Sunday, August 29, 2010

The Porsche Collection

The Porsche is a renound race car that has been around for at least 30 years. The Porsche was founded in 1931 and was known from the first release as a serious competitor in not only the street car market but in the racing market as well with it's later releases such as the 938. Porsche was founded by Ferdinand Porsche in 1931 and was first established in towns accross Germany such as Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg. The Porsche was catapulted into the car industry by Ferdinand's massive financial status.

Specs:

The first Porsche was produced in 1953 as the 356 Roadster, which was also made into many different versions including luxury, sports, race, and standard. The 356 Roadster came with a range of motors including:

1.1 L B4, 40 PS
1.3 L B4, 44-60 PS
1.5 L B4, 55-70 PS
1.5 L DOHC-B4, 100-110 PS
1.6 L B4, 60-95 PS
1.6 L DOHC-B4, 105-115 PS
2.0 L DOHC-B4, 130 PS
 
The 356 motors produced a wide range of power that ranged from the lowest of 128BHP in the luxury and standard models to 246BHP in the race and sports models.
 
Porsche 356 Roadster

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Porsche_356_in_red.jpg
 
There were also many other porsches to come including at least 3 race models that would sweep the race car manufacturers off of there feet. The next Porsche was the 1992 Porsche 911, that was well known as a full on race car that was somehow legal for the road. The 911 strarted a racing legend that would inspire not only new porsches such as the 930, 938 and Carrera GT but would provide insiration for many other race car manufacturers to base there new models upon. The 911 was a serious competitor in the racing market. The 911 was very popular asmong not only race car drivers and street hooners, but amongst car enthuseists of the time, as it was styloished, had lots of power, was extreamly good looking, but most of all it was the sound of there straight 6 engines that would push the car to encreadible speeds and produce amazing amounts of power. The the first of the 911's (911 classic) was produced from 1963 to 1989, and was the porsche that started a roar amoungst race tracks. The 911 was first produced with a 128hp 96km/h straight six engine, that could push the car to a top speed of 80mph (128km/h) thanks to it's state of the art airodynamics.

1963 Porsche 911 Classic

The later 911's were faster, more fuel effecient and had better dynamics that would cattapult the car into the racing car industry, with many drivers using them in some of the most famous races in the world including the Le Mans. 

Porsche 930

The porsche 930 was one of the first turbo charged race 911's that were produced from 1975 till today. However the 930 was only produced from 1975 to 1989 and was made almost purley for raceing puposes and had many modifications to help it be just that. The 930 came standard with a 3.3L turbocharged, and air cooled flat six that could produce 260 to 330hp depending on the model. A standard 930 was clocked on the Bathurst track in 1981 on a public entrance day, setting a new lap record of 2 minutes 17 seconds with a top speed of nearly 110mph (177km/h). This really was to be one of the sportiest porsche of the time. 
1975 Porsche 930
Porsche 964

The Porsche 964 was one of the many great Porsche's produced in the era of muscle cars. The 964 was produced from 1989 to 1994. The 964 was the first Porsche to be realsed with Porsche's newley redesigned handling and airodynamics with many of it's components being shifted around the car for better weight distribution and gravitational force. The 964 came stock with a 3.6L Straight six that produced a wopping 342hp that could endorce the 964 to reach speeds in access of 115mph (182km/h). The 964 was built almost entirley for the race track and needed very few modifications in order to make it adequite for the race track.

1992 Porsche 964
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Porsche_964_front_20080515.jpg
Porsche 993
The porsche 365 was a family porsche, the 911 was the porsche that started a generation, with the 930 and 964 being a racers, but the 993 was an entirley new Porsche. The Porsche company had turned the porsche right around that had put it in a new direction. The Porsche was now seen no longer as a luxury family car, and not as a street sports car, but as a full on race car. With unbeleivable airodynamic control and handling that could withstand massive drifts and sudden turns, combined with raw engine power and wrapped up with it's stunning appearence, it was a serious competitor. This car was so well made infact, that Porsche deided to make it a limited edition with a price tag to suite, and so only produced and sold 68,029 between the years of 1993 and 1998. This soon became a collectors item and the 993 still holds it's value today. The 993 came with two engines, which were a 3.6L Straight-six that produced 285bhp, and a 3.8L Straight-Six 362bhp. The race model came with the 3.8L and the street version (de-tuned) came with the 3.6L. The Race model could reach a top speed of 122mph (197km/h). This was a very powerful and fast car for the age that it was built in.

1995 993 Porsche

Porsche 959:

The Porsche 959 was one of the more modern Porsches that also included the 961 and the 962 that had similar airodynamics and handling systems, and similar power to weight ratios. The 959 was an extreamly good looking car and was the Porsche shape that the world fell in love with. Although despite it's good looks the 959 was a thorough breed race car. The 959 came with a 2.8L Twin Turbochraged Straight-Six engine that could supply the rear wheels with 331kw (441bhp). This meant that the 959 was extreamly powerful, and everybody knows that with power under the hood, you not only attract girls, but speed as well and this Porsche had plenty of both. The 959 had a top speed of almost 160mph (257km/h). This car was so fast in fact that when one of the car magazines of the time went to test drive it, and officialy named it the best Porsche ever made with not only the awsome handling, but with combined with the fury of two turbo's, and it was magnificent.

                                                                   The Porsche 961
The Porsche 961 was the second of the race collection that was purpose built for almost purley raceing. Many of the models made were bought and used for just that. Throughout it's long life, Porsche had never built a Porsche like it. The car had amazing handling thanks to it's secret weight distribution, as of it's rear fitted motor and center fitted gearbox and fuel tank to keep everything nicely balanced. This amazing control was then mixed with 680 hp (510 kW) of pure torqe from it's 2.8L Flat 6 Turbocharged engine.
Porsche 961 with race modifications...
Porsche 962

The 962 was even more of a sports porsche but the difference was this was souly built for raceing, and was never released to te public as all of Porsches raceing modifications came on the car standard, when bought brand new. The 962 was not the best looking car with all of it's airodynamic wingy bits hanginhg off of it verywhere but could be driven at high speeds and not rise an inch from the ground. The 962 wasn't built in the muscle car era but many of it's features were purposly desinged for speed on the track.

Specs:

The 962 first came out with a 2.8L stright inline six that could produce 362bhp, then it was produced with a 3.0L stright inline six that put pout 396bhp, and then when the final model was produced it came with a 3.2L straight inline six that punched out 453bhp, and did a whopping speed of almost 190mph (209km/h). (all of these figures are based on fully tuned 962's).

http://www.rceasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/porsche962no63b.jpg

The posche is a absolute legend in the raceing comunity and needs to be honoured for it's magnificent role in all of it's, acheivments........

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Chevrolet Camaro

the Camaro was a General Motors product that really did seem to amaze everyone how saw, or had even owned one. The camaro was chev's response to the Ford's mighty Mustang. Although the release was a little late, and was brought put two years after the Mustang, in 1966 but it was worth the wait as from the very start it was an instant success. The Camaro came in a hardtop coupe or a convertible and there were additional options to have the cars tailored to suite the customer's wants or needs. 

A 1967 SS Camaro
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/2008-06-12-CAMARO-SS-1967-00053.JPG
Specs:
 A standard Camaro came with a 230cui straight-six with 140bhp or a 250cui straight-six with 155bhp, but these weren't the popular engines as they were soon named 'The guttles bundle' as of its lack of power, and so people tended to get the V8's. A 327cui V8 came with 295bhp or a 350cui V8 was available with 275bhp. The 350 was offered as part of the SS package that packed a wopping  325bhp. This seemed to sweep other muscle car makers of the time off there feet. As well as this package release for the SS, there was soon after a 396cui package that produced 375bhp. This once again was only available for the SS. The camaro was so widley loved in fact that it was used for many years as a cop car in the US, and was tailored to meet a requirment made by the US government to have 450bhp, out of a 350cui V8. The same engines were put into SS's for pace cars at big races such as Bathurst, and other car racing events. This car was sold at unbeleivably low prices and so was truely of muscle car breed.

