Wednesday, June 9, 2021

January 1980 Issue of Road & Track

The magazine cover is pretty moth eaten on the spine.
The paper also has darkened & gotten a bit brittle.
It is over 41 years old though...

These wheels remind me a little bit of the Bugatti type 59 wheels...

If you look at the 0-60 times, it's amazing how fast cars are today.
Maybe too fast?

The Toyotas from this era were well engineered.
The emissions controls technology was terrible though (before fuel injection).  But that goes for all manufacturers at the time...

The Plymouth Champ (Mitsubishi rebadge) was way faster than the Tercel to 60!
Mitsubishi did their unusual 4-speed manual with an 2-speed overdrive, which I think could use on the upper 3 gears, effectively giving you 7 speed choices...

Also the lateral acceleration numbers for the Tercel were very low!

I like the curb weight of these cars.  All around 2,000 lbs.



Small article about the Japan domestic auto industry...

Really like the styling on this car.
Also, the size was just right (not too small but not too big).

Stand alone Recaro ad...
They were probably very expensive for the time...

Looks pretty dangerous!

Comparing the Mustang & the Porsche 924...

I remember seeing some cars with these types of air dams on them.  On some cars they looked kinda cool.  On others, they looked terrible...










Another Toyota from the era that was very appealing.
CM's first car was a used 1980 Corolla (strippo model).
It had the usual issues (bearings, cooling system, clutch, etc.) but was easy to work on and repair.






 

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