Indholdsfortegnelse for February 1982 i MotorTrend

MORE BIRD THUNDER COMING FOR 1983 The spy photos weren’t too good, so we asked artist Duane Kuchar to harden up the lines into an accurate representation of the new Thunderbird, now only about eight months away from reality. There’s virtually nothing left of the current boxy ‘Bird on the new car, which should come in with a drag coefficient of something under .360. It will be a 4/5-seater coupe using the new Essex 3.8-liter V-6 engine with 4-speed automatic overdrive as base eguipment. Then, midway through the model year, a turbocharged, fuel-injected 2.3-liter 4-cylinder OHC engine will be added, with a 5-speed manual transmission, the 4-speed auto overdrive to come later. There’s a remote possibility that the 302cid high output V-8 from the Mustang/Capri will be added to the…

DATSUN 210+ FRONT-DRIVE=NISSAN PULSAR Right on the heels of Datsun’s 510 replacement, the Nissan Stanza, Japan’s second largest auto maker has introduced a front-wheel-drive successor to the company’s popular 210, or Sunny as it is known in Japan. To be called the Pulsar here in the States, the new entry applies engineering and technical elements from both of Nissan’s current frortt-wheel-drive cars, the Stanza and the 310. The front suspension is straightforward MacPherson struts with coil springs, quite similar to that of the Stanza. In the rear the Pulsar’s trailing arms, coil springs, and telescopic shocks (gas filled now) owe more than a little to the 310. In the U.S. the Pulsar will be powered by the same E-series engine introduced in the 310 line just this year. With a…

For 1982, turbocharging is once again the exclusive province of GM’s Buick Division. Chevrolet and Pontiac have chosen to drop the pressurized models from their 1982 lineups, while Buick has taken the opportunity to improve the 3.8-liter turbo V-6 engine package of its highest-volume turbocar, the Regal Sport Coupe. The improvements start with the Garrett AiResearch turbo unit itself, which has been resized from a .82 to a .63 A/R (area-to-radius) ratio to create a smaller, more efficient housing that serves up boost more quickly. Both the turbocharger and the engine will get more lubrication for ‘82, with more oil flowing to the hot side of the turbo and a 5-quart oil pan hung on the bottom of the engine. On the top side of the 3.8 turbo, the induction…

A few years back, the idea of dropping a V-6 engine into an American luxury sedan was practically heretical. In 1980, Cadillac smashed that taboo by adding a V-6 to its roster, but only under the heading of “credit option.” For 1982, Lincoln-Mercury has gone one step further. It is offering a 3.8-liter V-6 as an alternative engine choice in the new Continental. The 231cid “Essex” V-6 (named after its plant of origin) is also used in the Cougar, Granada, XR-7, and Thunderbird. Until the eve of production, it was slated to become the Continental’s standard powerplant as well, with the 5.0-liter V-8 listed as an extra-cost option. Even though the lightweight 90° V-6 cranks out 120 hp at 3800 rpm and 190 lb.-ft. of torque at 2400 rpm, Lincoln-Mercury…

It’s hardly surprising that the shape displayed here resists extinction so well. Automotive designs capable of generating instant pulse increase and palm moisture have always been rare. And whether your memories of this particular shape date to the Carroll Shelby AC Cobra, the AC Ace-Zephyr, the AC Ace Bristol roadster, or even to the Type 166 Ferrari Mille Miglia, a sleek roadster that may have inspired British designer John Tojeiro, it’s plain that as long as we can put something under the shape (other than a VW) to keep it moving we aren’t going to let it go to that big parking lot in the sky. Which accounts for the current wave of Cobra replicars. And of these, the Aurora GRX has added an intriguing footnote to the survival of…

