Stupid, but fun cars

Did a dumb thing and bought a Chevy powered XJS last week. No rust, nice interior, so-so paint. But mechanically it is really nice. And it runs really great! The 350hp engine and OD automatic are a nice torquey combo in this car with a nice V8 burble to the exhaust. It's a ton of fun to drive. And unlike the Locost or the 32 roadster, I can actually drive in the rain!

OTOH, this thing is such an undesirable bastard I'll never be able to sell it. The Jag guys hate it, the Chevy guys hate it, the muscle car guys hate it, the wife hates it..Stupid me...! I guess I'll just have to drive it until it dies of some terminal British electrical problems.

Anyone else ever buy such a "Stupid" car?

Yep, I bought an even less desirable car once... a stock XJS! ;-)

Bill

Don't tell and keep the lid on it. Then enjoy a driver. How would I feel about a Fiat with Miata running gear? Welcoming.

Cheers Ron

OK, this is hard to admit, but many years ago I needed a car while mine was getting some major service done. The only thing around in the family that wasn't being used was my late Uncle's mid-70's El Dorado. I have to say that it was kinda cool looking down that big long hood and then putting your foot down to hear that big ol' V8 roar.

I also liked how the speedometer and gas gauge moved in opposite directions when you put your foot into it.

Back in '76 I made a really, really stupid decision to trade my '68 P1800 for a new Buick Skyhawk. Remember them? What a piece of crap that car was ... GM at it's worst. I still rue the day I made that dumb decision. And I only got $1,000 trsde-in for the Volvo.

Yep, I traded a pretty nice '67 396 Chevelle for a new Chevy Monza. It was a pig in every way.

There are times when I think every car I own was a stupid purchase... ...but the most recent one that sticks in my mind was selling my more or less reliable Ford conversion van and buying a Dodge Cummins 4x4 pick-up. Only because I had a hankering for 4WD again... and a manual trans... and another diesel... and the van's engine was making a weird noise (turned out to be the PS pump). Dumb, dumb, dumb...

Ian the truck purchase was only dumb because you bought a bastard truck,and the wrong generation at that. You should have bought a first gen Cummins 5 speed. I feel for you with that bastardized gas/diesel truck. The Cummins is a great engine,but in my opinion the 2nd gen truck was/is a piece of junk. A pretty piece of junk,but junk none-the-less. 4Wd is a waste of money in my opinion,and I love my fullsized Dodge 2500 VAN. I miss my Cummins sometimes,but not that bad anymore. It seems as times passes I miss the truck less,but that doesn't mean I wouldn't buy another someday.

A Fiat Dino Coupe. Fiat name, Ferrari engine. Expensive to fix, impossible to find some parts for, and absolutely worthless when you try to find a buyer. I invested six years of storage fees on that damn (sexy) car before I succumbed to realizing I would never have the $$ to restore it properly.

If I found another sans engine, well...a small block Ford would probably fit in one pretty nicely.

In reply to null:

Dwight, if you only knew how close I came to actually buying your "stupid car", you would be shocked. I had the money ready and somehow came to my senses. I absolutely love the Dino coupe but realize, like you, that reality is that I will never have one. Brett

We had a guy locally that used to drive his Dino coupe all the time, but it smoked terribly. I can only imagine what pricing an engine rebuild did to him. You never see it anymore.

My dumbest purchase had to be the Grand Cherokee, problem after problem after problem, and it drove terribly. 2nd worst, an E36 BMW, but it drove great. Both of the above were finacial disasters that made my years of Alfa addictions seem positively ingenious!

The Fiat Dino and Jagrolet got me thinking. Let's call them acquired tastes.

Cheers Ron

I think that a nice Dino coupe with a fresh Alfa V6 would be ideal. The Alfa V6 is a sweet, tunable motor that will put out similar power to the ferrari V6 AND still makes a nice sound.

I'be be up for buying a chevy powered Jag..

