Fast and forgotten

[Timewaster]

Nothing like as quick as some of the others mentioned here but I've just been reminded by the ebay tat thread. Charade Gtti, a mate had one at college nineteen years ago anf fuck did that feel fast..

I really really wanted one of those.

Thought I'd got one once, saw it parked at the side of the road with a for sale sign.

 

Knocked the door, the guy gave me the tour, it was a bit rough but still not so bad.

 

Then I opened the boot, lifted the carpet and got a good view of the road, rear tyres and the rear shocks which appeared to be floating in mid air.

 

Bugger.

 

I can pigeon poo an MOT patch if I have to, but this would require a proper weldathon.

 

Anyway, Carltons...

 

The owner of the Vauxhall dealer I worked at briefly (1990 I think) had a Senator and his son had a Carlton GSI which he drove like he stole.

 

One night, an RS Turbo crashed into the forecourt taking out several cars for sale and coming to rest on the petrol pumps.

 

The owners son was called by the cops, he lived about 15 miles away and arrived on the scene pretty much sideways in about 8 minutes!

 

The cops apparently told him "in the circumstances we will overlook that, but if we ever see you again......"

[Scruffy Bodger]

We had a turbo one of these when I was in my teens. Very advanced for those days, auto 4x4 mode if it sensed wheel spin, self levelling suspension that could be raised at the flick of a switch and dropped down again automatically if you got to 50mph and the hill start function was brilliant. Much fun at 60mph sideways across a field 

 

 

I doubt there's a single one left in the country now as they liked to rot more than a Ford sadly. It was a surprisingly rapid estate for its time.

[Springer]

We had a turbo one of these when I was in my teens. Very advanced for those days, auto 4x4 mode if it sensed wheel spin, self levelling suspension that could be raised at the flick of a switch and dropped down again automatically if you got to 50mph and the hill start function was brilliant. Much fun at 60mph sideways across a field 

 

 

I doubt there's a single one left in the country now as they liked to rot more than a Ford sadly. It was a surprisingly rapid estate for its time.

Had one in metallic red back in '94. It was a hoot to drive and very, very capable on snowy roads. iirc it was on a d plate and cost me 450 quid. Did the hot hatches too. RS Turbo brand new. 205 gti in both 1.6 and 1.9 flavour. AX Gti and Charade Turbo which shat it's head gasket.  God how I miss those days.

[Amishtat]

Essex Police hung on to their Senators as long as they could, even after the Omega came out. Just more suitable apparently.

[somewhatfoolish]

Morris Ital can outrun Mercedes Benz.

You've seen that ad too? Slow car out-accelerates car that measures its 0-60 time with a calendar.

[davocano]

Rapid estates are for winners.

 

[davocano]

Are these forgotten? If you've forgotten about them, then I suppose they are.

 

[Bren]

 

Earlier models had 177 hp. Widebodied models only 153 hp.

 

But a handsome beast nonetheless.

[Liggle]

Nothing I've owned (car wise) since has felt as fast or been as much fun, circa 250bhp was an awful lot 25 odd years ago.

 

It would do 157mph on the limiter which I did regularly pretty much anywhere I could, I wouldn't dare these days.

Love it, driven a fair few S13's but never dared own one 

[Bradders59]

I had a 24v Senator and it will always be one of my favourite cars no matter what else I own in future. Some cars you just fall in love with for whatever reason, and I fell in love with the Senator as soon as I drove it.

Im also becoming very fond of my current 3.2 Omega and keep making excuses to keep it a while longer.

[Steve79]

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Rover 620ti is a good shout, in fact if we go down that route the MG ZS V6 was quite well regarded in its day, yet not really mentioned in the same breath as it's rivals of the day.....I guess it's not 90s though!

 

 

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[Bren]

I had a 24v Senator and it will always be one of my favourite cars no matter what else I own in future. Some cars you just fall in love with for whatever reason, and I fell in love with the Senator as soon as I drove it.

