90's sleeper cars appreciating

chazmo

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Original title read something like "90's sleeper cars gaining finally appreciable value" actually all chosen words to reflect something I feel about the progression of the automobile as I know it, longtime observer immersed in car culture.

Current title looks like something written by a bot, at the very least not by me, but representing my writing to write a thread title anyone on the net could read.

The Vegas thread title was similarly mangled.

Whatever it takes to stay within the rules I'll adhere to, but neutered thread titles that are "liked" by members when mentioned is weird.

Guildedagain, I asked you to please limit your verbosity in your titles (and perhaps your posts as well). My change to your title here had nothing to do with the thread veer, as a sleeper car is a railroad term as much as it is an automotive term. A 'bot did not write it; I exercised some editorial effort. In the future, I'd prefer not to have to do that, so please take my advice. Thanks.
 

BradHK

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The middle car? I think it's a Triumph Spitfire, a near relative, and just as unreliable as an MG.

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I never owned a British sports car, but my bestie and his big brother had a MG Midget, and a Series 1 Jaguar E-Type. The e-Type could be forgiven for its foibles because it was such an incredible car. The Midget? It was the most unreliable car I've ever seen, and despite my Scottish ancestry, it effectively dissuaded from every buying anything made by British Leyland.
I believe that is a Triumph GT6 Mk II.

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beecee

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James, I think that's an MG.
Boy hard to say with that hood dart....It may be an MGB-GT w/after market hood but the roof line/windshield frame is not right.

The Minilites scream Leyland product but the side marker lights are not MG.....Interesting....I'm stumped!

EDIT: HA! While I was trying to ID it the correct answer came out.

Odd cause I was looking at a TR-6 last week, never thought of Triumph.
 

adorshki

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Boy hard to say with that hood dart....It may be an MGB-GT w/after market hood but the roof line/windshield frame is not right.

The Minilites scream Leyland product but the side marker lights are not MG.....Interesting....I'm stumped!

EDIT: HA! While I was trying to ID it the correct answer came out.

Odd cause I was looking at a TR-6 last week, never thought of Triumph.
@JohnW63 knows but apparently he's holding off the reveal to extract maximum excitement.
 

adorshki

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Honestly, has anyone ever seen or heard of a discussion of 1990's vintage train sleeper cars?


Screen Shot 2023-01-24 at 7.32.19 AM.png
Remember, in the '90's they weren't sleepers, they were "Q-cars".

Like the Mazda6 GT I just bought (not actually my car but same color):

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Underneath that unassuming exterior lurks 225 hp/320ft-lbs of torque from a turbo-charged 2.5 liter 4-cylinder. No badging, no skirts, nary a hint that this is anything other than just another Mazda 6 :

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For reference, the output specs are virtually identical to my beloved Thunderbird, (beat it, in fact), in a 400 lb lighter car and it uses regular gas. I got 33.7 mpg over 390 miles last week, about 35% of it was stop-and go surface street, ie, the worst mileage you can rack up.
 

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jp

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Volvo makes multiple models in China, for global markets

Ah. I must be mistaken. The last time I read some industry news, I thought the Volvos made in China were only for the Asian market. My bad.

And sorry, I got caught up in Volvo love instead of the appreciation of 90s vehicles. I was going to make a parallel about this to the motorcycle market, which hasn't not quite headed in this direction, but I expect it might. Since all the great bikes from my youth (such as Honda CBs an VFRs, Kawasaki KZs and GPZs, Yamaha FZRs and RDs, and others) have been snapped up to make cafe racers, the next stage will most likely be the great 90s generation of super bikes, which are still a bit neglected.
 

BradHK

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You're right, the hardtop version of the Spitfire. Just as unreliable, and even more tail happy with those stupid swing axles!
The swing axle issue was in the first version of the GT6. They fixed that issue for the second version (Mk II or also called the GT6+ in the US) which is the one in the photo. The GT6 also had a six cylinder engine compared to the four cylinder in the Spitfire and a stronger transmission. I am not a fan of the Spitfire but I really like the second version of these GT6s. The third version is also nice but I like the styling of the second better.
 

fronobulax

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Original title read something like "90's sleeper cars gaining finally appreciable value" actually all chosen words to reflect something I feel about the progression of the automobile as I know it, longtime observer immersed in car culture.

