[vreihen16]

Our neighbor had an extremely low-mileage Volkswagen Rabbit (Mk1 Golf for those outside the USA) sitting in his driveway. He bought it brand new for his wife, and wound up getting divorced over it because she loathed the thing and refused to drive it! I offered him a few hundred bucks for it, and had to spend my next two college job pay checks buying all of the parts to replace the rusty brakes so that it would even roll.

VW used a Solex 1-barrel carburetor on the thing, which was obviously a leftover from the aircooled Beetle factory when production stopped. The intake was sooooo restricted that it couldn't get out of its own way, and holding highway speed on the slightest incline was not happening even with a tailwind. The only car ever produced that was slower than that thing was the VW diesels of that era, and those were noted for measuring 0-60 MPH test runs using a calendar.

Long story short, I installed a performance exhaust on it. One of the mechanics at our local BMW motorcycle shop drag-raced MOPAR 4-bangers at the time, and Dodge was buying engines from VW at the time because they couldn't make their own. One or two of those parts migrated under the hood of my poor Rabbit, including a 2-barrel Weber downdraft carb from lord knows what and an intake manifold hogged out so thin that you could almost see light through it. When everything was finally un-corked, it was flowing so freely that it would stall if I opened the throttle too fast due to the sudden loss of vacuum to draw in the air/fuel.

Anyway, I drove that car for several years. The unibody ultimately weakened from the fatigue from the engine's power, and I snapped three windshields from being overly aggressive with the throttle in the last year of ownership before I sent it to the scrap yard. Do I wish that I still had it? No, it was past the point of being safe to drive on the road, and needed to be crushed.

Would I buy another one today? Up until a few years ago, the answer would have been *yes* if a solid 1983-84 Mk1 GTI came along. What changed my mind is that a colleague from work sent me a link to one for sale on bring-a-trailer, and seeing the interior pictures made me remember how primitive those early 1980's cars were. It was almost as sparse as my old mid-80's Jeep CJ-7, which is another vehicle of mine that was put out to pasture when it got too rusty to drive safely...and I wouldn't want another one of those, either.

The reason why I like my BMW i3 so much is that it feels like a natural evolution of the Mk1 Golf/Rabbit. Both are light, chuckable in corners, and have skinny tires that make lateral grip challenging for the loose nut behind the wheel. (I have my weekend toy in the race car hauler if I want to go faster.) Being made with carbon fiber and aluminum, I expect the i3 to last for the rest of my lifetime because it can't rust.....

[antgenn]

1978 LADA 21011. Do I miss it? Not at all. I've seen a few of them here in US, looks like some people have a strong nostalgia case. But not me, not. Some are for sale asking up to $12K.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

I still have it, its a 1983 Porsche 944. I got it back in 1999 and its been in storage for probably 10-12 years now. The timing belt snapped, and I have all the parts to fix it but all my other cars keep breaking. You can kinda see it in this photo.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I've always wanted to write in a post "and all my other cars". You get to do it and have a tail dragger in the photo to boot. What are you flying?

[BMW_Bubblehead]

Mine was a 1977 Ford Fiesta. Silver, 4 speed standard transmission, but otherwise gutless on a too small engine. It ran fine, but it had odometer problems, and every time it went to roll over 1000 miles, it would occasionally add another 10,000 miles with it. Soon it was up over 100,000 miles (showing), but only about 40,000 miles actual, and it was getting hard to keep track of the real mileage. But that odometer only showed 5 digits, so it was back to reading only a few thousand miles then.

But it got great mileage and got me back and forth to college, a good 12 hr run, many times.

[M5Rick]

A very old Jag Mk2 3.8 litre manual.

[nyalpine90]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

I still have it, its a 1983 Porsche 944. I got it back in 1999 and its been in storage for probably 10-12 years now. The timing belt snapped, and I have all the parts to fix it but all my other cars keep breaking. You can kinda see it in this photo.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

are those all of your toys??

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

Was Gremlin the one with the commercial - Hey lady, what happened to the rest of your car - or something along those lines?

