MotorTrend June 1982

The low cost of car travel Once upon a time, in a former life, I wrote travel stories for a big women’s magazine—a shelter book, as they’re called in the trade. It was a sweet deal while it lasted. I headquartered in a little (population one) San Francisco branch office. They (referring to the rest of the magazine’s editorial hierarchy) were all back there in another part of the country; and for some three years plus, I crisscrossed the western states, western Canada, and Mexico pretty much as I pleased. There were many merry adventures connected with this duty, but the impression that sticks most vividly is of the asphalt I put behind me—the sheer volume of miles. Even though there was plenty of precedent for a fly/drive approach to…

COTY Encore I was very impressed with your Car of the Year contest (March ‘82) and fully agree with your selection of the Camaro Z28 as the winner. After seeing some of the fine domestic cars that competed, I feel it would be foolish to buy an import. Joseph S. Spedding, Jr.Philadelphia, Pa. Your choice of the Camaro Z28 reflects your true approach to cars and to the automotive scene in general. You might as well have been choosing Playmate of the Year instead of Car of the Year. Name Withheld on Request We’ll probably need a new data panel, but we’re certainly willing to try. Over to you, Hef.—Ed. The new Camaro is definitely just what the doctor ordered to help GM get back some of those valuable sports…

As part of an advertising test, Firestone Test Exchange will send to each reader of this publication, who reads and responds to this test before midnight June 20, a 62-piece American and Metric Heavy Duty Industrial tool set and metal storage chest, containing all the basic and special tools necessary to service and repair domestic and foreign trucks, tractors, autos, and all heavy industrial machinery. Consists of: 7 American 3-8 inch drive sockets (3-8”), (7-16”), (1-2”), (9-16”), (5-8”), (11-16”), (3-4”). 9 American 1-4” drive sockets, (3-16”), (7-32”), (1-4”), (9-32”), (5-16”), (11-32”), (3-8”), (7-16”), (1-2”). 9 Metric 3-8 inch drive sockets, (9MM), (10MM), (11MM), (12MM), (13MM), (14MM), (16MM), (17MM), (19MM). 9 Metric 1-4 inch drive sockets. (4.5MM), (5MM), (6MM), (7MM), (3MM), (9MM), (10MM), (11 MM), (12MM). A heavy torque 3-8 inch…

GM A-WAGONS FOR 1983 The still-new General Motors intermediate front-drive family—Chevy Celebrity, Pontiac 6000, Buick Century, and Olds Ciera—will slug it out through the remainder of ‘82 in 2- and 4-door sedan bodies only, but ‘84 introductions will include a station wagon body shell. Here designer/illustrator Duane Kuchar has projected beyond ‘84 to ‘85 or so, when Chevrolet might add the Celebrity Nomad 3-door sports wagon to its lineup, with fuel-injected aluminum V-6, 5-speed transaxle and independent rear suspension. ‘83 CORVETTE DELAYED A collection of nagging but surmountable problems in the Corvette program at Chevrolet may delay introduction of the all-new sports coupe (and, later, its convertible variant) by a couple months at most. The fuel-injected fiberglass wonder-car should now be available by March 1983, barring any new complications. Insiders…

RENAULT 9 PLUS ONE Renault’s 1982 European Car of the Year, the 9, will be offered as a 5-door hatchback during the 1983 model year, its second year of production. The back-door 9 will ride on the same 97.5-in. wheelbase as the notchback version, although the new model is expected to be about 3.5 in. shorter overall. While the hatchback 9 makes a welcome addition to the 9 lineup, its position in Renault’s entire range is more than a bit confusing. Next model up from the 9 series is the Renault 14. Never a sales knockout like the Renault 5, the 14 was, conceptually, the Regie’s Rabbit. On paper the 14 should have been the ticket for its segment: large, practical, 5-door hatchback body, ample seating for five, a fuel-efficent…

Two and a half years ago, the car featured on this month’s cover was no more than a collection of two-dimensional drawings being carried from office to office in the dim, quiet halls of Ford Motor Company’s Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan. As designs for an American luxury specialty car, they were impossibly radical for the time, a time when the three-box Continental Mark VI 4-door and the square-cornered Thunderbird/XR-7 were brand-new ideas in the marketplace. But the winds of change brought new top management and new design management to Ford, and with them a new attitude toward designs previously considered impossibly radical. Thus a few months later the Concept 90, as it came to be called, was three-dimensional, a ⅜-scale model set up on tables in the Lockheed Marietta…