commasense: No, I don’t have a 240Z anymore. They all rusted out. Badly. One had frame rust so bad it had to be scrapped. Another one had a quarter panel blow off on the highway (at the speed limit, even!), because the attach fittings had rusted away. The third car, I was sitting at a light and tried to shift myself in my seat by pushing back a bit - and the seat broke loose from the floor and dumped me on my back in the hatch. Lucky for me, the car stalled when my foot popped off the clutch.
I don’t think I have even seen a 240 here on the streets in Edmonton for a couple of years. They are very rare around here, because our winters destroy them.
I’ve got a penpal in Sweden who’s related similar tales. Apparently, he’s managed to solve his problems by coating the underside of the car with tar. For some reason, however, this makes it difficult to get it through inspections there, but from what he’s told me about Sweden’s government, it makes the Byzantine system look positively simple.
My MGB restoration manual (Ha! As if I’d restore it myself! No garage, not tools, no time…) talks about a black, tar-like product called Waxoyl which they say is excellent for preventing corrosion. It never really “dries”, so some people like to use it as undercoating for stone protection. Since MGBs tend to rot from the inside, the restorers in the book pump Waxoyl into every crevice. I went to the Waxoyl website, and I didn’t see the specific product they were using.
Incidentally, I went to see the MGB on Thursday. It’s been tubbed out and getting ready for sandblasating. The rockers were rotten and since they provide much of the strength of this uni-body design, they will be replaced by new ones. The outside of the inner body (which will be hidden by the fenders/wings/body panels – whatever you want to call them) will be sandblasted and painted with a protective coating to prevent rust. The bodywork and paint should be done in a couple of months.
I thought about mentioning the Hudson. When I was a kid in the early-'70s my friend’s grandfather had at least three of them. But would I like to see a new, modern one introduced? Hm… Yeah, I could see it. That big dumpling body, the cavernous interior… I can visualize a modern version, and it looks really cool. It would be nice to have a big roomy car made using modern technology.
Tuckerfan: Now, didn’t I just say that Moss is developing a supercharger for the MGB so that it can beat Miatas? Why do Mazda have to go and make the Miata faster?
IIRC, there was a car built in the 1970’s that used the name of a clssic 30’s car. Duesenberg or Bugatti, I can’t remember which. Either way, it was a hideous nightmare. It looked like a 1973 Rivieria had fallen out of an ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
There’s also another 30’s style car that appears to be based on a Mercury Cougar (ca late 80’s). Car and Driver once featured it on a cover and actually got hate mail and cancelled subscriptions.
You’re probably thinking of the Stutz Bearcat. (This is actually the better looking version of the car. Be glad I can’t find any photos of the uglier version.) Elvis had one, and they’re so ugly that not only did they hit every branch on the way down, but the ground rejected them and hurled them back up. The original version is pretty, and was an amazing performer.
I can’t think of the name of it, but it was based on the Pontiac Fiero. Don’t remember the name of it, and haven’t been able to find any pics of it on-line.
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this, but last time we were chatting with the folks at the VW dealer, they said there are some rumors about porting the TT to the VW lineup as a neo Ghia once Audi is ready for an update on the TT body.