The MW Automotive Thread 5.0 GT

[areaseven]

[areaseven]

[areaseven]

In celebration of the first official trailer for Furious 7, I'll be doing a review of the one that started it all.

The Fast and the Furious

Universal Pictures, 2001

Directed by Rob Cohen (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, xXx)

Based on the Vibe magazine article "Racer X" by Ken Li

Characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 Minutes)

Running Time: 106 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence, suggestive sexual situations, and profanity.

"Ask any racer, any real racer. It don't matter if it's by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning."

Cast

Paul Walker (1973-2013) as Officer Brian O'Conner a.k.a. Brian Earl Spilner

Vin Diesel (The Iron Giant, Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy) as Dominic Toretto

Michelle Rodriguez (Diana in Girlfight, Trudy in Avatar) as Letty Ortiz

Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto

Rick Yune (Zen Yi in The Man with the Iron Fists, Zao in Die Another Day) as Johnny Tran

Chad Lindberg (Chad in CSI: NY) as Jesse

Johnny Strong (Randy Shughart in Black Hawk Down) as Leon

Matt Schulze (Wall Street in The Transporter, Chupa in Blade II) as Vince

Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, Sinestro in Superman: The Animated Series) as Sgt. Tanner

Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins

Ja Rule (washed-up rapper) as Edwin

Synopsis

When a band of street racers hijack trucks loaded with DVD players, LAPD Officer Brian O'Conner is assigned by a joint mission with the FBI to go undercover to infiltrate the world of illegal street racing and find the mastermind. The FBI's primary suspect is Dominic Toretto, a man with a short fuse and a huge following in the racing world. Brian befriends Dominic after helping him evade arrest after a race and later falls in love with Dominic's sister Mia, which gives him doubts about who he's looking for to put an end to the hijackings.

Lowdown

The Fast and the Furious - the media franchise that has become Universal Pictures' golden goose for the past decade. When the trailer first came out in early 2001, critics and moviegoers were very skeptical about it due to having no-name actors at the time and a plot too similar to Point Break and No Man's Land. But on opening weekend in June, it debuted at #1 on the box office and raked in over US$40 million (easily recouping its US$38 million budget) and went on to earn over US$207 million worldwide. Since then, the entire film franchise has earned a global total of US$2.3 billion while placing Vin Diesel on the A-list of celebrities.

But after 13 years and five sequels (and another one coming on April 2015), how does this film hold? Surprisingly very well. Sure, the acting leaves much to be desired, but the cheesy one-liners are significantly more memorable than those of its sequels. Paul Walker's acting career was modest at most before his tragic death in 2013, but he has become an automotive icon due to his car collection and heavy involvement in motorsports. Michelle Rodriguez has built up a sizable filmography over the past decade, despite the fact that she dies in over half of them. Jordana Brewster hasn't done anything notable outside the series, but you gotta admit that she's still hot.

Then there are the cars - after all, they're the main reason why this film made so much money in the first place. During its day, The Fast and the Furious defined the peak of the import tuning culture (a.k.a. "ricing"). Teenagers would grab their parents' Civics and do mad stuff to them like dropping them to the floor, slapping in oversized rims, spraying wild candy colors on them, and fitting in miles of neon lights that rival Times Square. This film took it up a notch by introducing NOS to the urban dictionary. And if you thought Furious 6's airbase runway scene was impossibly long, that's because this film began the trend of defying any and all types of vehicular physics. Most notable is its first race, which turns 10 seconds into almost three minutes of blurred mayhem on a straight line.

Yet despite its juvenile script and a bit of CG and clever editing to clean up some shots, the production crew kept a lot of the car stunts real. The best example is the final drag race between Brian's Toyota Supra Turbo and Toretto's 1969 Dodge Charger, in which the latter collided with a semi-truck and flew nearly 20 feet in the air before getting mangled up in spectacular fashion.

If there is a real weakness other than the script, it's the soundtrack. The techno score by BT (Go, Stealth) makes for some good driving music, but is easily drowned by inane hip-hop and severely dated alternative music from Ja Rule, Limp Bizkit, and Saliva.

