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All of the Acuras I'd been given a chance to drive over the last 2 decades have been a blast, but was too caught up in nostalgia ('66-'74 Mopar with occasional breaks for classic Toyota) to actually own one until recently. Eventually, I got tired of being an integral part of an old car's crumple zone in collisions, battling epic understeer, getting 10 MPG, and plowing around in 5,000 pounds of steel propelled by a carbureted boat anchor. A few years ago I decided it was time to learn how cars built from '86 forward worked and slogged my way through a some other import brands from the early 00s before being reminded of how good a 1st-gen CL looked to me.
The first one I bought was too expensive for the mileage (260k km) and all the problems that cropped up (leaky back window seal, non-op fuel and temp gauges, hesitant transmission, hackjob wiring on aim-resistant mod headlights, etc.), but it had a killer sound system... and got totaled by an idiot in the 2nd week of purchase. I tracked down a replacement last week with only 95k km on it, still a bit rough with a non-op head unit (previous owner reversed the terminals during a battery install - way to prep it for sale, bub!), but I got a good deal on it. Now, I'm swapping out what was good on the wrecked CL to the fresher example.
I'm looking forward to getting the most out of this forum and learn how to fix and mod this appealing little beast. I half-jokingly refer to the CL as Honda's Cordoba - an upmarket version of a manufacturer's popular coupe, with rich grey Corinthian leatherrr.
I didn't have a camera back in the 90s, so I only have a few pics of my cars from back then. Sadly, none of them were of the stock Toyotas, and I had:
'76 Corolla Deluxe Fastback, red with white vinyl top and white interior. A/T
'77 Corolla Deluxe 2-Door coupe, silver with black interior. M/T
'77 Celica LiftBack, brown with tan interior, M/T
'81 Truck 2WD, standard cab and box, M/T, Bushwacker trim package w/ canopy
I'll post the pics of the other cars I had when I find them. There are at least pics of my first car, an '80 Datsun 210 2dr blue on blue M/T, pre-resto pics of my '68 Torino and '73 Charger, and my '73 Satellite coupe.
Rear bumper cover needs adjustment on driver's side, though...
Thanks! Yeah, the bumper-end bracket is rusted and prevents a proper fit on the left side. I'll grind it off in April (shop access!), repair the bumpers and get them painted.
Just adding a pic of the era of car I'm most familiar with, the car I owned for the longest time and sunk the most $$$ into. I let her go after 9 years. Will add more pics of my old rides as I find them.
I'll have to dig into my photo archives, I used to own a 1970 Challenger; the car came with a 318 2-BBL and a manual three-speed gearbox. I chucked the 318 and the 3-Speed in the trash when I found a wrecked AAR 'Cuda; I bought the 340 6-Pack and the New Process 4-Speed, dropped them both into my vanilla looking Challenger and proceeded to get four speeding tickets in less than a month. I then yanked the 340 out and sold it for a pretty penny and then built up a nice little 340 4-BBL to take it's place. All good things must come to an end, the car got stolen and stripped; the hulk was ultimately found under the EL tracks up in Chicago.
Last edited by horseshoez; Mar 1, 2019 at 07:45 PM.
I'll have to dig into my photo archives, I used to own a 1970 Challenger; the car came with a 318 2-BBL and a manual three-speed gearbox. I chucked the 318 and the 3-Speed in the trash when I found a wrecked AAR 'Cuda; I bought the 340 6-Pack and the New Process 4-Speed, dropped them both into my vanilla looking Challenger and proceeded to get four speeding tickets in less than a month. I then yanked the 340 out and sold it for a pretty penny and then built up a nice little 340 4-BBL to take it's place. All good things must come to an end, the car got stolen and stripped; the hulk was ultimately found under the EL tracks up in Chicago.
1970 Challenger
four speeding tickets in less than a month
stolen and stripped
I'll have to dig into my photo archives, I used to own a 1970 Challenger; the car came with a 318 2-BBL and a manual three-speed gearbox. I chucked the 318 and the 3-Speed in the trash when I found a wrecked AAR 'Cuda; I bought the 340 6-Pack and the New Process 4-Speed, dropped them both into my vanilla looking Challenger and proceeded to get four speeding tickets in less than a month. I then yanked the 340 out and sold it for a pretty penny and then built up a nice little 340 4-BBL to take it's place. All good things must come to an end, the car got stolen and stripped; the hulk was ultimately found under the EL tracks up in Chicago.
Sounds like a great find, too bad about its fate, though.
My Plymouth came with mostly streetable drag mods and remained pretty much unchanged from the time I bought it - an odd little small-block sleeper with a complete stock interior plus B&M Star Shifter shift kit (had a disconnected column shifter set to "D" for extra sleepification), TCI torque converter and flywheel, a bored-out 318 with swapped heads (ported and polished), headers, and an 8 3/4" (3.91) rear end from a D-500. Legend has it that the car's original owner was Richard Petty's younger brother, Maurice. I never bothered to verify this, it's enough that I bought it not far from their hometown of Level Cross, NC. It was also enough of an entertaining ride for me to keep it for nearly a decade, often as my daily, racking up nearly $10k in repairs along the way. Every time I was stopped while chirping tires and blasting BOC in Chapel Hill I was let off with a warning and awkward nostalgic gearhead chitchat. Last I heard about it post-sale, it was out in Tofino, BC.
Hi, New Here
Thanks for sharing!!!
