors made the mix! No love for the Nail Head V8s of the 60s, or the 500ft lbs making stump pullers like the GS Stage 1 and 2 455s or even the MONSTER GSX Stage 1&2 455s?
There is a reason the American 60s-early 70s cars and engines just won't die when it comes to enthusiast. Every GM mark has it's own V8s. from small displacement aluminum turbocharged oddities (the FIRST production turbo engine [1962 Oldmobile F85/cutlass]), to sliky smooth 500c.i. Cadillac V8s in the Eldorado. Every brand had it's own flair and take on how a proper V8 should be built and run. From Frenzied and high revving (Chevy small block, and on occasion the Big blocks as well) to lazy and effortless power like Mopar 440s or the Oldmosbiles and Buicks.
And many where in another league all together, like the 409,427,396, and 402 Chevy Rat motors, or the King Kong high winding 426 Hemi, which had NO business being run on the street.
But if I was honest; the King of all American V8s is the motor which was passed the torch from it's grand father of yore; LS Engines for the win! NOTHING packs the same amount of power, compactness, light weight, efficiency, reliability, adaptability, and even tech into such an affordable package as the Gen 4 small block! Now I'm curious to see what this new LT has to offer.
@JDMized @Mike You know, you are right. It's been bothering me for a coupla years now that there are 500-1000hp cars all over the US (most Domestic) that are putting in work all over the US in the late-nite to early morning for cold hard cash, and virtually NONE of that is covered anywhere on the net except maybe the odd youtube vid, or V8 gearhead mag. You'd think SpeedHunters would be all over that scene. especially with the quality of cars that the top racers run. I'm talking 9-11sec cars running all out on the street...many still being shifted the old fashioned way: your right hand and left foot. And many not running anything stickier than a 10.5 drag radial! O_o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwp-i_OCO1k
IF YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT WAS UP WITH TRANS AM RACING, MUST WATCH!
This is easily my favorite "Classic Japanese" body style. Which is funny; cus when I was a little kid back in the 79-early 80s, I always considered it a Mustang knock off. lol To bad we never got the smooth bumpers on the Fastback in the US like in Japan and Europe.
Definitely on my list of cars I'd buy if one crossed my path.
@bigeastbay That's one of the biggest fallacies ever. A lowered 2WD truck looses none of it's towing or hauling capability...unless you plan on hopping curbs and going off road on the regular. And in that case, you should have a 4WD in the first place. Heck until the early 80s, a full size America car was more than capable of doing what you need a Full size truck to do now as far as towing, and in many cases hauling.
Wow, i like nearly every car on the list. but i think the voting category needs to be narrowed down quite a bit. Like how about best affordable 80s Icon, or best Japanese 80s Icon, of course you have to have best Exotic 80s Icon, and maybe even the best "still relevant" 80s Icon.
The last one I think will whittle the list down to the true Icon of the 80s. because frankly, many of these cars are irrelevant as hell to next to even average and cars of the 21 century. Icons surpass their class and social standing and stand the test of time. They are cars that everyone young and old appreciates and still lust after, or at the very least have pleasant memories of.
@bigmac69 The 80s had alot of cool cars, but even the early 70s had more "true Icons" then the 80s. In the 80s if you were hard up for cash you had hot hatches and used older 60-70 cars. If you had a little scratch you rolled 5.0, Corvettes, Irocs, or TAs, and Grand Nationals. (at least in the US) I remember MR2s, Celica Supras, and MKIII Supras being fairly popular as well, and the 280zx and Z32 300zx were common and respected. Then you had the 911s, and rare "yuppy" M3s, original M5, 190e, Audi 5000s. And of course if you were rich you had the unobtainable exotics. But on the street, in the US at least; all of those cars (except the Exotics, 5.0, Corvette and Grand National) were were still sorely lacking viscerally and generally in hp and overall performance compared to older cars of the early 70-60s. And everyone knew it.
Except the occasional exotic, many cars struggled to break 14 secs in the quarter mile and hardly any did better than high 6 second 0-60mph times. In Europe all of the real performance "Icons" were extremely rare. I mean yeah VW GTIs were cool, but honestly, they hardly stood out compared to a regular Golf. If you tried to brag about one, 'average Joe' on the street could have cared less.
Don't get me wrong. I like many 80s icons, but in the grand scheme of things they are more of a marker for primitive electronic tech and very lack luster performance as Automakers struggled to infuse computer tech and appease greater government regulation. Like the AE86. it's just a Corolla! Sure they had and have a cult following in Japan, but in the rest of the world it was just a Corolla hatchback. Many of the modern fans of that car only even consider it a "performance" car because of Initial D. The thing needs to have nearly the whole suspension upgraded or swapped out to hang with modern FWD economy car, never mind the work that has to be done to the engine, just to have what is still a relatively slow albeit fun, economy car.
Its' was very frustrating to me as a kid back in the 80s to watch all of those awesome Motorsports, yet go out on the street and see such low powered lackluster cars. I know, there were a notable exotics of that era, as well as the affordable stalwarts such as the Mustang, Camaro, Vette and Grand National (in the states) but compared to the cars of early 70s and older; contemporary street cars of the era sucked.
But this article reminds me of how awesome the racing of the time was. I remember watching Group B (or killer B's as we called them) and IMSA racing [I loved the the 962]! I remember how intense NASCAR was at the time, lots of "rubbing" and aggressive contact and position jockeying, and crazy crashes. I also remember drooling over GTP cars with their wide fenders and muscular bodywork. And yes, Indy was a BIG deal on Sundays.
My two favorite race cars? The Audi Quattro and Porsche 956/62. Actually, I'm lying, I like just about everything i saw racing at the time, even Baja and off road racing like the Paris Dakar was pretty awesome to me then.
Great write up! Proof the 80s weren't all bad after all. In fact they were pretty good.
I should clarify in case anyone misreads my memory of the cars driving characteristics; the car was not "fast" but it was certainly quick - surprisingly so. It also handled pretty well for a FWD car.