Favourite oddball cars

[xj4x]

For me my entry into this is the Unimog 8x8

http://www.unimogwherehaus.com/travel/iorMANCMP.JPG

to imagine not only being able to go just about anywhere, but take everything with you talk about spare parts room!!

 

[Beej]

This guy is pretty hardcore about his all wheel drive cars: http://www.exvitermini.com/ Interesting stuff.
I wish I had access to his bankroll...

 

[Slip Kid]

DeLorean
RX7
AMC Eagle/Gremlin/Pacer

for reasons already stated

and the Datsun 280Z just because

And I guess I should also restate the Ghia because I almost got one instead of the XJ, except it didn't have heat.

 

[shelbyluvv]

either one of these two do it for me. A garnet 87 Shelby Charger or a 84 Rampage with a Shelby nose.

 

[bjoehandley]

Nice Shelbys, wouldn't mind getting my hands on another H body or a J body coupe someday.

 

[Root Moose]

Couple of odd Sube's that I've owned:


- SVX (as already mentioned).


- XT-6 (really fun car).

Had a Charger 2.2 once upon a time - my first and only Dodge I'll ever own (PWs exempted).

r@m

 

[Matthew Currie]

For me my entry into this is the Unimog 8x8

http://www.unimogwherehaus.com/travel/iorMANCMP.JPG

to imagine not only being able to go just about anywhere, but take everything with you talk about spare parts room!!

Calling a Unimog a car is kind of stretching a point, I think. Even calling it a truck is stretching a point. Forget the spare parts. That one in the picture probably has a spare Unimog in the back.

I'd love one of the small Unimogs, but with PTO's and hydraulics at both ends and a three point hitch, I'd consider it more a tractor than a car.

 

[hackedxj]

I had one of these in 1974

It had a whopping 359cc 2 stroke engine and was right hand drive. Something like 33hp.

A Suzuki Brute, I had one a few years ago just like that one. That thing was a blast, it made a Samuri look huge. It was so small and narrow we ran 4 wheeler trails with it. Just thinking the other day how I wish I had kept it. Some also came with a soft top.

 

[xj4x]

Calling a Unimog a car is kind of stretching a point, I think. Even calling it a truck is stretching a point. Forget the spare parts. That one in the picture probably has a spare Unimog in the back.

I'd love one of the small Unimogs, but with PTO's and hydraulics at both ends and a three point hitch, I'd consider it more a tractor than a car.

never called it a car but hey you can tag it!!

 

[bajacalal]

Just out of curiousity, where did you get that statistic? I wonder for two reasons, one, Mercedes has on display a late 60 something diesel with just over three million original miles on a never rebuilt engine (it seems hard to top something like that), and two, I had one of those volvos, six years old after being completely rebuilt, and I sold it because it was about the most unreliable car I ever owned. Electrical to mechanical, problem after problem. Cool-looking, but totally unreliable. Maybe I had a lemon, or the rebuild was done by a twit...

I think the statistic was already provided. Yeah its for gas powered cars. I'm sure theres some over the road trucks that have a rediculous mileage. You must have had the monday after Christmas car. My dad said they talked to someone at a Volvo dealership who said "basically, they put a engines in these designed only to run water pumps and other stationary equipment at constant speeds." So, if you varied the RPMs alot, they were much less reliable than if you tried to keep it always at the same RPM. So my folks drove it that way and it was pretty reliable. I asked and they said they sold it because it needed stuff like a master cylider and parts were becoming way too hard to find for that car.

Incidentally CASM or anyone else there is one just down the street from me, AND, its for sale. If someone wants one of these volvos let me know I'll talk to the owner.

 

[Root Moose]

A Suzuki Brute, I had one a few years ago just like that one. That thing was a blast, it made a Samuri look huge. It was so small and narrow we ran 4 wheeler trails with it. Just thinking the other day how I wish I had kept it. Some also came with a soft top.

I have 4 LJ-80s (newer Brutes) sitting behind my barn. Belong to a friend of mine - just storing them as he collects/parts/builds with them.

r@m

 

[XJ Dreamin']

Always been kind of fond of the old Cudas...The first model years with the ugly fishbowl back window.
Like this one
My uncle gave me one...complete with bullet holes in the drivers door.
I never had the chance to get it running though and he hauled it off to the junk yard.

DrMoab. We have more in common that I thought. There is a '64 'Cuda with round tail lights somewhere around Huntsville, TX. I spotted it at the FM-247/FM-980 Corner Store about 1 1/2 years ago. Haven't seen it since. I don't know what it is about that goofy rear glass, but that or '65/'66 Charger would just about make my life complete.

I reserve my submission to the list, for now. I'll need to think a bit more on that.

 

[Lawn Cher']

I have 4 LJ-80s (newer Brutes) sitting behind my barn. Belong to a friend of mine - just storing them as he collects/parts/builds with them.

r@m

You are a good friend... I wish I had one like you nearby.

 

[DrMoab]

This is problebly my all time dream vehicle to own...Not exactly a car but...
Dobberton earth orbiter

 

[Darky]

Ya know Casm you just had to start this thread so you could steal most of my choices...