In retrospect, The Fast and the Furious is an immature movie targeted to screaming teenagers, and it did its job in spades at the box office. The franchise also reflected the change of car culture over the past decade from ricers to drifters to American muscle. It may not be an original idea, but it changed the way we look at not only car movies, but also action films. And despite being technically inferior to Fast Five and Furious 6, The Fast and the Furious ranks a high third place among all of the films. Go see it again as part of a Fast & Furious marathon (just skip 2 Fast 2 Furious) to prepare for Furious 7.

Rating: B

"I live my life a quarter-mile at a time; nothing else matters. For those 10 seconds or less, I'm free."

Links

The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Website

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 53%

Metacritic Score: 58 out of 100

References

The Internet Movie Database

[Agent ONE]

FF7 So excited

[derex3592]

1st one was good, I actually thought 5 was the best one out of the lot. 6 was just tooooo over the top. As my GF was a huge Paul Walker fan, I'm sure I'll be watching 7 in the theater.

Edited November 3, 2014 by derex3592

[PetarB]

*Fast Five* is an amazing movie for many reasons.

It's my favourite of the franchise and I was one of those in the seats for the first one with my eyes bugging out of my head.

I cannot wait to see this. My only problem with this awesome trailer is that Lucas Black is not in it and I was hoping he'd be a bit more involved. I really enjoyed Tokyo Drift! Perhaps he gets 'revealed' later on....

[areaseven]

I might as well review this POS sequel.

2 Fast 2 Furious
Universal Pictures, 2003
Directed by John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood, Abduction)
Based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 Minutes)
Running Time: 107 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence and profanity.

Brian O'Connor: "You ready for this?"
Roman: "Come on, man. Guns, murderers and crooked cops? I was made for this, bro."

Cast
Paul Walker (1973-2013) as Brian O'Conner
Tyrese Gibson (Epps in Transformers 1-3, Machine Gun Joe in Death Race) as Roman Pearce
Eva Mendes (Barillo in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sara in Hitch) as Agent Monica Fuentes
Cole Hauser (Benny in Dazed and Confused, Billy in Good Will Hunting) as Carter Verone
Chris "Ludacris" Bridges (another washed-up rapper) as Tej Parker
Devon Aoki (Miho in Sin City, Kasumi in DOA: Dead or Alive) as Suki
Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins
James Remar (Ajax in The Warriors, Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) as Agent Markham
Amaury Nolasco (Figueroa in Transformers) as Orange Julius
Michael Ealy (Ricky in Barbershop, Det. Sebastian in Underworld: Awakening) as Slap Jack
Jin "MC Jin" Au-Yeung (Chinese-American rapper) as Jimmy
Mark Boone Junior (Det. Flass in Batman Begins, Burt in Memento) as Det. Whitworth
Mo Gallini as Enrique
Roberto Sanchez as Roberto

Synopsis
Shortly after letting Dominic Toretto escape from the FBI, former LAPD undercover detective Brian O'Conner flees to Miami to continue his career as an underground street racer. But he is quickly nabbed by the FBI, who offers him a clean slate if he goes undercover as a driver to help them take down drug lord Carter Verone. Knowing he can't do this with FBI agents that have no experience with cars, Brian enlists the help of former childhood friend Roman Pearce to do the job, regardless of its risks.

Lowdown
When The Fast and the Furious became the sleeper hit of 2001, Universal Pictures naturally set forth plans for a sequel to capitalize on its success. Their plans, however, hit a speed bump when Vin Diesel and director Rob Cohen jumped ship to Sony Pictures to do the mediocre action film xXx. Desperate to get their sequel done, Universal hired John Singleton, who was known mainly for crime dramas such as Boyz n the Hood and Poetic Justice. Universal also brought in Tyrese Gibson, star of Singleton's Baby Boy, as Paul Walker's co-star. So with a new director, a new setting, and a new cast alongside Walker, what could go wrong?

Everything. That's what.

2 Fast 2 Furious takes everything that was good about The Fast and the Furious and throws it out the window. Instead, you have a film that has a worse script and less interesting characters than its predecessor. The late, great Walker tried his best to keep the film watchable, but even he knew it wouldn't work without Vin Diesel. Gibson does a decent job as Walker's sidekick, but from his return in Fast Five onwards, he's become the comic relief character. Eva Mendes may be hot, but even until now, she can't act. And whoever thinks Devon Aoki is attractive must be on their fourth shot of tequila, as she's a real butterface.