Current title looks like something written by a bot, at the very least not by me, but representing my writing to write a thread title anyone on the net could read.

The Vegas thread title was similarly mangled.

Whatever it takes to stay within the rules I'll adhere to, but neutered thread titles that are "liked" by members when mentioned is weird.

The problem with your original and the current title is "sleeper cars". Before this thread I have never heard of an automobile called a "sleeper car". If you had said "sleeper automobile" I still would have gotten the wrong idea because there were some cars from the 60's that could fold down the front seats to convert the interior in to a sleeping space.

You can complain about you titles being mangled but you don't know how close you came to just having the original post deleted because trains are not an expected veer at LTG and car threads are starting to catch the eye of the Veer Police because they always seem to be the same people saying the same things.

Honestly, has anyone ever seen or heard of a discussion of 1990's vintage train sleeper cars?

Yes.

But then the not guitar folks I hang with are into trains, not cars. But the mere fact you have to ask the question suggests perhaps I should have deleted the OP since the topic is too specialized for a guitar forum?
 

Westerly Wood

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I took this to mean, like your sleeper pick, or surprising choice.
 

Guildedagain

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The swing axle issue was in the first version of the GT6.

I had the sweetest pre Naderized GT-6, a rare all wood dash, so cool, lots of drives everywhere with daughter back in the 90's, road trips. It was dark blue. My kid was so small back then that once at destination, she made friends with a little girl her age, and since kiddo knew how much I cared about cars already, she and the other little girl wiped all the caked mud of the sides of the car with paper towels etc, like nearly irrepairable paint damage, and were so proud of the job...
 

Guildedagain

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You're right, the hardtop version of the Spitfire. Just as unreliable, and even more tail happy with those stupid swing axles!

That was the one exactly. Very reliable, daily driver, plus road trips. Fairly rough suspension, marginal for the PNW. A hot Hazelnut Latte exploded in my lap from a bump at the beginning of a long road trip once, leaving me marked for life about Hazelnut Lattes.

To me it was a poor man's XKE, my little Bond, James Bond mobile.

I had it straight piped with one tiny resonator, seriously ahead of the curve on this one, drove it to work every day in winter, to Ryder Truck, much to the derision of the F250 driving shop foreman.
 

adorshki

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But then the not guitar folks I hang with are into trains, not cars. But the mere fact you have to ask the question suggests perhaps I should have deleted the OP since the topic is too specialized for a guitar forum?
Perhaps you could just delete the "Miscellaneous" sub-forum as being too non-specific and inviting veering.

What happened to this place?

Don't wast your time answering, I just don't care anymore.

Be interesting to see if this post stands.
 

JohnW63

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Yep. 1969 Triumph GT6 Mark II.

As mentioned, no " swing axle " in the Mark II.

I don't know if it would have been called a "sleeper" car. ( btw, Frono, I knew exactly what the title meant. If you're into some performance car stuff, you know what that phase means! )

Now, the Volvo 544 could be called that, for all the people who used to ralley them back in the 60s. At a stock weight of 2072lbs and 100 hp for the "Sport" model, you wouldn't think it wasn't all that fast. The GT6 has about the same hp and weighs in at 1900 lbs. Both list around 10 second 0-60 numbers.
 

amnicon

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II think he meant it looks like a sleeper car, has a berth?

This is my 90's squeeze, 1st year of this body style, more advances than you can shake a stick at. You really have to go over the original sales brochures to know this stuff, like;



My '95 wagon has it, but I'm probably the only person in the state that knows it.

Parking in the shade at the bicycle shop many many moons ago.


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More in it's element.
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Coming home after sunset.
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Best Subaru body style ever!! I miss the couple I had over the years.
 
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