Im also becoming very fond of my current 3.2 Omega and keep making excuses to keep it a while longer.

I had a 2.5 - it was a good cruiser but nothing more.

 

In fact it would'nt have pulled your foreskin back.

[warren t claim]

 

Renner 25 V6 Turbo.

[Bianconeri]

Perhaps not in the same league as some mentioned here but I had a (company) Mondeo V6 rom 1998-2000 and it was pretty brisk*. At the end of 1999 I had to sort out a mess in a project in the Midlands and circumstances meant I didn't want nights away so I was doing 300+ miles a day. Apart from filling it up every day (which made the owner of the local Esso station happy) and needing services every month (which confused our fleet department a lot) all I can remember is just how fuss free the whole thing was.

[warren t claim]

Perhaps not in the same league as some mentioned here but I had a (company) Mondeo V6 rom 1998-2000 and it was pretty brisk*. At the end of 1999 I had to sort out a mess in a project in the Midlands and circumstances meant I didn't want nights away so I was doing 300+ miles a day. Apart from filling it up every day (which made the owner of the local Esso station happy) and needing services every month (which confused our fleet department a lot) all I can remember is just how fuss free the whole thing was.

 

Even as a Ford man I'm happy to admit that the V6 Cavalier felt a hell of a lot quicker than the equivalent Mondeo. On the subject of Cavs, does anyone else remember the Cavalier 2.0 Turbo?

[adw1977]

On the subject of Cavs, does anyone else remember the Cavalier 2.0 Turbo?

Yes, 0-60 in 6.4 seconds - quite a bit faster than the V6.

[chaseracer]

Is that a Tagora turning right at 9:35?

 

Possibly.

 

But the Montego's trying to do it whenever the loud pedal is prodded...

 

[fordperv]

A few that spring to my mind are

 

 

Fiat Tipo sedicivalvole

 

Citroen ZX 16V

 

Reanult 19 16v chamade

 

 

Renault 21 turbo

[They_all_do_that_sir]

A few that spring to my mind are

 

 

Fiat Tipo sedicivalvole

Red-Fiat-Tipo-2.0-16v.jpg

 

Citroen ZX 16V

IMG_5142.jpg

 

Reanult 19 16v chamade

 

2065051.jpg

 

Renault 21 turborenault_21_turbo_1_000000000d090910.jpg

Oooo good shout on the renner 19, always fancied a 16valve

 

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[Steve79]

Rover 420 Turbo

[Steve79]

Fiat Croma Turbo i.e

[GeordieInExile]

Try a series three Thema turbo (same platform) the one I had was putting out around 220hp.

2l 16v turbo, same engine as the Integrale, they sound awesome, might torque steer a little.

I currently drive a 9-5 Aero, so torque steer clearly isn't a problem to me...

[Junkman]

One of the three cars ever I bought new.

I ordered it when it was announced in 1988 as a 1989 model, but it was delayed until 1990.

I made it conditional that I am the first one outside Trumpreich who gets one.

I told them if Malburg gets one before me, the deal is off.

I got it. I got the first one ever sold off American soil.

 

Enter the 1990 Corvette, RPO ZR-1, "King of the Hill".

 

 

 

It had a unique body style. The rear was widened five inches and the taillights were consequently not round, compared with lesser models.

It had bespoke Goodyear Gatorbacks in ZR speed rating with pressure monitoring. Only the Enterprise had such a thing up until then.

It also had the Lotus developed LT5 small block with four valves per cylinder. The engine was built by GM's Mercury Marine division, which ironically is located farthest from any navigable water imaginable, Stillwater, Oklahoma, of all places rotten. Septics, you know.

That engine was mated to a six speed - a mindboggling figure back then - ZF gearbox.

It had Bosch ABS if you care about such stuff and all kinds of unheard of until then gadgets, like Active Ride Control, mouse cinema, and all kinds of lightweight composite stuff. But I will never, even suffering from dementia like I do, forget the first page of the owner's manual:

 

Everyone is talking about 16 valve technology.

