After our E-types, what would be our favorite car?

Hi,

Hands down I agree 110% but somehow the Euro spec Bertone designed Khamsin is so elegant that in my twisted mind I don’t count it in the “wedge” category, like I don’t Ferrari’s 365 GTC/4. That’s one of those that I fo regret I did not buy one, when you could get one with some issues for €55k euros and a really nice one under €90k euros. Now I don’t think you can find either (Khamsin or GTC/4) anywhere for under €200k, and I wouldn’t be able to buy one anyways, not even if it was half of that.

But would I exchange my V12 OTS for either of those?!? No way!!!

:smiley:

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 1S20183
Fin.

I know guys used to put Porsche motors in them back in the day but in “that” day even Porsche motors weren’t wicked strong like the Subie motor. I guess as a toy its fun to see and play with but beetles were never known for handling so assume they must have done a lot of other work to it if using it for other than straight line acceleration. Thinking the Subie might still be quicker due to AWD but the beetle would be a whole lot lighter so maybe not. Interesting!
pauls

Bob,
Unfortunately I like 'em all, which is depressing because I can’t have 'em all. I’ve become very fond of some of the XKs too whereas when I was a younger guy all I cared about was the E-type. Do not imagine the C, D, or XKSS offered much comfort and space, after all Norman fit in them fine so they were happy. I’m sure I wouldn’t care to do a lot of touring in a low drag coupe either but its an awesome looking car!
pauls

Nick,
That’s pretty much the picture my mind draws with all power and no substance. I guess modifying the beetle isn’t much worse than the 5L Mustang motor in a Miata, seen a few of those. Someone posted a photo a few years back of I believe an MGB with a XK motor in it. A work of art but can you say nose heavy and understeer!!
pauls

For those who like wedges (The Countache? Oh yeah) you might want to consider the DeTomaso Pantera. Mid engined Ford 351 Cleveland with a ZF 5 speed manual gated transmission in a steel monocoque chassis of a Bertrone-inspired Ghia Italian design. Not a bad looking and performing car. 7,000 cars in all. At some point in its production run it was declared the fastest production car in the world. Interior typically spartan-Italian. They we’re pretty cheap five years ago and some collectors are buying them up. Still reasonable given the stratospheric levels the Italian thoroughbreds have attained of late. Hagerty (who is a little generous in their valuations) puts a #3 '72 Pantera at under $70K, up from about $40K when I was looking at them.

Hi guys,

The garage (enthusists, no professionals) where I have three of my cars, has mostly Finns who either seriously tune or drag-race VW Beetles. There’s one that looks like an early 1950’s oval (not split) and has a real old steel body, yet it runs on ethanol, has a turbo and an intercooler the size of a rear seat and it does 8.0 sec at it’s best on the 1/4 mile, end speed is over 250km/h, faster than any factory E-type, I think the engine is US made Pauter, ca. 3.0L and self built induction and engine management.

And I remember seeing from Germany a VW Golf (Rabbit in the US?) mk 2, that had 4 wheel drive from a modern VW, a turboed engine with more than 1000hp and it would do a recorded 1/4 mile in 6.05 sec, and it was street legal and MOT’d in Germany. Although I think there must have been challenges with the paperwork, but some folks just love to build stuff like that.

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 1S20183
Fin.

Off topic, but if Andrew is reading this, I was reading Pekka’s thread above, just posted and fresh, when the text changed. He’d edited out a ferrin character from one of his words and added the fact that the engine is a 3.0 litre Pauter. But now I look up at the post I left just before his and it says I edited it after the (what is it, five minute deadline?) which I didn’t. Curious software glitch, Andrew. No biggie. I remember how they used to drive me batshit when I was doing a bunch of linear programming back in the Bronze Age.

Always loved the Pantera. Oh and attaching a photo of the low drag, keep forgetting to do that,


pauls

1 Like

Hi Paul,

Yes, the Low drag coupé is a marvel to look at, but I don’t think I’d be very comfortable in the summer driving one. That photo looks very familiar, I took one just like that in Cernobbio, Italy. That was just after the restauration (7000 hours of bodywork alone) for CMC owner Peter Neumark had been completed and the car was presented in the Villa d’Este concours. German Jaguar distributor Peter Lindner died in that car at the Paris 1000km race in Montlhery in 1964 and the car was a wreck for decades.

Dream car would be an XKSS/D-type for me, but I could also be happy with a C-type. I’m not sure if I would rather have a California Spider, but probably not. If I had one, I would sell it as that money could be used to by BOTH a D-type AND a C-type with some leftover money for fuel and oil! :wink:

Cheers,

Pekka T.
Fin.

Nick,

The edit I see is:

system 8 hours — downloaded local copies of images

meaning that it was the user “system” which changed it, and that what it changed was the reference to the photo.

You’re right, it is a bit cryptic. I think what it means is that the system found a local copy of the attached image, rather than add a duplicate.

The way the system handles images is that when you post one it stores it in a folder called “originals”, it then makes 2 lower resolution copies for faster display if someone is viewing the post with a phone or such. To save space the system checks all of the originals to see if it already has a copy of that image, and if it does, then rather store a duplicate, it just changes the link in the new post so that it points at the existing image.

So… Yes, the post was edited, but not by you, I guess the message might provide useful information to someone somehow, but I don’t really think it makes a significant difference to the enlightenment of the population in general (like so much of the internet).

A very effective E-Type, the low drag, but to my eyes all the changes detract from the original FHC design (yes, I know it’s based on an OTS, but…) YMMV

Jerry

Andrew, fascinating. I was wondering about all those hi-res photos everyone was posting and thinking they must represent a terrific amount of bandwidth and storage for the site. Makes perfect sense. Thanks. Nick.

To give you a rough idea of the storage:

Total upload storage space in use for images:885MB

Size of a complete backup of data (including all images, posts, user accounts but none of the OS): 3.9GB

Pekka,
I had an image of the car in the link below on my pc as my desk top photo for the last several years I worked. This car has AC, its a replica but just can’t forget it. Its not beautiful like the Ferraris or even the E-type but just awesome. I’m thinking if you’re sitting at a stop light in your Ferrari and this thing pulls up next to you, you do NOT challenge it, you run and hide :slight_smile:

Forgot link :frowning:


pauls

And that is only after a few months, though 4 gigs is really not a great deal just yet. What’s the max, or is it just a matter of paying more $£¥€ or whatever?

For a little pizzazz and a little money, and a guarantee you won’t be passing yourself all that often on the street, there is also the Opal GT:

From memory the backups just after we went live were something like 2.9 gig, and images were zero.

btw, images includes all the system artifacts, including everyone’s profile and background pics.

The backups don’t stay on the server itself (at least not for long), they get shifted to an online storage service (which costs money).

The server is a virtual machine, also on an online service (which costs money), so it isn’t really a physical box in a particular place.

Both the server and the storage can be scaled (i.e. increased) if need be (costing more money). I can’t actually find any hard numbers about the maximum limit of a discourse installation.

I always had a bit of a soft spot for the Opel.

Me too. Really a nice design. Hard to sell in the US though when for not much more money you could get a V8 Mustang with a backseat and usable trunk.

Overall pretty much every car I cross shopped when looking for the FHC, except for the Ferrari Mondial, has been mentioned.

Bizzarini 5300 GT Strada

1 Like

My first car was a 1969 Opel Kadette 1.1L and I loved it, it was faster than the comparable VW and had a much better heater. My wife, GF at that time, had an Opel Manta Rally (sp?) and it was a great car, certainly comparable to the BMW 2002 if not better, certainly better than the 1971 2002 that we got after the Rally was totaled.

Cheers,
LLynn