General Motors’ design crew liked what they did with the new midsized S-10 so much that they just couldn’t stop there. The result was this design study to show how their creation responds to a makeover in the modern sport truck theme. Semi-flat black paint contrasts with the dark red primary body color and makes the S-10’s contemporary body work look especially clean and mean. A roll bar and tonneau cover on the bed add individuality, as do the 7-in. wheels and wide Goodyear Eagle GTs. Side-mounted exhaust pipes finish the sporting cosmetic treatment. This was not purely an aesthetic exercise, as most of the stock truck’s drivetrain was put back on the shelf. An LH7 V-6, the high-performance HO-660 unit that powers Chevrolet’s strong Citation XII, was called into…

Once a year they meet to do battle. Late each October, several hundred of the Sports Car Club of America’s finest assemble in the asphalt arena of Road Atlanta Raceway. There they don the holy Nomex to take part in the CSPRRC—the Olympics of American autosport. For the 500 or so qualifiers, a full season of racing and a week of frantic preparation culminate in three days of the most intense motorsport competition to be found anywhere. In the end, only 21 emerge victorious. The drivers are nominally classed as amateurs, a rating that is arguable in some cases. However, while only a few actually earn their livings from racing, when the green flag drops, it’s hard to pick out the handful of professionals and semi-professionals from the rest of…

They say things are cyclical, that there is nothing new under the sun. Unfortunately, they are usually correct. Now we are on the verge of an automotive revolution—the arrival of an all-new type of car: the convertible. Okay, convertibles aren’t all-new; hell, they aren’t even partially new, but you’d never know it looking at the spate of aftermarket convertible conversions presently available. In the last three or four years, firms that’ll de-roof your car have sprouted up like crabgrass on a new lawn, an aftermarket phenomenon that has resulted in some very ritzy ragtops. But it has also produced a corresponding quantity of companies that want to simply to blast the top off your buggy and send you merrily on your way. Chewie’s Chop Shop has your money, and if…

If you believe that the winds of change have been blowing over the automobile industry in general, you’ve got to figure there’s been a young tornado whistling around inside Toyota. Cars like the one displayed in the foreground just aren’t what we’ve been conditioned to think of as mainstream at the world’s No. 2 producer of automobiles. Far too much swash. Not nearly enough reserve. And what’s that piece lurking there in the background? Looks like some sort of tarted-up old Celica, doesn’t it? Whatever the source of the whirlwind, there’s no denying that it’s blown the cobwebs of tradition out of Toyota’s product planning department. And as a result, the Celica Supra has changed overnight from a vaguely defined personal luxury car with rather flabby performance characteristics, like an…

Proving once again that there is always more than one solution to virtually any mechanical problem, the Volkswagen Motorsport department recently unveiled a slightly surreal approach to 4-wheel drive: a twin-engined Jetta. The car was conceived and built—development is just getting under way—as a potential race and rally contender. Unfettered by the normal constraints of the gigantic VW corporation, VW Motorsport—with a total staff of 10 men—cobbled up this twin-engined terror just to see if it would work. And it does—phenomenally so. With an engine and gearbox at both ends in standard Euro Rabbit (Golf) tune, power output jumps from 110 hp to over 200 (there is some loss due to mechanical drag). It can be used as either a front-driver, a rear-driver, or, most important of all, a 4-wheel…

There was a time when Datsun built British sports cars. True, the 1600 and 2000 were designed and built entirely in Japan, cobbled up out of bits and pieces of peculiar little Bluebird sedans, but each of these 2-seat roadsters was just as British as a Triumph TR3 or an MGB. Then, about a dozen years ago, Nissan decided to change the classic sports car definition forever. And so it was that the 240Z sounded the death knell for the British sports car—and all the suffering that went with it. Toilet-float SU carburetors and cramped passenger compartments with the steering wheel pinned against the driver’s chest vanished almost overnight. Floppy “one-man tops” and the fry-or-freeze “heaters” that helped make British sports cars what they are today (read gone) also disappeared.…

