I've learned from my searches for French Project Car Hell candidates that the 505 is by far the most numerous French car available in North America. Is that because the 505's reliability has been so appalling that none of them can wear out, or because they're that good? And what happened to all those 504s?

Pontiac's bosses had taken the radical step of dropping the "J" from the J2000 name for 1983, and a year later they figured the Sunbird name might as well get slapped onto the end. After all, memories of the Vega/Monza-based H-body Sunbird were still fresh in 1984, and the marketers must have figured that so many potential car buyers had eaten so many dangerous drugs during the late 70s that they might hallucinate a sheen of reliability over their hazy recollections of the H-bodies. Laser sound effects! Coal-powered CGI graphics!

If you don't think the Renault 5 Turbo is one of the most awesome factory hot rods ever made, you need to reevaluate your automotive priorities ASAP! To build this rally monster, Renault ditched the front-wheel-drive setup normally found in the 5 and replaced it with a turbocharged engine mounted behind the driver and delivering totally unreasonable amounts of power to the rear wheels. The few hundred street-legal units sold for homologation purposes had 185 horsepower, and they sold for $22,500 in 1984. That's about $46,000 in 2009 dollars, so how much is a very nice 34,000-mile example worth today? Would you pay $39,500 for one?
[Princeton Lotus, thanks to MyDatsunIsInCali for the tip!]

While Malcolm Bricklin was importing Subarus to North America way back in 1968, you really didn't see them here in large numbers until the 1980s. Even then, the build quality and longevity wasn't quite up to current Subaru standards, which means that even 20-year-old examples are now tough to find. That's why I was glad to find this turbocharged '89.


Imagine, a station wagon that could handle snow and mud without incomprehensible truck-ish 4WD selectors confusing the driver. Full-time! Once Subaru got the formula right, there was no stopping them.

We were a little startled to find that 64% of voters felt the low-mile 2001 Mexi-Beetle was overpriced at $10,900, but perhaps our readers are more interested in Barrett-Jackson-grade stuff. So be it! This GNX looks just about perfect, though there's no description other than a bunch of lo-res photographs. If it's all legit and the numbers are real, it's going to be a priceless worship object to millions of car freaks; after all, this is one of GM's all-time great musclecars, with astounding performance for its time. But is 145 grand totally out of line? You decide!
[IMMKE.com, thanks to David for the tip]

I used to own a Peugeot 504, and I've been scouring the island for one to photograph for this series. No dice in that department so far, but I did manage to find this 505 Turbo down by the beach. This is our fourth Alameda DOTS Peugeot; prior to today, we've had this '60 403, this '85 505, and this '91 405.


The 505 Turbo was a fast rear-wheel-drive machine that held its own against the German competition back in the 80s; we were very disappointed that the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys 505 Turbo 24 Hours Of LeMons team wrecked their trailer on the way to the Arse Freeze-A-Palooza race. We're hoping they'll be at the Reno race to show those BMWs a thing or two.


I found this car parked down by the San Francisco Bay, at the beach favored by the wind- and kite-surfing crowd. The anti-shark surf-shop sticker on the back suggests that it's a surfer's daily driver (though the telltale roof racks seem to be missing).

Most Celica Turbo All-Tracs got hooned to death years ago, and the remaining survivors are mostly pretty beat. Not this one, though; it's got just 31,133 miles on the odometer and it's shockingly original. Recharge the AC and fix the rip in the dash cover and it should be pretty much mint. Oh, sure, those 21st Century wheels will have to go, but 80s factory Toyota wheels in good shape won't set you back much. However, the price tag on this beauty will take a hefty bite out of your bankroll, to the tune of $11,000. Worth it? Not worth it? What do you think?
[Craigslist San Francisco, go here if the ad disappears. Thanks to Matt for the tip]

You'll see sideburns, implied Quaalude consumption, fuel economy boasting, and just general awesomeness in these ads. When you're done here, you might enjoy our Top Ten Ads of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

1982 Sentra	1984 Skyline	1982 Silvia	1972 Skyline
1979 200SX	1985 Sentra	1984 200SX Turbo	1980 Datsun 210
1980 280ZX	1982 Pickups	1985 Pickups	1973 610
1981 All Models	1976 B210	1977 280Z	1990 Sentra
1981 280ZX Turbo	1980 280ZX Turbo	1983 280ZX	1980 Black Gold 280ZX

It turns out that 65% of you believe that $76,000 is too much for an armored Mercedes-Benz S500, but it's really hard to find any basis for comparison for such an oddball machine. Not so with today's cars; we've got two very nice, low-mileage, T-top-equipped '84 300ZX Turbos, each priced within spittin' distance of the $30,000 mark. The first one (go here if the ad disappears) doesn't come with much description, but the odometer speaks loudly: 18,897 miles! $28,500 for that Nissan jewel. Then we've got this nearly identical car, which is being sold by the same folks who gave us the $25,000 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z. This one's got 27,129 miles on the clock and the price is $28,900, but you get way more info about the car in the description; in fact, we're a little disturbed by the very un-eBay-like correct spelling and grammar in the car's writeup- doesn't Best Of Show Automotive have any respect for eBay tradition? Thanks to Tomsk and Dolo54 for the tips!