We are proud to announce that Chevrolet has delivered cars with 16 valve engines since 1955.

We are even more proud to announce that for a little extra money, we are now able to deliver 16 more.

 

What they called 'a little extra money' in fact DOUBLED the price of a regular Corvette.

.

But enough of this petty cash nonsense. When it landed at my yard in Neu Isenburg, I knew one thing for sure. King Kong had arrived.

 

There was me on the Autobahn to Darmstadt. Yes, the very one on which Bernd Rosemeyer lost his life on that fateful 28th of January 1938.

I was cruising along quite nicely at a leisurely 130 OMGMPH, as you would on a sunny day.

Up comes this hammer shark spoilered Porsche in my rear view mirror, flashing its main beams.

I nailed the loud pedal just to see what would happen and low and behold, the hapless Stuttgart ware fell back not to be seen again until I arrived at Hockenheim. Because Malburg was there that day.

 

Wonderful.

[xkjagnz]

They did a Fiat Croma with a 155bhp 2.0 turbo engine. I would love to try one alongside a 9000.

But the Aero (although heavier (but better built)) had 225 hp

[Shep Shepherd]

Volvo 740/940 Turbo.

[Ghosty]

Rovers and Hondas from the early '90s with the D16A7 or D16A9.

Non-VTEC 1.6 twincam good for 130bhp standard, in very light, good handling cars (especially the Civic).

Available in GTi spec R8s, and Civics and Concertos in 1.6i-16 spec.

The Concerto is the dark horse of the range as it's the leather seated, air conditioned fully specced model - more spec than a fully sorted R8, but being a Honda, probably with stiffer suspension!

[Ghosty]

Rover 420 Turbos were undercover police cars for GMP when they were new.

 

I can sort of imagine a '90s Gene Hunt driving one.

[andy18s]

Carlton GSI was indeed a weapon.

 

Beat the Granada to market by several years and one of arguably only a handful of "cool" Vauxhalls.

 

They really don't make em like that anymore.

I remember chasing a 944 on the newly opened Oswestry bypass in my 24v Carlton

Got the mpg-o-meter down to 8....

It ended up being stolen,factory cd player ripped out then torched

[Guest Conan]

 

Believe it or not, this is one of the rarest E34 ever. It's rarer than the M5 Touring. It's not on Wikipedia and I doubt many Western E34 literature have featured it.

 

It's just a normal fucking E34, I hear you chant. And it is. But the badge 520is on the back doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. Only here in the weird and wonderful place. And it is not just a badge on a slightly sporty trim either. Under the bonnet there is not the expected M20B20 engine producing measly 129 horsepower.

 

The history goes that the M20B20 was so naff that BMW Thailand had to do something about it. So what to do?

 

They basically come to the future and look at hot rod M20. They took the M20B27 block of the 325e and put freer flowing head of the B20 engine on. The end result was 160 horsepower. Combined with 4.5 something diff ratio this thing was quite spritely back in the day. It would have top speed of only about 200km/h but it's been said that not many people do that anyway so the point is moot. Acceleration is where it's at.

 

This would have been that had BMW Thailand not thought to do it even better. They improved the B20 head further by increasing port size and polish. Another, even rarer version was badged simply with a gold "S5" font. 190 horsepower was on offer. All of these engine was hand assembled and modified.

 

But after 1991 all of this point was mooted. BMW launched the M50 DOHC engine that produce just about the same amount of horsepower.

 

Only a few hundred of these 520is and S5 were produced. And a lot of them survived better than the 520i because that was too naff. 520is was also the last 5-Series you could've gotten with manual transmission here.

 

BMW then later debore the 525i down to 2.4-litre for tax reason. But this ad hoc situation just isn't as meaningful as the 520is debacle.

 

It's not really forgotten, is it? More like it's never existed in the first place.