Saturday, October 16, 2010

Fifth Car - 2nd German Car - VW

1983 VW Golf GTI
1.8L I4   110 HP / 109 Lb/Ft. of Torque
5 speed manual
Silver exterior with blue/red striped interior
0-60 mph - 8.20 seconds /Top speed 114 MPH
Curb Weight - Less than 2,000 lbs.

The original "wolf in sheep's clothing".
Also had the 85 MPH max speedometer as mandated by governmental regulation at the time. This little econobox could out drag many factory V-8s at the time. Yes, it was a sad time of excessive government intervention within the automobile realm. This little hot hatch was the bright spot.

Fourth Vehicle...1st German car

1980 or 1981 VW Scirocco S
Cirrus Grayish metallic - exterior
Cloth interior
1.6L or 1.7L I4, Approx. 74 HP & 90 LB/FT of Torque
4-5 speed manual

While visiting El Paso, Texas learned that I would be attending college in TX after graduation. Bought this car while on vacation in El Paso and the next day drive it the 750 miles +/- to Houston, TX. Good college car for a few years.

Third Vehicle...

1982 Toyoya Celica Supra
Metallic Gray / Black Leather interior
L-type, 5 speed manual
2.8L I6, 145 HP / 155 Torque
Power everything
0-60 in 9.8 seconds / 1/4 mile in 17.2 @ 80 MPH

First real semi-performance car, at least for the times. All of the cars in this era were emasculated by governmental smog restrictions. Remember the 85 MPH maximum speedometers, anyone? For a high school senior this was a great ride with the leather and pop-up headlights, etc. Looking back at the horsepower numbers from previous vehicles, this one felt fast, because in relative terms it probably was. It had almost twice as much HP as previous cars.

Second Car experience

1980 Toyota Corolla hatchback
White exterior with blue interior
1.8L I4 engine, 75 HP
Auto Transmission, 3 speed probably

Once my older brother and I were both licensed drivers and had different school and sport schedules, it became necessary to get a second vehicle. This would be the first real car of my own. One that I could put a better stereo in or some mag wheels which were popular at that time. Well I did put an upgraded stereo in this car, but didn't mess with anything else. I also learned something about vehicle dynamics and physics with this car. My friend's little yellow Honda Civic which had very firm suspension back then right from the factory was able to vastly outcorner this vehicle. On the night (March 21st, 1980) that someone shot JR Ewing, I attempted to follow the friend's civic through a turn and ended up in someone's front yard.

First vehicle driven

1980 Ford Mustang
Orange exterior color with black interior
Auto Transmission, 3 speed
Manual everything else.
I had to research back, but it probably had the ohc I-4: 140 cubic inches; 88 horsepower
with the 3 speed automatic transmission.


My brother was a few years older than me. Our father bought this car for us both, but mostly for my brother, to drive to our high school which was about 25 miles away.

Don't have any fond memories of this ride. Might have been a slight improvement over the family's earlier Ford Pinto, though. Rolled up the passenger window one mornng and shattered the glass. Don't think that all of the glass fragments were ever found.