That's right, 99 miles! Judging from the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the nice Down On The Street SVO Mustang, we figure many of you are already fumbling for the "Nice Price" choice, before even reading the details. Hold on there, sport, because the details are well worth reading; this car is being offered by the same too-literate-for-eBay outfit that had the 2,000-mile Daytona Turbo Z. That's right, no CAPS LOCK gibberish to slog through, just a lengthy sales spiel that doesn't do much to explain why this car has so few miles; it was a show car for its early years, though we can't quite figure out if it was owned by Ford or someone else at the time. Regardless, it appears to be the real deal, and it can be yours for only $33,900! We especially like the "wink, wink" unlabeled part of the speedometer, which complies with the 85MPH max reading allowed during the era but allows hoons to figure out higher speed readings. So, do you reach for your checkbook… or do you reach for the pipe?
[eBay Motors, thanks to Leo for the tip]

…and that means plenty of lightweight, crazy-handling turbocharged vehicles of that era can be had for a few tattered bills and some pocket lint these days. Yes, back when turbos made lots of noise and it was considered perfectly normal for turbo lag to make the car accelerate like a garbage truck dragging an overturned double-wide… right up until the moment at which the turbo built up pressure and the car leaped like a bobcat stung in the ass by an Asian giant hornet… straight into the nearest tree or parked car. Uncivilized turbocharged subcompacts, for total hoons serious drivers! And, since we had a near-even split between the two Detroit heroes in the Get Rich In The Limo Business Edition PCH, we're going to give third-tier PCH contender Japan a shot at wresting the rusty, oil-leaking Project Car Hell trophy away from the Americans today.

Carroll Shelby's Dodge Omni GLHS was one of the all-time bang-for-buck car deals of the 1980s, and you still see the Goes Like Hell Some-More machines knocking off crazy times at racetracks around the country. Since that Texan's sacred name goes on the car, you've got to figure on spending Barrett-Jackson-grade bucks on one, right? Actually, no- we've found this 1987 Dodge Omni GLHS (go here if the ad disappears), and the seller is asking just $1,500 for it! The description states "It is not running, but was running a few months ago," which may be Craigslist-ese for "It was running right up until the moment when a huge explosion tore the cylinder head completely off the engine"… or maybe it just needs a simple tune-up. The body looks semi-beat but not hopeless, and the word "rust" isn't mentioned at all in the description. How hard could it be?

Texas torque steer is macho and all, but wouldn't you rather have all-wheel-drive and rally history on your side when you take on a hopeless somewhat ambitious 80s Turbo Hell Project? 80s Mazda 323 GTXs have become harder to find than optimistic economists these days, but they're out there if you're willing to discard your sanity take on a challenging project. Say, this 1988 Mazda 323 GTX (go here if the ad disappears), which you can steal for under a grand. The seller says "needs exhaust work and trans work but can be driven," and we figure that means nothing to worry about when you've got an engine full of hard-to-find turbo exhaust parts and an even-harder-to-find early Mazda all-wheel-drive drivetrain setup- no chance in hell most likely it's all easy stuff! There's rust, though its extent is not described in detail, but look on the bright side: the seller will accept trades!

Can a Ford Falcon ever hope to generate the kind of toxic sulfurous flames needed to make an ordinary garage into a Hell Garage? The early Falcon was simple and reliable, shared a lot of components with other Ford products, and served as the basis for the first-gen Mustang, which- as we all know- benefits from compre-goddamn-hensive aftermarket parts support. Sure it can, provided there's a backyard-built blow-through-carbureted twin-turbo setup slapped on its 289! Yes, you can buy such a car (go here if the ad disappears), though we can't say how much the seller will take for it. It's got a spool-equipped 8" Ford rear end, which should be a real barrel of death laughs on wet pavement, and all the hassle of the turbo plumbing has been done. The engine is fried, most likely with the custom ventilated pistons you often get with the funky fuel delivery of blow-through turbo systems- "DIALED BOOST UP AND NOW MOTOR HAS LOTS OF BLOW BY POSSIBLE BAD RING, BUT ENGINE STILL RUNS!!"- but the junkyard, with its legions of cheap 5.0s, beckons; you could just keep blowing up $200 engines until you got everything set up right. We'd probably ditch the carburetor and go with some form of fuel injection, then add some intercoolers… and then there'd be all the fun of broken- and increasingly costly- drivetrain components if the engine made the 300-600 horses such a setup is good for. Still, how hard could it be? Thanks to LTDScott for the tip!

