Rentavette

Back in the mid 70s, I owned a couple of Corvair Monzas.

I picked one up for $50; because the dad thought his son had ruined the tranny and it was stuck in neutral.
The kid tried to spin the tires by shifting from reverse to 1st, really quick, and had popped the stick shift out of the cup it sits in.
Towed the car home, put the shifter back in the cup and it was fine.
Had to put new brakes on it; but I drove that car for a few years, with no problems.

They were fun do drive.
 
I used to have to do that in my other cars, but the Jeep has auto-dim on the interior mirror and the outside mirror is high enough where I usually don't get a reflection.

I can always flip down the little lever and it makes the lights appear to be dimmer; but I just move the mirror, as a "fuck you' show. :D
 
Back in the mid 70s, I owned a couple of Corvair Monzas.

I picked one up for $50; because the dad thought his son had ruined the tranny and it was stuck in neutral.
The kid tried to spin the tires by shifting from reverse to 1st, really quick, and had popped the stick shift out of the cup it sits in.
Towed the car home, put the shifter back in the cup and it was fine.
Had to put new brakes on it; but I drove that car for a few years, with no problems.

They were fun do drive.

Lol. I did the same thing with an '86 Vette. Dude put his car up for sale. He took it to the shop and they put the TPS in backward. I knew what it was, I even tried to help him but he ran his mouth about what a good mechanic he was so I payed him his money....opened the hood and reversed the sensor...then drove away flipping him the bird as I left.
 
You guys wanna drive a real car, drive one of these


Picture 004.jpgEng & Int 001.jpg

I drive it often, as weather permits :awesome:
 
Lol. I did the same thing with an '86 Vette. Dude put his car up for sale. He took it to the shop and they put the TPS in backward. I knew what it was, I even tried to help him but he ran his mouth about what a good mechanic he was so I payed him his money....opened the hood and reversed the sensor...then drove away flipping him the bird as I left.

I hope Nadar burns in hell, for being a total asswipe over the Corvair.

What a perfect car for Arizona.
Air cooled and they were really good on gas, for their time.
Plus, they were a blast to drive.

I knew a guy who made a trike and put in a Corvair engine with the turbo.

He could never go into 2nd, in town; because he would be over the speed limit.

He'd run that turbo at night and when he stopped, guys could light cigarettes on it. :D
 
I flew down to South FL to help my Dad open his house up after spending the summer up on Cape Cod. I got in before 10am and his flight wasn't due until 4pm so I had plenty of time to relax and maybe take a drive. I went to the rental area which had about 8 vendors in it, very few people there so I sat down, got my phone out and looked up what kind of deals were available. Budget had a great deal on a Mustang for $125 for the three days through USAA. I haven't driven the new IRS model so I went to that counter.

I was immediately served by a nice gentleman and asked for the car, gave him the time I'd be back. He asked for my license and I gave it to him. He gave me a big smile when my perfect driving record display on his computer screen. "Sir, would you like to upgrade that to a new Corvette?" and he wrote down a price of $99 and gave it to me. I asked him "per day?" and he nodded yes. I shook my head, gave him my credit card and said "I'll just take the Mustang". He took my card and scanned it, revealing my excellent credit rating and he threw his head back. "Sir, I see that you qualify for an excellent discount on the upgrade." He wrote down a figure of $49 and placed it on the counter. "OK," I agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

But what the hell, I haven't driven a new Vette either. In fact, I've never driven an old one lol. I knew I was in for two solid days of repairing stuff around my dad's house with tons of crap in the way and never the right tools available and all that shit. "You deserve it!" the agent said. He seemed to read the look on my face quite well.

The car is stunning from the outside. It is by far the best looking Vette to date and I've read a lot of praise about the new design. I looked the car over carefully and took photos of each defect on the body. There were several. In fact the rear bumper cover was scuffed up pretty good and misaligned. The trunk is huge- I have formerly measured a client's car finding it to be able to manage ten foot lengths of plumbing pipe.

