What Car You Have Owned Was, Is, The Most Fun To Drive?

[WilliamH]

From what little I know about British cars that are cool, they aren't necessarily made to be primary transportation, they are made to be good looking, they are made for that "feeling", they are made to lay up beside the guy with the family car and make him want to trade you his car, family and wife for it. As I understand it, that's what British cars like yours are really made for.

Can't argue Mike's point at all. But at 17 what did any of us know?
Drove it all through my senior year of high school and the only car in the lot that was cooler was a brand new '61 Lincoln Continental convertible and almost at the end of the year someone showed up with a new XKE.
When I finally got rid of it I went to a '63 Buick Special convertible with of all things, an aluminum V8.
I was lucky and had my toys when I was a kid and really enjoyed them.

 

[WilliamH]

Like I said, not primary transportation! Would the problems be mostly in the electrical system? Or some mechanical just to keep things lively?

The short answer is Yes!
Back in '57 it was generators rather than alternators and that required a voltage regulator. Lucas was notorious for problems. Almost burned my baby up once. Another problem was the wire. Copper core stranded with a layer of rubber insulation and woven cotton wax impregnated shell for color. Tended to get brittle near too much heat. The old cork valve cover and side cover gaskets tended to leak after a while. The original SU electric fuel pump had been replaced with a Bendix when I had it, and was subject to vapor lock. The SU side draft carbs had to be balanced by ear since it had a split intake manifold. And then there were the old lever action shocks. They had a tendency to get loose and oval out the mounting holes on the frame. Last but not least is the wire wheels. Spokes get loose and the wheel goes out of round.
By no means a comprehensive list, but you get the idea. If you couldn't work on your own car, you probably shouldn't have had it.

 

[Mike W]

The short answer is Yes!
Back in '57 it was generators rather than alternators and that required a voltage regulator. Lucas was notorious for problems. Almost burned my baby up once. Another problem was the wire. Copper core stranded with a layer of rubber insulation and woven cotton wax impregnated shell for color. Tended to get brittle near too much heat. The old cork valve cover and side cover gaskets tended to leak after a while. The original SU electric fuel pump had been replaced with a Bendix when I had it, and was subject to vapor lock. The SU side draft carbs had to be balanced by ear since it had a split intake manifold. And then there were the old lever action shocks. They had a tendency to get loose and oval out the mounting holes on the frame. Last but not least is the wire wheels. Spokes get loose and the wheel goes out of round.
By no means a comprehensive list, but you get the idea. If you couldn't work on your own car, you probably shouldn't have had it.

Oi!!

 

[DanS]

I had a '76 MG Midget. Loved that little car. That's why I know I am going to Love my Elio!

 

[Dusty921]

The short answer is Yes!
Back in '57 it was generators rather than alternators and that required a voltage regulator. Lucas was notorious for problems. Almost burned my baby up once. Another problem was the wire. Copper core stranded with a layer of rubber insulation and woven cotton wax impregnated shell for color. Tended to get brittle near too much heat. The old cork valve cover and side cover gaskets tended to leak after a while. The original SU electric fuel pump had been replaced with a Bendix when I had it, and was subject to vapor lock. The SU side draft carbs had to be balanced by ear since it had a split intake manifold. And then there were the old lever action shocks. They had a tendency to get loose and oval out the mounting holes on the frame. Last but not least is the wire wheels. Spokes get loose and the wheel goes out of round.
By no means a comprehensive list, but you get the idea. If you couldn't work on your own car, you probably shouldn't have had it.

Remember it well, check my list of owned vehicles, had a time with my Healey.

 

[John Painter]

Polski Fiat, when my wife and I were first married. It totally sucked on M1 to Vienna, it totally sucked hitting every cobblestone and pothole in Budapest, and was prone to overheating (air cooled), but the engine screamed! I threw a complete hissy fit when my father in law talked my wife into getting it, we actually have a very good relationship, but at the time... It did beat the pants off my sister in laws Lada Samara, but returned to its true turd pile nature next to my father in laws Passat TDI at the time.

 

[carzes]

Most fun car I had was my '79 Porsche 924. That thing was a BLAST! Not exactly overpowered, but that just meant it needed some skill to wring out every lb. of torque it could muster. Only about 140 mph on the autobahn, but it took curves like a rollercoaster ride and it was easy to fix. I miss that car.... And the autobahn.

 

[WilliamH]

This is probably "OFF TOPIC" squared, but thinking about my old Austin Healey made me look up some pictures on line and change my avatar.
It also made me think about some of the reasons I liked it enough to deal with all of the work it took to keep it running. Which of course led me down the path wondering how this car would stack up with the old AH. I did a little research and found that while I thought my AH was pretty quick for it's time (0-60 in 11sec) the Elio will do it in 9.6sec. Now I can't wait to find out how the handling compares.
Just wondered if any of the other former sports car owners on here have had similar thoughts.

 

[jdkeats]

I suspect that the Elio would excel in every dept over the
Healey. The Elio is half the weight which would make handling much improved even with 3 wheels.
The HP at 55 vs 100 probably does not play out with the weight differential and
of course the classic style cannot compare.

 

[cortsdad2]

For me, and I'll probably get flamed for this but, It was a Fiat X1/9. Yes it was a crappy car, but it was fun to drive. The peddles were spaced just right for heal and toe shifting, steering was tight, and the seat fit me.

My '99 SLK230 Kompressor, 5 speed, hard top convertible is my favorite car I have ever owned!