Indholdsfortegnelse for May 1986 i MotorTrend

Soarer Takes Flight When Toyota sprung the Soarer on an unsuspecting Japanese public in 1981, no one foresaw the remarkable success that followed, as the pricey coupe outsold every other “personal car” on the market. Part of the key was an aura of exclusivity created by the high price, and the mystique is restored now with a new model pegged at around $25,000 (when $9000 buys an MR2), making it once again Japan’s most costly volume production car. More than justifying the pricetag, though, is a Supra-related chassis with double wishbone suspension all around and electronically controlled air springing with variable spring and damping rates to control the car’s ride and attitude to suit the driving style. Power comes from a 227-hp turbocharged version of the Supra’s 24-valve 3-liter DOHC…

Leaving the other guy sucking dust is what the 350 IROC is all about Yes, kids, you can try this at home. Take one brand-new IROC-Z28 equipped with the Corvette-bred 350-cu-in. engine and go on the prowl for other IROCs and Trans Ams. When you find one, pull up next to it at a stoplight, smile knowingly at the other driver, and when the light turns green, stuff the right pedal toward the floor. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you’ll leave the other guy sucking dust, and that, my friend, is what the 350 Camaro is all about. We call it the 350 Camaro because the new, limited-edition car really has no designation of its own. According to the official Chevrolet line, the 350-equipped Camaro is simply an IROC-Z28…

Thanks to the stylish 205, offered in no fewer than 26 versions, Peugeot has taken a strong lead over Renault to become France’s most successful car maker. It took Peugeot just over three years to sell one million 205s, an achievement crowned by the 1985 championship on the world rally circuit. The flagship of the line is the 120-mph GTI, in France the No. 1 “muscle” car in the highly competitive super compact class. Over 50,000 GTIs have been produced in less than two years, eclipsing the Renault R5 Turbo and Golf GTI as that segment’s sales leader. Knowing it has developed a loyal following thirsty for more 205s, Peugeot has built two new versions—a 3-door sedan and a convertible bearing the prestigious signature of Pininfarina. Both models are mechanically…

In the alphabet soup that is General Motors’ method of designating model types, the J-car is most prolific. The only platform shared by every automotive division under the massive GM umbrella, it has evolved from its initial car-as-appliance status to the basis for some fairly attractive design and sophisticated engineering approaches. The J-car has also been unquestionably successful in a corporate sense, led by the Chevrolet Cavalier, the best-selling car in America in 1985 with 431,031 units sold (thanks to 6000 or so Chevy dealers and a healthy fleet sales program). However, its siblings have been less than world-beaters and are still trying to carve a market niche with the kind of success enjoyed by the Chevy. The lineup includes the Cadillac Cimarron, Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Firenza, and Pontiac Sunbird;…

If it’s 4-wheel hi-fi you’re looking for, here are some tips on the latest and greatest. In our last episode, we left our hero, the “compact digital audio laser disc player” (how’s that, “Star Wars” fans?), balancing on the precipice of feasibility. Could the delicate motor-driven laser optical system of the compact disc (CD) player survive the torture of life on the road? If the answer is yes, then car audio is in for a performance revolution, since the CD player outperforms any car cassette unit, regardless of price. In the 12 to 18 months since the introduction of the first car CD units from Sony and others, the answer is clear—they really work! Say goodbye to tape hiss, distortion, and tape flutter on the road. Say hello to the…

Q What is the case for pushrods and rocker arms; or the case against overhead cams when an engine is designed in the U.S. for American use? Clarence Cornell Anaheim, Calif. A The best engineering reason for overhead cam engines is the reduction of valvetrain inertia, which allows more accurate valve timing, more radical valve timing, lighter spring pressures, less friction, or some combination thereof. In addition, there are fewer pieces, which usually means lower cost and greater reliability. In the slightly more real world, the U.S. auto industry pioneered the production use of inexpensive ball-stud pressed rocker arms (’55 Chevy and Pontiac), which, when combined with hydraulic lifters, decent oil, and filtration, give 100,000 miles or so of quiet, valve adjustment-free driving. Hydraulic lifters were slow in coming to…

The 1985 Formula One season holds few bright memories for Bernie Ecclestone. The high-profile owner of Team Brabham and boss of FOCA watched his organization suffer a decidedly off year that yielded only one GP win and a distant 5th place in the Constructors’ championship. Ever the intense competitor, Ecclestone is preparing to launch a new secret weapon from the drawing board of resident design whiz Gordon Murray. The brilliant Mr. Murray has already provided the team with cars that took Nelson Piquet to two World Championships in the past five years. If he’s right again this time, the ultra-low BT55 could well become the evolutionary step that determines the basic look of F1 cars during the entire last half of this decade. BMW engine wunderwerker Paul Rosche has given…

I’ve always been a sucker for Cars of the Future. I think I was first afflicted on a visit to GM’s Motorama in St. Louis in 1954. (I’m still waiting for the production version of the convertible, a Buick, I think, that automatically raised its top when a drop of water fell on the seat.) The contemporary counterparts to those flights of styling and engineering fancy that delighted the pre-pubescent enthusiast-to-be decades ago easily work their magic on me today. Buick’s Wildcat, Toyota’s FXV, Saab’s EV1, and Ford’s Probe V are the stuff the second-best kind of dreams you can have are made of, especially when we’re told they represent what we’ll be getting in the next decade. But what about beyond that? What can we expect in 2010, or…

New Big Bimmer BMW’s aging 7-series, due for a revamp the next model year, retains traditional lines, but aerodynamics have improved to around 0.30 to 0.32 Cd. European engine options range from 2.8 to 3.5 liters, with power from 185 to 280 hp. Word is the 3.5 engine will be offered in both turbo and 4-valve “M” versions. The 12-cylinder powerplant will follow in about a year. Born in Romania? Plymouth’s ad campaign currently shouts the theme: “The pride is back—born in America.” We’re wondering how that gibes with Chrysler Corporation’s current interest in building a new-generation mini-van in communist Romania. Negotiations are in progress under the direction of Stephan Sharf, Chrysler’s executive vice-president of business development. After a trip behind the Iron Curtain, Sharf told the Detroit Free Press,…

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, really. It gives man the opportunity for memories of his own design. The vehicle by which the conscious mind conveniently removes what it wishes to forget, and adds what is more pleasant. Such is the case with Carroll Shelby’s original Cobras. Good cars, yes. But as great a car as our memories would have us believe? Not likely. The first Cobra was, more by accident than intent, a purpose-built machine. A two-place, double throwdown, haul-the-freight sports car. An automotive monster not unlike the work of Doctor Frankenstein. Its creator was a smooth-talking Texas hot-rodder with an international race-driving reputation, a dream, and a propensity for stepping in sheep dip and ending up smelling like a rose. Its body was wrought from the grave of AC…

Why is it that when an Italian product is suggested, there’s such a dichotomy? Nobody snickers at Italian wines; no one complains about Gucci, Ferrari, or Ital Design. The Rodeo Drive crowd gets tennis elbow just reaching for their Gold Cards when merely in the proximity of overpriced, superbly styled Italian plastic kitchen gadgets or lira-soft leather-covered furniture. But mention an Italian car (Ferraris aren’t cars anymore—they’re amulets, talismans, icons) or motorcycle, and the impersonations break out, and everyone stands about shrugging, arms extended, palms upward, going eh! eh! through the smirk. I admit to a bit of that myself around my first Biturbo experience. The impressive nature of that car’s spec sheet lost much of its luster after looking at the indifferent—or absent-quality control, with assorted Italian oddities built…

One hardly considers Al Holbert a hardship case when it comes to winning Camel GT distance races. The 4-time GT champion and current boss of Porsche’s North American racing operations had racked up 40 career wins going into the 1986 season. But victory had eluded him in the Daytona 24 hour, that grueling “Day in a Racer’s Life” which traditionally opens the Camel GT schedule. Holbert’s most recent and most painful encounter with the Big D jinx came in 1985. Teamed with Derek Bell and Al Unser Jr., in the Lowenbrau Porsche 962, he appeared well on his way to an easy victory. Then major electrical problems crippled his car after 22 2 hours, giving a win to Preston Henn’s Swap Shop 962. This year. Holbert finally broke out of…

Summers in Bristol, Tennessee, were spent with my grandmother. She was quite a lady. She had the biggest house in town and most every afternoon held court to the local dignitaries, artists, visiting firemen, and small-town intellectuals. She loved her martinis and stimulating conversation. But Saturday mornings provided a special treat for me as a small boy. James, Granny’s elegant, old, black houseman/chauffeur would let me sit up front with him as we drove down the main street of that small town in the big Buick Limited. Its enormous straight eight purred beneath that long, dark blue hood. To a nine-year-old, our mission was charged with mystery as we crossed the state line to pick the week’s supply of alcoholic beverages from a dark and sinister warehouse. Tennessee was a…

She breezes down the highway in the little sports machine. It’s the latest model, with all the options. She’s got a factory warranty, low monthly payments, no money down, but also no title. It’s not hers. She leases it. He’s tooling along the road in the gender-enhancer he’s always wanted. It’s got all the options, too. And along with his factory warranty, he’s got higher monthly payments, a good-size down invested up front, and in the end, the title. He owns it. Who got the better deal? Unless you knew more about each person’s individual situation, it would be hard to say. It could be they both did okay. But most people see leasing as a privilege that is reserved for those blessed with wealth and/or a superior business sense.…

Warning!Never exceed 6000 r.p.m. when using the 750 Monza engine. Never exceed 7000 r.p.m. when using the 500 Mondial engine. Water temperature not to exceed 90°COil temperature not to exceed 120°CAlways use 90 no gasoline Any trouble is liable to occur whenever the above rules should not be observed. andObserve, from time to time, whether the luminous gauge of the starting button remains unlighted when the car, in direct drive, travels at a speed greater than 30 km/ph, which indicates that the dynamo charges the battery regul-arly. Avoid keeping your foot on the clutch pedal when un-necessary. Poetry from a translation of the istruzioni found in a colection by Richrad F. Merrit covering Ferrais from 1948-1963. It was Steve Sailors, usually a Porsche masochist—he once owned a Ferrari 212 of…

The octane rating, or anti-knock value, of gasoline is a reference against a standard fuel. At the low end of the scale, heptane (C7H16) has an inherent tendency to knock and is assigned a zero octane value. Iso-octane has excellent anti-knock characteristics and is assigned a value of 100. A gasoline’s octane rating is a comparison against an iso/heptane mixture—95 octane gasoline being equivalent (in terms of knock resistance) to a mixture of 95 parts iso-octane and five parts heptane. Using this method, 100 octane would obviously be the highest possible octane rating, but there are fuels with ratings that exceed 100. How is this possible? One way is by using lead. In 1921, Charles Kettering and Thomas Midgley discovered that the addition of a very small amount of tetraethyl…

Future Power at BOC Powertrain engineers at Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac Group (BOC) are creating a new engine for projected early 1990s vehicles, according to a source at BOC-Powertrain in Flint. The Trident Package is said to be essentially a conventional but “clean sheet of paper” powerplant “intended eventually to replace all engines” in most BOC cars. It’s a separate project from the already hyped Manhattan Project engine. “The intention is to get one engine for production in all assembly plants,” reducing complexity and improving quality control. Displacement, power output, number of cylinders, and number of valves per haven’t been decided yet. Development bogeys include how to achieve various performance levels from the same engine for different vehicle applications. Future Power, Part II Is Buick going after Chevy’s performance image? The ’86 Buick…

