Innehållsförteckning för June 1984 från MotorTrend

How to be an overnight success after only twenty-seven years: Nobody would deny that Saabs today are more desirable than they were in years gone by. They look better. They handle better. They go faster. They’re more comfortable. Yet, the same philosophy behind the design and performance of today’s Saabs was right there from the beginning. And in the intervening twenty-seven years, that philosophy hasn’t changed, fundamentally. For example, Saabs have always been designed to provide efficient transportation in virtually any climate, to pull themselves through the dark of New England winters and the muck of southern springs with the traction of frontwheel drive. And now, with all that front-wheel drive mileage behind us, you’d expect us to have one of the most thoroughly tested and proven front-wheel drive systems…

We’ve been down this road twice before. And each time the white lines seem to be going by a bit faster. In what’s practically become a tradition around here, the annual head-to-head confrontation between the four major Japanese GTs, a number of interesting facts have begun to make themselves very apparent. First off, nobody on that side of the Pacific seems content to play follow the leader. At least not for very long. Each of the four manufacturers represented in this field (and, for that matter, even the ones that aren’t), goes off adventuring in different technological directions. Like a bunch of kids in a candy store who don’t want to dip into the same jar as their pals, each seems determined to come up with something that’s theirs and…

Model proliferation is alive and well. That’s the effect whereby more and more nameplates appear with less and less to distinguish them. In addition to confusing consumers and magazine writers, a company can manage to obsolete some of its own products prematurely, if a new and better car line is not clearly different in size, packaging, or appeal compared to an existing series. General Motors’ new GM20 line (nee blear) of compact, family sedans is a replacement for the pioneering X-car fleet, and will thus slot in between the J-cars (Cavalier, Sunbird, Skyhawk, Firenza, Cimarron) and the A-cars (Celebrity, 6000, Century, Ciera). That’s not a particularly wide chasm to fit into, and because the new cars borrow heavily from their brethren for hardware and styling themes, many of us might…

Those who are truly serious about going fast have learned along the way that, unlike running a pizza joint, it doesn’t pay to advertise. Thus, anyone who contemplates making time at a rate more hourly-efficient than those deemed survivable by the safety Nazis knows undercover is the only way to go. Arrest-mered, snarling-exhaust profile pieces need not apply here. We’re talking about getting there in a hurry without drawing unwelcome attention to your rate of progress. With that in mind, allow us to introduce one of the undercover automotive finds of the year, the Dodge Omni GLH. That’s G-L-H as in Goes Like Hell, according to the guys in Carroll Shelby’s Santa Fe Springs, California, Skunk Works (known formally as the Shelby Performance Center). And they ought to know; they…

MAKING CAR CARE ENJOYABLE Car care is what you make it, and it can be enjoyable and fulfilling if you take the offensive. Simply do the work a little at a time, before trouble starts. If you take car care as a defensive maneuver (the old “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” approach), you’ll feel like you’re always behind. The object of proper car care is to always be on top of the situation. In the long run, it’s easier and cheaper to replace a part before it breaks. Waiting until it breaks (in the middle of nowhere) leaves you either stranded or stuck with a costly towing bill. The cost of parts and repairs under emergency circumstances relates directly to how far you are from home and if…

SHOCKING IMPROVEMENT If your undercar inspection reveals leaking shock absorbers, or the ride and handling aren’t what they should be, you probably need new shocks. Replacing shock absorbers is an easy afternoon job. Place one end (A) of the car at a time up on sturdy jackstands. On many cars, access to the rear shocks is easier if you remove (B) the wheels and tires. It’s quite common for the mounting nuts and bolts to be rusty, so spray rust penetrant (C) or silicone to help loosen the difficult fasteners. In the long run. heavy-duty shocks are a better buy than cheapie models. The top fasteners for rear shocks are either in the trunk, under a rear seat trim panel, or inside the wheelwell. Some shocks have a stud-and-nut upper…

What a difference a year makes. In February 1983, Miami, Florida, played host to a landmark Camel GT race through the streets of its city. With a total purse of $175,000, the first Miami Grand Prix was the richest sports car event ever held in America. It was also one of the shortest IMSA GT contests in history. Despite the best efforts of all concerned, including local race promoter and president of Miami Motorsports, Inc., Ralph Sanchez, the inaugural Miami Grand Prix went into the books as a wash—literally—with a record 2.66 in. of rain on race day. The storm flooded portions of the track, forcing IMSA to halt the three-hour event after barely 60 min of action. This year, the Miami mini-enduro was an entirely different matter. It retained…

