all right you guy's i want to know what you think a street car is and what you got! i've had alot of cars in my life, but my monte is by far the best i've ever had.i can drive it on the interstate at 80 miles a hour at 2800 rpm at 180 degrees and show up at the strip and run 12.40 all night on 93 octane,i know my car can't go canyon carving like some of you guy's but there aren't any canyons around here 😀 i don't care if your faster or slower than me i just want to talk! i don't know about you guys but i get tired of fixing cars on the internet,i think i'am getting carpaltunnel 😀 i know there has to be like minded people out there!!! jesse
street cars
- Thread starter JESSE
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This is an argument that has been going on for many years.
Some have 800 to 1000 + hp cars that drive on the street but only to the local hang out and maybe a cruise through the city.
Some say it has to be able to drive several hundred miles without any problems.
Most of the time its when people are arguing about who has the fastest street car and use it to rule out cars that are faster than them.
I've been involved in this game for over 20 years and have seen and heard all the arguments.
I say no matter what you have and how much power its making, if it is legally plated and gets driven on the street, its a street car.
A good friend once told me a street car is what you can tolerate.
Some have 800 to 1000 + hp cars that drive on the street but only to the local hang out and maybe a cruise through the city.
Some say it has to be able to drive several hundred miles without any problems.
Most of the time its when people are arguing about who has the fastest street car and use it to rule out cars that are faster than them.
I've been involved in this game for over 20 years and have seen and heard all the arguments.
I say no matter what you have and how much power its making, if it is legally plated and gets driven on the street, its a street car.
A good friend once told me a street car is what you can tolerate.
My bone stock 231 V6 1984 Buick Regal Limited is definitely a street car - the engine would fall out if I drove it anywhere else! :lol:
In all seriousness, I haven't taken it out past where state troopers sit and wait to open up, but my old 1981 Regal (265 V8 ) could get up to at least 113 without any vibration, noise, or other complaint.
In all seriousness, I haven't taken it out past where state troopers sit and wait to open up, but my old 1981 Regal (265 V8 ) could get up to at least 113 without any vibration, noise, or other complaint.
I use a far more stringent metric to determine what is and is not a street car. Pizza Delivery. If a car can deliver pizza without complaint for a month or two while not consuming too much fuel or driving the operator crazy, it's a true street car. Now, that is not to say it needs be slow, because there are pizza delivery cars that run 11's, like a GN that used to run for the local Pizza Hut around here about 10 years ago, or the 10 sec. EVO that delivers in Orlando ( that one stretches it a bit tho...). I have driven several 12 sec. cars to deliver pizza in over the years, most of which were reliable, if not fuel efficient. We even used to have a mid 12's SRT-4 that was used to deliver where I work now, as well as an S2000, a 2008 Civic Si, and a 2001 Mustang GT. When I managed at my last store, I hired a guy who had a SR20DET swapped S13 240sx right before I quit the company.
I have always been into fast street cars. Fast is a relative term and so is street car. Being able to drive it a distance without breaking down or overheating would generally be a criteria if you tried to make criteria but their is other valid arguments for those that drive theirs on the street often just not at distance. And then how do you define fast or should I say quick. Is is something that runs say 13.99 or quicker or 100+mph in the quarter? Current tags, insurance, and street legal tires & exhaust would generally be considered a requirement. Now days for the practicality standpoint for say an average wage earner you could almost throw mileage in their. Yea good luck defineing affordable mileage. 15mpg hwy minimun, I dunno. Again what if you have a street car that fits everything else and you just don't use it on the hwy. If you have a minimum et standard does that include the use of a power adder. I would think so. Maybe you are allowed an exception but it has to hit 5 out of 6 or something. Maybe no exceptions on tags & state legal safety requirements. Honor system? IMO it will never be defined just what works for ya.
Jesse like you I have what I would consider a relatively quick real street car. Actually the two in my signature so far one has run 12.40s at 109 the other 12.50s at 110 both on pump gas just as I drive them. I run both in town and on the interstate frequently as I live right by it. I have taken both multiple states away they even get decent mileage. The 442 uses cubic inches and is helped in the mileage/wear department by on overdrive lockup converter mild cam & Q-jet. The 231 GN motor is helped in the pump gas power department by the turbo intercooler & methanol/water injection. For me I have way more fun with these cars than If I trailered them to a drag strip once or twice a week.
BTW Pizza delivery would definately qualify it as a real street car. 8)
Jesse like you I have what I would consider a relatively quick real street car. Actually the two in my signature so far one has run 12.40s at 109 the other 12.50s at 110 both on pump gas just as I drive them. I run both in town and on the interstate frequently as I live right by it. I have taken both multiple states away they even get decent mileage. The 442 uses cubic inches and is helped in the mileage/wear department by on overdrive lockup converter mild cam & Q-jet. The 231 GN motor is helped in the pump gas power department by the turbo intercooler & methanol/water injection. For me I have way more fun with these cars than If I trailered them to a drag strip once or twice a week.