A standard 1967 Camaro
http://www.musclecarclub.com/musclecars/chevrolet-camaro/images/chevrolet-camaro-1967a.jpg

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Ford GT

THE FORD GT40

The Ford GT40 was an Australian muscle car racing icon. The GT40 came to be after the officials of Ford Industries were fed up with the Ferrari team beating all the ford falcon entries at the time into the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and so told the Ford manufacturers to design, engineer and produce a full race car in 3 months, that had good enough handling, speed, and agility, to beat everything put in it's path.

Specs:

The GT40 was first and foremost produced as a race car and then later developed into a legal sports muscle car. The road legal versions the engine was detuned to a 306bhp version as of RTA restrictions. The detuned version despite it's loss of power still had it's enormous 330cui supercharged V8 that managed to produce speeds in access of 205Mph (310km/h). 
 Ford GT40
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/2005_Ford_GT.jpg
This was really not a daddy's play toy, it had serious potential.

The Holden Torana Collection

The Holden Torana was an absolute pure breed muscle car. The torana was known as one of the most significant cars in Australian automotive history. The torana was driven by many great racing car drivers in it's past including racing car legend Peter Brock who raced the torana around Bathurst many times in a flight of victory and always knew it was down to the incredible machines that could take the thrashing of speed and handling.

Specs:
HB Torana

The Holden Torana was first released was the LC Torana and the SL Sedan that were made from 1969 - 1972 and were recognised right from the start that the car would be a favourite amongst millions of muscle car maniacs. The real Toranas though weren't brought out as the LC or the SL as the 'First Generation' of Torana's was known as the HB Torana, that although it's small appearance, was quite a nippy little car. The HB came with a 1.2L OHV I4 (4 cylinder) engine, that put out 64BHP and had a top speed  of 60Mph (65km/h) made it very reliable. 
The HB Torana.

LC/LJ Torana
The LC (1969-1972) and the LJ (1972-1974) Torana were the 'Second Generation' of Torana's and were known as the first Torana's to come out with 6 cylinder (I6) engines. The LC and the LJ were practically the same accept for the engine choice. The LC only came with a choice of two engines, a 1.2L I4 (4 cylinder) engine that produced 50BHP. A sporty version was also available as a 1.4L I6 (6 cylinder) engine that produced 65BHP. Though the LC had two choices the LJ had seven choices. You could choose from:

1.2L OHV I4
1.6L OHC I4
130 / 2.1L OHV I6 (Export motor)
138 / 2.25L OHV I6
161 / 2.6L OHV I6
173 / 2.85L OHV I6
186 / 3.0L OHV I6

These choices were what made the Torana such a luxury muscle car of the day as of it's wide range of customisable features available. 
The LJ Torana
The LC Torana









                                                        TA Torana

The TA Torana was also amongst the 'Second Generation' of Torana's and was recognised by many as one of the ugliest Torana's ever made and wasn't very customizable with only two engine choices of 1.3L OHV I4 (4 cylinder), and a 1.8L OHC I4 (4 cylinder) engines. The brakes weren't customisable as in the previous Torana's but it was a very good family car as of its long distance abilities, big storage areas, and cormftability.
TA Torana 


http://richardlewis.org/pictures/thumbs/images/torana/t4-ta_torana-02.jpg

 
The TA Torana despite it's small engine's, the most powerful which was the 1.8L put out a wopping 70BHP which for it's time was a lot of power. 

LH Torana

The LH Torana was the most recognised and most famous Torana of the era. The LH was so popular in fact that they made more than 5 versions of the LH including a race spec version named 'SLR 5000' that was fitted with a mighty V8.  The first LH however was first made from 1974-1976 which was the stock standard LH's that came with a choice of engines including:
1.9L OHV I4 (Opel unit)
173 / 2.85L OHV I6
202 / 3.3L OHV I6
253 / 4.2L OHV V8
308 / 5.0L OHV V8

The Largest of the motors which was the 5.0L 308 Hemi V8 put out an enourmos 330BHP that could push it to a top speed of 120Mph (193Km/h). 