When we dropped in for the annual long-lead preview at Chrysler’s Michigan Proving Grounds last summer, only one thing was missing: new cars. We saw better manual shift mechanisms, new low-pressure fuel injection, a new 2.5-liter engine with balance shafts, the California-only Lancer Pacifica, the usual bells and whistles, and some solid product improvements. Careful, Sundance, your Shadow is showing But no new iron. Nada. The reason: Since import restrictions had eased and were likely to go away soon, lacocca & Company had changed their small-car gameplan. The new P-car (Plymouth Sundance/Dodge Shadow) subcompacts, originally intended as replacements for the veteran Omnirizon twins at the bottom of Chrysler’s domestic lineup, would be repositioned a healthy notch upward to take on the likes of GM’s J-cars (Cavalier, Sunbird, etc.) and the…

Time was when American cars changed rooflines like we change shirts. Every 12 months the domestic cars would go through the Annual Model Changeover; the body dies would be radically altered, and we’d be presented with a potpourri of all-new sheetmetal. It mattered little that most of the brightly painted steel covered the same old mechanicals—the cars were new, and the previous year’s leftovers suddenly had all the appeal of yesterday’s mashed potatoes. Well, as you may have heard, things have changed, and, in the GM sea of lookalike cars, a modified roofline deserves mention. Luckily, the car that bears the altered look, the ’86^ Olds Ciera GT, bears a mention as well. The Ciera is one of GM’s A-bodies, the major corporation’s major success story. Three A-body models—Chevrolet Celebrity,…

I must admit, right off, to a soft spot in my heart for Peugeots. No, I wasn’t conceived, or born, in a Peugeot. My family has never owned one, and my driving experience in them is scant. The reason for my attraction is a little more obscure. You see, I like them because my grandmother liked them. She was a native of Missouri (Mizzura), and she was as sharp and discerning as anyone from the “Show Me” state. You couldn’t just tell her; she had to see it for herself. That included becoming something of a world traveler, filling my childhood with tales of magic Bavarian castles, tramp steamers through the Canal, Waikiki before the high-rises—a world full of wonder. So when she returned from a European jaunt and told…

When you hear the name Carroll Shelby, several things come to mind—bib overalls, Texas chili, and fire-breathing, tires-moking Ford-powered Cobras. What doesn’t come to mind is 4-door front-wheel-drive sedans. Well, hold on to your stopwatches, race fans, because the latest piece to carry the Shelby nameplate is none other than just that—a 4-cylinder front-wheel-drive 4-door Dodge GLH. Why, you ask? Good question. When we posed that same question to Mr. Shelby, he had a 10-gallon hat full of answers. To begin with, Shelby has been on the Chrysler payroll since 1982 as a performance consultant. In that time, several cars have carried the Shelby name, but the new GLH-S is the first to actually be produced by Shelby at his own facility. By his admission, Shelby got out of the…

If ever a vehicle has come to signify one’s formal arrival as a success in contemporary American society, it’s the 3-series BMW. Matching German craftsmanship with a requisite degree of price exclusivity, it has made and maintained a reputation as the darling of the Young and the Restlessly Affluent in big cities across the country. Though their numbers have proliferated of late, BMW’s mystique remains surprisingly intact around the junior member of this legendary Bavarian family. That, among other reasons, prompted us to make the 318i/325e models the subject of our latest owner survey. Our information was drawn from a national sampling of mid-1984 to early 1985 R. L. Polk & Co. registrations of new 3-series cars. Responses ended up skewed 60/40 in favor of the 325e. And, in keeping…

With Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, and Bobby Allison on hand to shake it down, the first of NASCAR’s new L-R (Left-Right) cars finally turned a wheel in early February on the road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. According to NASCAR tech chief Dick Beaty, who was on hand for the formal unveiling, the new Pontiac Sunbird was built strictly as a prototype. It will be shown to competitors throughout the early part of the season to elicit their suggestions on possible changes or improvements in the proposed rules before the sanctioning body establishes a final formula for the new breed of smaller “road racing” Stockers to see Winston Cup action during the 1987 season. The only L-R machine in existence at the moment is based on a scaled-down Banjo Matthews…