Open to all subscribers, focusing on this week's competition results, the ridiculous "lease scheme" on the 911 S/T, two fallen justice-reform leaders, and recent Countach purchases
If I were ever to buy a Countach, it would be to satisfy 12y/o me who had a Countach picture on the bedroom wall. Just like I’d sleep with Britney Spears today because 16-22y/o me would have loved to.
The fact that neither of those things is desirable to do today is irrelevant; like cocaine, nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
These old exotics is one place I might blaspheme and take it away from stock, at least on the engine internals to breathe more horsepower into them or improve the cooling system, etc to improve reliability.
I'm dreaming of an S1 Esprit with a Honda K motor in it. Unfortunately, that's not the sort of phrase that rolls off Bing Crosby's tongue, just like it probably won't ever happen for me in real life, but still.
I know someone who bought FOUR S1s and I don' t think he paid over 15k for any of them. If you ever get serious about this ridiculous idea I'll put you in touch!
This is that guy in the Toledo area, right? It's an idea so insane that I could make it work in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future. I will keep this in mind when I get serious about it!
The one Lamborghini I have driven was a lot of fun, but not my favorite, even in a green Spyder configuration. I would say I was a poseur, but I tolerated the label briefly.
I’ve no idea. I mean you can play that game forever; why buy an Aventador when you could have a Z06 and $300k in cash? I’m guessing that Dougie bought his because of some combination of “quirks and features!” and expected future value. I am poor enough to congratulate myself on living in a house that’s worth ~Countach money, I don’t dream big enough to pick and choose between Lambos.
I'm interested in how MLB is going to react? Bauer seems to be doing okay and making fans in Japan but now that he's shown the receipts and proven that he was set up, will anyone sign him here? Also, she wasn't a gold digger, she was a criminal.
I wouldn't buy a Countach cause it's just too tacky and the driving experience sounds awful. I wouldn't buy a Ferrari because I don't want to be associated with anyone who does. I wouldnt buy a Corvette because I'm a middle age guy and I'd be laughed at by everyone who knows me. I've got lots of reasons for spending or not spending dough.
The key to owning a Corvette is not giving a shit what other people think, just enjoy the driving experience. And don’t hang out with other Corvette owners.
Shortly after I bought it, I took my low-mileage, no options 2008 C6 to a Corvette gathering, or rally if you will, in Telluride. Driving over Red Mountain Pass in the Fall with 50 other Corvettes was a quite a scene, literally stopped traffic in places.
Socializing with the other owners was like being dropped into a Caste society where drivers of the (then) rare C8 were the Brahmins who trailered their 'Vettes to Telluride. Of course, I was treated like an Untouchable forced to actually drive my C6 up from Denver. The only genuine people who I spent more than a minute talking to drove their well-patinaed C2 convertible up from Pueblo. I thought they had the most interesting car there that day. That was the first and likely last association for me with a "Corvette Club". Just got a feeling that a lot of those Brahmins didn't even like cars especially, they seemed to like being a big fish in a small tank.
Yup, clubs can ruin whatever they intend to celebrate.
Love the C6 and would much rather have one than a C8. As a fellow C7 owner once told me, “I’m sure the C8 is a nice car, but it’s just not a Corvette anymore “.
I'll never be able to afford an LC500, but I have seen prices on 90s SC300s and SC400s and those are very reasonable. And still Toyotas with arguably peak Toyota reliability.
Have you considered the SC430? That bathtub convertible from 2002-08?
Like a Japanese SL500; again without the maintenance costs. Hard to find, but inside a nice one is a lovely place to be.
Allegedly the styling team was sent to yacht design school because Lexus wanted some sort of nautical influence on their design language. That would explain the chrome side strakes on the mirror caps -- they were supposed to remind you of the side stays on a main mast.
When I was younger I thought they were rather ugly, almost a little bulbous and geriatric looking. Now I don't think they're so bad (and the interiors are very nice places to sit), but I like the older coupes better for two reasons: I still think they're prettier, and if I were to drive one across the country there's a usable trunk for luggage and souvenirs. I know I could put baggage on the little "seats" behind the driver and passenger, but I'd rather have that stuff hidden.
