My high school ride

[Brett Slater]

Here's what I drove back in my "mullet" days of the late eightie's until I graduated in 1990. Click on the link below for details of this poor car's fate...

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18004

[john campbell]

alright heres a couple of pics of my first car (GS of course) circa 1985-86 i dont have a scanner yet so these are pictures of pictures. oh yeah it was a triple black 71 gs 350 with chevy stripes

[john campbell]

next

[KEN COTRONA]

as a senior in high school i drove this, (cept blue not black)
no one wanted to race except on straight roads. :Do No:
fiberglass burns fast.:af: :af: :ball:

[Smartin]

Here's the boat..

ho hum. I miss that car already. It rode so nice. Much better than the convertible. Nice firm seat and tight steering. Fun to drive, just like all the Buicks!

[Brett Slater]

The motor that eventually went in the yellow car before the fiery crash, came out of one of my winter rides, a BIG green 70 Electra 225. I carted about 10 friends to school each day with room to spare! THAT was A LOT of sheetmetal!

[skyphix]

http://www.skyphix.com/non/riviera2.jpg

as I had posted in the "First Car" thread in the Wet Behind The Ears forum...

That and a Honda, but I've already posted that once, who wants to see one of those again?? :gt:

I really wish I still had the Riv... especially now that I didn't get what I traded it for (a solid 455 that needed a starter but ran when the starter wanted to work... got snowed in, then taken to the junkyard when the guy sold his house :Dou: )... and now that the Skylark will probably be down for a while :ball:

[Floydsbuick]

Ken,

I don't think I've ever seen a real Lotus Europa until that photo. I had about two dozen matchbox versions of it while growing up.
They were nicely done replica's, at least until I discovered what WD-40 and a lighter would do.

[70 gsconvt]

Wow, a Lotus Europa. Was it a JPS? Just curious as it looks black.

[KEN COTRONA]

it was blue, but with the same gold pinstripping. had the twin cam big valve engine.
All the talk about lotus cars handling well is true, equally true was the talk about them bursting into flames for no reason. don't know why, car suddenly went dead , looked in the rear and i was on fire, had an extiguisher too, but with two gas tanks on the sides and flames shooting out and around the caps it diddnt do any good. the fire department had to bash the hell out of the rims because they melted to the road.
some days i am tempted to sell my riv and go lotus again.

i really want a banks europa http://www.banks-europa.co.uk
they build "new" europas.
this is a funny size comparison, the lotus is the GNK-47d, a one of a kind "show off car" with a rover v8 built in68 or 69. don't know what the other car is.

[72skylark]

here's my first car, still have it, don't drive it-

http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/buicknick72/dodge1.jpg

1977 Dodge Aspen, slant 6, it was mine at the right price of $20!

[DugsSin]

Hey Ken I still love those little fire bombs. When I had the money for one there were none available and when a good one was around, no money. I'm small enough so that they fit me just nice.
There is one here locally all apart for many years sitting in a trailer but the guy thinks it's made of gold.
Yea there are a couple of the new versions I've seen on the internet and they always look so good to me.

[Brett Slater]

:Brow: :moonu: :grin: :moonu: :bglasses: :TU:

[Brett Slater]

Please disregard the previous message....hit the wrong keys...
:Dou:

[KEN COTRONA]

dugsSin
yep, i think the europa is the best lotus design of the time, the elan just seemed too soft and expected. the esprit were cool, the elite was so so . I almost bought an elite after the europa's death, but it just didn't do it. (the new elise is pretty hot!!!) i almost got a s1 europa a year ago, but, no cash. and when i get another, it'll be with the big valve "ford". there are some good europa sites, one fellow documents his addition of a radiator to the cooling system, a darn good idea.
a turbo buick v6 in a europa that would be a hell of car!!!!!
did you have one? not to sound like a mental case freak, but i occasionally dream that i am driving it. it had a great old car smell, not to mention the "heated" seats.

[Brett Slater]

I just found this pic on eBay. This is the SAME car I drove my last winter of high school and was eventually the donor to this car...

It gave her some life... (http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17985)

This was well over 4,000 lbs. of crusin comfort...:TU: