Modern and more luxurious cars than the 1982 Toyota Starlet have equally modern conveniences such as self-parking guidance systems and electrical windows. The Starlet has a small high-impact plastic crank that is turned to open and close the window. The plastic crank is attached to a simple and durable device known as the window regulator. The window is in turn attached to one … [Read more...]
Quad-4 but no Quad Laser
This late eighties front-wheel drive Oldsmobile Cutlass Calias may or may not became a collectors item or the stand as the greatest car ever made. Under the hood is what counts. The General Motors Olds division special, shown here on its final road trip, packed the first production dual overhead cam four-cylinder engine GM ever produced in house. The year? 1987. The engine? The … [Read more...]
His Saab is an Angry Saab
Special to Clunkbucket by Peter Peter Hughes Interstate 81 northbound, between Binghamton and Syracuse. Leaving New York City that morning I'd subconsciously registered a hint of additional depth to the Saab's normally throaty exhaust note, but it isn't until a fuel stop somewhere in Pennsylvania that I think to actually look underneath the car, and discover the exhaust just … [Read more...]
Now and Later Turbo Pinto Wagon
Mike Streets could have crammed one of many and readily available Ford V8 mills into the engine bay of his 1974 Pinto Wagon. Instead he chose to transplant a 2.3-liter single overhead cam turbocharged four-banger from a 1988 Ford Thunderbird in place of the aspirated stocker. Why? "A V8 would have been too easy", said Mike - who is a former SCCA Pinto road racer and current … [Read more...]
The Jim Backus Old-Fashioned Award: Ferrari 330 GTS
We first encountered this Ferrari in true Clunkbucket fashion. The owner, Scott Isquick of Pepper Pike, Ohio, was having a little trouble getting it started outside the post-show banquet at the 2008 Greenwich Concours. Finally, the 4.0 liter V12 caught, interrupting the sharp mechanical shriek of the starter. The ‘67 motored off into the Connecticut darkness, leaving a dark … [Read more...]