I saw a kid today trying out his winter beater, an extremely worn 1992 Infinity G20. He was bragging to a guy about putting his sweet ride in the garage for winter so I asked him what he drove. A 2000 Honda Civic Hatchback with the 108hp engine... hehehe. The G20 makes at LEAST 140hp and probably handles (or at least handled) better. I just found it funny that a guy would get a winter car that, on paper at least, is superior to his summer car.
That got me to thinking of two other similar incidents when I was a kid. One of my neighbours had a 1980 Mustang Cobra with the wheezy 4.2 liter V8 that made 116hp (His was slightly pumped up with a carb/intake, K&N and headers, but still. 150hp maybe?) and his winter "beater" was, swear to god, a 1977 Dodge Monaco with the 440 Magnum that made 255hp. That old rust bucket could break the rear end loose at the blip of the throttle. The Mustang needed a powershift to do that.
Another guy I knew had a brand new 1988 Suzuki Forsa Turbo with the 75hp 3 cylinder Turbo engine. Peppy little lightweight car that was surprisingly fast with a few mods. His winter beater? *snicker* A 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle 2 door Hardtop with the 115hp 307 V8 and an automatic. Yeah, the Suzuki could probably beat the hell out of it in any sort of race, but dayummmmmmmmmm... it's a Chevelle!!!! It was a nice one too. Not too rusty. Real shame.
A few years later he came to his sense and made the Chevelle the summer car and restored it with a floor shifted TH350 and a nicely modded 350 V8. Fixed the body, added some wicked paint with SS stripes. It's nice now.
Any of you have any stories about people's winter beaters that are technically better than the summer cars?
I know some people that have winter beaters so they don't have to drive their cavaliers.....
Click here for Blog
My Cavalier is my all season beater.
nice 1 emor
you can garae a festiva for the winter as long as its getting a 454.... lol
my gt is a year around beater, its getting a lot less km since i got a company vehicle..................summer car is a 79 formula w/455 and my dad and i are restoring his 72 elky /454,
maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow....... but some day
Yea, whats the difference? There are plenty of people who have a winter beater to garage their cavalier. A good handful of those are nearly stock 2.2 OHV engines.
in 78-79 my dad drove a 67 gto with a 389 as a winter beater to keep his 78 Trans Am off the road. The gto was shot body wise though and the trans am was brand new so it really wasnt that odd cars like that were a dime a dozen back in the 70s
-Borsty
Br0k3n FIRE... (ExESIVE FIRE) wrote:i daily drive a cts while the sunfire sits in the garage?
so freaking what... its what we want to do.. some cars have sentimental value
agreed! GXP dd and cav in the garage
Borsty wrote:in 78-79 my dad drove a 67 gto with a 389 as a winter beater to keep his 78 Trans Am off the road. The gto was shot body wise though and the trans am was brand new so it really wasnt that odd cars like that were a dime a dozen back in the 70s
Totally! Heck,
I drive a 1990 Mustang as a beater to save wear and tear on the Sunfire. Naw, I wasn't saying that people who did it were stupid, just that sometimes the disparity between the beater and their summer car was funny.
My car doesn't have the sentimental value. Until I can be weathly enough to afford a brand new sports car, I will never....EVER justify driving 2 vehicles.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
KevinP (Stabby McShankyou) wrote:not funny... i just can't find that funny... not with 2 copies of the Candyland board game on your shelf.
When I first bought my Z24 everyone at work asked me what kind of winter car I was gonna get. It thought it was rediculous, cause I bought the car so I would have something that I knew would start, and run good in the winter, which was the problem with my old car.
I have a 1990 Isuzu pick-up with a big ass 2.3 liter for my DD and winter beater.
And my 83 Camaro with it's little 305 for my summer car/ car to enjoy.. although it's not so enjoyable right now. The heat makes it run like @!#$ so I am stuck driving the Isuzu.. atleast the A/C is cold in that thing.
No way in hell would I own a Cavalier and Camaro, and make the Camaro the winter beater.. something about that just does not seem right. To me, the car that will hold it's value better is the one that gets kept in the garage.. sentimental value or not, a car is a car. I love my Camaro to death, and even if I had dumped 200K into it, it would still get driven.
1983 Camaro Z28
2006 HHR daily driver
1999 Z24 cavalier summer car / track car
I find it funny.
PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO
