My friend had a Contour SVT that was swapped with a 3.0L. Bought it from a Ford dealership mechanic. It was a great car to drive and much faster than it had any right to be. With an LSD, it would've been a riot.
The only downside, like most cars from this era, is how poorly the interiors hold up. Brittle plastic, warping dashboards, etc.
Do it! I have a 2005 V50 T5 as my daily driver here in the states. I can't say anything bad about it. Comfortable, reasonably quick, reliable. It's just a good, pleasant car.
In all seriousness, I am actively looking for an 86-88 Sable LS or a 6-speed big boy Duratec Milan to do my next wave of 401k melting stupidity. I still kinda wish I bought the 6-speed 2010 Fusion I drove recently.
Cool. My G70 (also the Design Edition) isn’t quite stock, has a lot of the Burger Tuning bolt ons installed (got almost all of them used). Nobody knows what it is, so it’s a bit of a sleeper that easily runs low 12’s (and with a good launch, should break into the 11’s).
Your friends at honda r&d had a gv80 with green leather and green paint when I worked there. That would be a great color combo in whatever they call the big ugly Genesis sedan
This really puts your piece about Monterey Car Week into perspective, since it speaks to true car enthusiasm more than anything on show there (except maybe the Little Car Show in Pacific Grove?). And it’s more ecologically friendly too.
“That makes the answer obvious: swap in a 2.5-liter Duratec and six-speed transmission from the post-facelift Fusion and Milan, then build the 2.5 up to Fab9 Stage 3 levels. That means 225 wheel horsepower at 7300rpm, titanium valve springs too. Should result in a very high 13-second quarter mile at maybe 103mph, plus a little more willingness to reach triple digits on the freeway, where prudent of course.
Doing this would turn this Milan into a sixteen thousand dollar Milan. Toss in the Lincoln bits and it’s probably a nineteen thousand dollar Milan.” PLEASE DO ALL OF THIS ASAP
This makes the effort and money I'd like to sink into an HC Mazda 929 seem a little less insane, if only I could still find one. My sister bought a crossover to make room for her growing family, and as such her old 1st gen Fusion has been given back to my parents as a backup runabout car. They're not remotely interested in cars, but for two weeks now they've been talking about the great visibility, spry engine and chassis, and the smooth ride. Spend enough years driving 3/4 ton trucks and awd SUVs and a simple sedan becomes revelatory..
Makes me want to ask why have you and Tom not taken all the NOS go fast bits made for a Crown Victoria Police Interseptor and installed them on a same generation Lincoln Town Car? I know no manual transmission, however the two cars are built on the same platform. :-) :-)
Oh and speaking of Monterey Car Week, it appears that inflation and the pending recession is not effecting a small subset of the population, as according to the numerous write ups on one specifice insurance website have documented record making sales. Also, is there not a conflict of interest in owning an auction house and reporting on the auctions? just a thought.....
You understate the cost of a Singer 911 these days (not that that does anything other than bolster your argument).
The “base” Singer is the naturally aspirated coupe; they have recently announced that they’ve stopped taking orders for this one. Production will have totaled ~450 units once they’re finished. Hard to find one with the 4.0L engine for much less than $1MM now.
The Singer DLS is heavily limited and will cost more than double what the “base” car does; the DLS has the 4 valve air cooled engine with Williams F1 fairy dust on it.
The new volume car is a 964-based 930 turbo evocation, available in coupe or convertible.
Porsche used to give Singer the cold shoulder and simultaneously fellate Magnus Walker; now Porsche Motorsports North America is building engines for Singer and Magnus will take whatever scraps he can get from Porsche, Merc, or Ms. Elliott’s plate.
You should out who kicked the car. I’d like to kick them in the head. I can’t stand trash who takes out their small dick energy on vehicle sheet metal.
If you want to go whole-hog on the Milan and feel better about it...last month I searched AutoTrader for sedans with manual transmissions under $30k. Among the results was a new 2022 Nissan Versa at a local dealership, advertised for sticker plus a $2000 markup. I was dumbfounded. Searched again this month...the Versa has been sold. Someone paid $18k or more for a base Versa. To get anything close to "value" out of our cars, we're all going to have to "go Cuban" and keep our old machinery alive to 250k miles and beyond.
Since all the manufacturers are going electric and China's having trouble keeping battery plants powered there may not be new vehicles coming out to be bought anyhow! We'll all end up living like Cubans for real, only instead of a ration of rice to get us through the week we get cricket powder. And then there's always the barter system and the black market to keep our old Milans and CX-5s running.
Not only to get value, but to get enjoyment. One look at any of the “car enthusiast websites” tells you that communism, not car enthusiasm, is the current passion.
"To get anything close to "value" out of our cars, we're all going to have to "go Cuban" and keep our old machinery alive to 250k miles and beyond."
I was speaking to a vehicle repair association recently and this was one of my key points. Should electric vehicle mandates actually come to fruition in the near future, the repair industry for existing vehicles will see a new Golden Age. BEVs cost double to make vs ICE and the cost breakthroughs aren't coming. We figure there might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% savings to be had with scale but with all the supply chain issues, that isn't materializing at all.
I bought a 2017 Yaris iA (the Mazda 2 in drag) 6MT for 10k just before COVID because I got tired of driving a 6.5' bed crew cab F-150 every day, used it for similar purposes to Jack, then sold it to Carvana for $17k with another 40k miles on it. It's wild. Don't tell the IRS.
That Yaris iA was a wonderful little thing - no amount of electronic trickery compensates for weight and that little thing weighed under 2400 lbs. The 1.5L loved to rev and had enough torque to cruise at 80-85mph in 6th while getting 40-42mpg regardless of how I drove.
I should have bought one of the little green Mazda2 stick shifts when they were new. Another regret. You think you'll always have time and then the automakers shit on you.
So true. Back in ... 2018? ... I was debating giving up my E92 M3 for a Mazda6 6MT, since the M3 was racking up repair bills. But I thought I'd have time ... Then they cancelled the 6MT model. What I paid for M3 upkeep over the next three years, I could have bought that new Mazda6 6MT outright.
Getting old is bad enough. To have things you enjoy being "taken away" at the same time ... that *really* sucks.
I'm always debating what to do with my E92 M3. In almost two years the only non regular maintenance part it has needed is a washer pump. That said, just between throttle body actuators and rod bearings, I think that's around $7k in repairs hanging over my head. It's not a good fit for roads where I live either.
Despite all this, I can't bring myself to get rid of it. I doubt my example will be a collector's item, but I also don't expect it to depreciate. Contrary to what most of the Internet thinks, I don't need to drive it at "10/10ths" to enjoy it. It sounds great at most any combination of RPM and throttle opening.
I recently picked up an 05 Tundra to haul trash and yard waste. It's been eye opening how far your money goes at the mechanic when you leave the Germans. That might push me over the edge.
Yeah, I didn't really have a choice. My mechanic was 80 miles away, and my M3 was my only car. When I couldn't drive it up for repairs, I had to arrange for a tow, and always for a rental car. It became so much hassle. Plus, it got to a point where I was almost afraid to start it, wondering what else will fail on it next.
I just cannot believe how much the car industry has gone "backwards" in the ten-plus years I owned the M3. I cannot think of a *single* new car on sale today that I would take over my M3 (if I could make time and spend money to maintain it).
I can totally appreciate the thought behind this. Hell I'd rather have your $10k Milan than a $10k..... what does $10k buy you these days again?
I'm about to start the search for a junkyard 2nd gen Escalade wood grain steering wheel to replace the totally roached 300k mile unit on my 06 Suburban. Just to make my UGK and Z-Ro listening more authentic.
There's something in me that admires the sleeper car spirit. The guy who poured time and effort into creating a monster that slips by unnoticed 99% of the time and when awakened absolutely rips and tears. Ostentatious is easy, subtle power is difficult to do right. I know which society prefers.
The "Nobody cares, dude" variation on the meme cracked me up.