Sitting in the driver's seat reminds me of the old animated TV show of the 70's: Speed Racer. The Mach V had these huge bulbous front fenders. They don't look large from the outside, but in the drivers seat They make Stormy Daniels look line a B-cup. I maneuvered out of the parking space very carefully.

Once on the road the car handles very nicely. There's a lot of road noise, so much so that going the speed limit feels fast to me. Can't see anything on the sides and rear, only what's in front of you. Cornering into an on ramp, throttle response if good enough to be able to "steer with the pedal". The seat and driving position is very comfortable, albeit low, but I think I could drive the car cross county very easily.

I got on I75 and headed south. I set the cruise on the posted limit of 70 and got acquainted with my new friend. Controls are simple. 8-speed automatic. Paddle shifters automatically set it into manual mode, then it goes back to auto after maintaining a steady speed and 0 Gs for a few moments. There is a center electronic display showing digital speed and analog tach. Touch screen display off to the side for radio, nav, etc. A few dial and hard button controls so you don't have to "menu down" to control basic functions like fan speed, temperature, and radio volume. A knob on the console changes to driving mode from sport to touring, track (did not use), eco (nix that) and weather.

A few miles after discovering the "weather" setting the Florida skies opened up and I dutifully slowed down to about 45 and set the correct mode. The car did OK but I would have rather have been in the Jeep set to AWD "snow" mode.

I did my errands in the car. Stopped off at a Dollar store to buy a cheap pair of sunglasses (I left mine in the Jeep, dammit), a liquor store to buy a bottle of Vat 69 and had lunch at Chick-fil-A. There is no mechanical door opener. Instead, you press small button and it unlocks and opens. There is a mechanical lever on the floor in case of electrical malfunction. The dash display shows you a split screen display for parking assist in the front and front tires with guide lines when maneuvering forward. In reverse it shows the rear camera with guide lines that move with the steering wheel.

I picked my Dad up later and he rolled his eyes. Manged to squeeze his elderly frame into it with my help and a scowl. We drove off and soon was approaching the interstate on a two lane on ramp. I got stuck being a slow car but passed it on the curve, again using the throttle for steering. I then blipped the throttle and we were at the posted 70mph limit only about half way up the ramp. "What just happened!" i asked my Dad. "Just a lot of noise" was his response, and I laughed.

The trip to his house was about 45 minutes and getting out of the car was a challenge that required my assistance. We opened up the house, and I got his old Lincoln Town Car started, first turn of the key. I drove it to the car wash and used the booth sprayer and $5 worth of quarters to get off six months of debris. Then I wiped it down and examined it in some detail, getting more filth off the paint. I made a mental list of what I would need: clay bar, leather cleaner, Windex, detail brushes. One of the turn signal bulbs was out so I stopped at OReillys and bought a complete set of exterior bulbs, and a set of wrenches to do the disassembly that I could see in the parking lot.

Got back and my Dad asked, "where to dinner?" and I said "which car to take?". He responded "The Corvette, of course". LOL I know the old dude better than he does himself sometimes.

South Florida as in Miami International or Fort Lauderdale? I am thinking Miami if you got on I75.
 
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Cuz they are cheap, reliable, and don't go fast enough to hurt anyone too badly. :shrug:
I've had mine up to 125 mph. Top end for the NC series is over 130 mph. That's fast enough to get you killed. I have no problem maintaining speeds of 100 mph with mine. I could do better if I was a better driver.

They are inexpensive and reliable but the main reason is that they are rear wheel drive and have an almost perfence F/R weight distribution. I'm constantly showing up guys in muscle cars out in the back roads where I live because I don't have to stomp on my breaks (and scrub of speed) everytime we approach a curve or corner. Most guys out there in muscle cars don't drive very to well. Point being...you don't need 800 HP to go fast.
 
I've had mine up to 125 mph. Top end for the NC series is over 130 mph. That's fast enough to get you killed. I have no problem maintaining speeds of 100 mph with mine. I could do better if I was a better driver.

