By Mike Musto

RideLust.com

If you were into cars in the 1980′s, you’ll remember that times were tough. Performance numbers were in the toilet, as were most of the cars themselves. I was in high school out on Long Island’s north shore and back then and I remember my high school parking lot very clearly. IROC Camaros, beater Trans Am’s, Datsun 210s and old Mustangs filled the lot. As high school kids we took anything we could get our hands on and simply ran with it. Hell, I remember my first car: it was a 1981 Mercury Capri that my Aunt gave me. It was blue, rusty and had 4 different tires on it, but it ran and back then that was all that mattered.

The 1980′s were filled with a fair number of automotive atrocities, but if you looked hard enough there actually were some bright spots. Jump over to Ridelust.com for 10 rays of sunshine that helped shed some light on an otherwise miserable automotive decade.

How about you? Got any faves from this stinker of a decade?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’ve always had this silly crush on Dodge Omnis and I’m also totally into EVs, so imagine the love when I ran over to ogle this Omni that I spotted in a Safeway parking lot, only to find that it was a fully electric vehicle. Luckily the owner Bruce and his little daughter Rachel were just finishing up their grocery shopping and offered to drive me around the block. How cool to ride in a vintage EV! Just like in the movies, it runs completely silent except for a bit of tire noise and a futuristic-sounding whirrrr of the traction motor. Being one of the typical 80s EVs, the Omni is packed with several pallets of lead-acid batteries (adding 1000 lbs to the car’s weight, Bruce said–hope it’s running some bigger brakes). It was converted to electric when new by JMJ Electric Corporation–one of the many conversion companies that churned out plug-in electrics in the wake of the last oil crisis (check out my previous blogs on Jet’s Escort and Omni conversions, the ‘Lectric Leopard, and Solargen’s AMCs). Bruce’s Omni is mint, and in the two years he’s owned it, he said it’s never required more than the expected wear-and-tear maintenance–and of course, he hasn’t paid for a drop of gas. Go below the jump for a peek under the hood.

Continue reading "Vintage EV Watch: JMJ Dodge Omni!" »

Hey, not everyone can be a winner. But there are a ton of awesome and hilarious rides in the Amoco Ultimate contest, so we decided to highlight some of our favorites. Like entry # 937, a late 80s Cougar:

My first car. It had a plexiglass driver window, no radio, no a/c, no ignition switch, and some kind of parasitic drain on the battery. I needed 3 keys to start it, a battery cut off key, a replacement ignition key to turn on the fuel pump and other accessories, and a starter switch in the center console. I only used the best products in the car though to keep it running right and that did include using Amoco gas for every fuel up. 

There are still more chances to win, so if you haven’t already thrown your hat into the ring, make sure to enter the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest!

I have a sickness, and the doctors don’t know what to call it: it causes me to buy excessive numbers of junk cars and do stupid things to go get them. What’s the farthest you’ve gone to pick up a car you’ve never driven? Well, this was my ordeal: last Friday I got on a train here in Havre, Montana, and rode it 26 hours to Seattle via Portland. Jen picked me up at the station and we drove in her ’81 Eagle up to Mount Vernon where I took delivery of the car that’d brought me out here: a junk 1982 Mercury Capri with a 302, a four-speed, and a totally clapped interior. After a few minutes of the usual formalities, I made off with my "new" car, leaving plenty of braking distance as per the seller’s warnings, then stopping at the first gas station where we bled the alarmingly spongy brakes. By this time, all the mouse crap encrusting the engine had heated up to operating temperature and the smell was powerful, but the oil leaking onto the exhaust was a little more worrisome. We picked up a horrifically-overpriced fire extinguisher at the next gas station, and managed to limp the Capri the 60-odd miles back to Seattle without incident, though the wheel bearings were howling and the headlights were randomly flashing on and off due to a bad switch. Continued…

On Monday, Jen and I got the head pulled off her 1984 Escort diesel and took it down to the head shop to have the springs swapped over and the valve lash set. Then while Jen was swapping the remaining parts from the old head to the new one on her kitchen counter, I went to go pick up some parts for my 1988 Merkur project from some great folks from the MekurSport site. They sent me away with a new grille, bumper support, bumper cover, headlights, fog lights, turn signal, and driveshaft.  Somehow I fit all of that stuff in the back of the Capri and I also installed the new headlight switch while I was there.

I took off from there and headed back to give Jen a hand installing the new head on her diesel. We wrapped that up at about 5am, with the head torqued down and both timing belts synched up—we’d ended up having to lift the motor halfway out to remove the crank pulley. Next day, I took off from Seattle for Montana in the Capri, which started running real hot after only about 45 minutes on the road. I pulled off the road and let it cool down three times before finally deciding it needed a radiator, and ended up swapping in a new one in the AutoZone parking lot in a little down called Quincy. It wasn’t until I started getting into the chilly mountain passes that I realized the heater core was also plugged, and I had to bundle up in most of the clothing I’d brought to continue. Still and all, I rolled into Havre on Wednesday morning just in time for my 8:00 class. My all-80′s vacation had been a great time, but I don’t think I’m going to be buying any more junker cars for awhile, at least not those that have to be driven 800 miles back home.

Check out these super-cool 80′s stockers. Bobby Allison’s 1988 Buick and Bill Elliott’s 1985 T-Bird, both previous Daytona 500 winners, were on display as part of the event’s 50th anniversary festivities. "Stock" cars back then looked a lot more like cars driven on the street, especially with those factory-fresh grilles. This tough late-70′s Monte Carlo was another of the vintage NACAR rides scattered throughout the grounds—and back in the day it was apparently totally fine to claim Jesus as one of your sponsors!

