1988 Nissan Pulsar NX - Overnight Stay

Next door to where I now work is a towing company that the city contracts to tow and store cars driven by, allegedly, DWI offenders and various other offenses. I've been at this job four months now and I'm amazed at not only the steady flow of cars and trucks that come and go but the variety of different makes and models in all sorts of condition from showroom new to rolling death trap. I've stayed away from the impromptu sin bin until last week when this 1988 Nissan Pulsar NX made an overnight pit stop. I just had to have a closer look.

I have fond memories of these cars because when I first met my wife her older sister had a red, five-speed Pulsar just like this. Their father had a top of the line "NX-SE Twin Cam" version in silver. The extra go of the 1.8 liter twin cam engine was all but negated by it having an automatic. The down market 5 speed my wife's sister had was way more fun to drive.

Her sister bought hers because fresh out of college and flush with cash from a job as a merchandiser for a cigarette company, my future mother in law insisted she do something with her paycheck rather than blowing it on clothes and traveling and who knows what else she was burning her paycheck on. Cheaper than buying a small house or condo, I guess and it helped build a credit rating for her too. "Dad" bought his because...well, I'm really not sure. He was purportedly a sports car lovin' kinda guy and he traded in his trouble prone Chrysler Conquest for it. Despite its sharing much with the Sentra, it was as difficult to get in and out of as the Conquest was without even the remotest pretense of  high performance like his Conquest had.

Seeing that twenty somethings today are so into do-it-all cross overs, it's almost hard for me to remember how and why these oh-so-impractical 2+2's appealed to young people and the young at heart (like my father in law) back then. However, I have to remind myself just how different things were in the '80's. Especially on Long Island where nobody, well, next to nobody, used a truck of any sorts as daily transportation let alone an SUV. Speaking of which, when I think about it, had the term "sport utility vehicle" even been coined yet? And the closest thing to a cross over back then was AMC's Eagle and no one under the age of forty would have been caught dead in that thing. As far as driving something more practical, like, say a four door sedan, that was verboten lest we be construed as being a parent before our time.

That's not to say, though, that if today's slick cross overs and SUV's were available back then they wouldn't be a hit either. Cross overs not only do it all these days, they look great doing it too. (There. I said it). And they scratch the same itch in young people today that sporty coupes scratched years ago. That means, sadly, sporty little cars like this are dead, buried and won't be making a comeback any time soon. Nary a manufacturer has any plans to bring anything like it to market in the next five years. More cross overs and even wagons? Oh, you bet. But sporty little throw a ways like this? Nope.

Thanks for the traipse down memory lane, little red Pulsar NX. Hopefully you stopped by because of something less nefarious than a DWI. I'll tell my wife and her sister you stopped by. Their dad passed back in 2007. 

2020 Chevrolet Corvette - Do I Have to Call it a Corvette?

I've struggled with this blog for weeks now because I'm conflicted by this car. On one hand, I applaud the engineering marvel that it is but because it's now "mid-engined", I have difficulty calling it a "Corvette". Perhaps that's just abhorrent to change me but it begs the question, what is a Corvette? To me, inasmuch as I define a Porsche as a two passenger, rear drive, rear engine sports car, Corvettes are front engine, two passenger, rear drive sports cars. Or, sadly, what they used to be. Then again, to the majority of buyers, they're going to care less where the engine is in the car. Especially younger buyers who don't have the decades of experience with Corvettes that someone of my age does. 

To me, what they're calling the "C8" (eighth generation) Corvette is not unlike Porsche purists blowing a head gasket over the late, great, front engine 928. Sure, it was built by Porsche, but to the Porsche Nation the 928 was heresy and stoked fears the days of air cooled, six cylinder, rear engine Porsche glory were over when they introduced it back in 1977. I was too young at the time to fully understand how heretical the 928 was but I get that now seeing what GM has done to the Corvette. 

What's the big deal? Well, we first have to understand what a seismic difference this car is compared to the previous seven generations. With the engine now mounted directly behind the driver, "a midship", with the greatest mass of the vehicle in the middle of the car its handling capabilities are maximized. At least on paper; no documented track testing of the car has been published yet. And having gunned a mid engine Ferrari around a racetrack, I can tell you that driving a powerful mid-engined car is a surreal experience. With catapult like acceleration and running on what feels like the world's most loving and nurturing train rails, the only thing that stops you from driving to the moon is your better judgment.

So, why after all these years did GM finally do what St. Zora (Duntov) advocated over fifty years ago? Who the hell knows for sure but from what I can surmise, engineers at GM claimed that they couldn't make a rear drive car any better than the previous generation. To improve upon Corvette, they needed to blow the whole thing up. And look at all the publicity the C8 has garnered. Incredible. I haven't seen this much Corvette chatter since the introduction of the 1984 model (C4). Had this been just another "new Corvette" it probably would have gone by the wayside like the introductions of the sixth and seventh generations of Corvette did. Seriously, those cars when new went by in a literal and figurative blurr with nary a person noticing. Why? Because they looked liked C5 styling updates rather than being truly different looking. Ok. Maybe the C7 was a bit of a styling game changer but I thought it was as ugly as I think this one might be. 

I wish GM had followed through with plans they had rumored to have had years ago where they were going to spin off Corvette as a separate make from Chevrolet and sell it through Chevrolet or even Cadillac dealerships. That way they could introduce a mid-engined model like this and still have a god's green earth, front engine model as the flag ship. Or still hold onto one like Porsche did when they kept the the old school, rear engine 911's around after they put the 928 at the top of their totem pole.

I want to like this car but part of me thinks it's butt ugly. And I'm hearing and much of the same sentiment too from car scribes. I'll know for sure the instant I see one in person but because of some wonky and dare I say overly derivative styling details, at least in pictures, my jury is out. In fairness, all mid-engined cars have a familial resemblance but the C8's rear end and sail panels are too fat and overall it looks too much like a C7; again, a car which I was not a fan of. I prefer the curvaceous lines of the C6. Then again, I think C3's are the best looking C's of them all so what do I know.

That said, I'd love to get a C8 out on the track and have my way with it. But, do I have to call it a "Corvette"?  

2001 Oldsmobile Aurora - I Like The Aurora...But Not This One

Originally, Oldsmobile intended this car to be something called "Antares" and was to be slotted below a new more upmarket Aurora. However, with Oldsmobile bleeding cash, GM pulled the plug on a new Aurora and made the Antares the "second generation" Aurora come 2001. Six inches shorter and some four hundred pounds lighter than the 1995-1999 "first generation" Aurora, seldom has less actually been more but such was the case with the Aurora/Antares. Especially with the NorthStar V-8 derived 3.5 liter V-6 that helped make it a better balanced, more sprite automobile than the first Aurora.

I came across this 2001 Aurora at a used car lot near our home in Cleveland, Ohio a couple of months back when I was shopping for a car for our younger son. I didn't pay much attention to it despite just 72,000 miles on the clock, it being in really nice shape and with a reasonable asking price of just $3,495. Why'd I ignore this vestige of old school GM?

First off, the lot gave me the creeps. The sales people were nice and not pushy but the lot wasn't paved, the sales office was in a dirty trailer and their inventory was mostly over priced, cigarette stinky, rusty junk. Save of course for this Aurora but I've never liked the half baked yet at the same time over done styling of them. Even shopping for a cheapie beater, if I don't like the looks of it, I ain't buyin' it. I've heard the Northstar V-8 derived 3.5 liter V-6 engine, despite being smooth and rev happy had many of the same cooling and head gasket issues the V-8 did too. 

Those good enough reasons to forgo it for, of all things, a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu with more than 25,000 more miles on it for similar money instead? Yeah. I'd say so. Especially considering the troublesome Northstar V-6. What's more, I've never thought twice about my decision. 

Shame too considering the general condition of the car. I mean, look at this thing. Zero rust and nary a hint of cigarette smoke inside either. This was by far and away the cleanest car they had on the lot at the time. However, this thing is just so damn ugly. I mean, seriously, look at that rear end.  Can you say, "too many chefs in the kitchen?" The three quarter view is fairly handsome. It's certainly no first generation Aurora but oh, dat ass. And something tells me many people feel the same way seeing this car is still for sale and with the price reduced another $600 or so. Such a deal, right?

Those first Aurora's were something, weren't they? They weren't for everyone but for those of us who "got them", they may have been the best looking domestic sedan of the 1990's. I know. That's not saying much but these cars did have it going on to such a degree that I remember well heeled buyers cross shopping them with far more prestigious luxury makes and models. Kid you not. But too many buyers fund the design polarizing and Oldsmobile over priced them. Just as well as it was too late to save Oldsmobile anyway; the first Aurora was too little, too late and if anything, may have staid off extinction by five another five years or so. That said, you have to applaud the clean sheet progressive thinking that went into them.

I think I could have warmed to this car if it was the baby brother to an Aurora that didn't eschew so much of the original; sort of the way the Oldsmobile Intrigue was to it. My wife put it best when she said, "I liked the Aurora, but not this one".