birkins3

Not exactly true. The 190E 2.3-16 was very succesful in the DTM races. Not to mention that there was a spec series before some GP events where F1 drivers raced them against each other and past F1 drivers. Senna got noticed first when he won one of these against all the greats.

There are a lot of historic race weekends in the US. Here are some links to the Portland Historics from this year: http://tinyurl.com/8regd http://tinyurl.com/dynoh http://tinyurl.com/9dbsh

I own a Miata and have owned one since 1996. It has been my daily driver for almost a decade now, I tracked it, I autocrossed it. I drive it in the rain and in the snow. I know a thing or two about Miatas. I no longer use it for motorsports (moved to more appropriate stuff) - but I do know something about them - and as I said before - these cars are not hand made. They are made on a modular assembly line and are defintely mass produced. I agree with you that these are simple cars, they are cheap for a reason - they use mass produced components mostly shared with more common Mazda (and now Ford) vehicles and at least for the outgoing models (NA and NB) the tooling has been paid for many times over. As for German car tolerances - I disagree that Japanses vehicles do not share these tolerances - I would actually argue that Lexus is second to no one in the quality of production. The same is probably true for the better made Acuras as well. But, as you have said - this discussion has gone out of proportions. Miatas are great cars and I mostly agree with you about your assessment of them.

Just to add another reference to put this idea that the Miata is hand made and not mass produced - Here is a link to the Mazda web site describing the U1 assembly line where the Miatas are made on the same line with RX8s, Demios and other cars using a modular assembly line: http://www.mazda.com/museum/museum/new_index/004u1/u1.html There is absolutely no way to combine hand made and mass produced cars on the same assembly line. The inefficiencies would be enormous. Mazda makes 1000 cars per day in this factory - on these assembly lines. If you want to see what a hand built car factory looks like - here is a reference to the Morgan factory where cars are really hand made: http://vintagecars.about.com/od/photos/ss/morg_albm_3.htm http://vintagecars.about.com/od/photos/ss/morg_albm_4.htm http://vintagecars.about.com/od/photos/ss/morg_albm_5.htm http://vintagecars.about.com/od/photos/ss/morg_albm_6.htm http://vintagecars.about.com/od/photos/ss/morg_albm_7.htm http://vintagecars.about.com/od/photos/ss/morg_albm_8.htm etc...

Every car by your definition is hand made - but the definition used in the automotive industry to define the way the Miata is made is mass produced. There are exactly 0 cars world wide that are made by nothing but Robots. As for the amount of automation in the Mazda factories - they are on par with the rest of the mass manufacturers of the world. You want non-mass produced cars you have to look at Morgan, Bentley etc... - compared to the Honda NSX - the Miata is mass produced. As for the claim that European automotive plants are more automated than Japanese - I have no idea if this is right. I do know however that the European companies have much higher labor costs compared to the Asian ones - you make whatever you want of it. As for these so called tight German quality control - if you will check the trends in statistical surveys by JDPower etc... - the Asian manufacturers are climbing the ladder while the German continue to slide. VW and Mercedes are among the worst in reliability concerns. BMW is slightly above average. Porsche is the only German manufacturer with good reliability ratings - but it is hard to know how long this will continue with the large volume of Cayyane trucks they are selling - which are made with VW that brings the rear. FWIW - Mazda as a whole is higher than VW, Audi and Mercedes, below BMW and Porsche in the latest surveys. I assume however that if you take the American made Mazdas out of the equation (the B series trucks which are old Ford Rangers in drag) Mazda ratings will get better. As for the Miata not being well made - once again check the JDPower statistics for years - the Miata is rated as the most reliable sporty car consistently. I have no idea where this claim of Miatas not being consistent comes from. Links to the latest reliability survey to support these claims - http://www.jdpower.com/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2005089

No it does not. The car is made on an assembly line in the Mazda Ujina factory in Hiroshima alongside the RX8 and the MPV. Mazda made and sold more than 700,000 of them since 1990. This would lead to almost 50,000 per year hand made - which would make it very expensive. For example - Honda's NSX is mostly hand made - and they cost a lot more than the Miata. There are a lot of things that can be said about the Miata - they are great little cars - but they are defintely mass produced which allows Mazda to sell them as cheaply as they do.

Actually, there are many advantages to the Rotary. Specifically - size, weight and smoothness. If you have seen the RX8 - it is a real wonder of packaging - they basically managed to get real 4 seats in a car that is very small physically - and the cars do offer wonderful chassis and handling thanks to that. I had a chance to drive one - and it feels like a slightly bigger Miata. I would say that it is one of my favorite modern cars to drive. There are, however, the obvious issues as well - poor gas consumption and it is hard to meet emission controls. There is also the "problem" of oil consumption - it is actually an integral part of the rotary design that there will be some oil loses - but this is one of the things that makes it hard to make the engine a mainstream powerplant. As for 4 wheel steering - this options has made somewhat of a comeback on the American market for big trucks - mostly because it makes it easier to park them and take sharp turns. However - it is still somewhat expensive and there are rumors that GM will drop it because it is still too expensive.