BTW Pizza delivery would definately qualify it as a real street car. 8)
Unfortunately, none of those referenced were MY car, per se. One car I built for a friend and had to use to deliver while swapping the engine on my Cutlass, and another was another friend's car I borrowed once or twice, the rest are all cars I have known of in my area. My delivery truck runs 11.2's. Unfortunately, it's in the 1/8... 🙁 My Cutlass probably runs mid to low 13's, but I have yet to run it in the quarter since it is under construction right now. My AMC Spirit ran 9 flats in the 1/8 with NO traction (2.3 60ft!) and an open diff, but I have no idea what I would have done in the 1/4 before I ruined the engine. It still runs, but has poor oil pressure and blue smoke ( and the engine has less than 15k on it! 😡). I parked it 3 years ago and have not moved it out of the driveway since ( nor at all in 2 years). Plus, for all I did to it, it never lived up to it's potential, probably because I didn't know what I was doing when I speck'd out the engine in the early 90's.
The Cutlass was originally planned as a delivery car, and I did use it for a year with the engine/trans that are in it now. I have since changed the cam, rockers, intake, carb, and rear gears and it is much quicker. Ironically, now it is also more fuel efficient too (15+mpg city!). It was literally falling apart when I took it out of service after buying my truck in 98, and I only now have had the cash to do it justice. Rust, lack of A/C, broken seatbelts, metal fatigued driver's door, broken windshield, water leaks, etc. all meant it needed to either be rebuilt or parted out. At the end it was a miserable car to drive because I could not afford to take it apart far enough to fix it since I needed it for work. I am thinking about another engine for it, but will not touch it until I finish my degree. Some things are MUCH more important than cars. Like getting out of pizza delivery!
The Cutlass was originally planned as a delivery car, and I did use it for a year with the engine/trans that are in it now. I have since changed the cam, rockers, intake, carb, and rear gears and it is much quicker. Ironically, now it is also more fuel efficient too (15+mpg city!). It was literally falling apart when I took it out of service after buying my truck in 98, and I only now have had the cash to do it justice. Rust, lack of A/C, broken seatbelts, metal fatigued driver's door, broken windshield, water leaks, etc. all meant it needed to either be rebuilt or parted out. At the end it was a miserable car to drive because I could not afford to take it apart far enough to fix it since I needed it for work. I am thinking about another engine for it, but will not touch it until I finish my degree. Some things are MUCH more important than cars. Like getting out of pizza delivery!
I might be wrong,but wont a street car be something you can use 2 goto work,or the track if you want,something thats dependable 2 start up everyday,dont matter if it runs 9s or 13s in the 1/4..not something that is "street legal"and you could take on a 200 mile trip without fixing something every 50 miles?thats my opinion..but its an endless fewd. 
Yeah, but the question I always find myself asking is, how far can you stretch it and still have good fuel economy, comfort and reliability? I have also explored some unique alternatives to make the street car thing work in a fast, economical package. To do so, I decided to play with the weight end of things rather than adding power to a stock engine. My two favorite ideas (which are so good that they are popular!) I will share here: The 1959-1999 Austin Mini with a Honda B16 VTEC 4 ( 1200-1600lbs, 160hp), and the 1968-1973 Datsun PL510 with a JDM Nissan Silvia/180sx SR20DET turbo 4 ( 2100lbs, 205-250hp on stock turbo, RWD). The Mini is just plain cool no matter what engine it has because, well...it's a Mini. Plus, the lack of low end torque which is bad in a heavier Civic, would help launch the Mini in this case, and the 9,000rpm redline would be fun in such a lightweight car with a reputation for tossability. You would want bigger brakes though, so the 10in wheels would probably have to go. The Honda intake manifold also causes clearance issues ( have you seen a Mini's engine bay?), so I would ditch it for a set of ITBs or bike carbs instead. The Datsun is cool because, like the Mini, it has a great racing heritage. It also has 4 wheel independent suspension, 50/50 weight distribution, and low weight. Brake upgrades, and other suspension tweaks can come from a variety of Datsun and Nissan products from the 70's and 80's as all RWD Nissans were based off it's design until about 1988. So, you can swap the bigger brakes from a junk 280Z or 810 Maxima and they pretty much bolt on. I have also toyed with what to do to a Honda Z600 micro car after looking one over at the salvage yard, and only one thing comes to mind: big bike engine! 14,000 RPM shifts from a sport bike engine in a super-light package. In fact, I went off on a creative tear coming up with unique-yet-economical forms of fast transportation for a while. Other subjects included the East German Sachsenring Trabant 601, The Zastava Yugo Koral, 2nd gen Corvair, and a few Mercedes Benz Diesel concepts. However, even I could find no use for the Soviet Zaporozhetz. It's too weird-even for me!
I was also thinking today about the relative hydrodynamics of the 1968 Fiat 850 Spyder ( The front prow is shaped like a Gibbs Aquada), and how easy it would be to make an amphibious car out of it, but that's another story...
I was also thinking today about the relative hydrodynamics of the 1968 Fiat 850 Spyder ( The front prow is shaped like a Gibbs Aquada), and how easy it would be to make an amphibious car out of it, but that's another story...
now if were gonna go there..last night(i did get a phone no)i ran into someone that had a mustang ii..78 to be exact..im 100%gm man...but this was original,untouched..i offered her $500 she told me $1000 ist mine..damn i wish i had the other 5,but my expedition payments r killing me 😳 😳
I would be happy to have somthing like a solstice gxp or a cobalt ss turbo for a street/strip car, I know I wouldnt be running 9's but I think low 13's high 12's are a realistic goal and still get about 23+mpg, and in adition I could use either for an autocross/road race car.
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