If I saw that bike parked on the street, it would take me several minutes even to hazard a guess as to what it started out as. Bravo, good sir! More pictures, please.

THIS. If “the Queen of Swords” (seriously) wins a few more fights and gets a chance at actually fighting in the UFC, then she’ll face significantly higher competition before ever getting a chance at Rhonda.

Bravo, ma’am...bravo. After reading all the whining about the dearth of female super heroes in popular culture, I applaud you for being the role model of grit, toughness, and determination that American girls deserve.

I came here to post this - I did the same with a C3 Corvette. Sure - it was fun, but going from roughly 330 HP at the rear wheels (basic crate SBC) to 450 (more compression, giant cam, headers, etc) turned it into a lopey, angry, money pit that was too loud to hear the radio at 80 MPH.

COTD - welcome to the dark side.

I would like to point out that the superior engineering school in South Carolina (that already has an “International Association for Automotive Engineering”) is Clemson, not Sackerlina (As Spurrier calls it).

I live in South Carolina (Mount Pleasant, to be exact), and I can assure you that there is a thriving upper middle class here - as long as Boeing, Bosch, and SPAWAR-LANT are still here.

Show me *anything* else that is V8, Rear Wheel Drive and stick shift in similar condition / mileage for the $1500 you state this is worth.

Show me a similar condition, rust-free, V8 powered, stick shift Chevette for $2500 and I’d be all over it.

You have an excellent point, but it’s enough power to hoon, especially with the stick. It’s rear wheel drive, stick shift, and super comfortable - what else meets those qualifications and is reliable enough for a daily driver?

Rear Wheel Drive, insanely comfortable, easy to wrench on and dirt cheap to own. What’s not to get?

To your point about “base model trucks” - if you could find a V8, stick shift, base model truck in similar condition (no rust or major dents, A/C still working) - for $2500, it would be “nice price” also.

You are correct, my apologies! I never got a chance to take the one coupe turbo that I drove out on the highway, so I never really missed that overdrive.

The Solstice came as a coupe (1100 total made), the Saturn Sky did not. The GXP (turbo) with a six speed manual was actually a really fun car to drive, and Pontiac dealers had a Stage II package that was only like $1500 that would give that little (2900 lbs) car 290 HP and 340 ft-lbs of torque.

I agree with your sentiment, here - but I’ll also add that the LS2 was a huge improvement over the LS1 also (a gain of 50 HP and 50 ft-lbs is noticeable on almost anything), they got that right quickly. My question is this - if, instead of Pontiac getting it in 2004 and calling it a GTO, if Buick had gotten it in 2005…

The last generation Riviera, which shared a lot with the first generation Aurora, was also a nice feat for GM in the mid to late 90’s.

By late 1997, Volvo was doing wonderful things with turbo fives and had roughly matched the Germans in HP (in 1998, the M3 was 240 HP, the C70 HPT was 238 HP). It had nice lines while being recognizable as a Volvo, and the excellent interior had the most comfortable seats of any car I’d driven.

However, Fail Wheel…

As the former owner of a 1979 with a Summit Auto ZZ4 (355HP) crate motor and Doug Nash five speed stuffed into it - those problems can be remedied for a lot less than you might think.

Because Volvo’s AWD system is just a band-aid for fail wheel drive failures. The S80 would have been a worthy 5 series / E-class competitor if it had been rear wheel drive.

4/12 - terrible. At the risk of hyberbole, that might be the hardest car quiz I’ve ever taken.