Andrew, obviously the initial car choice is a key factor in how people ome to regard the old dollar or effort spent to giggle return ratio, it is very similar to the initial forays into the world of amour where the way early experices color the expectations potentially for years.
But the problem always arises of people, usually younger boys who tend to be impulsive, and usually don't know anything at all of what has occured in life or history or sport before the day that they cast their eye in the direction of what ever it is that interests them.
When people say they want to do something that nobody else has, especially when it's something that is or was done so common and done to death as a Rabbit then I know other considerations are afoot than
an intelligent choice. No saying its bad, folks who are so thin skinned out there in inter=net world. just that EVERYTHING has been done, so why not get on with doing something reasonably WORTHWHILE.
>
>I'm always interested in car choices for novices as the
>decision is very important during those essential first
>years in the sport when you're replacing a lot of things....
>
>For pure intelligent choice at any budget level it's pretty
>hard to beat the early-90s Golfs - basically strong, fast
>enough, lots of parts, good ergonomics and access etc.
>Intelligent choice at the super-budget level MAY be anything
>you get for free, but always consider what it's going to
>take to make it strong and keep it going.
right, the ol I have a Pile of Crap for free so I want to expend stacks of money and waste tons of entry fees on something essentially unsuitable argement.
Intelligent choice
>at the higher budget level has to still be the Evo IV. JV is
>right about the Eclipse - bad seating, odd handling - a
>handful.
>
>Want to rally something more unusual? How about the Merkur
>XR4Ti the JV keeps going on about (not a bad choice if you
>can find enough of them for parts), or a Gen1 RX7 (still
>sooo potent when ported) or the Audi 200 rally car about to
>be sold on ebay for 5,700, or the 323GTX there that didn't
>make reserve at 3,500 or so, or a Volvo 122 or 142 (also a
>prepped one on ebay for $2Kish) that will be hard to break,
>or a Saab 99, or the Opel Manta on ebay for $270 (swap out
>the automatic...) or or or....
A customer of mine has moved to NYC and has a really wonerful SAAB 96 V4 fresh belts and away you go in something that there are currently Zero actively competing in USA (since mine is sitting here next to the Cosworth 4x4, hard choice, eh) . It's in Tacoma and is really clean and first class tru out
>
>So many cars, so little stage time...
>
>ACP
>(from Volvo 122 to Lada Samara to Evo IV)
>
www.musketeerracing.com
>Flirting with the laws of physics.
But Andrew, last time I suggested that an intelligent choice might be something other than an obscure car to somebody who said they wanted to do something that nobody else had done, I got a stack of rude pouty snivelling e-mail from the boy, so watch or I'll have to shake the finger at ya'.
Oh, and if Rally Racer Chiquita does get a Rare-bit I have brand new rally strut inserts x4 and shocks x1 and springs front and rear so I'd sell these for really cheap to get rid of them. they are Branded as Biltema out of Sweden but are made by KYB to the specs of the Swedish company. Supplied stacks of their stuff in the past and it's quite durable, different than street stuff.
John Vanlandingham
