[trackbird]

This is going to be a bit strange (and probably too long). I sold my 2002 Z28 street/autocross car last year and bought a truck and a track car (2007 C3500 and 1992 Z28). At the time, I joked that if I bought that car, I'd wind up divorced. Well, I'm now divorced, but I have a car and a truck (and some other cars).

My local SCCA registration people pretty well irritated me at the last event to the point that I don't think I'm likely to run with them too much this year (if at all). And my current budget (and collective pile of cars) is not looking like much HPDE or wheel to wheel time is in my future. All of this means that I have a pretty fast, fairly sorted Camaro that I drive less than 100 miles a year (and now maybe not at all since it's not insured for street use right now) and I'm starting to miss driving a car that I enjoy. And, if I'm not autocrossing it, and not tracking it, I don't guess I really need to own it.

So, I'm starting to consider cleaning out my stable and finding a street car to drive again. Racerdad916 and I recently completed the work on the 2002 Taurus I have so it can be sold. That should let me buy my way out of the Mazdaspeed 6. I could sell the Camaro, use a bit of that cash to sell off my truck, pay off a few bills with some of the rest and go buy "something" fun to drive on a more regular basis (Corvette maybe? another 4th gen F-body?).

So, if I were to go car shopping, what should I go look at? I really want a 1991 C4 (updated body, 6 speed, non-lt1 car). I have had thoughts of a C5 Z06 (though I'm not a fan of what it takes to change a clutch in one of those). Or, I keep reading about Patreds f-body for sale (and others). Or, maybe I'll change directions, find a used truck and a kart? Or, I'm just off my rocker....

(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SStrokerAce]

Good comment on the GF vs. Race Car.... I always have to keep mine out of the race car!

This thread reminds me of something I have to tell customers a lot. Remember what you want out of a car! If you want something you can drive then you have to remember not to make it into a 100% drag or road race car. It's not going to be AS good at racing but if you like tooling around in it then it has to have some trade offs. Two things other than an interior make a car a fun street car to me, how well it drives and how loud it is. If it's too loud you want to shoot somone, if it drives like complete ass then you don't want to drive it. One is easy to fix with the exhaust and it's not going to hurt power too bad and the other is pretty much cam choice. The right camshaft always makes the car drivable.

I personally don't even drive my SS much anymore. On Sundays it gets packed up with tires and goes up to 3 hours away, gets beat on all day and then driven back home and maybe taken for a drive around town once a week. I autoX the car just so I do something with it!

Then again the daily driver needs to be somewhat fun. Mine is a Silverado 1500 with 20's on it, still needs the ported LS6 heads in the shop, small cam, headers, lowering springs and new shocks. Right now it has enough power and the 20's have made it bareable to drive thru corners. Part of me always says to just leave it alone, spend that $$$ on 710's and maybe trade it in on a G8 "ute" when it comes out.

I would say one of the cars I enjoyed beating the hell out of was my first car, a '94 Saturn SC2. (Thanks for reminding me nape) That with ABS gives you 4 wheel discs and a 5 speed makes it fun. It has 130hp, 2400lbs and you can put 205 tires on stock wheels easy..... hell if I could find a nice cheap one I would pick one up and use it for a car to tool around in.

Bret