by capev86 » Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:16 am
hey....finally something to document all those rare 80's cars that are going bye bye very fast because they are between the REAL oldies and the latest from detroit (or overseas).
some of the cars i hope you included:
GM: 84 hurst olds, buick grand national/gnx, lesabre t type, skyhawk t type, reatta, etc.
Chrysler: shelby charger, rampage, various shelby/ turbo daytona's, carrol shelby packages, ghl's, etc. i think the (louts engineering infuesed) spirit r/t, daytona iroc/rt and phantom r/t (j body sold in mexico) should be included because those are the pinnacle of what is basically 80's engineering. there was also the chrysler tc by maserati
there really were a lot of nice performance parts that came from the factory in this time period and makes for great salvage yard hop up projects on plain jane cars. my grandmother had an 85 skyhawk wagon for over 20 years that she bought new. wish the car was still around.....would love to put a cavalier z24 chassis in it with the skyhawk t-type nose (hidden flip up headlights). i'd either build a late model z24 2.4 into a 2.6 stroker or (even a 2.4 stroker out a 2.2) or better yet, put a late model supercharged 3800 in it (you can stroke that to 4.2L) and put a 6 speed from a pontiac g6 behind it. bet you could also use the 18 inch rims and big 4 wheel disc (brembo front) brakes from cobalt ss.
it's amazing what kind of parts you can mix and match to create a total sleeper that performs awesome without investing in tons of aftermarket pieces. i have a few trick pieces (braided brake hoses, poly everything, csracing panhard bar, aluminum strut brace for a daytona, etc) for my 86 aries wagon but most of the parts are a mix of the best from the mopar parts shelf. chrysler was a pioneer in factory turbo setups long before it was popular to put that kind of stuff on imports.