Fun, cheap cars - ideas?

Thunderbird Super Coupes are pretty cool sleepers. The younger crowd would have no idea what it was either, haha!

My fun car for the last 12 years has been a '94 Mustang... 5.0, 5 speed, 220K miles. Not too quick, but still loads of fun, and has been extremely reliable.
 
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Older cars trip my trigger a lot more than any of the newer ones. In the next couple of years I hope to purchase either a 73-77.5 Ford F-250 4x4 or a 1973 super beetle. Learned to drive a stick shift in a 73 super beetle and liked driving the 72 my dad had for a while. Probably end up with the Ford if I can find one when money is right.
 
Older cars trip my trigger a lot more than any of the newer ones. In the next couple of years I hope to purchase either a 73-77.5 Ford F-250 4x4 or a 1973 super beetle. Learned to drive a stick shift in a 73 super beetle and liked driving the 72 my dad had for a while. Probably end up with the Ford if I can find one when money is right.

Man i saw a 60's- 70's model bug at a Mooresville used car lot a few weeks ago. It was light yellow with white doors, fender skirts and a vintage luggage rack. If the inside looked half as good as the outside it was a beautiful piece of history. The price on the windshield was a little high at 7800 if anything less than perfect.
 
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Look into a New Edge mustang. Can be bought for under 10K easily, V8 power, rear drive, manual trans, tons of aftermarket for them too.
 
My definition of a fun car under 10 grand would be that 97 jeep that's for sale in the classifieds.
 


Yeah, you bring the weight of the final car to around 1500lbs, so even with a bone stock miata engine you're only pushing about 6lbs per HP. Add turbo or a V8 swap? Shew-buddy...

Page ONE of the build manual:

Disclaimers
Please don't skim over this section.
Let’s face it, the end goal of this project is to turn a reasonable, perfectly innocent Miata into something that might be slightly safer than a motorcycle. To take on a project like this, you need to be a certain kind of crazy. We at Exomotive live for this sort of crazy, but there’s no reason to take unnecessary risks in any step of the process.

Let’s get this out of the way right now: if you’re adding forced induction or a V8 swap into the mix, get some driver training. Seriously, we’re past the marketing speech here: a turbo and/or V8 Exocet is seriously, terrifyingly fast. It is faster than most road course racecars. It is faster than your friend’s buddy’s neighbor’s back-halved 600hp Camaro. With just an FMII bolt-on turbo kit and no internal mods, our own XP-3 has the same power-to-weight as a Ferrari Enzo and most liter-bikes. To put that in perspective, that’s like driving a new Mustang GT with 800 hp. 1500lbs is crazy-light, and a little power goes a long way. The Exocet is inherently very easy to drive, but the power-to-weight levels of even a turbocharged 1.8 makes driving one of these things a special experience. Some of you are planning 500+hp LSx builds. Please be careful, and understand what you’re getting into.
 
Why, what did they change?

'99 and '00 had some issues with the spark plug's treads being too short. '01 should have fixed that, as well as the prone to failure coolant crossover in the intake manifold. Also, some cosmetic changes like smoked headlights, different hood scoop, spoiler, and wheels were available. There was also a small compression ratio bump somewhere in there, I think it was '01, but could be mistaken.

If you are interested in Mustangs, '01-'03 GT's are definitely good ones. If I were looking for another Mustang, a '98 Cobra or an '01 Bullitt GT would be on my short list. That's just me though.
 
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'99 and '00 had some issues with the spark plug's treads being too short. '01 should have fixed that, as well as the prone to failure coolant crossover in the intake manifold. Also, some cosmetic changes like smoked headlights, different hood scoop, spoiler, and wheels were available. There was also a small compression ratio bump somewhere in there, I think it was '01, but could be mistaken.

If you are interested in Mustangs, '01-'03 GT's are definitely good ones. If I were looking for another Mustang, a '98 Cobra or an '01 Bullitt GT would be on my short list. That's just me though.
I'm not a huge Mustang fan, but boy do those old 4.6s make nice noises.
 
Mustang Fox body GT or 4th Gen (SN95) GT
 
Seals were dried out.

Great motors. Great design.
They need to be driven..when they sit the sills dry out.

the downside is not reliability. The downside is finding a mechanic that knows the platform but the main killer is the cost of the seals for a rebuild if one has been sitting..Costly.

But a fist gen without the Wankel is going to be a turd for driving. Fun on the dragstrip but goodbye handling...which is what makes that car what it is.




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How much experience do you have with FD?
 
Honda Prelude but getting hard to find not ragged out. I had one for awhile. Shoulda kept it.
 
Since you were looking at a BMW wagon before, sticking with the wagon theme, a WRX wagon (lot of miles though; may not be an issue if not intended as a daily driver):
https://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/cto/6748719207.html
I actually called about one last night, inquiring. But it was an auto...

This has a lot of miles and doesnt look in great condition really.
But I wouldnt mind having one
But that aint worth 5k to me

Thanks for looking out dude, really awesome of you!
 
I actually called about one last night, inquiring. But it was an auto...
Not according to the ad, or the pics.

00F0F_f9CR9FCxqrk_1200x900.jpg
 
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Thunderbird Super Coupes are pretty cool sleepers.
Had one and it was awesome, but not as cool as the one I stuck a supercharged 351 down in, it was tan on tan. Straight up grandma car, and it pissed off all of the camaro and mustang boys. We locked the rear end and preloaded the shocks, it would shit and get.
 
anyone ever mess with IS300 before?
RWD
Some came with a 5-speed
Same engine as the 4th gen supra, 2JZ, but no turbos.

Older, early 00s, so they are quite cheap to get these days
 
Keep this in mind...Carroll Shelby quote...Nothing is more fun than driving a Slow care fast! [Miata?]
dude, I know I know...they have TONS of potential, but space is still important to me.
Maybe I need to see one again in person (like, open up the trunk etc), cause the 2nd gen, without the pop up lights, look good and are still cheap.
 
Also, going back to last night's post - the IS300 is not a 'fast' car by any means, with 217 hp stock (not at wheel lol)
BUT, its a solid engine that with a few bolt on pieces can hit 200whp easily, and then, of course, turbo options are out there since it's got a turbo variant of the engine from the factory.
 
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