Since the introduction back in 1979, Volkswagen has built well over 700,000 Jettas. And while sales of the trunked Rabbit haven’t swelled in recent years, VW believes the market for traditional 3-box sedans will prove to be one of the most important growth segments in the mid to late ’80s. The resurgence of the traditional sedan has been noted by several manufacturers including Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Toyota, Lancia, Nissan, and even Saab. All these companies have discovered that formal sedan versions of their largest-volume hatchbacks have been well received in the marketplace. This is true of Japan and the United States as well. Not only is the typical notchback buyer older than the average hatchback owner, he is also wealthier and more conservative. To no small degree is this…

A 4-wheel-drive vehicle is a real necessity in Los Angeles, y’know? Not because of blowing snow drifts in the wintertime (though it has snowed here—twice. And on the last official day of winter this year, it was only 87° with the wind chill pulling it down to 85). No, you need a 4wheeler around here because of other climatic dangers. It’s just the thing for racing overland to escape from our killer brushfires. And when a common mudslide inundates a whole community, a good 4wd is about the only way to slog in and pick through the remains. Of course, when the Big Quake hits and the state of Califrenzia breaks off and slips beneath the brine, not even all-wheel traction will help much, though it is useful to the…

We just spent an entire day driving around with a man who passes most of his steering-wheel time looking out the side windows. He does this, not because the windshield is dirty, but because that is where the road is located. Rod Millen and his new 4-wheel-drive Mazda RX-7, built to compete in the SCCA Pro Rally Series, establishes a whole new meaning for the word “sideways.” Those of us experienced at racing on paved surfaces are astonished by the cornering attitude and capability of sophisticated rally cars like this 4wd Mazda. This is one case where a picture is not worth a thousand words. No photograph can begin to convey the sensations that go with cornering at the limit with a driver of this talent, in a car so…

GHIA MINI-VAN Another face has emerged for the mini-van lineup, this time from the Ghia design house of Turin, Italy. Called the APV (All Purpose Vehicle) the van sits on a 93.6-in. wheelbase and measures 159.5 in. overall length and 65.9 in. tall. It’s designed to carry seven passengers and the two rear bench seats can fold down for carrying cargo. The two front doors open in the conventional manner, while the two rear doors slide out and back. The rear cargo door swings up but the rear glass can be opened independently. Thanks to the 60° slope of the windshield, flush-mounted glass and door handles, and partially covered rear wheels, the APV claims a 0.33 Cd. This snarky-looking van is designed to be a front-driver equipped with a 1.6-liter…

While an army may travel on its stomach, our Samurai squad needs the motivation of an internal-combustion engine to propel them along life’s road wars. The engines in each of our fighters are as different from each other as engines can get. Just about the only thing they have in common is that they all burn gasoline. In this arsenal, you’ll find an inline four, a V-6, a DOHC inline six, and the only production rotary in the world, a veritable cross-section of future-engine technology. While some might argue the rotary isn’t new, its outstanding power-to-displacement ratio certainly embodies the ideals that all modern engines should emulate. If the goal is small, lightweight, high-yield power modules, the Mazda’s hummer has to be considered an advanced design by anybody’s definition. Mazda’s…

Gran Turismo Omologato. It sounds much better in Italian. Some 20 years ago the front-engined Ferrari GTO, thought by many to be Maranel-lo’s all-time classic, won the World GT Racing Championship for the third successive year. There were only 39 of them, all with 295-hp V-12 engines, 5-speed transmissions, and a pur sang that summed up what Ferrari stands for. The new GTO, unveiled at Geneva this spring, has a lot to live up to, but there will be at least 200 units built for the road and possibly a lot more, if initial reaction is anything to judge by. The GTO is loosely based on the 308, with a strong steel tube chassis. But apart from that and the familiar Pininfarina styling, the two models don’t have all that…

One look is all it takes to spot the main advantage. Unlike “tin-can” fuel filters, you can see through this one. So you can see when it’s dirty—a clear advantage. This unusually commonsense design is called ProFuel® And it has other advantages that aren’t so transparent. Like the fact that you don’t throw it away when it’s dirty. You simply replace the dirty element. Nice, huh? The replaceable element is both inexpensive and ingenious. It’s white nylon, so ithigh-lights dirt and varnish. And it stops grit down to an absolute 40 microns. (That beats OEM specs for any car in the world.) Yet it doesn’t restrict the flow of fuel. Best of all, ProFuel is available, along with replacement elements, at autostores inyour area. ProFuel is a product of CR…