"[...] if you want to have any viewpoint in America that is right of, say, Sonia Sotomayor, you’d better work on making yourself and your children as invisible to The Powers That Be as possible."
I am a chameleon at work. There's 5 or so people who know my leanings. I suspect one manager figured it out when I applied for an exception *spit* from the therapeutic science magic juice.
This effort reminds me of an article that your former colleague wrote about something he called OEM Plus. I’m not sure the phrase ever stuck but I liked the concept and it was a nice title for something we’ve practiced for years - a kissing cousin of Day 2, if you will.
I have a friend that works at one of the OEM proving grounds here in AZ. He does (or did) have a SUV from that manufacturer, let’s call it an Xterra - that had either an Inifiniti counterpart or a higher trim version of the model he drove. Thanks to his connections, he’d stockpile castoff parts from the more desirable models and then graft them onto his rig. It was truly one-of-a-kind. We carpooled to SEMA a few times and I know he enjoyed showing me all the cool little bits he had added to the truck.
My second favorite line, next to the one about Sonia Sotomayor: “a shitty 964 with a tweed interior and a hand grenade engine, sold to wannabes by a wannabe.”
The girl is an adult now and she does a little dance to the remix. It's very very interesting to me.
My friend had a Contour SVT that was swapped with a 3.0L. Bought it from a Ford dealership mechanic. It was a great car to drive and much faster than it had any right to be. With an LSD, it would've been a riot.
The only downside, like most cars from this era, is how poorly the interiors hold up. Brittle plastic, warping dashboards, etc.
I take credit, or blame, or both!
Do it! I have a 2005 V50 T5 as my daily driver here in the states. I can't say anything bad about it. Comfortable, reasonably quick, reliable. It's just a good, pleasant car.
I hope the other one is about a VOGA!
Making a manual transmission VOGA would be amazeballs
In all seriousness, I am actively looking for an 86-88 Sable LS or a 6-speed big boy Duratec Milan to do my next wave of 401k melting stupidity. I still kinda wish I bought the 6-speed 2010 Fusion I drove recently.
I can't remember the last time I saw an OG Sable in person, but man what a forward looking and interesting car they were. LIGHT BARS!
Grand Prix STE!
The Milan as described does sound rather appealing.
Does brother Bark still have the G70? (I read his review and bought one. Still loving it.)
He does indeed. Has the Design Edition G70 and a 3.8 HTRAC G80.
Cool. My G70 (also the Design Edition) isn’t quite stock, has a lot of the Burger Tuning bolt ons installed (got almost all of them used). Nobody knows what it is, so it’s a bit of a sleeper that easily runs low 12’s (and with a good launch, should break into the 11’s).
That's a gorgeous color combo. Hoping to get something similar in a G90 some day.
Your friends at honda r&d had a gv80 with green leather and green paint when I worked there. That would be a great color combo in whatever they call the big ugly Genesis sedan
The missus drives a G90 5.0 premium, and we love it. The only downside is no apple carplay and no way to add it.
This really puts your piece about Monterey Car Week into perspective, since it speaks to true car enthusiasm more than anything on show there (except maybe the Little Car Show in Pacific Grove?). And it’s more ecologically friendly too.
“That makes the answer obvious: swap in a 2.5-liter Duratec and six-speed transmission from the post-facelift Fusion and Milan, then build the 2.5 up to Fab9 Stage 3 levels. That means 225 wheel horsepower at 7300rpm, titanium valve springs too. Should result in a very high 13-second quarter mile at maybe 103mph, plus a little more willingness to reach triple digits on the freeway, where prudent of course.
Doing this would turn this Milan into a sixteen thousand dollar Milan. Toss in the Lincoln bits and it’s probably a nineteen thousand dollar Milan.” PLEASE DO ALL OF THIS ASAP
This makes the effort and money I'd like to sink into an HC Mazda 929 seem a little less insane, if only I could still find one. My sister bought a crossover to make room for her growing family, and as such her old 1st gen Fusion has been given back to my parents as a backup runabout car. They're not remotely interested in cars, but for two weeks now they've been talking about the great visibility, spry engine and chassis, and the smooth ride. Spend enough years driving 3/4 ton trucks and awd SUVs and a simple sedan becomes revelatory..
