Things you thought made a car sporty as a kid.

[Tiger Tim]

I was chatting to a mate about this last night and it got us both laughing at the funny things we were told that made a car sporty.

My dad has a Volvo 740 which had 'overdrive'. He made out that hitting that button would make the car twice as fast. the funny thing is I convinced myself that we were going faster when he pushed the button.

Later when I started driving I was astounded when I got a car with a rev counter. After my OHV1.0l
Nova in poo brown having a 205XS that I could watch the revs rise and fall never failed to impress me.

What else?

[J4CKO]

Tyre width and the max speed on the speedo.

[ZOLLAR]

Anything with more than one exhaust.

If a car had 4 exhausts and another had 2 then it had to be the quickest

[richs2891]

Had to be pop up headlights !

[Sycamore]

As above, the max speed shown on the speedo.

I used to check what a cars max speed was when I saw them parked up. Never knew a 1litre car could do 140!

[Baryonyx]

A car with twin exhausts. Back when I was young, you could see the E30 M3's, Capri 2.8i's etc etc all bedecked in twin exhaust trim.

These days, it's just as likely to be a dirty diesel with twin tail pipes. The four cylinder performance car will likely have an exhaust for each cylinder!

[Hooli]

ZOLLAR said:

Anything with more than one exhaust.

If a car had 4 exhausts and another had 2 then it had to be the quickest

There used to be a 'max power drivers handbook' & it had a rule for working out how fast a car is - wipers / exhausts = speed. So single wiper & four pipes is faster than two wipers & one pipe. Hence a chaved up saxo will race a M3

[supertouring]

Cibie Oscars - X2 fast X4 faster

[spitfire-ian]

Definitely in the early 80's at primary school the max speed written on the speedo was the way to tell whose dad had the fastest car

[Frankthered]

Head restraints - they weren't that common when I was a kid and usually only came with sports seats.

Obviously, they were needed for all the neck-snapping acceleration of the Fiat 127 Sport!

[Asterix]

Carlos Fandango wheels obviously!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqZ28m8uCo

...and the speedo thing.

[selym]

Those black plastic louvre window cover/spoiler things on Capris etc. Oh, Rostyles as well.










Vinyl roof anyone?

[ManOpener]

Rear spoilers.

[Phil Dicky]

supertouring said:

Cibie Oscars - X2 fast X4 faster

I want some more Cibie Oscars

[Speedracer329]

If it said Ferrari or Jaguar on the boot lip!

[selym]

Phil Dicky said:

supertouring said:

Cibie Oscars - X2 fast X4 faster

I want some more Cibie Oscars

I saw a Golf Mk4 with Cibie Oscars the other day. Not sporty. I guess it needs to be a 70s/80s rally slag, not a 90s bloated insult to the people's car!

[alangla]

Haven grown up in the 1980s, TURBO - preferably in large letters on the back window.
Gull doors helped as well. Still love a Countach.

[John145]

Low CoG.

[SHutchinson]

Jacked up rear suspension, slot mags and rubber lightning strips. "That thing must be insane!!"

[LP670]

red carpets and a rev counter instead of a clock