Let us consider the following: Studebaker, Raymond Loewy, Sherwood Egbert, the Avanti; a corporation, two people, and a car. Elements that just do not exist singly in an enthusiast car magazine vacuum. Simple enough to write about cars. Cars are a collection of numbers, hardedged, defined. People are the opposite. And corporations are collections of people and hard-edged things rolled into an inextricable whole. So, first, Studebaker. Everybody’s daddy came west in a Studebaker covered wagon. Conestogas, they were called. By the time Rutherford B. Hayes swore to uphold the Constitution, Studebaker was the largest manufacturer of wheeled vehicles in the world. In the mid-Twenties, Studebaker was as good a bet to join Henry and the General in the Big Three as were Walter P. Chrysler and his boys. Studebakers,…

FRONT-DRIVE TURNS 50 Audi and the Deutsche Museum have created an anniversary exhibition to celebrate 50 years of volume-production front-wheel drive, dating it from the 1931 DKW F1. That ignores some 4000 copies of the original Cord, starting in 1929, but the exhibition does make its point: A driveline system that claimed less than 10% of the world car market as recently as 1959 (when the Mini appeared) is now closing in on two thirds of all sales, thanks in part to the rush by U.S. producers to convert to the space-efficient fwd arrangement. The idea of powering the front wheels of a rolling vehicle can be traced back to a single Graaf, built in Vienna in 1898. And even that came three years after Selden filed a patent on…

Two kinds of Classified Ads are available to advertisers. Commercial Classified: $90 for 25 words. $2.50 for each additional word. One-inch photo or illustration, add $100. A 5% frequency discount granted for ads in 6 or more issues. Personal Classified: $30 for 25 words. 90¢ for each additional word. Add $30 to include a photo. Name and address free on all ads. 25-word minimum. Count telephone numbers as one word. Advertisers using P.O. boxes are required to supply permanent street address and telephone number. Orders are not acknowledged. Closing date: All ads must be received by the 20th of the third month preceding publication date (e.g., April issue closes January 20). Payment must accompany order. Send order and prepayment check to MOTOR TREND MARKETPLACE, Direct Response Advertising Department, 8490 Sunset…

The last time Chrysler Corporation produced convertibles, big engines, big horsepower, and big cars were industry standards. It was 1971, and the industry was incredibly robust. But even so, Chrysler got out of the soft-top business after the ‘71 run of Barracudas and Challengers. The convertible share of the total market had shrunk to the point of diminishing returns at Highland Park, and over the next five years all the other domestic manufacturers followed Chrysler’s lead. The first wave of downsizing was underway, and the deathknell of body-on-frame cars had sounded. In the marketing plans of regulation-laden Detroit, there was no room for low-volume, high-problem cars like convertibles. Cut to 1982½. Chrysler Corporation, leading all domestic manufacturers in corporate average fuel economy and production of front-wheel-drive cars, is back in…

American Custom Coachworks, Ltd. P.O. Box 1220 Beverly Hills, CA 90213 (213) 272-7908 Models Converted: Toyota Corolla, Celica (including 1982 Celicas); Datsun 200SX; Subaru GL 2-door, Buick Skylark; Pontiac Phoenix; Oldsmobile Omega; Cadillac Eldorado and Seville, which is converted to a 2-door Cost: $13,500 to $45,000-includes vehicle purchase price Warranty: 12 month/12 thousand miles Yearly Production: 4000 Weight: Change: +30 lb. on smaller cars; + 120 lb. on larger cars. Years in Business: 7 American Custom Industries 5035 Alexis Rd. Sylvania, OH 43560 (419)882-2091 Models Converted: Corvette, ‘80, ‘81, ‘82 Cost: Duntov Turbo Phase I: varies. Duntov Turbo Phase II starts at $45,900. Warranty: 12 month/12,000 miles Yearly Production: The Phase I conversion is limited to a total of 200 Corvettes; 10 of those will be hand-built to customer specifications…

