BORING! These cars (except perhaps the 159, but I doubt it) have the same problem. Unless you have access to a race track they are dull, dull, dull. You simply cannot drive them fast enough on public roads (at least in the UK anyway) to enjoy the power and handling potential these cars have. OK, you can out accelerate most things, but that only lasts a few seconds before you have to start worrying about holding on to your driving license. This is why I'm an old car fan, and when I say old I don't mean 1990's either. I'm talking 1950's-1970's. I don't have a single favourite car. When you get back to this age the cars have so many different things on offer you don't get today. Look at modern cars and pretty much everything is either an understeering front drive saloon/hatch, a lunatic rear drive sportster or a chunky 4 wheel drive soft roader. Back in the '60s the choice was much wider. Ordinary cars came with front wheen drive or rear wheel drive, some even came with the engine at the back. Sports cars came as slow cruisers as well as straight line high performance or twisty road demon varieties, and 4 wheel drives were definitely not soft or chunky. Here are a couple of my favourites.
Series 2 Land Rover. Perhaps a surprising choice, but only someone who has driven something similar would understand the sense of achievement you get driving a vehicle of this type. How many people today could cope with a 4 wheel drive on knobbly crossply tyres that wander around and have limited grip, cope with a mere 77bhp in something weighing almost a ton and a half, live with small drum brakes all round with no servo and a gearbox with syncromesh on 3rd and top only? The soft top versions also have the added bonus of having all the fun of open top motoring without the pressure you get to drive fast in a sports car. There is also such a wide variety to choose from. I once started to count the different combinations of body style, engine and wheelbase for the 1968 model year and gave up at 114! I am fortunate enough to own a few of these old Land Rovers including the ones pictured below.
Another of my favourites is the Hillman Imp. For those who have not heard of it, this car was Hillman's answer to the Mini, but it could not have been more different. It is a small saloon powered by a rear mounted 875cc all alloy overhead camshaft engine developing 39bhp in standard trim or 51bhp in sport trim with twin carburettors. By modern standards it isn't fast, but back when it first appeared in 1963 it was a very quick little car, and that coupled with go cart like handling make it real fun, even at the relatively low speeds possible on modern roads - this car actually gets to be a handfull well within the speed limits! Unfortunately mechanical problems early on gave it a bad reputation it never recovered from, and it was put out of production in 1976. I am lucky enough to own a 1973 Imp Super with the twin carb engine that is awaiting a rebuild, but in the mean time I can satisfy my Imp cravings with a 1966 Singer Chamois, which was to all intents and purposes the luxury version of the Imp.
I am also fond of the Rover P5 and P6 ranges, Jaguar XK120, 5 cylinder Audis (especially the original 80 Coupe), Mk1 Ford Escort and even the Allegro and Marina. In fact, if its not modern its unlikely I won't like it at least a little bit.
One big advantage I do have liking these older cars is that I can afford to buy and drive them, unlike those of you dreaming about supercars. Also, if I did win the lottery it wouldn't be a case of which car to buy, its more a case of how many different ones could I get