Daytona International Speedway is one place that no driver ever learns to take for granted. A few, however, have been far more successful at coming to special terms with the Big D’s notorious high banking. Cale Yarborough is one of those select few. Over the past 22 years, he has rewritten the Daytona record books on many occasions, and Speed Weeks 1984 proved no exception. Yarborough’s trio of conquests—setting the outright single lap Q-record, winning his 125mile qualifying race, and taking the 500 itself—marked the first time any driver has won the elusive Daytona “Triple Crown” since Glenn “Fireball” Roberts set the standard in 1962. Ironically, that was the same year a youngster by the name of William Caleb Yarborough made his first appearance in the Daytona 500. He finished…

The Motor Trend longterm-test Mitsubishi Starion ES arrived at our offices with 999.5 miles on the odometer. The ES variant Starion represents the top of the line, and nearly every conceivable goodie is standard—including air conditioning, trip computer, limited-slip differential, and an excellent AM/FM cassette deck. The only available options are electric sunroof and leather seats; our test car came with the leather but not the sunroof. This 1983 Mitsu is the second-generation Starion, and the corporation has put the previous year’s production experience to good use. Mitsubishi also participated in a road racing program during 1982, and some of the developments of the program have shown up in ’83, in the form of a different roll rate balance front to rear, and slightly different shock valving. The ’84 feels…

Let’s start where so many others have started—with a fading black-and-white print, a will-o’-the-wisp rendered more maddeningly alluring by the passage of time. Bill Tishman is a gentleman of very independent means and highly individual tastes who was seduced by that dim photograph. Bill Lewis is a retired commercial model maker and a tireless searcher after Truth, enticed by that same murky image. Ronald Barker is an automotive journalist and historian whose work has lent pleasure to English publications for decades: He too has been lured by the beckoning shape in that photograph. Griff Borgeson: “The bare Bucciali chassis were downright seductive, but the cars…!” Mr. Borgeson is another of those tireless searchers, indefatigable correspondents, interviewers, writers, with an ocean of automotive experience, drawn like some adolescent Victorian dandy to…

Three kinds of Classified Ads are available to advertisers. Commercial Classified: $110 for 25 words. $3 for each additional word. One-inch photo or illustration, add $120. A 5% frequency discount for ads in six or more issues. Car Club Classified: $70 for 25 words. $1.15 for each additional word. Add $40 to include photo. Personal Classified: $40 for 25 words. $1.15 for each additional word. Add $40 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. Closing date: All ads must be received by the 15th of the third month preceding publication date (e.g., April issue closes January 15). Payment must accompany order. Send order and…

CHEVY’S PLAGUE OF Z For 1985 Chevrolet will offer two new Z-cars to accompany the popular Z28, one hot, one not. The more potent of the pair is called the IROC Z, and will play off the newly revived International Race of Champions, which will be run with modified Z28s. The IROC Z will sport a revised front fascia with softer contours. The new nose may wear a set of flushfitting aero lights by the close of the ’85 model year. Compared to the current Z28, the IROC iteration appears starkly monochromatic. The rocker-panel extensions are finished in body color, and the duo-tone side striping of the standard Z has been eliminated. Reports indicate the 3-piece tail spoiler fitted to the current Z28 will be replaced by a rubber wedge…

The Samurai warriors described in this issue are all well-engineered high-performance GT cars capable of generating high-order performance figures in all categories. They offer the prospective buyer a comfortable, stylish, personal Grand Touring car with an aura of “performance.” However, the cutting-edge engineering that goes into the Samurais requires that they be priced accordingly, and they are consequently out of reach for many potential buyers, especially the younger set. Never fear. Honda’s here. The mini-Samurai (Samurette?) Honda CRX offers equivalent performance in a small package at less than half the price of the full-blown warriors. It is not a GT car in any sense of the word, but possesses many compensating virtues and should have broad appeal for those buyers not yet able to greet their bankers on a first-name…

Let’s face it. The Corvette and the Fiero are freaks. Corporate shakeup or no corporate shakeup, when General Motors rolls out a new car, that car is almost always expected to produce volume sales for more than one division. It’s just a question of how little differentiation the corporation thinks it can get by with from one edition of a particular car to another, and from one line to those surrounding it in the sales hierarchy. In the case of the J-cars, the GM corporate planners found that no matter what divisional badge they applied, the buying public knew bland when they saw it. Which is precisely why those same planners worked hard to give the GM 20 (N-car) line a little extra appeal. • And it also accounts for…

