Future classics (in my mind) part III

As we already have listed two spiced up family cars let's have a third one. But this one is a little bit different as it was meant to go to rallying to the World Rally Championship but never made it. 

The car in question is the Mazda Familia GTR or known as well as Mazda 323 GT-R. I don't know much about this car. I only found out it existed late last year and was astounded by the lengths that Mazda went to only to not become a part of the WRC line up. But anyhow, what we got out of it was 2500 pieces of Japanese top techonology and precision in the early 90's, which is never a bad thing. Because it was meant to go rallying it has a sophisticated four-wheel drive system and a unique 210 hp 1.8 litre turbocharged engine instead of the standard 2.0 litre turbo found on the other road going rally cars from that period. And of course being a sort of car that it is, it is hard to find one that is not modified. But be assured, if you find one that is untouched by eager tuning fingers you'll be in for a profitable buy.

The Familia GTR also has a more hardcore version the GT-Ae. It is lighter than the GTR and there were only 300 made. You can also go for the budget version, the GTX. It also has 4WD and the same engine but with 185 hp. Inside the biggest difference between the GTR and the GTX is that the GTR has leather seats and the GTX doesn't. The GT-Ae doesn't have leather seats either, but that is to save weight.

Now we've reached the point where you can choose between an original Subaru Impreza WRX or Mitsubishi Evo 1. Or then you could choose a unique rally car for the road with a tragic history of never being able to show it's true potential to the world.

All of that four-wheel drive goodness.

This is how it looks from behind. Sorry for the bad picture.

Future classics (in my mind) part II

As in part I of future classics we're sticking with family cars. Fast and special family cars that is.

This time around I'm talking about the Mercedes Benz C36 AMG. It laid the groundwork for all the rest of the AMG Mercedes that have been build since, which obviously makes it really special. 

It was introduced in 1993, production began in 1994 and it lasted to 1997. During that time only a bit over 5000 AMG C36's were made. It has an AMG tuned 3.6 litre straight six engine developing 280 hp. And it was of course meant to compete with the then current BMW M3, of which BMW made around 70,000 of. If you want, you can think of the C36 as an underdog which is always appealing. 

In true high-end Mercedes fashion of course the C36 came with leather seats, automatic gearbox with a tiptronic function, cruise control, automatic air-con and many more things that we today think of as standard. But remember kids, this is in 1994 when it was luxury to have power-steering.

This is a car that when it goes wrong the parts will be expensive. But if you maintain your C36 AMG as you should it will run like any other Mercedes, until it runs out of the delicious petrol it enjoys so much.

Those alloy wheels were only available for the C36 AMG. You better get them.

Really no way of knowing that it's an AMG Merc.