 LH Torana
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/1975-LH-Holden-Torana-Front%2C-Burwood%2C-VIC%2C-5.4.1996.jpg


SLR 5000

The SLR 5000 was the sports racing Torana that the world fell in love with. The Torana only came with two engines of choice which were a small but mighty 4.2L 253cui V8 that produced 360BHP, or a 5.0L 308cui V8 that produced a huge 520BHP and was used in the lemans two consecutive years and came within reach of the podeum. The SLR with it's biggest engine, could do a to speed of 140Mph (225Km/h) which was once recorded at Bathurst in 1987 when Peter Brock went down Commodore Strait with the foot down and at 100m to go hit 224.98km/h. 
SLR 5000 Torana

All up the Torana was a perfect Muscle car!!!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Mach 1 Mustang

 
The Mach 1 Mustang
The Mach 1 Mustang was the most famous mustang with its sporty feel and looks, it was sure to be made as one of the most powerful mustang of all time. Although it doesn't actually go as fast as Mach 1, it goes fast enough to make your socks fall down. The Mach 1 Mustang was first produce 1n 1969 and was stopped in 1978. The Mach 1 Mustang was issued stock standard with a 4.6L 281cui Hemi V8 that produce an astonishing 397BHP. The Mach 1 Mustang had a top speed of 130Mph (209Km/h) and was used from 1970 to 1984 as the Califonia, Usa police persuit car. This car really was a miracle as it helped to lock up 84 crims when before when not using the car they only locked up 28. The Mach 1 Mustang when released was fast enough to beat a 938 Porsche, and a F40 Ferrari on race track and a drag strip. It was used so much in fact that after 2 years 1,120 of them were sold as they were werth nearly $3,000 in 1969, which now days would be about $50,000. This was a true muscle car!

The Shelby Cobra Collection

The Shelby Cobra (MK3) with a 427cui 7.0L V8 that put out 520BHP!!!!
The car above is probably on of the most respected muscle cars of all time. This is the 427 Shelby Cobra, which was named after the Creator and designer Carol Shelby, who insisted on making a car that was so vigorous and powerful, that no other muscle car manufacturer could live up to it's reputation. Despite this cars good looks and awesome colour schemes, it was designed as a race car at first and was soon after produced in limited numbers as a legal road car, yet it still is seen as one of the fastest muscle cars of all time.
Specs:

The Shelby Cobra was brought out at first in 1961 and was stopped in 1967 and was known as the AC Cobra. It was also known as the secret warrior as not many people knew about it existing and were too interested in other muscle cars of the time. The AC Cobra came standard with a 3.9L Cleavland V8 that put out 283BHP. The second cobra was the MK1 and was produced from 1962 to 1963 and came stock standard with a 4.2L Cleveland V8 that produced just on 390BHP. The MK2 Cobra was released in 1963 and was produced until 1965. The MK2 came with a 4.7L Cleveland V8 that put out a huge 435BHP, and with a top speed of 100Mph (160Km/h) it was one of the fastest Cobras of all time. The only down side of the MK2 was that it was known to handle like a school bus as of it's weight, and was in need of re design, for future cobra's. The MK3 or more commonly known as the Shelby Cobra was the most famous with a 7.0L 427Cui Cleavland V8. This huge engine put out a enormous 520BHP that combined with re designed handling could reach a to speed of 120Mph (193Km/h). This really was a 'Muscle Car'.

Welcome to V8 Generation!

Please browse around at some of the muscle cars in this blog, or maybe just renew your knowlege about the cars that started a generation of big engines, lots of power, and fast cars. There are pictures and info on each picture that will tell you about each car in detail and if you wish to know more, please post your comments with the make and model of the car and ill endeavour to post some information on the car you requested.