Jaguar picked a great way to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The 1982 XJ-S is a luxury GT that sports the most powerful, efficient, and sophisticated V-12 engine Jaguar has ever built. Its wrappings are of the highest quality, and it is the most completely packaged S since the car’s introduction in 1975. Though the new XJ-S has been revitalized on the outside with new bumpers, badges, wheels, and tires, and has the most luxurious interior treatment in the car’s history, it is the engine that has brought it back to life. It boasts a 10% improvement in fuel economy, along with the highest horsepower rating (262 hp at 5000 rpm) and the highest compression ratio (11.5:1) available in any car sold in America. The 5.3-liter (326cid) V-12 engine, dubbed the…

Okay, all you partisans of plush and panache, it’s time to engage in yet another round of that perennial favorite: King of the Hill. This time, the regal rivalry matches America’s two reigning prestige touring sedans, the Cadillac Seville and the Lincoln Continental. Both cars have now undergone their initial transformations for the 1980s. While the pair share many standard luxury touches—not to mention distinctive rear-quarter sheet metal—from behind the wheel, each still maintains a personality of its own. For 1982, these vehicles have become even more the province of those who can claim close personal relationships with treasury bills of large denomination. The Seville now bases at $23,443, and a fully loaded Elegante model can run over $30,000. The standard issue Continental opens at $21,302, while the Signature Series…

Lately, the trend in foreign-built “economy” automobiles has been to make them bigger, heavier, and roomier than ever before. But in this same lungful of fresh air hangs an improved mileage schedule. How can this be so? By all indication, the secret lies in aerodynamic function. The lower the drag of air on the body of the car, the more easily the car will pass through that air. The easier it slips through the stream, the less fuel is required to make it do so. The 1982 Scirocco is a fabulous example of the “rounder is actually sharper” school, and according to EPA estimates, the soft-curve Scirocco is at least 14% more fuel efficient than previous models. The man on the street is not apt to believe this. He is…

In the biggest advertising launch in GM truck history, a new-generation pickup is described as “not too big, not too small.” And the Chevrolet Division expects an entire 20% of its 1982 truck customers to look at the ground-breaking S-10 and declare a Goldilocksian “just right.” Chevy’s S-10 (along with sister division GMC’s S-15) strikes a compromise between the great hulking American-traditional pickup truck and the little mini from overseas. This domestic-built alternative will eventually replace the LUV truck Chevrolet procures from Isuzu; and, in size, it does fall toward the “mini” side of center in the pickup-truck spectrum. But it represents a major step up in comfort and roominess compared to the typical imported truck, while retaining an advantage in efficiency and maneuverability over a full-size pickup. Like most…

Nate Altman and Leo Newman were Packard, Studebaker, Edsel dealers in South Bend who could learn from experience. Altman decided that the now-scratched Avanti was just what was needed to grace his showroom floor. He approached Morris Markin, president of Checker, to see about taking over Avanti production. Markin thought the Avanti an “ugly” car. Exit Checker. Capitalizing on his own business acumen, Altman was able to secure at favorable prices the old Avanti assembly plant, all the Avanti tooling, body production from Molded Fiberglas (manufacturers of the Corvette body panels), necessary credit, and the continued employment of Gene Hardig. Hardig began by switching to Chevy power (first a 327, then a 400, now a 305) and modifying the body by eliminating the rake and raising the front fender line.…

NASCAR has become famous for down-to-the-wire finishes in its Grand National division. Even the introduction of the new breed of downsized Stockers couldn’t prevent the 1981 Winston Cup battle from running true to form. For the third consecutive year, the GN driving title was still undecided going into the final event of the 31-race schedule. As the Good OF Boys returned to Riverside for the second Winston Western 500 of the year (the result of a scheduling change necessitated by the closing of Ontario Motor Speedway), two drivers were still fighting for the championship. Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, each in search of his first Winston Cup title, had been dominant forces all season long. Each also numbered a win at Riverside earlier in the year. For Allison, who had…