Yes it was. I tried to find it on YouTube but didn't have much luck. Maybe someone else has more patience than I do for searching out these things.

[Darth One]

I had a '79 Lancer and I agree with the other posters that it felt like a punishment. Still beat public transportation though.

My dad drove a 200sx at the time and I WISHED that I could have his car…

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

I still have it, its a 1983 Porsche 944. I got it back in 1999 and its been in storage for probably 10-12 years now. The timing belt snapped, and I have all the parts to fix it but all my other cars keep breaking. You can kinda see it in this photo.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And that's a Cessna 120? 140?

[F30lolz]

Received December 1996 and had it until October 2012. 1987 528eA, light mods:

e38 basketweaves
Bavauto springs
Bilstein sport shocks
535is front spoiler
535is front sport seats
e30 325is ECU
Rust

[oVeRdOsE.]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

Aside from the wheels, this looks a lot like mine, I cleared it all the way around too. Much nicer look, especially in the rear.

You put a Y pipe on it too?

I really did like the car as I said - the B&M short shifter was excellent. I initially had trouble with the ignition coils, but once I got everything replaced, it was a solid car. I bought it with something like 80K on it and drove it till 220K km or more and then traded it in for $500 to the BMW dealer just so I didn't have to deal with any paperwork or tire kickers.

yes Y-pipe and a full 2.5'' line with a G35 double exhaust muffler. Only the header were stock. 201whp on the dyno. Back in the days those were solids numbers.

has a ebay short shifter, great upgrade, back in the day ebay or expensive stuff has the same goal.

iirc I put 3xxk km on oem coils


bigger diameter, better flow path and no pre-cat. But I put a brand new uber expensive highfow post cat, because environment.

Flows are fighting each other, no wonder why it was a 30bhp upgrade

[3.0L]

Now that I think about it, my first car was a coaster with soap box derby wheels and a 3/4 HP Briggs & Stratton engine. Dad acquired the used engine and helped me convert the coaster. He made sketches and I did the work. Also, I had to pay for the centrifugal clutch.

I was in 6th grade.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by F30lolz

Received December 1996 and had it until October 2012. 1987 528eA, light mods:

e38 basketweaves
Bavauto springs
Bilstein sport shocks
535is front spoiler
535is front sport seats
e30 325is ECU
Rust

My first BMW was an '88 528e in Bronzit with 5-speed manual. I got hooked on BMWs when my brother got a 2002 back in the early '70s. It took me that long to get my ducks in a row (house, kids, money in bank, decent job) to afford to go get one. I love love loved that car. I had it from '88 until '97 when I sold it to my son. He drove it for 10 years. Regular maintenance and wear parts and one water pump. That's it. Great car. Fond memories.

[Dino GT]

Not my first but my second, 1981 Z28 back in the 80`s, I wish I still had it 😪. 1st picture is my twin brother and 2nd picture is me with a typical 1980's perm
And my 1st motorcycle that me and my twin brother build from scratch back in 1980 at 14 years old. We had no internet back then, so everything was ordered from a catalogue, overhauled the motor with a bigger block, piston and carburetor, custom rear swing arm fork, etc. For some reason we couldn't find a blue seat, so we had to get a red one.

[3.0L]

Thinking back still again, my first car was a quarter midget racer. I didn't own it, but a local rancher asked me to drive the car for him while I was in 5th and 6th grade. He solicited a new driver every 2 years at our local grade school when the current driver timed out (aged) out of the quarter midget age regulations. I really had fun driving that little car on regulation dirt tracks. I even won my first race after doing the required rookie heat races where passing wasn't allowed.

[MPOWER5266]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

I've always wanted to write in a post "and all my other cars". You get to do it and have a tail dragger in the photo to boot. What are you flying?

Originally Posted by nyalpine90

are those all of your toys??

Originally Posted by 3.0L

And that's a Cessna 120? 140?

The M2 is my buddy's car, he was parking it in the hanger while his house was under construction. The Cessna 170 is my dads.