SC430s have reached the stage of “they look so weird that now they’re cool”. I kind of like them now. There’s actually many nice examples out there because the old people who bought them babied them.
I think they made them until 2011, and the later versions look a little better. Last car sold in the US with an in dash cassette player. Some great color choices, too.
True. But nobody buys it for the weight. I had no idea myself until you posted this and I had to go look it up. Same with horsepower -- and even then the quoted figures from multiple sources never agree. Or 0-60 times. Or skidpad numbers.
But go sit in it and drive it and listen to that exhaust sound and all is forgiven.
C6 Z06 (lowered) or C7 Z06 in black, or pick your meanest color. I, too, am aware of various stigmas as a nearly-middle-aged man, even if a stock C6 with a manual in good shape in dark red or a nice color is a perfectly good car in its own right. The chrome wheels, loud colors, and tacky "mods" are what really sink them. I can really only "practically" afford LT1/LT4 C4s, which means Optispark for me again, but I really like C4s.
Sometimes I like the idea of having a C4 Gran Sport. I like the color scheme and the black rims, but that dark purple color on like a '95 or '96 with a 6-speed would be just as good. I'd take a coupe over a convertible. Corvettes may come with a questionable image but I like them better than Porsches, Ferraris, etc.
I saw a beautiful example of a C4 Gran Sport this summer at a car show. The blue is stunning. The interior was black with the super cool asymmetric-patterned leather seats. Since black wheels continue to be played out, I'd be happy with GS blue and the salad shooter / turbine wheels. Dark purple, too. Coupe with the glass roof, no 'vert, though the convertibles look just fine.
Thank you!! Bookmarked the link. For all my future projects that "just need money" first. This is actually quite attainable since LS-swapping is a lot more and I'd just like to keep the stock setup in there and going. Now I need to go find my '97 Z28 (T56) that I traded in four years ago...
I would do a phenomenal restomod. Why follow the herd?
My latest restomod idea is a ‘67 Eldorado converted to rear wheel drive with a V12 under that long hood. Cadillac explored putting a V12 in the Eldorado, I would actually do it if I had FU money.
Which V12? Wonder if the Falconer V12 would fit... and of course there's already a YT video covering a 1958 Lincoln convertible with a Falconer installed. Never mind.
I think for most this just comes down to if you want a performance car, or do you want to relive your childhood fantasies. There's part of me that wants an E46 M3 or B6 RS4 (or a Phaeton), but I know I'm better off getting a new 5.0 Mustang for the money, even if it's not what I wanted in high school
I still want an 88 Mustang GT convertible. Not because it is a great car or a fast one. I want it because 16 year old me wanted one so badly I could taste it.
I'm pretty convinced you could time the classic car market as being 30 +/- years as your cohort graduated high school. I graduated in '93 and have been musing '93 Mustang GTs, the 93 Prelude, 93 SVX and 93 Corrado.
There is a guy in Atlanta who is always swapping in and out of exotic cars. At the moment, he has several toys, including an Aventador SVJ with a Gintani exhaust. I have never heard a louder street car, and bear in mind that I drive a straight piped GT3…
From what I can tell, he likes to drive around at redline at 1 AM every other day or so.
A good number of the Aventador owners I've met are Asian small business (nail salon, restaurant) owners who are in their fifties. Skimped all their lives, now blindsided by memento mori, splurged on a Lambo to distract themselves.
One of my acquaintances, upon seeing the assemblage, commented, "are Aventadors the easiest supercar to obtain?" YES.
Indeed. I'm not interested in the car choices of someone who can't put pants on before making a video.
Unless it's Sasha Grey.
This is an oddly specific exception.
I appreciate her work.
From what I'm "told" she often starts the video wearing pants.
If I were ever to buy a Countach, it would be to satisfy 12y/o me who had a Countach picture on the bedroom wall. Just like I’d sleep with Britney Spears today because 16-22y/o me would have loved to.
