pomanferrari

iTrader: (1)

I bought the FD in 95 caused I needed something to replace my 600cc Ninja and to get away from the deliquent image.

There are other cars that are just as good or even better but not for the price nor the ease of modification.

It's a classic design, sort of a poorman's ferrari.

I plan on keeping the car for another 100K.

gcthree

Well, this seems to be the old guys thread, so another class of '72 signs-in.
Like Kento, my first car was a VW- '71 Bug. Had it during my senior year in HS, and saved all my dollars from various odd jobs (it seems that not much has changed amongst young car enthusiast!), and shipped it all off to Claude's Buggies in (wow!) California. In return, I got a big bore kit, counterweighted stroker crank, manifolds to fit 2 Holley Bug Sprays (300 cfm apiece). It was an 1800cc motor that propelled my bug to mid 13 second et's at the now defunct (like OCIR) National Speedway on Long Island. Traded that bug in on a brand new 1974 RX4 coupe, because of the write-ups it received in Car & Driver, and Road & Track. I still miss that car!

To come full circle, I worked for Road & Track for about 8 years, and now own another rotary in the form of a '93 3rd gen. The PFC has yet to be tuned, yet the car ran with a new Porche GT3 this morning out on Ocean Parkway at 12 lbs. of boost. However, this guy was hoping to see if his 190 mph top-end was for real, I think, and 120 was my sign-off point. I guess at our age, the brain operated speed limiter does take over.

luneytune

Yes, they are timless, still turn heads, waste more time at gas stations discussing the car with tourists! But with all high maintenance race cars (like women) there is a cost, nice to have a lift in the garage! As far as age, class of 75, where I went 130mph in an RX-3! Pretty stupid, front disks were glowing red after! Mazda back then had shitty suspensions, the worst brakes, the longest shift from 1 to 2nd, except old Volvos, but the R100 had the best transmission, split case design.

RonKMiller

I don't get it! poman, poorman...

Must have something to do with the 70's.

And YES, I am yankin' your chain, you're still a delinquent, a pessimistic delinquent as well.

I have a looooonnnggggg memory dood.

gcthree

I had my RX4 at an indicated 135mph with the shift buzzer constantly buzzing in 4th gear on Route 17 in NY State heading for Watkins Glen and US Grand Prix in '75. I was racing a V6 Capri. We both got bagged in a radar trap, and we got off with tix for 95 mph. And, oh yeah, I had 2 friends in the car. Real dumb.

RonKMiller

You are older than DIRT!

And, as I like to say: "My Momma didn't raise any good lookin' boys, but we ain't dumb."

Old guys (harummmphhh, cough, cough, hack) get ALL the young poon. They all want a guy "just like dear old dad".

luneytune

In the
RX-3 we had to calculate the speed later as it was off the dial and running about 7200rpm. When we raced our RX-2 at Westwood outside Vancouver, a bridge ported 48IDA Weber wonder 12A, we used the lack of buzzer as a signal to down shift! Redlined it between 10k and 11K. hehe.

bajaman

Gawd....that must have been a BLAST! Lucky dog!

gcthree

Perhaps I should know this, but where's Altezzaville? Women up (over?) there like older guys, huh? Thankfully, the wife isn't monitoring these threads.

Back to cars and thinks we can control, I've heard about guys running their rotaries on the buzzer. 10,000 rpm, huh? Wow!

luneytune

Unfortunately I wasn't a driver just a mechanic
One of the funnier things about racing this car was having to haul unleaded regular gas to the track! They didn't pump it! Lead fuel and premium fuel were not good on the 12A, fouled plugs etc. They all laughed at us, but not on the track!

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

Fd3BOOST

iTrader: (7)

Its right next to Geezerville but we won't hold that against anyone here since he is getting all the young poon.
It's just too bad you gotta take pills to get keep the young poon happy since we know your stunning physic isnt doing it You run your prescription dry send em my way.
Keep countin the days ladies. Ole painless is waiting.
Gotcha

Jokes aside
Fell for fds in 98. Been wrenching on them ever since.
Best car in the road if you like em pretty, fast and loud

Kento

I wouldn't put it that way. The H2 basically taught me the meaning of throttle control. I learned to ride in the canyons of SoCal with that thing. Luckily, I hooked up with some older gents who got me into production roadracing at the local tracks (Willow Springs, and the now-defunct Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside International Raceway), and I got so hooked on roadracing that I ended up with the number 1 plate overall in SoCal in '88.

Hey, no worries here. Motorcycle racing is often regarded a young man's sport, so it's fun smokin' by the youngsters at the track once in a while, only for them to find out they were roosted on by an "old man".

Yeah, the first CDI was a POS. The one on my H2 was reliable as a rock, however.

Sorry, guess I'm gettin' a little here...

adam c

iTrader: (2)

Did someone say 70's?? Wish they had said it louder, didn't hear it the first time. Class of 75 here.