They are inexpensive and reliable but the main reason is that they are rear wheel drive and have an almost perfence F/R weight distribution. I'm constantly showing up guys in muscle cars out in the back roads where I live because I don't have to stomp on my breaks (and scrub of speed) everytime we approach a curve or corner. Most guys out there in muscle cars don't drive very to well. Point being...you don't need 800 HP to go fast.

Most guys in Supercars don't know how to drive fast. The first time I was training at Watkins Glen I let one pass me 1/2 way through the long straight then nearly ran into him at the 90 degree right turn at the end. Then I had to tailgate him all through the chicanes.
 
I've had relatives there, Ft. Myers and Cape Coral, both mine and my wife's side of the family, for 35 years.

I love the state; lived in Fort Lauderdale for a year and am planning to retire in St. Augustine. I prefer the Atlantic for the scuba diving.
 
I love the state; lived in Fort Lauderdale for a year and am planning to retire in St. Augustine. I prefer the Atlantic for the scuba diving.

Too flat, too hot, landscape too "manufactured", every town looks like every other. The exception to the last two is St. Augustine, the oldest city in America. I'll be retiring in the Blue Ridge well above 4000 feet in elevation. I don't need AC at my house there, cool summers. Fall is amazing, drawing lines of tourists from everywhere. Winters are clean and crisp, average 40" of snow. We ski 4 months of the year. There are 6 to 8 weeks of early spring that suck due to low clouds, fog and cold dampness before the landscape turns green again, and that's when we'll do our travelling.
 
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:laugh:
 
Out of my price range. :D

You might be surprised how little they can cost, depending on what engine/trans/rear end you choose and of course whether or not you're the one building it. I was a little lucky with mine. I bought the kit from a guy I used to work with who'd just been laid off and didn't want to build it anymore and I already had a donor car so I got into mine for a little over $10K, that includes everything, and it took me a little more than a year to put it all together and get it painted. That was a few years ago though. The kit I've got right now cost a little over $20K but that included almost everything, I'm just waiting on the engine, and I'm not fully recovered from the accident yet so I've been dragging my feet a little on it.

If you're not building it yourself than yeah, it can cost a lot more.
 
I hope Nadar burns in hell, for being a total asswipe over the Corvair.

What a perfect car for Arizona.
Air cooled and they were really good on gas, for their time.
Plus, they were a blast to drive.

I knew a guy who made a trike and put in a Corvair engine with the turbo.

He could never go into 2nd, in town; because he would be over the speed limit.

He'd run that turbo at night and when he stopped, guys could light cigarettes on it. :D

My uncle had a Corvair, it was the Monza Coupe, and I got to drive it a few times and I never understood the fuss because the handling seemed fine to me as far as rear engine cars go. If there ever was a car I thought had dodgy handling it was the F-body Mustang, definitely had to careful hitting the gas coming out of a curve or a turn and I thought they were really unstable on wet roads.
 
My uncle had a Corvair, it was the Monza Coupe, and I got to drive it a few times and I never understood the fuss because the handling seemed fine to me as far as rear engine cars go. If there ever was a car I thought had dodgy handling it was the F-body Mustang, definitely had to careful hitting the gas coming out of a curve or a turn and I thought they were really unstable on wet roads.

Wow you thing the Fox body was unstable? That was a great chassis (hated the body look). My '85 TBird was a Fox chassis, a bit longer, and it handled fantastic. It had a quad-shock setup in the rear and would track turns over bumps better than any car I've owned, even IRS cars.
 
Wow you thing the Fox body was unstable? That was a great chassis (hated the body look). My '85 TBird was a Fox chassis, a bit longer, and it handled fantastic. It had a quad-shock setup in the rear and would track turns over bumps better than any car I've owned, even IRS cars.

I liked those T-Birds, good looking car with decent performance and they were comfortable. The F-body Mustang though, every one I ever drove had a squirrely rear end and crosswinds on the freeway seemed to effect them more than other cars.
 
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