Makes me want to ask why have you and Tom not taken all the NOS go fast bits made for a Crown Victoria Police Interseptor and installed them on a same generation Lincoln Town Car? I know no manual transmission, however the two cars are built on the same platform. :-) :-)
Oh and speaking of Monterey Car Week, it appears that inflation and the pending recession is not effecting a small subset of the population, as according to the numerous write ups on one specifice insurance website have documented record making sales. Also, is there not a conflict of interest in owning an auction house and reporting on the auctions? just a thought.....
Someone who lives near me has a perfect black AMC Pacer with Police Interceptor badging.
You understate the cost of a Singer 911 these days (not that that does anything other than bolster your argument).
The “base” Singer is the naturally aspirated coupe; they have recently announced that they’ve stopped taking orders for this one. Production will have totaled ~450 units once they’re finished. Hard to find one with the 4.0L engine for much less than $1MM now.
The Singer DLS is heavily limited and will cost more than double what the “base” car does; the DLS has the 4 valve air cooled engine with Williams F1 fairy dust on it.
The new volume car is a 964-based 930 turbo evocation, available in coupe or convertible.
Porsche used to give Singer the cold shoulder and simultaneously fellate Magnus Walker; now Porsche Motorsports North America is building engines for Singer and Magnus will take whatever scraps he can get from Porsche, Merc, or Ms. Elliott’s plate.
In other words, your third Phaeton. I love it.
You should out who kicked the car. I’d like to kick them in the head. I can’t stand trash who takes out their small dick energy on vehicle sheet metal.
The little puke probably never worked a day of their life in a blanking op, stamping plant, body shop or paint shop.
If I knew who did it I'd sort it out with them.
If you want to go whole-hog on the Milan and feel better about it...last month I searched AutoTrader for sedans with manual transmissions under $30k. Among the results was a new 2022 Nissan Versa at a local dealership, advertised for sticker plus a $2000 markup. I was dumbfounded. Searched again this month...the Versa has been sold. Someone paid $18k or more for a base Versa. To get anything close to "value" out of our cars, we're all going to have to "go Cuban" and keep our old machinery alive to 250k miles and beyond.
Since all the manufacturers are going electric and China's having trouble keeping battery plants powered there may not be new vehicles coming out to be bought anyhow! We'll all end up living like Cubans for real, only instead of a ration of rice to get us through the week we get cricket powder. And then there's always the barter system and the black market to keep our old Milans and CX-5s running.
Why should I eat cricket powder when there are plenty of people we can use to make Soylent Green?
Since I'm not part of the nomenklatura I didn't want to presume we'd be allowed anything more than insect protein in our insignificant lives.
No way. That will take fossil fuel to process. Think more along the lines of 'The Road'.
Upside, there's a lot of calories in all the corn-fed, Walmart scooter driving lardasses, with enough extra to use in lamps like so much whale oil.
Hmmm. Which is tastier; bugs, or bug people?
Bugs Bunny, obviouswy.
Not only to get value, but to get enjoyment. One look at any of the “car enthusiast websites” tells you that communism, not car enthusiasm, is the current passion.
"To get anything close to "value" out of our cars, we're all going to have to "go Cuban" and keep our old machinery alive to 250k miles and beyond."
I was speaking to a vehicle repair association recently and this was one of my key points. Should electric vehicle mandates actually come to fruition in the near future, the repair industry for existing vehicles will see a new Golden Age. BEVs cost double to make vs ICE and the cost breakthroughs aren't coming. We figure there might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% savings to be had with scale but with all the supply chain issues, that isn't materializing at all.
I bought a 2017 Yaris iA (the Mazda 2 in drag) 6MT for 10k just before COVID because I got tired of driving a 6.5' bed crew cab F-150 every day, used it for similar purposes to Jack, then sold it to Carvana for $17k with another 40k miles on it. It's wild. Don't tell the IRS.