Around here, the hot car was the Boss Mustang, and Shelby. Whew. Scary fast cars.

I had a KZ 650 C2. Not a crotch rocket, but plenty fast for me. Damn that was a nice bike. Bulletproof engine. Couldn't break it if you wanted to, just like the FD.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Ok, Class of 73 back again,
I had an old Chevelle that was a dog. Got me back and forth from College though and the trunk would hold enough beer for...well it held alot.
Thought I died and went to heaven when my older brother would let me drive his new 240Z. That's when I got bit by the sports car bug. By today's standards that Z was a brick on wheels too, but it was faster than the MGs, Triumphs, Fiats and Alfas, and nearly as fast as a Porsche 914 or 924. And IMO, more reliable than all of them.

RonKMiller

My older brother left me with his pristine Studebaker Avanti one summer, told me to drive it once in a while to keep it "lubed up".

Big mistake.

It had a stock supercharged 289 in it, and was British Racing Green. Absolutely stunning car. Very light for it's time, it had a fiberglass body. 300hp bone stock.

Throw in some Pirelli Red Line tires and I was off to the races - every weekend. I never broke it and rarely lost a drag. I did get to buy a couple of sets of new rear tires before he retrieved it.

It was quicker than snot, but I could hardly afford to keep the damn thing full of gas working at a grocery store for $2.54 an hour! (and that's when gas was 45 cents a gallon - really)

Another one of those timeless classics.

gcthree

The Avanti story is very familiar.
My older brother didn't know that he liked cars until I convinced him that the '67 GTO that was on the used car lot was a car that he needed to buy. Maroon/black 335hp/ 4speed Muncie. Shortly after he bought it, basic training for the Army reserves called (better than going to Nam), and he was gone for months. In his absence, the Goat got a Crane cam, Edlebrock hi-rise with a Holley 750 double pumper and a Stewart Warner electric fuel pump, Hooker headers and header mufflers, a set of Gabriel HiJackers ('member them?) to give clearance for the Mickey Thompson L60's mounted on Ansen mags. For a very short time, I was 'the' man at Holy Cross HS and Francis Lewis Blvd, until he returned and then I bought the Beetle. Mom never knew.....

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Outstanding thread, at least for me. Not sure how interesting it was for the younger guys, but it was absolutely reassuring to me that I'm not the only guy "slightly" over 40 that loves the FDs. It's fun looking back once in a while. Puts things in perspective again. Thanks all.

RonKMiller

I think we were darned lucky to grow up when we did.
I would not trade it for the world.

luneytune

It's true. For me being a part of the first "Japanese Invasion" the 510, Honda S800, Datsun 2000, Datsun 240Z, Celica's and of course the R100, RX2, RX3, RX4. Still looking for an R100 in good shape, that car was so sweet. If you can find a 1970, it has factory header on its 10A, graphite apex seals that held up very well, and a fantastic transmission, gross suspension - but highly modifiable. Unlike the RX's good brakes. When I first sat in an FD it brought back the R100, the gauges are very similar and functional just like the FD. I hear that R100's very only on the westcoast and Canada. I see about 3 around here on a regular basis, no one will sell though.

gcthree

Absolutely right. There's a remarkable 'continuity' through all the rotary powered cars built by Mazda. My new '74 RX4 coupe, an '80 10th anniversary RX7, and now the 3rd gen all have had a genetic strain that runs through them. You feel it when you get in, or open the hood. However, with the thermal reactor/carb being replaced by a catalytic convertor/ fuel injection, and an ECU, the old explosion within the exhaust 2 minutes after you've shut it down is gone!

gcthree

So, we all love our 3rd gens, but putting them aside, you've likely all owned plenty of cars over the years. What was your favorite, and which one should you never have sold?

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

My 81 RX7 is right at the top of the list. Loved that car. Light, fast for it's time and handled better than anything in it's price range. NEVER had a problem with it. It also looked awsome with wheels and wider tires. Nostalgic too, my wife and I dated in that car. Sold it 2.5 years later (to buy a house) with 22K for about $1200 less than I paid for it new.
Still have the only other car that would make the list, now a restored antique but it was my first car. Red 52 Chevrolet Deluxe Convertible. Big, slow, chrome everywhere and designed with a slide-rule. Girls loved it!
I love(d) all three (including the FD) but for different reasons...so it's hard to say which is my "favorite".

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I had a 67 Mercury Cougar XR7. Nice car. You had to love those sequential turn signals. Had to sell it to buy my 82 GSL. I sure wish I could have kept that old Cougar. I bet I could get over 10k for it today.

RonKMiller

64 VW Microbus. It had two front seats, bean bag chairs in the back, (for impromptu orgies) and a hookah with multiple hoses running along the sides of the interior. Talk about supercharging. Oh yeah, and an 8 track.

Top speed on the flats: 65. 80, drafting a semi at 100 feet!

And to think everybody has just discovered "Extreme"...