Actually, you will see them on the road course. Historic TransAm were among the most successful road racing series in the US. You will still see them on any historic race weekend in the US. http://www.historictransam.com/homepage.htm These were actually the places where people like Mark Donohue and Roger Penske started to make a name for themselves. The races had some of the greatest names in American racing of the time - including Dan Gurney, Shelby etc...

JC is fun to watch and read. But - his job is to make you laugh by being bombastic. Lets face it - the Mustang is a cheap car. For the amount you pay for one of these - this is a very respectable car. As for the claim that there are no American sport cars - I guess that Corvettes, Vipers and Ford GTs are not sport cars. There are plenty of Americans that want sport cars and go with American cars. About the Solstice being a disappointment - I have no idea. Did not get a chance to drive one yet. But - it looks like a good match for the Mazda MX5. If you consider the price - looks to be just fine. Anyway - it is hard to take a man that sends back his Ford GT because it has problems with the Alarm system too seriously...

It certainly is so. My 1972 '02 still has the original sign. I also have a modern plastic one that was given to me at some point - they are all plastic nowdays..

The discussion was about the C6 Z06 which most defintely was inspired by the C5R. See http://www.corvettemuseum.com/specs/2006/index.shtml for details. “The new Z06 is the dividend from competing so successfully in endurance racing,” said Dave Hill, Corvette’s chief engineer. “It combines the strong attributes of the new, sixth-generation Corvette with the spirit, technology and know-how from the race program to form an American supercar with outstanding credentials.” The links between racing and the production Z06 are both direct and indirect, as the vehicle was developed in conjunction with the forthcoming C6-R racecar, but they boil down to the application of lessons that could only have been learned after countless laps of endurance racing - everything from suspension geometry to aerodynamics. What the engineers developed was a totally unique vehicle that has its own powertrain, body structure and chassis system which are distinct from other Corvette models. In other words - the C6 Z06 most defintely is not a "straigt speed" special - but is a clear case of race technology used to improve a road going car. According to one of the magazines the Z06 did the Nurburgring in 00.07.42.99 - very very fast for a production car. Chevy pulled out the obligatory Nürburgring Nordschleife lap times to make the point: With Jan Magnussen, winner of the 2004 and 2005 Le Mans 24 Hour, at the helm, the Z06 clocked a seven-minute, 42.99-second lap of the 13-mile Green Hell, 16 seconds faster than a Z51-equipped C6. Porsche’s $440,000, 604-hp Carrera GT, with a seven-minute, 32.44-second lap, is the only production car to have gone quicker. For perspective, Lamborghini’s $283,000, 580-hp Murciélago clocked in at seven minutes, 50 seconds, and the $452,000, 671-hp McLaren-Mercedes SLR at seven minutes, 52 seconds.

Probably a good idea. I too was interested in one and tried several times to buy one - but they are ergonomically a nightmare for taller people. If you have a chance - the Lancia X1/20 (Monte-Carlo/Scorpion) is basically a slightly bigger version of the X1/9 with a tiny bit more space. FWIW - I looked at one as an alternative - but still was not comfortable enough in one to purchase it.

This is a C5. As for Corvettes can not turn - how many times did they win the GTS class at Le Mans in the last 5 years? 4, I belive...

The Fuchs have 5 lugs where the ones in the picture have 4 - that's whay I think these are Panasport 3 piece wheels.

Looks like a '49 Triumph 2000 Roadster to me.

Not enough resolution to say for sure - but these look like 3-piece Panasports to me.

There are Guzzis and there are Guzzis... and in all my life I think I only saw 2 V7 Sports

The wrong side of the country for me- otherwise my BMW 2002 would have been for sale... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4576677258&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

The rear lights do not look like Caddy lights to me. Not sure about the logo in the back as well. Also - I belive the chrome strip on the Caddy was not separate from the windows and did not run all the way to the front of the vehicle. But - it might be a different subtype I am not familiar with.

Another piece of literature on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/1967-Sabra-Pickup-Panel-Truck-Brochure-Haifa-Israel_W0QQitemZ6563268101QQcategoryZ35978QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I might be wrong - but I belive that Citroen's version of the 104 was the LN - not the Visa as noted above.

In the early 70s Citroen also had a Rotary GS. http://hem.passagen.se/chapron/birotor.htm

GSA and Visa are two different cars. The GSA (or GS) was a proper Citroen with all the "Citroen" suspension tricks. The Visa was a very conventional car .

תמונות ממועדון PNW2002 בפורטלנד http://tinyurl.com/ce6pd