Sports Cars Vs Kilts

[KD Burke]

My personal object of lust is a '63 split-window Corvette coupe.

I don't really care if it's a "sports car." It is beyond beautiful!

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

WRX STI will take all of those in a real race: dirt, gravel, tarmac, bumps...

A pretty fast car, with the right driver. It autocrosses in class A Stock (A/S) and runs against some pretty stiff competition: Audi S4 V8; Honda S2000; the AMG M-BZ SLKs; Mitusbishi EVO SD; Porsche 911; Toyota Supra Turbo, just to name a few...

So what it comes down to is that racing is like wearing white socks with kilts. Is all about a matter of opinion!

[BruceK]

Ok, I will throw my 2 cents on this one. Qualifications are 17 years auto repair on English and German autos 1968-1985, Certified Journeyman rated mechanic.
A sports car is a two seat fixed or drop head coupe. In america that woud be a two seat hard top or convertable.
Examples: not inclusive

Triumph TR6, TR4, TR3, Spitfire, Stag

Any vehicle with more then 2 real seats, could be a sports sedan whether two doors or four.

Oh for the days long gone of real sports cars,

Minor correction to the above. The Stag has four real seats and can easily carry four adults (so long as the ones in back are short if the soft top is up... ). On a good day I guess I'd call it a sports sedan, though tourer is more accurate IMHO. I like my wife's Stag, but I have much more fun driving my TR6.

[ForresterModern]

NOt particularly into racing but have had my spin around a course a couple times in a MIata I used to own and fit into (with the top down at least).

My dreamer was mentioned above, the Sunbeam Tiger. Came this close to buying one once until I decided I was just too big to fit comfortably and still be able to see traffic signs, etc,. out the windows (besides, the thing just about broiled my feet to medium well in a 20 minute drive). NOw the lust is for a Jaguar E-type convertible V-12, pre-safety bumpers and emissions restrictions. Grace and style, and I actually fit inside with the top up.

OT a bit, but as I mentioned I drove a chili pepper red 91 Miata for a few years. Once, with my current wife (then girlfriend---attractive busty blonde type) just before my 50th birthday but well after achieving semi-bald status, with Miata top down I pulled up to a stoplight next to a schoolbus full of teenage boys, several of which were hanging out of the half-open windows either drooling at the car or my wife, or both. One of them quipped "Hey Pops, how's the midlife crisis going?" As I pulled away I retorted with "Great, how's puberty?" (sorry, best convertible sports car story I could come up with to break the tension).

[Frank McGrath]

When I win the lottery, I will buy a Ford GT. Until then, I'll keep my F-150 Short bed.

[Kilt_Em_All]

While I am a fan of the Subies (I drive a WX in DS), they don't really qualify as a sports car. A sports sedan, certainly, but not a sports car, despite how fast they may be. That's why I bought a 1st gen MR2 SC for autocrossing. While it has significantly less horsepower (145 vs 230), it also weighs about 900 lbs less. Granted, it's not British, or even European, but I think it fits the bill of sports car to a tee.

-Elliott

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Minor correction to the above. The Stag has four real seats and can easily carry four adults (so long as the ones in back are short if the soft top is up... ). On a good day I guess I'd call it a sports sedan, though tourer is more accurate IMHO. I like my wife's Stag, but I have much more fun driving my TR6.

The Stag could have been a great car, but at the time it was being developed BMC/BLMH/BL was jointly owned by the British government and the unions. Top executive management left the company (for higher paying jobs elsewhere) and the result was the stake through the heart of not only the Stag, but the entire British motor industry. What should have been a terrific British sport car in the vein of the Mercedes-Benz 350SL ended up being a less than reliable, over-weight tourer.

I agree with you about sports cars having only two seats. Morgan, the last 100% British owned car maker, refers to their traditional 2-seaters as sports cars, and calls their 4-seater a tourer. Owning one of each, I'd tend to agree-- although I prefer the 4-seaters. Perhaps it has to do with the ability to to take my dog with me!

The recent Greenville Highland Games hosted a "British Car Day" as part of the event. Tucked in amongst the Rolls-Royces and Jaguar XJ6s were a healthy number of proper sports cars, mostly driven by... you guessed it... men in kilts.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

While I am a fan of the Subies (I drive a WX in DS), they don't really qualify as a sports car. A sports sedan, certainly, but not a sports car, despite how fast they may be. That's why I bought a 1st gen MR2 SC for autocrossing. While it has significantly less horsepower (145 vs 230), it also weighs about 900 lbs less. Granted, it's not British, or even European, but I think it fits the bill of sports car to a tee.

-Elliott

If I'm not mistaken I think an MR2 won the national championship in SCCA class E Stock in 2008. It most definitely IS a sports car!

[Zardoz]

A sports car is a two seat fixed or drop head coupe. In america that woud be a two seat hard top or convertable.


Oh for the days long gone of real sports cars,

Not completely gone; In 1962 I came home from the maternity ward in a Austin Healy 3000, and over the years my Dad and I have owned various MGA's, MGB's, a VW/Porsche 914, and a TR6. My Dad loves MG's and always lamented that there were not any 'real' (meaning English) Sportscars anymore, at least affordable ones, but now we both have Miatas. They are everything a classic English sportscar could be and more, without the less desireable "personality" quirks most of them had.

My daily driver: 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata. Two seat drop head coupe, Lightweight body, double wishbone suspension at all four corners, 1.8 litre turbocharged 4 banger, 6 speed manual, rear drive, stone reliable, and more fun to drive than anything I've ever owned!

[Panache]

I would not call my V-8 95 Mustang GT convertible a sports car.

Actually I call it "Brave Ulysses" but then I name all my cars!

I would define it as a muscle car and a lot of fun.

I admit that what comes to my mind as a "Sports car" is a Allard JX2 or a Lotus Super 7.

Those were machines designed for racing first and road use second.

When I think about it though I have trouble not calling a WRX STI Subaru a sports car as it is a proven racing machine even with its back seat and second set of doors.

I used to own a Porsche 924 and I called it a sports car and it had a back seat.

Somehow what a "sports car" is goes beyond the basics of number of seats, doors, and whether or not it has a top.

The most fun I have ever had driving was driving a TR6 around the twisty mountain roads of the Santa Cruz mountains. There is something about the simplicity (almost primitiveness) of those early British Cars that offered an experience that isn't like anything else.

A year later I covered the same road in a Pontiac Solstice.

Both were two seater convertibles

But it just wasn't the same

Cheers

Jamie