Reasonably affordable pre-1980 cars that wouldn't get blown away at track days?

Problem is your budget. Rust free cars from the  mid 70's are not cheap if they are desirable,a nd they are pretty much all gone if they did not make the leap to desirable. For example, a ready to track 240z for under $20k is a unicorn.

So, ignoring your budget a bit, what I would build is a MGB with a MG 3.4 V6 and a T5. The MGB suspension in good condition is very capable and a bit of stiffening, a panhard bar and sticky tire selection will optimize it for the track while giving up some comfort on the street. They are by far the cheapest classic car that you can buy. Roadster with cut-down windshield for amplified sense of speed and the cool factor or GT cause it looks better and you don't get windblasted. You could step the engine up to a 302 without much cost or effort depending on your resourcefulness.

In reply to NOHOME :

This post is three years old and I bought a BMW E28 two years ago 

pointofdeparture said:

As a coda to this post I ended up with a Euro-spec 1985 BMW 535i.

Knurled's point is spot-on. The top-spec "dirty" euro M30B34 engine made a whopping 218HP from 10:1 compression with no catalyst. Unfortunately my car has the "green" catalyzed 8:1 compression version which struggles to make 180. With only 2 valves per cylinder and a poor chamber design their potential is limited despite plenty of displacement.

I'm going to swap in a later M30B35, the final iteration of the engine, which has better intake ports and a much better chamber design, and made similar power to the 10:1 B34 but with only 9:1 compression. With some bolt-ons and modern engine management I should be around ~250 crank HP with lots of torque and a very large area under the curve. Not a breathtaking number by any means but enough to have fun with.

NOHOME said:

Problem is your budget. Rust free cars from the  mid 70's are not cheap if they are desirable,a nd they are pretty much all gone if they did not make the leap to desirable. For example, a ready to track 240z for under $20k is a unicorn.

 

So, ignoring your budget a bit, what I would build is a MGB with a MG 3.4 V6 and a T5. The MGB suspension in good condition is very capable and a bit of stiffening, a panhard bar and sticky tire selection will optimize it for the track while giving up some comfort on the street. They are by far the cheapest classic car that you can buy. Roadster with cut-down windshield for amplified sense of speed and the cool factor or GT cause it looks better and you don't get windblasted. You could step the engine up to a 302 without much cost or effort depending on your resourcefulness.

I’m glad you recognize how good the MG suspension is. Designed right after WW2 it first went into production on the MGTD and parts swap back and forth between the TD TF MGA & MGB

Regarding engine swaps why not go the EZ path? Dump a Chevy truck engine in it or if you want to keep it British put the 4.0 all aluminum 4 valve Jaguar engine in.  remember the MGC used an in-line 6 and it fit nicely  

One nice thing about a race prepared MG is how small the frontal area is compared to a sedan. By pushing less air the car will go faster!! Plus the CD of the MGB is actually decent

I’ve seen relatively rust free MGB’s sell for small money on Co-part once they are stripped or the engine and transmission removed. In fact there are 5 for sale right now. 

mad_machine said:

zombie thread, yes.. but the point is still well asked. Honestly, I cannot think of anything from the 70s that can hang with even a modern Camry without a lot of work. When Toyota's workhorse appliance can twist 300hp from it's engine, exactly what from the 70s can match that without doing a LOT of work

But a modern Camry or whatever is not going to be cheap. While you can still find solid nice Jaguar XJS for around a grand($1000) 

Strip  one of those to racing condition and you’ll be under 3000 pounds with 300 horsepower stock. Want c more excitement?  

A new medium turbo costs $106  on EBay or $132 with a wastegate .  So a pair of them installed you might spend $500 and make a nice easy 5-600 horsepower

Let’s talk about durability. Not reliability, durability.  A Chevy is reliable & if it breaks its easily understood but it’s not durable over 50,000 miles and the cylinder walls are worn enough to require an overbore, lacking zinc and some other metals in the oil the lifters won’t even last that long. Along with the cam lobes  ( please note, small block Chevy not an LS ) 

Jaguar on the other hand, I’ve never torn one apart with any sort of ridge. One had 244,000 miles on it. Standard bore!!  Because the springs don’t have to push and shove pushrods and rocker arms etc. wear of the lifters and camshaft are so trivial it doesn’t matter.  Bearings are giant size with a tiny fraction of the load a small block Chevy has and they last forever. 

So the added pressure or load of turbocharging is trivial. The parts are capable of dealing with at least ten times what they will be subject to.