While I’m sure the musclecar fans amongst us would go wild for all manner of classics from my storied birth year of 1968, I’ll confess that muscle machines have never really been my thing. I suppose if I had to choose something from the category, I would be quite happy with a Shelby “King of the Road” GT350 or GT500. I’ve always appreciated the Mustang as being the smaller, more sports-car-like machine of the muscle era, whether or not that was always true.
What I’d really like from 1968 is a Volkswagen Beetle. As much as I loved my 1974 Super, I always wished it were the slimmer, flat-windshield “regular” Beetle. And for non-Super Beetles, 1968 is considered a great one. Totch knows infinitely more about best years for Beetles, but I don’t think you can go wrong with a ’68.
Now let’s check in with Antti Kautonen and Mark Tucker:
Antti
As a former Peugeot 205 driver and enjoyer, I’ll nominate the 205 GTI. While the full-force 1.9 GTI was only introduced later, the 105-hp 1.6 GTI was new for 1984. It also brought the iconic three-door side window shape to the 205 model palette, as the 205 was initially launched with five doors.
The 205 GTI was a great hot hatch and one of the best of the genre. It was light, willing, versatile and perfectly fine to be used as the only car, and importantly, it also looked immensely cool. The 1.6 GTI only came with the 14-inch pepperpot wheels, so you can differentiate those from the 1.9 cars with the 15-inch wheels with a different design. My ideal 205 would be the carbed 1.3 Rallye, but those were also sold from the first light facelift on. My 205 was a warmly sporty 205 XS, so it was spiritually closer to the Rallye as it had a TU engine instead of the bigger, backwards-slanted XU of the 205 GTI.
Mark
1973 … lots of good choices, actually. Big American cars: boat-tail Riviera, fuselage Chryslers, first-year GM Colonnade coupes. Smaller sportier numbers: Datsun Z, Opel GT, Triumph TR6, Fiat 128 Rally. If I’m dreaming big: Pantera.
Top graphic image: Bonhams
1966 Corvette Grand Sport
1966 Buick Riviera
1966 Ferrari 275 GTS
Erm, hm. Dallas Jeep, Gianette G4 IV, Suzuki CV1, VW Polo mk2 hatchback.
On a more mundane note, I saw a TE72 Corolla Wagon yesterday and missed mine. Great car, just not for modern traffic.
Chevelle SS 454
1955 Maserati A6GCS/53 and the Borgward Traumwagen
Oh Daily drive?
Tatra 600 Tatraplan!
1967 International Harvester Scout 800. This was the second full year for the 800 models, and the huge 196-cu. in. straight four – really just one bank of IH’s own 392 c.i. V8 – replaced the turbo 152 that tried to deliver sufficient power to move the box around. The 196 had similar power and notably better fuel economy.
Interestingly, one of IH’s first truck engines was also 196 displacement, but that was a big opposed two cylinder.
By 1967 rear seats were available too. So that’s a win.
I love slow cars (hence my username) so I would rock just about anything from 1997 with a manual transmission, especially economy cars and small pickups. If I had to pick one though, I would drive a 2-door RAV4 with a manual
I think I’d rock a Mustang SVO that had just come out.
Not a lot worth choosing for 1980, but there are two I’d own today, no question: Mazda RX7 or single-cab Toyota Pickup!
A Chrysler 300F with a Pont-à-Mousson
1954 Studebaker Commander Starliner.
Datsun 521 pickup. Which was my first and second car incidentally. I’ve been wanting to find one with a bad engine to convert to an EV.
Jag. E-type MKII, Saab Sonnet, Ford Bronco, Jeep Wagoneer, Volvo 1800S
1955 Gullwing.