The fact that neither of those things is desirable to do today is irrelevant; like cocaine, nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
These old exotics is one place I might blaspheme and take it away from stock, at least on the engine internals to breathe more horsepower into them or improve the cooling system, etc to improve reliability.
I'm dreaming of an S1 Esprit with a Honda K motor in it. Unfortunately, that's not the sort of phrase that rolls off Bing Crosby's tongue, just like it probably won't ever happen for me in real life, but still.
I know someone who bought FOUR S1s and I don' t think he paid over 15k for any of them. If you ever get serious about this ridiculous idea I'll put you in touch!
This is that guy in the Toledo area, right? It's an idea so insane that I could make it work in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future. I will keep this in mind when I get serious about it!
Yes, the dead mouse eater!
I don't even know what to say to that, other than I guess he needs to get his protein somehow!
Given the choice between an old Countach and a new Aventador and $400k in cash, which would you take?
Take the cash and buy a 911 vs LC
Lamborghinis are for posers and oil sheiks. I am neither. Can I just have the 900k?
The one Lamborghini I have driven was a lot of fun, but not my favorite, even in a green Spyder configuration. I would say I was a poseur, but I tolerated the label briefly.
Don't forget douchebags.
Poseurs covers that
Just bein' thorough...
I’ve no idea. I mean you can play that game forever; why buy an Aventador when you could have a Z06 and $300k in cash? I’m guessing that Dougie bought his because of some combination of “quirks and features!” and expected future value. I am poor enough to congratulate myself on living in a house that’s worth ~Countach money, I don’t dream big enough to pick and choose between Lambos.
"why buy an Aventador when you could have a Z06 and $300k in cash?"
It rhymes with "casual keks".
Sir I’m in Chicago, you can get laid here with a Corvette.
Especially on the south side.
That's the baddest part of town!
Rather than a Corvette, wouldn't you just need $20? I have no idea what "things" cost.
Ask trevor bauer how banging gold diggers went. If you're a reasonably wealthy man in 2023 and still banging floozies', you are asking for trouble.
What if you're broke?
You cannot get blood out of a stone but Child support still lasts 18 years.
I'm interested in how MLB is going to react? Bauer seems to be doing okay and making fans in Japan but now that he's shown the receipts and proven that he was set up, will anyone sign him here? Also, she wasn't a gold digger, she was a criminal.
She was both. He should sue MLB for 100mm dollars.
I wouldn't buy a Countach cause it's just too tacky and the driving experience sounds awful. I wouldn't buy a Ferrari because I don't want to be associated with anyone who does. I wouldnt buy a Corvette because I'm a middle age guy and I'd be laughed at by everyone who knows me. I've got lots of reasons for spending or not spending dough.
The key to owning a Corvette is not giving a shit what other people think, just enjoy the driving experience. And don’t hang out with other Corvette owners.
so it's like owning an air-cooled Porsche...
So it’s like a Harley
thats like any other car with an associated negative stereotype lol
Shortly after I bought it, I took my low-mileage, no options 2008 C6 to a Corvette gathering, or rally if you will, in Telluride. Driving over Red Mountain Pass in the Fall with 50 other Corvettes was a quite a scene, literally stopped traffic in places.
Socializing with the other owners was like being dropped into a Caste society where drivers of the (then) rare C8 were the Brahmins who trailered their 'Vettes to Telluride. Of course, I was treated like an Untouchable forced to actually drive my C6 up from Denver. The only genuine people who I spent more than a minute talking to drove their well-patinaed C2 convertible up from Pueblo. I thought they had the most interesting car there that day. That was the first and likely last association for me with a "Corvette Club". Just got a feeling that a lot of those Brahmins didn't even like cars especially, they seemed to like being a big fish in a small tank.
Yup, clubs can ruin whatever they intend to celebrate.
Love the C6 and would much rather have one than a C8. As a fellow C7 owner once told me, “I’m sure the C8 is a nice car, but it’s just not a Corvette anymore “.
