1949/1950 Pontiac Silver Streak / Streamliner
...but with a hopped-up 6BT paired with a built modern transmission (8 speed) and a long rear gear. I want it to be quick off the line for a lead sled but geared to cruise at 100+.
Not this sled-like, but I couldn't find my perfect image.
In reply to AMiataCalledSteve :
How about a bike engined Justy ;)
I have spent way to much time pondering a Tatra 603 with a Carrera 4 drivetrain.
I have always wanted to put my wife's Rendezvous on Air Bags. I wanna close the fender to tire gap to nothing!
My first racer was an SVX. After that, I had a Yugo, and a Corvair, and a 323GTX, and a Justy, and a Fiero, and an X1/9, and a Cadillac STS, and a Subaru 360, and a Europa, and a Dodge Spirit RT, and a 1960 El Camino, and a 1950 Business Coupe, and a 1960 flat top Cadillac...
Im pretty good at lusting to mod oddball cars...
stuart in mn said:buzzboy said:Antihero saidOther weird cars I wanna find and screw with: AMC Eagle 4 door or 2 door
Install a 4.7 stroker or a 4.0 HO Turbo and a modern Jeep transmission and you'll have a good time.
I like the idea of a restomod 1964-1966 Rambler American with a Jeep straight six. There's a company selling a 4.6L stroker crate engine that's rated at 270hp / 300 ft-lb that would be fun in a 2500 lb car.
This badass rig is an east coast Lemon. It's got a stock 4.0/AX15 and it rips. The weekend I saw it, spring 2016 NJMP pictured below, it took C class by miles by being consistent and quick for the whole race. I kinda want a 4.0HO swapped AMC product now. This coming from a huge AMC fanboi so grain of salt necessary.
Appleseed said:In reply to NickD :
If I remember correctly, the door handle is built into the B pillar. I was fascinated by it as a kid.
Yes, and they were made of cheap pot metal and snapped off frequently. And then when you replaced them, if you domidnt have the two threaded rods adjusted perfectly, the doors wouldn't open from the inside or outside. Teenage NickD watched his normally polite and mild-mannered father discover this with a '95 Grand Prix, who then proceeded to rip the interior door panel off, after having climbed in through the open window, and throw the door panel out the same open window and shout "berkeley you......* less polite term for prostitute *".
In reply to NickD :
The gas door was also made with the same precision and care. Every one I saw had a sagging gas door. But if/when I have the proper level of money, absolutely sign me up for one of the Beretta hot rods.
hobiercr said:1949/1950 Pontiac Silver Streak / Streamliner
I've always loved that body style. When I was a kid there was a little old lady in my town who had a mint 1950 Streamliner, it was the classic case of a car that only came out of the garage to drive to church on Sundays. However, I'd want to keep the straight eight engine and then hop it up a little. They're hard to find now but back in the day Edmunds sold an aluminum head and dual carb manifold for them.
I would LOVE to build one of these with either a Grand National drivetrain or a turbo LS. It says Turbo Coupe on the back, so it has to have at least one turbo. I don't make the rules; I just follow them.
I'd also love to build an Olds 442 slantback. Everyone thinks they are weird, and that makes me want one more.
I wish they also came in a Pontiac flavor. Then again, GM A/G bodies of that era are like legos, so making your own would be fairly easy if you could find some donor cars.
In reply to johndej : I am partial to the gazelle end of the spectrum, but yes 100% would be cool
Ooo also onboard with the justy ideas although I wanted more of a narrow body awd rally style build.
I would like a road racer style two door hornet, maybe with itb's on the straight six for style points.
TurnerX19 said:In reply to wspohn :
There are still a few Mayflowers floating around the NY/Philadelphia corridor, all in need of engines. If I spot one do you want?
Twenty years ago I'd probably go for it, but I have too many cars and not enough flexibility to crawl around them any more! I always thought that this combination would have made a great sleeper for a Triumph adict, though. I used up a lot of my creative energy restoring and re-engining my Jamaican MGA, which is a similar concept but using a 3.4 GM V6 drivetrain.
Tony Sestito said:I wish they also came in a Pontiac flavor. Then again, GM A/G bodies of that era are like legos, so making your own would be fairly easy if you could find some donor cars.