Production-wise, the film disappoints big-time. The opening race scene is marred by not only the CG spamming, but also the execution that's unrealistic even by F&F standards. The car chases end up being comedic, from Brian's "staring & driving" trick to the cartoonish warehouse scramble to the Yenko S/C Camaro impersonating the General Lee. You can film better car chases with a box of Hot Wheels than this movie.

Perhaps the worst part of this film is its incompatibility with the rest of the series. Even though Roman, Tej, and Monica return in Fast Five and Furious 6, nearly all of their backstories from 2 Fast 2 Furious have been long forgotten. Even Brian's misadventures in Miami were not mentioned on his first scene as an FBI agent in Fast & Furious. And that's a good thing, because nobody wants to go through watching 2 Fast 2 Furious ever again.

Rating: D-

Links
The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Website
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 36%
Metacritic Score: 38 out of 100

References
The Internet Movie Database

[areaseven]

Continuing the marathon...

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Relativity Media/Universal Pictures, 2006
Directed by Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow)
Based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 minutes)
Running Time: 104 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence and strong language.

Cast
Lucas Black (Frank in Sling Blade, Agent Lasalle in CSI: New Orleans) as Sean Boswell
Bow Wow (yet another washed-up rapper) as Twinkie
Nathalie Kelley as Neela
Brian Tee as Takeshi "D.K." Kamata
Sung Kang (Han in Better Luck Tomorrow) as Han Seoul-oh (get it?)
Keiko Kitagawa (Rei/Sailor Mars in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon) as Reiko
Leonardo Nam as Morimoto
Sonny Chiba as Boss Kamata
Brian Goodman as Maj. Boswell

Lynda Boyd (Miss Ayumi in Project A-ko 2-4, Liza in Project A-ko Versus) as Mrs. Boswell
Nikki Griffin as Cindy
Keiichi "The Real Drift King" Tsuchiya as a fisherman (cameo)
Vin Diesel (Riddick, xXx) as Dominic Toretto (uncredited)

"Life's simple, you make choices and you don't look back."

Synopsis
Sean Boswell is a high school student with a penchant for trouble everywhere he goes, especially when it involves cars. When he gets involved in a deadly crash during a street race, he's given two choices: juvenile hall or Tokyo, Japan, where his father is stationed as a naval officer. Upon arriving in Tokyo, he meets Twinkie, an Army brat who studies at his school and sells imported goods on the side. He also meets Neela, an Australian classmate who is dating a Yakuza brat known as "D.K." Letting his pride get the best of him, Sean challenges D.K. to a race, learning the hard way that his style doesn't work against D.K.

Twinkie: "Do you know what 'D.K.' means?"
Sean: "Donkey Kong?"

As a result of losing to D.K., he has to pay off his debt by working with Korean expatriate and expert drifter Han Seoul-oh in collecting money for the Yakuza. He quickly befriends Han and starts learning how to drift. Things get deadly when Sean gets too close to Neela while D.K. demands an explanation from Han on some missing collection money. As a means to put the situation to an end, Sean issues a loser-leaves-town duel against D.K.

D.K.: "Do you know who I am, boy?"
Sean: "You're the Justin Timberlake of Japan?"

Lowdown
Since 2001, The Fast and the Furious series has been one of Universal Pictures' biggest moneymakers, generating over US$2.3 billion worldwide in box office and DVD sales, as well as merchandising. The first film shot Vin Diesel into superstardom, while 2 Fast 2 Furious, well, was just a really bad sequel. Still, Universal knows that as long as high school kids dig cars, there will always be a F&F movie.

Which brings us to the third installation of the series: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. In this installment, Universal tried a different approach by introducing a completely new cast led by Lucas Black as the redneck teen Sean Boswell. Sung Kang does an impressive job in the role of Sean's mentor Han; so good that he reprised his role in the next three films, with this film apparently taking place after them.