Before I tell you what Nicholas is about to race against, let me tell you what he’s bringing to the party: he owns a 1989 Dodge Caravan Turbo with a few goodies up its sleeve. A short list includes: a rebuilt Garrett T3 turbo converted to TII specs, a T2 intercooler with piping, an Eagle Talon blow off valve, and an oversized tranny cooler from a Ram Van. All this is in the process of being installed as Nicholas prepares to race his friend Andrew and his Trans Am at the drag strip this July. If you take out your magnifying glass and read their signed race agreement, you’ll see that there’s 200 bucks on the line. There are not yet any specs on the Trans Am, but my best guess is that hes got an ’87 GTA with a 350 TPI. Personally, I think Nick can take him. Just check out this video of another turbo Caravan going up against a Camaro. Place your bets now: who do you think is gonna win this summer?

The welcoming of a new car into one’s life tends to be a pretty awesome and special event, so I was extremely stoked this weekend to help my friend Neil become CarDomain’s newest AMC Eagle owner! Yesterday we drove down to McChord AFB to check out this super-tough ’81 Eagle Sport wagon. It had the incurably leaking AMC plastic valve cover, the wiring was on the fritz, the differential was howling from a lack of gear oil, and an ominous billow of white steam from tailpipe suggested a blown head gasket. The front rotors were grooved, one of the rear brakes was dragging like crazy, and at least one of the wheel bearings was garbage. Nonetheless, Neil put down his cash and bought the car on the spot. Even I, who drove my own Eagle home from Pennsylvania out of a field the day I bought it, thought he was crazy for wanting to limp this car home (4 hours away). But the voyage back was unexpectedly tranquil, except when I had to frantically high-beam him to the shoulder when that draggy rear brake started trying to catch fire at 55 mph. Yep, this car is clearly another rescue project, but I get the feeling that Neil’s up to the task, and that this hard-miles Eagle is finally going to get a chance to be treated right. See more views of the Eagle on Neil’s new ride page!

And what about you? What did you do this weekend?

The Checker has always been one of my favorite workhorses, and here’s one you can run all year long without breaking the bank. Propane power is already extensively used in fleet vehicles in Canada and elsewhere—there’s been interest in this propane-fueled Checker from as far away as Germany—but it hasn’t caught on as well in the US, though propane-conversion services are plentiful. Propane, a byproduct of fuel refining, is cheaper per gallon than gas and produces fewer emissions; and you fill up your tanks at the local hardware or farm store instead of at the pump. Some nice solid brush-guards front and rear might help prevent a fireball in the event of a collision, though I’m sure any propane devotee would tell me that such fears are unfounded. Check it out on eBay!

The CRX was introduced in the US in 1984, and its cutting edge looks and sporty engine made it an instant hit. Those concerned with gas mileage also appreciated the fact that the entry level version could achieve over 50mpg! We saw two generations of CRX in the ’80s: the first gen ran from 1984 to 1987 and the second gen from 1988 to 1991. Both generations have a following with tuners and autocross enthusiasts. I owned a second generation CRX Si and consider it to be one of the best cars I’ve ever owned.

First gen CRXs were offered in either a base trim with a 1.3L motor kicking out a whopping 58hp, or the Si model with a 1.5L motor producing 92hp. The car wasn’t terribly fast, but it was hoot to drive. CarDomain member Goran_crx has a pretty clean 87 ‘Rex ready for the track. wolfcrx built a show-stopping first gen with custom wheels, carbon fiber hood, body kit, and an impressive custom interior and sound system. But 87crxmugen blew me away with his extremely rare Mugen wide body kit, custom intake, and Mugen header.

Second gen CRX’s received a slight cosmetic upgrade both inside and out, but the biggest upgrade was the Si’s new 1.6L motor pushing 108hp. This is by far the most popular body style for the CRX, with a plethora of performance and cosmetic upgrades available for customization and racing applications. T66crx has a pretty sick turbo setup pushing out 506hp on a custom turbo system! Bigmike60 built a clean CRX with a Mugen style body kit, projector headlamps, and interior. But nothing can top the mad fabrication skills by 88rexlover on his topless CRX Si!

This fantastically innovative car was designed and built by John DeLorean, the same entrepreneur who once helped invent the factory muscle car by dropping a 389 V8 into Pontiac’s lithe Tempest body. Though short-lived, the DeLorean automobile is legendary, and not just because of Back To The Future—the uniqueness of the car’s design deserves a good chunk of the credit as well. With its unpainted stainless steel exterior and reinforced fiberglass underbody, the DeLorean was strong and imprevious to rust; its 2.8L Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 put out a decent 130 horses; and its gull-wing doors, pivoting on aerospace-grade steel torsion bars, needed only 11" of clearance to open. Though demise of the company is sometimes mistakenly attributed to the cars, the DeLorean had few problems with either build quality or popularity. Many more would have been built were it not for drug-trafficking charges against John DeLorean, who was later acquitted, but too late to save his company. Nonetheless, a relatively large number of ’81, ’82, and ’83 DeLoreans survive on CarDomain. Sean’s epic tribute to his DeLorean covers 20 pages, and upgrades to his ride include a flux capacitor. Dale has not one but two DeLoreans in his garage, including one with an aftermarket turbo kit installed by the first owner. Jeff’s done some mad detailing on his DeLorean, powdercoating many engine and suspension parts; and Greg’s done a fantastic job of updating his DeLorean with modern electronics. Jeremy’s page has a lot of cool pics of DeLoreans at meets, including the mighty D-Rex, a time machine and a rare painted DeLorean.