MustangSix said: Did a dumb thing and bought a Chevy powered XJS last week. No rust, nice interior, so-so paint. But mechanically it is really nice. And it runs really great! The 350hp engine and OD automatic are a nice torquey combo in this car with a nice V8 burble to the exhaust. It's a ton of fun to drive. And unlike the Locost or the 32 roadster, I can actually drive in the rain! OTOH, this thing is such an undesirable bastard I'll never be able to sell it. The Jag guys hate it, the Chevy guys hate it, the muscle car guys hate it, the wife hates it..Stupid me...! I guess I'll just have to drive it until it dies of some terminal British electrical problems. Anyone else ever buy such a "Stupid" car?

I'm with devine10. I actually look for SBC or SBF powered Jags. I'd love to have one. There must be plenty of others out there, too, because Johns Cars turned retrofits into a nice business. As for "stupid" cars, I bought a Triumph Herald convertible that had been sitting for decades and has a big hole in the left rear floor. However, with that in mind, I would say I'm the stupid one, not the car. LOL

First midget I bought $600 rubber bumper blown motor still got it but its rusting at the yard , did take it to Sebring back in 1990 and got piks of it poured way to much money into it . Got the motor in my storage for last 10 years . V8 powered jag is great !! car not so stupid

I'd do a Jagrolet or Jord as well. The 351W would make a nice swap in an XJS. The one caveat: it would have to be a manual tranny.

Funny you should mention the manual transmission. I'm looking at a currently-unused 3550 Tremec and pondering the pedal box on this thing.....Anyone have a 3.31 or 3.54 Jag center section they want to part with?

On the subject of "almost bought something stupid" (Brett)...there was that email exchange MustangSix and I had about his, uh, Mustang with the Aussie six. A very cool yet completely stupid car. That I'd still probably buy, if I had the money/space/one-less-wife.

Whatever happened to that, BTW?

Actually, I wanted a 1st Gen truck... but I had to deal with... ahem... an external opinion... plus, 1st gen's in good condition are tough to find... and I didn't know my truck was a gas/diesel bastard... The truck runs fine... and I don't have that much of an issue with it... but I do miss my van... I have an irrational problem with 2WD pick-ups... ain't gonna happen...

The Aussie powered Mustang is still in the workshop. We started looking at rusty parts, one thing leading to another, and all the rusty sheet metal is being replaced or repaired - quarters, door skins, wheel arches, cowl panels, floors....

The engine is on a stand and a 5.0/t-5 is going back into the car - eventually. Probably a pretty good thing we never consummated that deal. The rusty bits were more than I thought once we started taking the car apart.

Anyway, the car will be more normal with the V8 and less stupid than it was with the bizarre (but really fun) six.

Stupid purchases? Virtually every vehicle I've bought since I got married. I guess my wife makes me stupid, right?

Almost stupid, a guy near me had a 75 Triumph Spitfire converted to FWD with a Toyota motor and trans axle. Looked like he used a sawsall to cut 2 clearance holes in the bonnet for clearance, $1,500. Already had 2 "normal" Spits, but it was so frigging bizarre I had to have it.

Drove by it everyday for a week, the weekend came and I brought my brother by to look at. He bitch slapped me and brought me back to my senses.

Looking back, my wife would have killed me, but it was tempting.

mike

I don't have a brother. Maybe that's my problem.

First off I would love an XJS with a V8 and a manual. I almost bought an LS1 XJS (auto) for 5k about two years ago.

Sometimes I think that almost every RX-7 I purchased was stupid. The first blue one got me hooked on them. The second blue one is a never ending money pit no matter how much I love it.

The yellow and white one were bought sight unseen and had more rust then I would have liked. The white one has never run well enough to be drivable and the yellow one smokes over 4k RPM.

I also just bought a 1980 Dodge Aspen with a slant six for $250 just because it was $250 and so I can put the blue and yellow car on a collectors policy.