That Yaris iA was a wonderful little thing - no amount of electronic trickery compensates for weight and that little thing weighed under 2400 lbs. The 1.5L loved to rev and had enough torque to cruise at 80-85mph in 6th while getting 40-42mpg regardless of how I drove.
I should have bought one of the little green Mazda2 stick shifts when they were new. Another regret. You think you'll always have time and then the automakers shit on you.
So true. Back in ... 2018? ... I was debating giving up my E92 M3 for a Mazda6 6MT, since the M3 was racking up repair bills. But I thought I'd have time ... Then they cancelled the 6MT model. What I paid for M3 upkeep over the next three years, I could have bought that new Mazda6 6MT outright.
Getting old is bad enough. To have things you enjoy being "taken away" at the same time ... that *really* sucks.
i had a 2015 Mazda6 base with a stick. you really missed out. great car, just REALLY needed an LSD.
I'm always debating what to do with my E92 M3. In almost two years the only non regular maintenance part it has needed is a washer pump. That said, just between throttle body actuators and rod bearings, I think that's around $7k in repairs hanging over my head. It's not a good fit for roads where I live either.
Despite all this, I can't bring myself to get rid of it. I doubt my example will be a collector's item, but I also don't expect it to depreciate. Contrary to what most of the Internet thinks, I don't need to drive it at "10/10ths" to enjoy it. It sounds great at most any combination of RPM and throttle opening.
I recently picked up an 05 Tundra to haul trash and yard waste. It's been eye opening how far your money goes at the mechanic when you leave the Germans. That might push me over the edge.
Yeah, I didn't really have a choice. My mechanic was 80 miles away, and my M3 was my only car. When I couldn't drive it up for repairs, I had to arrange for a tow, and always for a rental car. It became so much hassle. Plus, it got to a point where I was almost afraid to start it, wondering what else will fail on it next.
I just cannot believe how much the car industry has gone "backwards" in the ten-plus years I owned the M3. I cannot think of a *single* new car on sale today that I would take over my M3 (if I could make time and spend money to maintain it).
Oh well...
I can totally appreciate the thought behind this. Hell I'd rather have your $10k Milan than a $10k..... what does $10k buy you these days again?
I'm about to start the search for a junkyard 2nd gen Escalade wood grain steering wheel to replace the totally roached 300k mile unit on my 06 Suburban. Just to make my UGK and Z-Ro listening more authentic.
There's something in me that admires the sleeper car spirit. The guy who poured time and effort into creating a monster that slips by unnoticed 99% of the time and when awakened absolutely rips and tears. Ostentatious is easy, subtle power is difficult to do right. I know which society prefers.
The "Nobody cares, dude" variation on the meme cracked me up.
"[...] if you want to have any viewpoint in America that is right of, say, Sonia Sotomayor, you’d better work on making yourself and your children as invisible to The Powers That Be as possible."
I am a chameleon at work. There's 5 or so people who know my leanings. I suspect one manager figured it out when I applied for an exception *spit* from the therapeutic science magic juice.
The sleeper attitude applies broadly.
This effort reminds me of an article that your former colleague wrote about something he called OEM Plus. I’m not sure the phrase ever stuck but I liked the concept and it was a nice title for something we’ve practiced for years - a kissing cousin of Day 2, if you will.
I have a friend that works at one of the OEM proving grounds here in AZ. He does (or did) have a SUV from that manufacturer, let’s call it an Xterra - that had either an Inifiniti counterpart or a higher trim version of the model he drove. Thanks to his connections, he’d stockpile castoff parts from the more desirable models and then graft them onto his rig. It was truly one-of-a-kind. We carpooled to SEMA a few times and I know he enjoyed showing me all the cool little bits he had added to the truck.
I always liked your Gen Fusion/Milans.
My second favorite line, next to the one about Sonia Sotomayor: “a shitty 964 with a tweed interior and a hand grenade engine, sold to wannabes by a wannabe.”