He has a bit of a point. They were FR pushrod V8 cars since '55.
The more I look at the C8, the more I'm convinced the C5 is the high-water mark of Corvette styling.
Same here.
Consider the Lexus LC500; 480+ HP, aluminum and carbon fiber bodywork, interior like a velvet lined jewelry box... with Toyota reliability.
I'll never be able to afford an LC500, but I have seen prices on 90s SC300s and SC400s and those are very reasonable. And still Toyotas with arguably peak Toyota reliability.
Have you considered the SC430? That bathtub convertible from 2002-08?
Like a Japanese SL500; again without the maintenance costs. Hard to find, but inside a nice one is a lovely place to be.
Allegedly the styling team was sent to yacht design school because Lexus wanted some sort of nautical influence on their design language. That would explain the chrome side strakes on the mirror caps -- they were supposed to remind you of the side stays on a main mast.
When I was younger I thought they were rather ugly, almost a little bulbous and geriatric looking. Now I don't think they're so bad (and the interiors are very nice places to sit), but I like the older coupes better for two reasons: I still think they're prettier, and if I were to drive one across the country there's a usable trunk for luggage and souvenirs. I know I could put baggage on the little "seats" behind the driver and passenger, but I'd rather have that stuff hidden.
SC430s have reached the stage of “they look so weird that now they’re cool”. I kind of like them now. There’s actually many nice examples out there because the old people who bought them babied them.
I think they made them until 2011, and the later versions look a little better. Last car sold in the US with an in dash cassette player. Some great color choices, too.
I'd be careful about the maintenance costs. Nothing that old is legit cheap, and those folding hardtops are never cheap to fix when things go wrong.
4340lbs min! Wow
True. But nobody buys it for the weight. I had no idea myself until you posted this and I had to go look it up. Same with horsepower -- and even then the quoted figures from multiple sources never agree. Or 0-60 times. Or skidpad numbers.
But go sit in it and drive it and listen to that exhaust sound and all is forgiven.
C6 Z06 (lowered) or C7 Z06 in black, or pick your meanest color. I, too, am aware of various stigmas as a nearly-middle-aged man, even if a stock C6 with a manual in good shape in dark red or a nice color is a perfectly good car in its own right. The chrome wheels, loud colors, and tacky "mods" are what really sink them. I can really only "practically" afford LT1/LT4 C4s, which means Optispark for me again, but I really like C4s.
Sometimes I like the idea of having a C4 Gran Sport. I like the color scheme and the black rims, but that dark purple color on like a '95 or '96 with a 6-speed would be just as good. I'd take a coupe over a convertible. Corvettes may come with a questionable image but I like them better than Porsches, Ferraris, etc.
yeah that dark purple late C4 is so good. saw one in chicago last year and had to take a picture.
I saw a beautiful example of a C4 Gran Sport this summer at a car show. The blue is stunning. The interior was black with the super cool asymmetric-patterned leather seats. Since black wheels continue to be played out, I'd be happy with GS blue and the salad shooter / turbine wheels. Dark purple, too. Coupe with the glass roof, no 'vert, though the convertibles look just fine.
Black wheels only worked on the GNX. And they had chrome rims.
I find the look of Corvettes to be very dependent on the color. Certain colors just don’t look good.
Is there a solution for the Optispark?
An LS.
More seriously, I bet most of the hardware to convert to EFI is there if you buy a Holley Sniper kit or equivalent.
Yes, the https://www.torqhead.com/index.html
Thanks. I like the Impala SS and it’s whale like proportions. That rental car interior is a tough one to get over, though.
Thank you!! Bookmarked the link. For all my future projects that "just need money" first. This is actually quite attainable since LS-swapping is a lot more and I'd just like to keep the stock setup in there and going. Now I need to go find my '97 Z28 (T56) that I traded in four years ago...
Yes there is a direct swap aftermarket system. You don’t want the headache of doing an aftermarket ECM swap like this other guy is mentioning.
https://www.holley.com/products/ignition/distributors/chevrolet/parts/83811
Take the ca$h and Adventador , sell the Adventador and invest all the combined $ and them go forth with out worry .