Unfortunately, as with every F&F movie, this one has a rapper among the cast. F&F had Ja Rule, 2F2F had Ludacris, and this one has Bow Wow. He has the dubious honor of driving the most ridiculously ricey vehicle - an Incredible Hulk-themed green Volkswagen Touran minivan with purple fur interior.

Speaking of rice, you can't have a F&F movie without riced-up tuners. For this film, you won't see any Civics or Corollas. Instead, you have primarily RWD machines that are actually more than display pieces, such as the Nissan Silvia S15, Nissan Fairlady (350) Z, and Mazda RX-7 (the latter two featured with VeilSide body kits). The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX is also featured; but for this film, it's been reconfigured to RWD instead of its stock AWD setup. But for the final race, Sean drives his father's 1967 Ford Mustang GT, which has been retrofitted with a Nissan RB26DETT engine swapped from the S15 he trashed on his first run-in with DK.

As far as acting goes, you probably should've learned from the first two films that the word 'acting' is almost non-existent. Still, it's more tolerable than that of 2F2F, except for the fact that Keiko Kitagawa's talent was severely wasted with only a couple of lines and two minutes of screen time.

Now if you want to talk about action, there's plenty of that. Despite using some CG spamming, the races are a lot more intense and believable than those on 2F2F. Even the Monte Carlo vs. Viper race at the beginning of the film is worth the price of admission.

In short, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is not as good as the first film, but way better than the second. It's also a great popcorn flick, whether or not you're a car nut. And unlike 2F2F, this film is completely canon to the rest of the series, with one of its pivotal scenes being the epilogue of Furious 6. Now let's see how Sean blends in with Toretto's gang in the next three films.

Rating: B

Sean: "You know, this ain't no 10-second race."
Toretto: "I've got nothin' but time."

Links
The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Site
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 36%
Metacritic Score: 46 out of 100

Reference
The Internet Movie Database

[Agent ONE]

You were generous with that B rating.

[derex3592]

I like 3 as a kind of stand alone flick. I don't really consider it a true FF flick, but it's a fun popcorn crank it up on the system kind of flick.

.....better than 2 anyways...lol.

Edited November 4, 2014 by derex3592

[areaseven]

More from the marathon...

Fast & Furious
Relativity Media/One Race Films/Universal Pictures, 2009
Directed by Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, Annapolis)
Based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson (Hollow Man, 88 Minutes)
Running Time: 107 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence, suggestive sexual situations, and profanity.

"Still a buster."

Cast
Vin Diesel (Chris in Boiler Room, Caparzo in Saving Private Ryan) as Dominic Toretto
Paul Walker (1973-2013) as Brian O'Conner
Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto
Michelle Rodriguez (Luz in Machete, Rain in Resident Evil) as Letty Ortiz
John Ortiz as Campos
Laz Alonso as Fenix Rise
Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) as Gisele Yashar
Don Omar (some Reggaeton singer) as Rico
Tego Calderón (some Reggaeton rapper) as Tego
T.I. (some rapper) as Troy
Sung Kang (Han in Better Luck Tomorrow) as Han Seoul-oh (get it?)

Jack Conley as Penning

Shea Whigham as Agent Ben Stasiak

Brian: "Ya know, I've been thinking, when you blew up your car, that means you blew up mine too."
Dom: "Yeah."
Brian: "Yeah, so now you owe me a 10-second car."
Dom: "Is that right?"

Synopsis
After a successful run at hijacking fuel tanks on the highways of the Dominican Republic, Dominic Toretto leaves his girlfriend Letty and his gang to keep the authorities away from them while he's on the run. One day, in Panama, Dom receives a phone call from his sister Mia, who tells him that Letty was just murdered. He returns to L.A. to find out who murdered Letty. Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner - now an FBI agent, is assigned to track down a notorious drug lord named Antonio Braga. Dom and Brian once again cross paths when an illegal street racer's name is linked between Braga's operation and Letty's murder.

Brian: "This is where my jurisdiction ends."
Dom: "And this is where mine begins."

Lowdown
I know what you're thinking. There are a lot of questions you have in mind after watching the first three Fast and Furious movies. Brian's an FBI agent? Wasn't he in Miami the last time we saw him? And what's Han doing when he was killed in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift? Well, it seems that Fast & Furious is not just the fourth installment of the multi-billion dollar film franchise, it's a reunion film that completely disregards the 2003 disaster 2 Fast 2 Furious. Plus, the events of this film take place years before Tokyo Drift and clearly explains Han's association with Toretto.

