1. Alfa Romeo GTV6. Nice looking cars in their day, fun to drive but a finicky car to own. A good friend of mine had one. Very typical Italian driving position of that era, the steering wheel felt too far away and the pedals felt too close. At some point the annoying problems owning it overcame the fun of driving it, so he sold it. Very common tale for old Alfa owners I can safely say I don't want one. I fear those clamoring for the new Alfas, face a similar fate after the warranty expires.
2. Aston Martin Lagonda. This is the one I did not drive. A sleek, exotic, expensive, sexy looking but huuuuge car. I can't vouch for the driving experience but the electronics were notoriously bad. But then again since it's so high priced and fragile, most of the few folks that bought them did not use 'em as DD's. At this point they're good for little else except cars and coffee shows.
3. Citroen SM: Very interesting, unnecessarily complex car, meant to be the ultimate Citroen. well, that didn't mean very much back then. It was actually pretty comfortable cruiser with love it/hate it looks, but it drove nicely, It was quirky. It shared both it's dash & motor with the Maserati Merak. I imagine few remember that Citroen briefly owned part of Maserati or ever heard of the Merak).
4. Ferrari 308 GTB/GTS The Magnum PI car. It was actually a sexy, pleasant car in it's day. Unfortunately, underpowered by today's standards. As as an old fashioned front engined V12 Ferrari purist, I did not particularly like it. And then Ferrari built a ton of them, which I think hurt some of it's specialness.
5 Jeeeeeaguar XJS. Big heavy comfortable highway cruiser. I have a good friend that leased one. He enjoyed it, but happily returned it when the lease expired. The V12 was very smooth, well, when it ran, but it was not as responsive as the Ferrari V12's, and it gulped gas. Good road trip vehicle for two within the towing range of AAA.
I personally might have put an E-type or XK120/140/150 on the list before the XJS. 6. Lotus Elan: the inspiration for the Miata. Tiny little thing, but when running and in tune, can be an downright exhilarating car to toss around. I actually preferred the closed topped Europa, and tried to buy one when I was younger, but not the Elan. It's a great car to borrow on a nice day, not own
7. Lamborghini Miura: iconic car, but far from affordable at this point. I'd prefer one before a Countach, but a Daytona or 275GTB4 before a Miura. The Ferrari's were better made, more comfortable, more reliable, more solid feeling, and more driver friendly, and less likely to catch fire than the Miura. I drove a Miura at a young age, so I probably didn't appreciate it as much as if were to have driven it now. But It was a intoxicating car, though you couldn't see much behind you (countach was worse)
8. Land Rover Range Rover: A true luxury SUV. Very comfortable, very capable, great visibility, and actually designed to go off road. The main problems were horrific reliability and depreciation. They were very expensive new, and lost like a third of their value once you drove it off the dealer lot. Great if you buy used, (and dump it before some expensive breaks), but awful if you bought new as you grabbed your ankles financially. I test drove a then new one (90's) with a buddy. He ended up buying a Toyota Land cruiser with no regrets.
9.Triumph Spitfire: Small, nimble, quick, but a car best for a mechanic, as something was always needing attention. I worked at a British Leyland dealer back in the day, so these were plentiful. thing is, if I wanted an unreliable Triumph (they were all unreliable), If I 'were younger, I'd probably lean more toward a GT6 (think spitfire hatchback with 6 cyl engine). Fast forward to old fart status, and I'd lean more toward a TR6, (bigger, better, and more user friendly)
Thoughts? Comments?