-Nate
One of the nice ones or the ugly one Doug has in the wrong colour?
How about an 812 Superfast, an F8 Tributo, and $250K in cash?
How about 100 Miatas and no cash?
I'd suggest 90 Miatas and spend the rest on tires, but you've to the only correct answer to the question.
I'll take an LMP3, a box of spares, and the Breaking Bad meth RV to get to the race.
I’d like a previous generation WRC car. I’d show up at the local autocross and do launch control starts.
https://youtu.be/Ek-SjXLMDU8?si=E3lmS7M9IEPikLtH
How about "I'll take anything of value you want to give me"
I would do a phenomenal restomod. Why follow the herd?
My latest restomod idea is a ‘67 Eldorado converted to rear wheel drive with a V12 under that long hood. Cadillac explored putting a V12 in the Eldorado, I would actually do it if I had FU money.
Why follow the herd?
I suppose I have quotidian goals!
C’mon, don’t be going all commoner on us! We all have our roles to fill :)
Which V12? Wonder if the Falconer V12 would fit... and of course there's already a YT video covering a 1958 Lincoln convertible with a Falconer installed. Never mind.
I would choose the Falconer, gotta keep it American. I think the Falconer would easily fit.
I think for most this just comes down to if you want a performance car, or do you want to relive your childhood fantasies. There's part of me that wants an E46 M3 or B6 RS4 (or a Phaeton), but I know I'm better off getting a new 5.0 Mustang for the money, even if it's not what I wanted in high school
I still want an 88 Mustang GT convertible. Not because it is a great car or a fast one. I want it because 16 year old me wanted one so badly I could taste it.
I'm pretty convinced you could time the classic car market as being 30 +/- years as your cohort graduated high school. I graduated in '93 and have been musing '93 Mustang GTs, the 93 Prelude, 93 SVX and 93 Corrado.
If you want disappointment buy an E30 M3 with its original motor. Oy.
Lancia Delta. Doesn't even have to be an evo.
$400k pays for a lot of sex.
Which is what everyone will assume you're doing if you drive an Aventador, anyway.
Why not buy the very best?
The 70s Norton Girl on the inside cover of any "Cycle" magazine. Yummy!
There is a guy in Atlanta who is always swapping in and out of exotic cars. At the moment, he has several toys, including an Aventador SVJ with a Gintani exhaust. I have never heard a louder street car, and bear in mind that I drive a straight piped GT3…
From what I can tell, he likes to drive around at redline at 1 AM every other day or so.
He is also widely known to avail himself of professional women, including a neighbor of mine; she is famous! https://nypost.com/2021/07/31/how-george-soros-money-manager-was-accused-of-bdsm-assaults/
Heard a clip of that. Utterly bonkers noises that come out of that engine.
But 12k for a few feet of stainless tube? I guess that's the Lambo tax.
It’s worth it based on how it sounds in person. I can hear him from 1.5 miles away (or further).
A full fat Novitec exhaust in inconel for a front engined V12 Ferrari is $35k+
Probably sounds amazing and is built correctly. Does that include headers?
No such thing as "BDSM Assault."
Sexual assault is the whole point of BDSM. You don't get to complain if you walk into it willingly.
It's no different from Smoking But Not Inhaling: Utter bullshit sophistry.
I need to network with her - she has a great client list.
Funnily enough, her daddy is a preacher in a small town in North GA (near my hometown).
Because OF COURSE he is.
Easy: Team Oreca Viper
Ok, but seriously: Lexus LFA
I mean, ok...Aventa--could it be a Diablo SV? I'll park it next to Pantani's Bianchi.
A good number of the Aventador owners I've met are Asian small business (nail salon, restaurant) owners who are in their fifties. Skimped all their lives, now blindsided by memento mori, splurged on a Lambo to distract themselves.
One of my acquaintances, upon seeing the assemblage, commented, "are Aventadors the easiest supercar to obtain?" YES.