Now that we've got that straightened out, how's the movie, you ask? With the original cast of the first film reuniting for this installment, you'd expect this to be better than the last two films. Unfortunately, it's not as good as Tokyo Drift. (Of course, it's better than 2 Fast 2 Furious, but that film's already been pretty much declared non-canon.) The problem here is that there really isn't much of character interaction outside of Toretto and Brian. Letty - who was an integral character in the first film - is killed off all of a sudden after the first five or so minutes of the movie. And while Jordana Brewster is still eye candy on the big screen (is it me, or does she look like a young Demi Moore?), her acting is still flat as it was eight years ago. Israeli supermodel Gal Gadot is also hot, but she doesn't do much, either. Vin Diesel, as always, requires subtitles on his dialogue. And the late Paul Walker still carries the same surfer dude persona.

Well, it's a car movie, which doesn't require much acting; so how were the car scenes?

As with the previous installments, F&F is loaded with tons of high-performance cars. However, in contrast to the first three films, imports practically take a backseat to American Muscle. Walker wrecks yet another Skyline GT-R R34, while Diesel thrashes a Chevrolet Chevelle before reuniting with the Dodge Charger he totaled on the first film. The Ford Gran Torino - which gained attention in Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, appears as the villain car. And for this film, Subaru supplied several modified units of their Impreza WRX STi as the new hero car piloted by Walker.

The racing and chase scenes, however, are disappointing. Sure, there are lots of nice cars to look at, but the film goes overboard with the CG effects and tons of impossible stunt driving that makes Die Another Day look like Bullitt. Because of all the shaky camera work (even worse than all of the Bourne movies), it's nearly impossible to keep up with the action.

Overall, while a much better effort than the second film, Fast & Furious does little to capture the excitement of the first. You could skip this, but it provides the backstory for the epicness that would be Fast Five.

Rating: C

Links
The Fast and the Furious Official Franchise Site
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 27%
Metacritic Score: 45 out of 100

References
The Internet Movie Database

[jvmacross]

Finally got to see the 2015 Mustang in person.....it's awesome....good thing they don't make a wagon version!

[SchizophrenicMC]

If I had 30 grand to blow on an Ecoboost Mustang or a Delorean, I would have to flip a coin.

This is coming from someone who's had the Delorean on his bucket list since he could pronounce Delorean.

[areaseven]

If I had 30 grand to blow on an Ecoboost Mustang or a Delorean, I would have to flip a coin.

This is coming from someone who's had the Delorean on his bucket list since he could pronounce Delorean.

At least the Mustang would be brand-new, as 30 grand will get you a second-hand DeLorean that would need another 10 grand on restoration.

[dizman]

Choose the Delorean, though you will want to send it to California for a stage 2 upgrade/restoration. Mustangs are a dime a dozen, Deloreans are something special that you almost never see.

[SchizophrenicMC]

At least the Mustang would be brand-new, as 30 grand will get you a second-hand DeLorean that would need another 10 grand on restoration.

That's the question: Do I want an oh-so-common Mustang with a warranty, or do I want a Deloran for obvious reasons?

Choose the Delorean, though you will want to send it to California for a stage 2 upgrade/restoration. Mustangs are a dime a dozen, Deloreans are something special that you almost never see.

Woah now. Why would I send it to Smogland when I live in Texas? Delorean Motor Company's still headquartered in Humble, Texas, just north of Houston. That's where most of the remaining parts inventory is. Not to mention I don't believe in the Stage 2 Delorean. The PRV may have sucked, but that's the car the Delorean was. I'm all for ditching the Carter suspension and switching to Euro-spec, but the Stage 2 is too Matt Farah for my taste.

Actually, funny story about Deloreans:

Jim Cavanaugh is a very wealthy man who owns a vintage aviation museum in Addison, Texas. He has 4 hangars at the executive airport there, which house his sizable collection of aircraft, classic cars, and a Super Sherman tank. (Fun fact: Fram is the only manufacturer of the filter that fits the P-51's engine) In 1983, a wealthy friend of Cavanaugh's bought him a DMC-12 as a gift. This has put Jim into a conflict for the past 31 years. You see, Jim is of the sort who can't part with a gift, out of respect for the donor. However, he hated John Delorean as a man, and despised everything the former GM executive stood for.