That would have been the Pontiac Phoenix? They did have a slant back, but only in the four door version. If you wanted to pick something weird and unusual you could go with the version of the Grand Am that replaced the Phoenix in 1985.
Speaking of odd Pontiacs, an idea I've always had in the back of my mind is combining the drivetrain of a Porsche 928 with a 1961 Pontiac Tempest. The Tempest was available with an aluminum V8 up front and it had a transaxle with independent suspension in the back, so it seems like a natural.
Alternately it could also be done with a Porsche 944 donor, since the base engine in the Tempest was a slant 4.
stuart in mn said:Tony Sestito said:I wish they also came in a Pontiac flavor. Then again, GM A/G bodies of that era are like legos, so making your own would be fairly easy if you could find some donor cars.
That would have been the Pontiac Phoenix? They did have a slant back, but only in the four door version. If you wanted to pick something weird and unusual you could go with the version of the Grand Am that replaced the Phoenix in 1985.
The Phoenix was a Citation, meaning front driver.
Unless that's what you all meant... GM recycled A/X body naming from midsize and weird midsize rear drivers to midsized and weird midsize front drivers.
stuart in mn said:Speaking of odd Pontiacs, an idea I've always had in the back of my mind is combining the drivetrain of a Porsche 928 with a 1961 Pontiac Tempest. The Tempest was available with an aluminum V8 up front and it had a transaxle with independent suspension in the back, so it seems like a natural.
Alternately it could also be done with a Porsche 944 donor, since the base engine in the Tempest was a slant 4.
The Tempest drivetrain was... weird. It had a flexible driveshaft between the engine and trans, I think there was a 4 degree difference of angle, so the floor could be low. Porsche did not do that 
I'd also like to say that the torque tube was a flat steel weldment.
The 194 four cylinder had a 389 head on it but it had a proprietary bellhousing pattern, because of course it did.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:stuart in mn said:Speaking of odd Pontiacs, an idea I've always had in the back of my mind is combining the drivetrain of a Porsche 928 with a 1961 Pontiac Tempest. The Tempest was available with an aluminum V8 up front and it had a transaxle with independent suspension in the back, so it seems like a natural.
Alternately it could also be done with a Porsche 944 donor, since the base engine in the Tempest was a slant 4.
The Tempest drivetrain was... weird. It had a flexible driveshaft between the engine and trans, I think there was a 4 degree difference of angle, so the floor could be low. Porsche did not do that
I'd also like to say that the torque tube was a flat steel weldment.
The 194 four cylinder had a 389 head on it but it had a proprietary bellhousing pattern, because of course it did.
Yes, the fascinating and oft misunderstood "rope driveshaft". I've heard people think that it's actually some sort of strong braided/twisted rope. It's really just that the thin steel driveshaft has a bow to it, like a jump rope. All of those platform mates were interesting: the Pontiac had the rear mount transaxle and Trophy-4, the Buick had an aluminum V8, the Olds had a turbo V8, and the Chevy most famously had an air-cooled, turbo flat-six. I remember hearing that that platform wasn't terribly profitable simply because each one has so many unique parts.
In reply to NickD :
I mean... they all had their own separate engines, regardless.
Apparently, the Corvair cost a couple dollars per car more to build than the Nova, which is why they didn't spend the money on making the suspension as good as it could be.
I never had a Corvair and a Corvette next to each other but the rear suspensions look very similar.
(More Tempest trivia: It had a lot of left hand threads. I know the left side lug nuts were left hand thread, like to say the spindle nut was also left hand thread)
Have you noticed not a single odd car/bad idea has been panned or ridiculed? Most get a mental, "Ooh, that's a good one." We are a weird lot.
In reply to Appleseed :
I want to put a Biturbo engine in a 3000GT...
Wait no I don't
Focus 2 door coupe with Fiesta ST drivetrain. These coupes are really light.
I flogged a Toyota Starlet in Mod autocross until it got stress cracks in the transmission tunnel.
Is that weird enough?
I still want a Jeep FC170 and an AMC Eagle.
In reply to stuart in mn :
Ugh - wife ordered a new 1986 Grand Am SE instead of the Monte Carlo SS she was thinking of - worst car we've ever owned.
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