Chevrolet Corvair Monza Turbo

I just plain love he Corvairs. It was such an advanced vehicle for its time and Ralph Nader had to go on his tirade about how they were death traps and get the things killed. I was introduced to them by my grandpa, and I really want to get one and restore it, make it a Pro-Touring rebuild. Dedicate it to him.

Pontiac Fiero

Fieros...Yes! Love them. Everyone else makes fun of them, calls them chick cars and all, but the 87 GT I drove was a quick little car. I will someday buy one of a similar vintage and swap a 3.8L Series II V6 out of a Bonneville SSEi (supercharged with 240hp and 280 lb-fts of torque stock) and rework the suspension and all...

Renault R5 Turbo

I like the modern adaptation of these, the Sport Clio V6. Much as the original its a mid-engined rear-drive hatchback made from a front-engined front drive econo-car.

Toyota 2000GT

Beautiful classic Toyota.



I'll add the Lamborghini Cheetah/LM. Lamborghini wanted to seal a sweet deal with the US gov't for a High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle, ie HMMWV, the vehicle that AM General won and has made into the H1 Hummer. Not exactly what you think of when you think of Lamborghini...

 

[Darky]

also another "oddball" vehicle i really like is the military HMMWV. rivited aluminum-alloy unibody with a small-block v8 desiel! ctis, run-flats, auto, convertable. funny that it only weighs like 5000 -lbs! weighs less than the sucky civilian crap that GM calls "hummer"....:wierd:

The original HMMWV with the 6.2 diesel weighed 5200 lbs. The current base model HMMWV with the 6.5 turbo-diesel weighs 5900 lbs. The 2004 Hummer H1 weighs 6800 lbs. It has everything the HMMWV does plus a full interior, sound-deadening material, and all that extra stuff that buyers of a $100,000 SUV demand. Its of course going to be a bit heavier. I don't know if its still the case but you used to be able to get them as convertibles just like the military version. That full roof could also account for quite a bit of the added weight. The specs were for the base HMMWV (ie no armor, no weapon mounts, no roof or doors) and the 4 door wagon model Hummer.
BTW most people in the service refer to the HMMWV as Hummers. That's where AM General got the name for the civilian model. Then later on GM bought them out, or at least bought the name...

 

[casm]

Ya know Casm you just had to start this thread so you could steal most of my choices...

Heh Actually, you just got your revenge with both the Cheetah and Clio Sport; now I have to find another up-the-sleeve car...

...Which would be either the Kaiser or Frazer (best link I could find was here). Frazer Manhattans are just plain cool: a four-door convertible with a three-section rear window, glass B-pillars, and jet-age interior.

 

[xuv-this]

The original HMMWV with the 6.2 diesel weighed 5200 lbs. The current base model HMMWV with the 6.5 turbo-diesel weighs 5900 lbs. The 2004 Hummer H1 weighs 6800 lbs. It has everything the HMMWV does plus a full interior, sound-deadening material, and all that extra stuff that buyers of a $100,000 SUV demand. Its of course going to be a bit heavier. I don't know if its still the case but you used to be able to get them as convertibles just like the military version. That full roof could also account for quite a bit of the added weight. The specs were for the base HMMWV (ie no armor, no weapon mounts, no roof or doors) and the 4 door wagon model Hummer.
BTW most people in the service refer to the HMMWV as Hummers. That's where AM General got the name for the civilian model. Then later on GM bought them out, or at least bought the name...

i spent 3 years in the army. most of the hmmwv's i've operated, fixed, or "tc'd" were real close to 5000 lbs. they have metal build stickers right on the dash. they have the empty curb weight, max payload weight, etc. stamped right on them. and i've never seen a turbo deisel in one. or a gas motor. i've only heard "nasty girls"(national guard) call them hummers. we always pronounced it as "humvee" oh yeah, and the gm hummer h1's (not amg) are steel bodies, not aluminum. i'm not sure why, but i was told by someone that it had something to do with the dot not liking their aluminum body-? and a lotta people don't know this, but there are 2 different versions of the military chassis/suspension. all the ones with the "up- armor package" from the factory were heavy duty. if you ordered that kit for a light-duty package, it came with upgraded springs. but anyway, long story short, the gm h1 is very different, but military hmmwv's can really go through loose stuff when carrying a payload of 2 or 3 thousand lbs, and they almost never break...

 

[xjfish]

http://www.davc.nl/davc/Chevyvan%2028.JPG[IMG]

I love old Chevy Vans. Cheap, very roomy, V8 power, can pull a boat, curtains...

 

[bjoehandley]

I love old Chevy Vans. Cheap, very roomy, V8 power, can pull a boat, curtains...
[/QUOTE]

Wouldn't mind having a couple of those either, but they all rot out here (Ours has a few gapping rust holes,fried wireing, dieing 350/700R4/12 bolt, and weak springs), but they aren't oddball unless you buy the Window Vans (Sportvan/Beauville), they're almost all cargo or conversion vans here.

Dad played with the Turbo Corvairs back in the 60's, he told me about a Corvair Turbo buggy he helped a friend build, that made about 250hp and could take hard right hand corners at (I think) 90mph! Dad feels that Nader pretty much screwed that little car because his wife couldn't drive and got herself killed in one.