As a result, Jim Cavanaugh's Delorean was last registered in 1992, has tires dating back to 1988 still sitting on it, has around 9,000 miles, and sits in the corner of one his hangars, hidden away behind some planes, underneath a camouflage net. This is far more visible than its last resting place, behind the Super Sherman.

Jim Cavanaugh: The only Delorean owner who doesn't enjoy the fact that he is.

[areaseven]

I still don't get why the original DMC produced less left fenders than right fenders.

[areaseven]

Check out this sweet ride. There's also a Porsche 911 Targa in this video.

[SchizophrenicMC]

I still don't get why the original DMC produced less left fenders than right fenders.

[Political joke]

On a more serious note, probably related to foresight of repairs to passenger-side panels, and the necessity for parts availability.

With that said, what I find more exciting than the NOS in the warehouse in Humble is the few toolings and many production schematics in the warehouse in Humble. The fact is, with a large enough investment, DMC Houston actually has most of what it needs to mint new Delorean parts.

[Shadow]

Did the first oil change on my car and used Castrol Edge Synthetic since it was on sale at Walmart and a Wix oil filter. I don't know if they were using regular or partial synth before I purchased this car but I noticed an immediate improvement (albit small) in my mpg since doing the change. I know Royal Purple claims an increase of up to 5% in fuel efficiency but wasn't sure about the other brands (Mobil 1, Castrol) I wasn't aware all Synth oil provided a noticeable improvement.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Shadow

[dizman]

[Political joke]

On a more serious note, probably related to foresight of repairs to passenger-side panels, and the necessity for parts availability.

With that said, what I find more exciting than the NOS in the warehouse in Humble is the few toolings and many production schematics in the warehouse in Humble. The fact is, with a large enough investment, DMC Houston actually has most of what it needs to mint new Delorean parts.

I am surprised that new DMC hasn't started making new DMC-12 parts, I guess stainless is just too expensive to make it worth while. Or maybe they just want to rack up the prices on existing parts before they start making new stock .

[SchizophrenicMC]

It comes down to the expense of creating toolings for parts they have the schematics for, and of using existing toolings to make new parts. DMC has historically been a restoration shop and warehouse, and so it's never really had the investment necessary to become a manufacturer.

Though, I do think they could conceivably make custom parts based on the production schematics, even without dies and toolings, just at a very high one-off cost.

Ultimately, while DMC have been very mum on the subject of why they dropped the electric Delorean, and stopped overall new-build production, if I had to guess I'd wager that they were running out of parts, and didn't have the money to start minting new ones. They were making few enough annually that they qualified for the NHTSA/EPA exemptions, as I recall. But that still could have been enough to deplete stores of parts that they felt were better used focusing on their core business.

[ron5864]

I have a Delorean. OK....it's the 1/18 scale version. At least it fits in my living room display.

[areaseven]

Here's one of the finest DeLorean Time Machine replicas.

2014 DeLorean Time Machine by Team TimeCar

Team TimeCar

[SchizophrenicMC]

I want 2 Deloreans: One to enjoy as a piece of automotive history, and one to swap a 928 engine into and turn into a time machine. (Most of the Delorean's engine sounds in Back to the Future were taken from recordings of a 928, though specifics for some of the other sounds are unknown. Few, if any, of the Delorean's original sounds were used in the film)

Because, in my dreams, money is no object.

[Golden Arms]

I get the Mustang, but I'm a huge Mustang Fan , and the classic car experience can be an exercise in patience.

This past fall I was in Naples Fl and there was a auto dealer that had about 8 deloreans in their parking lot. I should've taken pictures but was too lazy.

As a owner of a classic car, I would caution that if you decide to go that route then have plenty of patience. It can be frustrating at times mainly dealing with shops if you aren't doing most of the restorative work yourself. I'd look for a car that didn't need much work to complete it. Since you also live in TX you also have the option of registering the car in several ways which can save you some coin if you don't intend to drive it that often.