While that Falcon would be fun if by some miracle you could get it running right, leaf springs and drum brakes don't make for an all-around pleasant driving experience, especially when you're making about five times the power the car's designers had in mind. If you're going to go fast, it's best to do so in a car designed for screaming performance as well as serious comfort, and that means you need to find yourself something French! The Peugeot 405 Mi16 is such a car, but it's so hard to find them over here in North America, and the prices! Fortunately, our own Matt Hardigree is searching for a personal Hell Project right now, and he's been scared to death by decided to share this Texas-sized Mi16 deal with us: Two 1989 Peugeot Mi16s (go here if ad disappears) for just $1,500! One of them doesn't run, because the timing belt went bye-bye and there were some personal-space-violation issues between the pistons and valves, but the engine in the quasi-beat-looking gray one works just fine (by the way, have you ever noticed that American Peugeot owners always have parts cars?). All you need to do is pick the best parts from each and make one good Mi16… well, that's assuming that the gray car- which sat for an alleged seven years before getting back on the road- can contribute anything meaningful beyond a not-yet-destroyed cylinder head. Anyway, you'll make it happen!

Callaway Cars held their first annual open house on the second weekend of October at the company’s headquarters located in bucolic Old Lyme Connecticut. Saturday was a spectacular, New England autumn day, bright, sunny, and warmer than normal, just right to showcase some of the rarest automotive creations that were ever made. This was also a chance to take in the essence of an organization, which grew from a one man business that was conducted in a garage in his home, to a well respected engineering and production company with three locations worldwide. I knew I would feel a little out of place, milling about between the owners of these rare cars and the cars themselves, until I came across one of the earliest Callaway Scirocco.

This 1982 Volkswagen Scirocco was not a show car by any means. The Black finish doesn’t shine as brightly as it did when it was new, the front and rear bumpers have taken on a silver gray hue from years of sitting outside, and the interior took on an aged, and weathered look, with the many wrinkles and cracks that are easily covered up on an aging Hollywood starlets face, but are proudly worn as a badge of honor on this car. You see, this car still has the Callaway Turbo window decal still in place, along with the set of Centro Wheels that were standard equipment with the package, and while it may not be a concourse winner any time in the future, it is a historical tribute to the Callaway name. And there it sat, among all those beautiful Stock, and Callaway modified Corvettes, commanding attention, almost as if the car was saying “Hell yea, I belong here too”. And it did.

The car is owned by John Kulp from Malvern Pennsylvania. While the car probably doesn’t produce anywhere near the 117 HP it once produced when it left the Callaway location all those years ago, it will get out of its own way. The car traversed to Old Lyme from PA, and according to John, it was comfortable, quick, and economical, just the way he imagined it would be all those many years ago when the car of his dreams was introduced in the early 80’s. John always wanted a Callaway equipped Scirocco, but could never afford one. That all changed when this car popped up on an Ebay Auction from a Connecticut Saab dealer, and soon enough, he was the owner of a well worn, but still hugely relevant VW Scirocco by Callaway.

To coin a phrase from Hemmings, this is a “Drivable Dream”. There is over 80,000 miles showing on the odometer, and it needs a great deal of work to become show worthy. The biggest problem John discovered is how pervasive the rust problem is. While the car s relatively rust free from the “B” pillar forward, almost everything back has the dreaded tin worm. One problem can be traced to the aftermarket electric sunroof installed by the original dealer, in which the drain holes never seemed to work correctly, collecting water within the roof panel, and support structure. The other problem was neglect, as if the car was parked in the mud, because the rear chassis and lower body is almost nonexistent. The one good thing about owning a unique vehicle based on a corresponding production one is that there are plenty of cheap, spare parts to replace components such as doors, fenders, and chassis parts, and this type of surgery is slated in the future for John’s car.

I asked John how he felt being the only participant to bring an early Callaway Scirocco into an event dominated by so many factory and modified Corvettes, and he said it was what he expected, except that instead of feeling like an outcast, he was totally embraced into the Callaway Family. So, as I bid farewell to John Kulp, and took the last set of images of his newly found pride and joy, maybe I shouldn’t feel out of place in which there is such a gathering of historical and ground breaking cars. And from that point, I didn’t.

This one isn't exactly pristine, but it's not too rough for a 22-year-old car that few have ever considered a real classic. You got 146 turbocharged horsepower out of the 2.2 in your '86 Turbo Z, which moved the 2,630-pound car pretty well for the era.


Back in the turbo-mad 80s, you had to advertise the hairdryer's presence with emblems all over the place… but was a window trim emblem really necessary? The price tag on one of these things came to $11,301, which was about a grand cheaper than a new Nissan 200SX turbo and $1,200 less than the IROC-Z Camaro. The price of an '86 Ford Mustang SVO? $15,272!

According to the seller, the '83 Callaway Turbo 944 made 284 horsepower, nearly double the stock figure of 143, which gave it outrageous-for-its-time performance. In a car weighing 2,675 pounds (or about 200 pounds less than the current Boxster), that's going to be a lot of fun, and the seller points out that it ought to be legal for vintage racing. Only 20 of these little beasts were made, and the seller feels that makes it worth 45 American grand. Seriously cool car, heavy-duty price. What do you think?

[Craigslist Monterey, go here if the ad disappears]

[eBay Motors]