From the well and truly forgotten department of Junkyard Chronicle comes this once mighty Peugeot 505 turbo station wagon. It is a mystery now why French turbocharged station wagons never quite caught on here in the United States, especially since the imported longroofs were by all accounts competent and stylish machines. This particular Franco-American turbowagon was of 1989 … [Read more...]
Take it Easy, Turbo
Turbocharged automobile engines are experiencing a resurgence in popularity thanks in part to a more performance and efficiency minded consumer hive. This new swell of turbo madness would in fact be the second wave. The first wave of production turbocharged rockets occurred in the Eighties, as fuel control systems drifted away from carburetors and into computerized multipoint … [Read more...]
Turbocharged Minivans and Lasers
Today marks recognition of the unsung yet pioneering heroes of the four-cylinder turbocharged production automobile universe. These are the Eighties turbocharged Mopar four-cylinders. Long before you could buy a universal turbocharger kit of questionable origin and functionality off eBay for a few hundred bucks, you could step up to your local Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth dealer and … [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...]