Among its other entertainments, the 1984 SCCA Trans-Am series will have a new/old competitor: Mr. Trans-Am—George Follmer. George has competed in more Trans-Ams, taken home more prize monies, and won more races than any other driver in the series history. This impressive record has been compiled in a variety of cars (Javelins, Mustangs, and Porsches), and 1984 will continue that tradition with yet another manufacturer. Follmer Racing is running an ’84 Chevrolet Corvette, prepared to SCCA regulations, but designed with an eye on the IM-SA rulebook as well. In fact, several invitations have been extended to entice Follmer Racing into the endurance racing format that’s proven so successful for John Bishop and his International Motor Sports Association troops. George feels that when there are enough zeroes to the left of…

NO DEPOSIT FUNNEL You can make a great funnel for oil changes from any empty, clean two-liter plastic soda pop bottle. Cut off the bottom and you have a funnel that will easily hold a quart of oil or the can itself. Keep the cap and it will prevent oil from dripping on your workbench after the funnel has been used. PIPE PRESSURE Nothing is worse than having a flat tire and discovering the lug nuts are too tight for the factory wrench. The solution: add leverage with a one- to two-ft. length of pipe. Store the pipe section with the lug wrench inside it; the pipe hardly takes up any additional trunk space. PUT A LID ON IT If you ever have a partial can of oil left after…

Undoubtedly one of the better ideas to come from the Bayerische Motoren Werke in the last few years was the installation of a lightweight version of BMW’s inline six in the firm’s smallest sedans, the 3-series. Ever since it was introduced in Europe, over six years ago, the 323i has been one of BMW’s most popular models. And even though BMW of North America never chose to import the 6-cylinder 3-series in the past, quite a few 323s managed to find their way into the U.S. through the gray market. Now, one year after the introduction of the second-generation 3-series BMW, the 318i, the American market is getting its own 6-cylinder baby Bimmer. Called the 325e, the latest BMW is essentially a 318i with the 101-hp 1.8-liter L-4 replaced by…

Now this, dear friends, is a sports car. Call it what you will (Pininfarina Azzurra is the proper name; Fiat Spider 2000 is the only one that means anything to anyone), this classic Italian roadster is one of the precious few automobiles on the market today that can lay unquestioned claim to that title. We hope you have noticed how, in recent years, the term sports car has had its integrity destroyed. Problem is, there just haven’t been many true sports cars built through the last decade, and, in the absence of strong standard-bearers, a lot of pretenders have drifted in to fill the void. The automotive world has been changing. It’s not the same bouncy, rollicking place it was back when names like Triumph and MG were mentioned without…

Sometimes picking a vehicle for MTs long-term test fleet involves making a tough judgement call. Not so with the Renault-AMC Alliance. We thought the stylish little econo-sedan was something special the first time we laid eyes on it. After the Alliance walked off with our 1983 Car of the Year honors, this fuel-efficient front-drive subcompact became a natural choice for an extended evaluation. Based on the European Renault 9, this Franco-American hybrid has benefited from numerous improvements in the process of its transformation into a domestic. Our test car was a mid-line DL level 4-door fitted with the standard 5-speed manual transmission and optional A/C, power windows and door locks, AM/FM/cas-sette stereo, and the electronic Systems Sentry check panel. The Alliance has been in our service just over 12 months…

Consider this. The Soviet Union and the United States have been involved in an arms escalation since the end of WWII. The Japanese motorcycle industry is likewise presently locked in mortal combat on the superbike front. The only positive aspect of the arms race is the tremendous advancements in technology that filter down to the armed forces, and in some cases to the general population. Similarly the intense techno war raging between Japanese motorcycle manufacturers has produced a mind-boggling array of weaponry on motorcycle showroom floors for 1984. From the big four: Kawasaki offers the GPz900R and wins the best new-name award—Ninja; The Yamaha FJ 1100 is touted as the fastest street bike ever; Honda adds two (VF 1000F Interceptor and VF 1100S V65 Sabre) cruise missiles, and finally there’s…

CART off to a Fast Start in ’84 Begin with a 16-race schedule that combines equal measures of road and oval courses. Add at least a double handful of potential race winners. Blend in a half dozen drivers with previous F1 experience, and season with the reigning IMSA Camel GT champion. Sweeten the mix with record purse and contingency funds in excess of $10 million and you’ve got the makings of the most spectacular Indy Car season in history. Last year 854,000 fans witnessed the two-man showdown between Al Unser Sr. and Teo Fabi. Big Al finally put a lock on the title in the 13th and last round of the CART/PPG Indy Car World Series. Both drivers continue to rate as major contenders for the crown again in 1984.…