You guys! The topic was
best car built on Planet Earth. We seem to be digressing! We're now talking about cars that were the
fastest, or cars that had a rarity value. We've even got a GT40 in here! I don't recall if anyone mentioned it, but the GT40 was so named because the roof line was 40 inches above the ground on which it stood.
But for
best car, I think we should still be thinking about the cars that brought motoring to ordinary people. In America it was the Model T Ford (Tin Lizzy?) and in much of Europe it was the Beet1e. In Spain, it was the Seat 133 of the 1960s! I hired one of those once
The Beet1e was popular in Africa because it would run on low grade fuel, and was easy to maintain.
But hey! it's OK. I've enjoyed seeing all these cars again. Would you believe it - this Limey owned two Chevy Camaros - a 1977 Type LT, and a 1980 Berlinetta. What I noticed right away was that the performance of American cars is very mild for the engine size. That Type LT (and the Berlinetta) had a 5.0 litre (305 cu. inch) engine, but my Ford Cortina 2000E (2 litre) could have seen both of those off. Sad to say, many American cars of c1980 were
crap. America was caught out by the fuel crisis, and the influx of Japanese imports like the Mazda 626 that everyone wanted. No-one wanted the gas guzzlers any more. By the way, the Mazda 626 was one of the most popular and best cars in the world - 22 years in production so far...
Anyway, America was turning out little sawn off Cadillacs. The Buick 230 cu inch engine was a joke. It was a 6 cylinder unit which had been converted from a 8 cylinder unit, and the crankshaft and camshaft had been crudely adapted for 6 cylinder use. As you all know, in a four stroke engine, each cylinder fires once per two revolutions of the engine. In a 6 cylinder engine, there should be a firing stroke initiated every 120°. But oh! Such was the adaptation of this engine that there was a firing stroke every 90° then 150° alternately! Needless to say, customers complained of
uneven running. Big f*cking surprise
That was 1980, and I was living/working in the Chicago area. I wished I'd done as a friend did, and bought the Mazda 626. Oh yes, I think Toyota Corolla belongs on that top ten list somewhere for quality and reliability, and I seem to remember that multivalve (or multiport) engines were a Japanese creation originally. I've owned four Toyotas (last one was a Supra 3.0i turbo) and they were all excellent.
But OK, the Americans have made some quite nice cars. I took a photo of this one in New York City a few years ago. It's a Buick Le Sabre - year unknown. I'll post the rear view in the next post.