[SchizophrenicMC]

I mostly own cars built prior to 1992, with the exception of Grand Cherokees, which were not in existence until 1993.

Currently, I've got a '91 240SX (build date is 8/90, though, which makes my registration and inspection woes all the more painful) but in the past I've owned a 1990 Pathfinder, a 1988 200SX, and a 1986 RX7 as well. Each was its own labor of love and each was its own set of expenditures.

If there's one thing I can suggest to people, it would be to give the rotary engine a try. They're actually a lot more reliable than people think, as long as you stick to the rotary maintenance requirements. My RX7 had 150,000 miles on its original engine, and was 26 years old when I sold it. And it still fired up every time in 3 pulses of the starter and ran perfectly. These engines are only unreliable when they're mistreated or maintained according to a piston engine schedule. There's no getting around it: a rotary engine is going to burn some oil. You're going to have to check it when you fill up the tank. You'll burn about a quart in 2500-3500 miles. And they're also not so good on gas. But the cars they're in are so much fun, and you really can rely on them as daily drivers.

The Delorean was supposed to have a rotary engine, but like the AMC Pacer, those plans had to be dropped when GM failed to work out the bugs in the rotary they were supposed to build. Which is why we ended up with the PRV V6 instead.

If you want to own a Delorean, there's no getting around it: You'll need a lot of money and a lot of patience. The parts availability for these cars sucks.

[Golden Arms]

Back in 04 I strongly considered getting an RX8, but I finally decided on my Mustang. I've always liked the RX7 and ditto for the RX8. Besides mustangs, I would love to get my hands on a early 80's Datsun or Nissan 28ZX.

On the show Wheeler dealers, they restored a Delorean and had to go to the Delorean shop in Humble TX for parts. That has been the good thing about the cars that I own as new parts are cheap/readily available and I've been able to find a lot of other parts on Craigslist. Last summer I scored a rebuilt T5 Tranny/bellhousing in 10 minutes from my mothers house in Dallas for under $600.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Golden Arms

[SchizophrenicMC]

Parts availability is why I've stuck to Nissans so much. There was a lot of parts-sharing among period Nissans, so I've been able to assemble a collection of spares, as well as always had access to parts as demanded.

I recommend against the 280ZX and suggest instead its predecessor the 280Z, or its successor the 300ZX. The S130 Z is an ugly waste of steel- a strange follow-up to one of the most beautiful cars Japan has ever made. And at least the 300ZX models were both technically impressive.

[areaseven]

[SchizophrenicMC]

Neither Saabkyle's camera skills, nor his presentation skills have improved with time. You'd think practice would make perfect. He's done this a lot.

I suppose anybody can be a car reviewer.

[rotorhead]

Having owned a 79, 82, and 84 gsl-se for a cumulative 14 years, I can attest to the great ball of fun otherwise known as the rx7. Frankly I'm surprised the miata was not given a rotary. It seemed the closest in soul to the original rx7: light, cheap, and fun to drive.

Oh yeah, it also inspired my user name

[SchizophrenicMC]

I understand completely why the Miata never got a rotary. They're just not cheap enough to put into the Miata, and they don't have the 4-cylinder feel of a classic old roadster. And, with emissions and fuel economy laws being the way they are now, we're not likely to see another Mazda rotary unless they're able to make some stride in those fields. Actually, the biggest ally we have in that field is the various programs that are funding hydrogen fuel infrastructure, because Mazda have already proven the rotary is a good platform for alt-fuel setups. And if they can make the 16X a production reality, that could settle it.

Until then, we have to accept the fact that a 20mpg 1.3l engine won't fly with CAFE, so we won't see any.

[Beltane70]

I recommend against the 280ZX and suggest instead its predecessor the 280Z, or its successor the 300ZX. The S130 Z is an ugly waste of steel- a strange follow-up to one of the most beautiful cars Japan has ever made. And at least the 300ZX models were both technically impressive.

I'll have to disagree with you there, as I like how the 280ZX looked. It's the first generation 300ZX that I'm not too fond of as far as its looks go. But, hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[derex3592]

I always wanted the very last year model of the 300zx twin turbo in dark green. 1996 wasn't it?